犬神

Inugami

Kanji: 犬神
Kana: いぬがみ
Pronunciation: i-nu-ga-mi

Translation: Dog God / Dog Spirit.
Alternate names: Inu-gami; Inugami-mochi (the holder family, not the spirit).
Origin: Edo period folklore from western Japan, with Shikoku as the heartland (Tokushima, Kochi, Ehime).

Habitat: A hidden shrine inside an inugami-mochi family home. The disguised form walks the towns and roads of Shikoku and Kyushu as an ordinary dog.
Diet: Life force. The Inugami drains vitality from possession victims.

Abilities

• Possesses a human through the ears, settles in the internal organs.
• Causes illness — chest pain, pain in hands, feet, and shoulders.
• Curses rival families with bad luck or death.
• Disguises as a normal dog to blend into society.
• Acts independently of its master when angered.

Weaknesses

• Exorcism by a trained onmyoji or Buddhist priest.
• The bloodline contract — the master family rejecting the spirit.

Overview

Inugami is a Japanese dog-spirit yokai from Shikoku and western Japan, known as a familiar that grants wealth and delivers vengeance for its master. The Inugami possesses humans and brings disease, jealousy, and dog-like behavior.

Appearance

In public Inugami looks like an ordinary dog and walks freely through villages. The true form is a desiccated, mummified dog's head, dressed in ceremonial cloth and kept in a secret shrine inside the master's house. Some Edo prints show Inugami in an anthropomorphic form — a dog standing on its hind legs in human clothes. The eyes remain alert in every form, watching for a target or for the master's command.

Behavior

Inugami is created by a brutal ritual — a dog is tied up, food is placed beyond its reach, and the head is cut off at the peak of its hunger. The severed head becomes the spirit and serves the family that made it. Inugami delivers vengeance, brings wealth, and drives off rivals on the master's behalf. The spirit chooses emotionally weak or unstable victims to possess. When a master treats Inugami harshly, the spirit can turn on the family and ruin it.

Interactions

Encounters happen across Shikoku — especially Tokushima, Kochi, and Ehime — and across western Kyushu where kitsune (foxes) are scarce. Folklorists explain Inugami as the regional substitute for fox possession (kitsune-tsuki). Victims show clear signs: sudden chest pain, deep jealousy, barking like a dog, and dog-like postures. Inugami-mochi families carry social stigma in their villages — marriage with outsiders is historically restricted — but they also gain wealth and protection through the spirit. Only a priest's exorcism removes the possession.

Other Forms

Some accounts show Inugami in an anthropomorphic dog-man form, dressed in robes. In modern media Inugami appears in Inuyasha (Sesshomaru is described as a powerful Inugami), in Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, in Gugure! Kokkuri-san, in Yo-kai Watch as "Frostail," and in Megami Tensei as a recurring demon. The VTuber Inugami Korone takes her stage name from this spirit.