JAPANESE DOG FOLKLORE.

From: Fox and badger and other witch animals of Japan by U.A. Casal

The Dog

The cat's biggest enemy is the dog, inu. [The well-known chin "Pekinese" is not a "dog" to the Orientals, and plays no role whatever in folklore. Japan had but a few breeds, mostly "fighting dogs"; the majority were and are mongrels.] Various legends explain why the dog hates the cat; it is usually considered that formerly they were friends, and served the same family-always a poor one. The family is suddenly rewarded with some "jewel" for it's hard work and honesty. When the naughty rats, or an evil imp, or a greedy neighbour steal the jewel, cat and dog set out to recover it. The cat is the cleverer animal and finds it, carrying it home in its maws. On the way thither, the two have to cross a river or pond, and the dog carries its mate on the back, because it cannot swim. While the dog "plods along" through the water, the cat, for some silly reason-whether boastful pride or saucy remark-opens its mouth, and the jewel is irretrievably lost. This angers the faithful dog, who thenceforth distrusts and persecutes the malapert collaborator. Or else the dishonest cat claims all the credit for having found and returned the jewel, and casts aspirations on the dog when back in the family. The dog is punished and, naturally, after suffering such injustice, cannot but hate its erstwhile partner. As with us, "cat and dog" is the emblem of inborn antagonism and perpetual fighting.
 

The dog, in China, Korea and Japan is generally a benevolent and protective "spirit" in the home.

The dog, in China, Korea and Japan is generally a benevolent and protective "spirit" in the home. [During the war, several dogs were "decorated" in Japan for services rendered to the troops, while memorial masses were held for others which had lost their lives in battle. As early as the sixth century, as reported in the Nihongi, a dog's faithfulness caused his master's body to be saved from ignominous contempt. A certain Yorozu, a rebel, seeing his cause lost, committed suicide, and the Court ordered that his body be cut into eight pieces and distributed among the eight provinces. Yorozu's white dog, however, stood near his master's dismembered body, miserably howling; and at last, taking up the head in it's mouth, it placed it on an ancient burial-mound, lay down close by, and starved to death. When this was reported to the Court, the latter was moved by profound pity, and issued an order that the dog's conduct should be handed down to after-ages, and that the kindred of Yorozu should be allowed to construct a tomb and bury his remains, so that his soul might enjoy eternal rest, which it otherwise could not do....] He can see spectres and chase them away; he assists in the birth of numerous progeny, and protects infants from illness. The dog is thus a "faithful" or "kind" animal most of the time. Often the simple appearance of a dog forces the spectre to assume its true form-only goblins over a hundred years old can escape this fate-and then he will risk even his live in combating it. [Most races of Asia, Europe and America consider the dog bold, brave and nimble and man's best companion. To the Zoroastrians the dog was a sacred animal. Only with the Moslems is the dog absolutely taboo.]

The idea that dogs can discern ghosts and will then bark is widespread. The "supernatural vision" of the dog was admitted by everybody in Japan, and even had to once serve as a basic fact in explaining the incomprehensible and infinite "vision" which a true belief in Buddha could give man. And that happened as late as a few generations ago, in A.D. 1878 to be exact. In August of that year, a priest named Sata Kaiseki, of the Shinkaiji (Tokyo), delivered a lecture on the tengan, this same and supernatural religious vision. By that time Western ideas had already begun to ferment; there was a general uncertainty as to moral values, beliefs, ethics, and quite a few "advanced spirits" had begun to doubt that all the Buddhist doctrines were true. The priest was thus repeatedly interrupted by hecklers, who demanded clearer explanations than metaphysical parables. Hard pressed, the priest referred to obvious "visions", such as light reflected, the bat's sight at night, and so forth; then coming to the less evident sensibilities: "Vision of the order which dogs and monkey possess, having the power of seeing fairies, hobgoblins, and elves in their true form, so that its possessor cannot in any way be bewitched, or led astray by such supernatural beings. Human beings," he continued, "do not possess this faculty of supernatural vision, and consequently are often bewitched, beguiled, and led astray by kitsune and tanuki, who temporarily put on the form of some object which entrances the senses of the individual, and causes him or her to do whatever best please the beguiler." This, in itself, was accepted as good and valid proof by the audience. And when in further explanation the priest referred to the equally well known fact that these evil animals themselves were endowed with an inferior grade of infinite vision, being able to see "for hundred and thousands of miles in every direction," as illustrated by the story of the fox who bewitched a man of Tsugaru, and showed to him places and persons over five-hundred miles distant, this, too, was freely conceded by the audience, and thus tengan "understood"....In AD 1878.....

The blood of dogs, poured out before a village or over the frame of a new house, was therefore deemed protective, and would prevent epidemics. Three thousand years ago, when the emperor or a prince of China undertook a voyage, his cart was first made to roll over and crush a dog, whose blood consecrated the road and the start of the journey. Its carcass was then buried as a further sacrifice to the road-gods. As early as 676 B.C., King Têh of Ch'in slaughtered dogs at the four gates of the city as a precaution against spectral poisonings. Since Confucius' time (c. 500 BC), straw images of dogs have been amulets with a similar purpose. Blood and parts of a dog's body were excellent medicinal ingredients. A dog's hair was carried by children in their amulet-bag. Black dogs are particularly magic. [When, in 1840, the Catholic missionary, Perboyre, was martyrized in China, his patient death was attributed to the protection of devilish ghosts which alleviated his pains. He was therefore give dog's blood to drink, so as to break the spell!] The fact that in the Chinese language kou is homonymic for dog and also for abundance or sufficiency, is of course of the utmost auspiciousness.

The howling of a dog at night, for no apparent reason, will usually portend the death of one in some neighbouring family, or also an earthquake. When a dog climbs on the roof of any building, a fire is certain to break out. It is as if, foreseeing the happening, he tried to warn people. [Much of this is evidently based on the fact that the dog has excellent olfactory and auditory perceptions, which enable it to smell and hear things unnoticed by humans. European beliefs were (and are?) very similar.

A rather interesting report comes from the Oraons of Bengal:--"If a woman gets up on the thatch of a house, the people anticipate disease and death to some inmate of the house, and misfortune to the village in general." Wherefore a solemn purification ceremony has to be performed. "In former times, one of the ears of the offending woman used to be cut off. But in our days it is only when a dog or a goat gets upon the roof of a house that one of its ears is cut off." Thus, evidently, either animal on the roof brings the same calamity as a woman.... The blood serves "to appease the wrath of the offended spirit."]

The Nihongi reports that in the year 659 "A fox bit off the end of a creeper which a labourer... held in his hand, and went off with it. Moreover a dog brought in his mouth a man's hand and forearm and laid it in the Ifuya shrine." Both happenings were considered signs that the ruling empress, Seimei, would shortly die.
 

Like Cerberus the dog of the East is connected with the Underworld-probably because of his habit of digging.

Many are the tales in which a dog unearths treasure for his deserving master. [It is contended that this feature is based on the belief that the digging of the mandrake-or ginseng-involved great bodily risk to the digger; to circumvent this, the man used a dog as a helper, and the curse fell on the animal, which died in his stead. "Treasure", however, is currently associated with dirt, all over the world, and the dog is a born scavenger.] Like Cerberus the dog of the East is connected with the Underworld-probably because of his habit of digging. In various tales dogs and sundry other animals accompany or assist the young hero in his conquest of the "devil's fortress", where they find much gold and jewels. [The story of Momotarô, the Peachling, at once comes to one's mind, but there are others.]

Like the dragon who guards the treasures of the sea, the dog may also "protect" gold and precious stones in the earth. As pearls, gold, jewels and so forth are clear "soul symbols", this protective dog is thus evidently connected with death and afterlife, and also with progeny. [The identical conception seems to underlie the various mythologic tales of Egypt, Greece, Germany and other countries, in which a dog protects the gate to the Underworld of the Dead. These dogs are not infrequently triple-headed, and three-legged dogs accompany the "Wild Hunter" of Indogermanic sagas, who in turn is connected with Death-or with restless wandering in quest of Eternal Life-and with the Moon, the latter again a source of "life and death", of fertility and decay. A ghostly dog serves as guide to the soul of the deceased in beliefs ranging from Western Europe through Asia to Peru.]

But there are extraordinary, supernatural dogs, whose activities are not always so harmless or advantageous. Old dogs are especially to be feared, and perhaps even more so than whose who "sit up" and-as Chinese and Germans say-"make the little man." They have acquired too much knowledge, and are on the point of becoming quite super-powerful, so should be killed at once! Such dogs cannot only take possession of living persons or of corpses, become vampires, but may also "give away secrets"....Possibly this fear of an imitative "power" is the reason why in ancient Chinese writings the dog is sometimes referred to as a jên-shih, a "quasi-person", a queer expression which may man either "one which is akin to a person" or "one that imitates a person"; it is evident that the dog most noticeably adapts itself to the manners and customs of humans, understands human commands, and often enough grasps human intentions.

There are a few legends of mountain-deities having the shape of enormous dogs; they are always white, very dangerous to man, and connected with a woman: a virgin having to be sacrificed every year, and simply disappearing (eaten, probably), or one only who is being kept as a constant prisoner in his lodging. The spirit-dog cannot always be killed, and attempts to do so are usually followed by dire consequences to the villagers.

Of old, however, there must have existed a belief very similar to our occidental werwolf, and indeed the more familiar "dog" may have taken the place of the similar if more ferocious (but less known) okami wolf. Thus we find a story in the Nihongi, dated AD 469, in which we are told that "There was a man of Miwikuma in the province of Harima called Ayashi no Womaro, who was strong of body and stout of heart, and did wanton outrage, committing robberies on the highways, and preventing traffic. He intercepted the boats of merchants and plundered them every one. He had also disobeyed the laws of the country by neglecting to pay his taxes.-- Hereupon the Emperor sent Ohoki, Kasuga no Wono no Omi, in command of one hundred soldiers who feared not death. They all together took torches, and having surrounded his house, set fire to it. Now from the midst of the flames there came forth furiously a white dog, which pursued Ohoki no Omi. This dog was as big as a horse. But the complexion of Ohoki no Omi's spirit did not change. [Meaning that he did not lose courage and run away?] he drew his sword and slew it, whereupon it became changed into Ayashi no Womaro."

The least offensive ones are those spiritual dogs that roam about to steal the children's sweets and dumplings from under their nose or right out of their hands, wherefore many kinds of such delicacies are strung together on skewers. The spirit of the skewer-"stick" will then drive away the ghostly thief....

In the Oki Islands, off the coast of Izumo, in Kyûshû, Shikoku (mainly in Tosa) and the Sanindô, supernatural dogs help certain wizardly people in obtaining wealth, as foxes assist them in other regions. Such people are known as inu-gami-mochi, "dog god possessors". With the help of such "spiritual dogs", these people are bound to succeed in all their enterprises, and every one of their requests will be granted for fear that evil might otherwise follow. Every favour received from them will be scrupulously returned with interest; nothing will be done to offend them. Naturally the inu-gami-mochi become rich in land and money; but they are also shunned by everybody else, and when a marriage is proposed the most strict enquiries are made in regard to possible "dog-ownership", so as to avoid the calamity of marrying into such a family. [With sundry primitives, a very grave sign of "being in relation with evil powers" is to enjoy unusual good fortune, to amass wealth and to prosper in everything one undertakes. "Success which is never belied can only be accounted for by pledges give to evil powers." With us, people made a pact with the devil. But very similarly, also, in many parts of Europe those people recognized to have the "evil eye" could obtain anything they wanted from their neighbours, who feared possible reprisals if withheld. Socially, however, such "witches" and "wizards" were ostracized; and during several centuries, not so long ago, they often paid for their power with death at the stake. In Japan the inu-gami possessors apparently were never punished.] But the dog does not, like the fox, simply obey his master's commands. When his spirit goes forth on one of the mischievous errands, his body remains behind, gradually weakens, and may even die and decay. In such cases the goblin-dog, on his return, takes up his abode in the body of the master, who thereupon becomes more powerful than ever before. I understand that at this very time of writing, the belief in "dog owners" continues particularly strong in Oki. No secret is there made of such owning: streets are divided into dog-owner and non-owner regions. And no effort to change the inhabitants' mentality has so far succeeded.

A kindred relationship is mentioned elsewhere in Japan, and pointed out as the possible reason which turned the benevolent animal into a malevolent one. Long, long ago, an old woman was consumed with hatred against a powerful enemy, and decided to use her faithful dog as a means of vengeance. She buried him in the ground, all but the head, and after fondling him addressed him with the words: "If you have a soul, kill my enemy and I shall worship thee as a deity"-and then cut off the pet's head with a bamboo- saw. [One of the most painful ways of inflicting death, kept up until the Restoration for criminals of the worst kind.] The dog fulfilled her wish, but out of resentment at having been so cruelly killed then haunted her house, and made her suffer for the pain inflicted.

Yet no doubt a similar "magic" procedure was common until recent times, to fulfil a strong and normally unattainable desire. The buried dog, his head only exposed, was surrounded with tempting food, just out of reach, and constantly told how his pains and longing were no worse than his human master's, whom he was supplicated to save from misery. After starving to death, the dog's spirit was presumed to act as directed. The spirit became the "dog god", and his former owner the inu-gami-mochi. [The witches of Europe were also regularly believed to have "familiars": always some small animal-a little dog, a cat, a mole, a rat or a toad, etc.- which was kept in the house in some small receptacle, was fed in some special manner, and ready to obey the witch's commands. These imps, sprites, "domestics", "familiars", etc. always brought wealth, but their owners, being witches, were naturally feared. Familiars could be inherited, acquired, received as a present, but also produced by conjuring an ordinary animal with some weird ritual. Such familiars were frequently used for carrying out a curse, and indications suggest that they were known by oldest humanity, possibly already during Paleolithic periods....]

I would say that the "quaint method of divination" which Weston describes as he found it current in the North-eastern parts of Japan is founded on this dog-magic, although the practitioners there us a fox as a kitsune-tsukai, Fox-messenger or Fox-assistant. "The divination is carried on by means of a small image of a fox, made in a very odd way. A fox is buried alive in a hole with it's head left free. Food of the sort of which foxes are known to be most fond is placed just beyond the animal's reach. As days pass by the poor beast in its dying agony of hunger makes frantic efforts to reach the food; but in vain. At the moment of death the spirit of the fox is supposed to pass into the food, which is then mixed with a quantity of clay, and shaped into the for of the animal. Armed with this extraordinary object, the miko (diviner) is supposed to become an infallible guide to foretelling future events of every kind.

Of course in all cases of such "ownership" the helpful spirit has then to be regularly pleased with offering of that food which he most craved while still in the body. It is a common belief that the last, most fervent wish before death (in this case the wish to eat) will "continue to act", and in order to gratify it the ghost will be subservient to man's wishes.

I can do no better than in addition to extensively quote the report of a sociologist who investigated the beliefs in "Dog Spirits" as existing in a small settlement off the road in Kyûshû only some years back:

"In every buraku (hamlet) there is at least one woman with an unsavoury reputation as an inu-gami-mochi, or sorceress by means of the dog spirit, a dog-spirit carrier. A possessor of this spirit is not necessarily evil by nature, but the dog spirit which she has cannot always be controlled and sometimes acts as a free agent to work harm.

"A household where there is such a spirit always has a little Jizô or some other god's image housed somewhere on the property. This in reality a monument to the dog spirit. [Jizô is the Buddhist Road-diety, protector of children and of mothers, guide of the soul to the Otherworld, and a common substitute for the older phallic kami of Shintô. His statues are found wherever danger threatens along the road, but in many parts of Japan, including Kyûshû, also somewhere in the backyard of practically every home. Its presence thus would not be indicative of an inu-gami household. But apparently the inu-gami-mochi cannot do without the statue, which often is but an elongated stone of odd but still phallic outline.] Offerings made to it are to appease it and keep it satisfied. It is believed that originally a dog's head was buried underneath the stone. Possessors of the dog spirit can cause sickness or death to their enemies. People dislike very much to speak of sorcery and are strongly averse to mention names; to talk to freely about sorcery might bring it down upon one. The spirit of the dog when released in the victim's house is sometimes heard uttering strange sounds and in that manner can be detected. Unless the spirit makes a noise, the person possessed might not know what is the matter with him and might try different cures for his disease; but, as soon as the presence of inu-gami is ascertained, one must at once go to the kitôshi (the exorciser, who may be a Buddhist or Shinto priest or a layman).

"Kitôshi, who work for the well-being of man, are nearly always men; witches who work evil to man, are for the most part women. Women are said to harbour deeper and longer grudges than men. The witchery power stays in a house and is inherited through the female line, so that sometimes a daughter-in-law takes it up after the mother-in-law. Sometimes it is the house rather than a person that carries the spirit and to have a fight with the people living in such a house is dangerous."

After touching on the "poverty spirit" (bimbo-gami) and "good fortune spirit" (fuku-gami) that may dwell in a house, the investigator continues: "Reasons for cursing are envy and jealousy. If a man is very rich, some neighbour who is an inu-gami-mochi may, while not disliking the rich man, merely covet his neighbour's wealth-and, presto, out goes the dog spirit and the rich man's horse dies, or his house burns down. Jealousy is more likely than envy to give rise to sickness and death curses, and such curses are purposely begun. Witchery is often referred to as kaze, wind, because one cannot see it."

Information obtained by my authority from a Tendai (Buddhist) kitôshi added that "In feudal times Lord Sagara told the people who had inu-gami to do some form of worship to it in order to keep it satisfied, such as erecting a Jizô or a dô (worship hall, usually but a very small roofed cubicle) or by putting some sutra in a stone box, burying it, and putting a stone over it. Some people put up a Jizô so that the dog spirit will not speak (a stone Jizô does not speak).

"The dog spirit is in those houses where people are not sincerely religious. This dog spirit can leave the person or house and possess someone, especially an enemy of its 'owner'. This is different from ordinary cursing inasmuch as the dog spirit leaves a person and possesses the other person quite of its own accord. It can be exorcised by the kitôshi's praying or by his striking the possessed with fire or by feeling on the body with a paper cut in diamond shape [This shape may have a sacred sexual significance, says Embree. It is in fact, ktenic, and to be found in sundry other emblematic developments, also in Europe] to find out where the pain is-and, where the pain is, there is a dog spirit. The priest then prays to get rid of it, through Sambô Kôjin. The person possessed often shivers. In some regions the serving dogs of the witches or wizards seem to be a distinct breed: they are believed to be no larger than a mouse. They of course remain invisible to all except the member of the family....It is also said at times that there are two kinds of such inu-gami, "one attaching itself to persons, and the other to animals"....

Elsewhere too, dogs will "possess" humans in exactly the same manner as foxes and badgers do. The possessed will then bark and behave like a dog. [The Greeks believed in kynanthropy, the faculty of a man to change into a dog.]

The Sambô Kôjin above referred to is everywhere considered one of the best helpers in expelling such ghostly, evil-minded dogs. Sambô Kôjin is a "Three Ways" or "Three Faced" Road-god who also presides over the hearth and homestead. His "servants" are three monkeys; and the antipathy between monkeys and dogs is as proverbial as that between dogs and cats!

It need hardly be said that such dog-owners are everywhere shunned by other people. They are dangerous because if they cove another's property they can make the man waste and die, or become demented. Even a fine meal is not safe from an envious inu-gami-mochi: his envy will immediately render it putrid. Hence, naturally, before concluding a marriage both parties will have "experts" investigate the genealogy of the other to the nth degree, so as to be sure not to have anything to do with dog-families.

The Japanese pretend that the aboriginal Ainu considered themselves as descendants of a supernatural dog. The Ainu disclaim it; yet there may have been some lingering totemism involved of old. The dog, with them, is rather a wily and dangerous animal; it must have been conceived as a sort of human-like being, as is suggested by the following tale which explains why dogs cannot speak. Incidentally, it refers to a belief which is rather universal in various garbs, that is, that the (male) dog likes to copulate with women.

"Formerly dogs could speak. Now they cannot. The reason is that a dog belonging to a certain man, a long time ago, inveigled his master into the forest under the pretext of showing him game, and there caused him to be devoured by a bear. Then the dog went home to his master's widow, and lied to her saying: 'My master has been killed by a bear. But when he was dying, he commanded me to tell you to marry me in his stead.' The widow knew that the dog was lying. But he kept on urging her to marry him. So at last, in her grief and rage, she threw a handful of dust into his open mouth. This made him unable to speak any more, and therefore no dogs can speak even to this very day."

Extract Courtesy of Shadowfox.

For Japanese Fox folklore, visit Shadowfox's Kitsune Page.