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Yokai - Animal Transformations
Many animals in Japanese mythology were thought to have magical powers and have become Yokai. Some of these were:-
- Bakeneko or nekomata - When a cat is said to reach a certain age (13 years), a certain size, and/or maintain a long tail, the tail splits into two and said cat becomes a bakeneko. The bakeneko haunts the houses it lives in by means of creating ghostly fireballs, imitating humans or disturbing sleep. An unusual power of a nekomata is that it can reanimate a recently deceased corpse by jumping over it.
- Inugami - An inugami (dog demon) is intentionally created in the hopes it will serve a master. If a dog is bound with food just out of its reach until it passes on, and then the inugami spirit is fed, the inugami becomes obedient to its new master - in theory. The master may set the inugami on others, as it has the power to possess. But in time most inugami turn on, possess or haunt their masters, forcing them to take action. Getting rid of an inugami is a difficult thing to do and only powerful sorcerers are said to have ever been successful.
- Jinmenken - The human-faced dog. A creature associated with urban myth. Sightings have been recorded since the 19th century. It appears at night and can speak Japanese, but only to swear at those who encounter it so it may be left alone. Often these spirits are seen along highways travelling at alarming speeds, some claim if they pass a vehicle, that vehicle will soon have a collision. This has given rise to the notion that they were spawned from car crash victims. Similar to werewolf lore, the bite of one can turn you into a jinmenken.
- Kitsune - Wild fox demons, who are known to do terrible mischief, possess humans and/or mimic them in shape. Kitsunes shape-shift by stroking their fire shooting tail. It is said the kitsune came by way of China, originating from the idea of the 'Fox Fairy'. A person possessed by a kitsune is known as a kitsune-tsuki. Said people have cravings for rice and red beans, and find it impossible to sleep at night.
- Tanuki - A raccoon-dog. It is mischievous and jolly. A well known trick of a tanuki is to disguise leaves as money and buy things such as sake or food.
- The Vampire Cat (neko) of Nabeshima - A Vampire cat is only slightly smaller than a great dane. It drinks the blood of a mortal and then turns into whoever it drank from. It was said to have killed a lady of the Hizen prince and then torment him during the night, making him extremely ill as it caused mischief and haunted dreams.
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Latest page update: made by Dous777
, Aug 21 2011, 7:55 AM EDT
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the inugami is made in order to bring misfortunes upon others. They were supposedly buried in the ground up to the neck with food in front of it. After letting them starve for some days, the dog's head would be cut by a sword, then it would become an inugami. |
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