Yikes! Today’s yokai took a long time to finish! I’m sure some of you were wondering where the heck today’s yokai was… Well, here he is, and I hope you’ll find that the extra bit of wait time was worth it!
This yokai was done by special request for a friend who came to my Hyakki Yagyou gallery show in Fukui in August. We asked everyone what their favorite yokai was, and more than one guest was adamant about the Inugami, so I just had to do one. And truly, it is an awesome yokai! I hope you enjoy it!
Inugami
Inugami (犬神)
Inugami are a kind of familiar, or spirit of possession, which are found in Kyushu, Shikoku, and elsewhere in West Japan. They are very similar to fox spirits like Kitsunetsuki, however Inugami are more common in those areas where foxes are not found. There is even evidence of an ancient tradition of Inugami worship stretching from Western Japan down to Okinawa. Powerful sorcerers were said to be able to create these spirits through monstrous ceremonies and use them to all sorts of nefarious deeds. Inugami are also known as In’game and Irigami in various local dialects.
How long the practice of creating Inugami begun is unknown, however, by the Heian period (some 1000 years ago, at the height of classical Japanese civilization) the practice had already been outlawed, along with the use of other animal spirits as tools of sorcery. According to legend, the creation of an Inugami is accomplished like this: the head of a starved dog must be cut off (often this was accomplished by chaining a dog up just out of reach of some food, or else burying it up to its neck, so that it would go berserk out of desperate hunger and its head could be cut off at the point of greatest desperation). Then, the severed head is buried in a street — usually a crossroads where many people pass. The trampling of hundreds or thousands of people over this buried head would add to its stress and cause the animal’s spirit to transform into an Onryou (a a malificent spirit with a serious grudge). Occasionally these severed heads were said to fly about, chasing after food — such was the power of the spirit’s hunger. The head was then baked or dried and enshrined in a bowl, after which the spirit could be used as a kind of fetish by a wicked sorcerer, doing whatever he or she commanded for the rest of time.
Like other Tsukimono, or possession spirits, they are beings of powerful emotion and are very good at possessing emotionally unstable or weak people. They do so usually by entering through the ears and settling into the internal organs. Signs of Inugami possession are chest pain, pain in the hands and feet or shoulders, feelings of deep jealousy, and suddenly barking like a dog. Other victims develop intense hunger and turn into gluttons, and it is said that people who die while possessed by an Inugami have markings on their body like a dog’s tooth and claw marks. Not only humans, but animals like cows and horses, or even inanimate objects, could be possessed by Inugami. Tools that were possessed by such a spirit were said to become totally and completely unusable.
People who found themselves possessed by an Inugami, or even if it was only suspected that a person was possessed, were in for an unfortunate treatment. The only way to be cured of an Inugami-tsuki was to hire another sorcerer to remove it. This could take a very, very long time. On the other hand, as binding souls in this manner was illegal and certainly frowned upon, if an inugami-mochi family was even suspected of bring evil upon another family, the accused family member was forced to apologize and then leave his comfortable estate (for usually it was the upper class who were involved in such black magic) and live on the outskirts of town, secluded from family, friends, and aristocratic life. Even if the victim was eventually cured, the accused family member (and all of his offspring for all generations to follow) usually had to maintain his solitary lifestyle, separated from the rest of society, as he was viewed by others to be wicked and tainted.
The technique for creating these fetishes was passed down along bloodlines, and such families are known as Inugami-mochi. These Inugami-mochi families kept their Inugami hidden in the back rooms of their houses, under their beds, in dressers, or among water jars. It is said that a family owned as many Inugami as there were members of the household, and when a new person joined the family, they too received their own spirit. Inugami were treated like family members by Inugami-mochi families, and most of the time would quickly run out to do their master’s bidding any time their master wanted something. However, like living dogs, occasionally a resentful Inugami might betray a master that grew too abusive or domineering, savagely biting him to death. And while Inugami, like other familiar spirits, were created to bring wealth and prosperity to their families, occasionally they might also cause a family to fall into ruin.
Are you interested in yokai? Can’t get enough of strange Japanese culture? Then you should check out my book, The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, on Amazon.com and learn the story behind over one hundred of these bizarre monsters! | 今日の妖怪を描くのには大変時間がかかりました！次は何の妖怪かなと待ち遠しかった方もいると思います。しかし今日の妖怪は待つに値するものでしたよ！
今回の妖怪は、百鬼夜行展のお客様達から特別にリクエストされたものです。多くの方がお勧めされたように、今回の妖怪はとても興味深いものです。どうぞ今日の妖怪をお楽しみください！
Inugami
Inugami (犬神)
犬神は憑き物であり、九州、四国、その他西日本で伝えられている。狐憑きとよく似ているが、狐が生息していないこれらの地域では犬神が有名である。
犬神信仰は古来から西日本から沖縄にかけて信じられており、強力な呪術師は儀式によって犬神を創る事が出来るとされ、この魂を使って非道な行いをするのだという。犬神は地域によっては「インガメ」，「イリガミ」と呼ばれることもある。
犬神を創りだした時代については知られていないが、平安時代には犬神を含め他の動物を呪物として使う呪術は禁止されていた。伝説によると、犬神を憑けるためには飢餓状態の犬の首を切り落とす必要があるという。首だけ出して体を埋めるか、鎖につないだ状態の空腹な犬の眼の前に食べ物を見せておくと空腹により凶暴になって、そこで犬が最も飢餓状態に達した時に首を切り落とすのだという。
この切断された頭部は辻道に埋められ、人々がこの頭の上の道を踏みつけ行き来する事によって恨みが増してその魂は怨霊となる。時にその切断された頭は食べ物めがけて飛びつくとも言われている。頭は焼いたり乾燥させたりした後に器に入れて祀られ、その魂は呪物として一生術者に使うのだという。
他の憑き物とおなじように強い情動によるものであるため、情緒不安定な人や弱い人間にとり憑くといわれている。犬神は耳から体内に入り内臓に留まるため、犬神を憑けられた人間は胸や手・足・肩に強い嫉妬心のような痛みを持って突然犬のように吠えだすのだという。また、激しい空腹によって大食になり死に至る者までおり、その死体には犬の歯型や掻き傷がみられるといわれている。
犬神は人間に憑くだけではなく、馬や牛などの動物や道具にまで及んでとり憑き、憑かれた者（物）たちは使い物にならなくなるという。
犬神持ちの人が他の家に犬神を憑かせてしまった場合や憑かされたと疑われた場合には、謝罪に行ってその犬神が離れるまで山で隠遁生活を強いられる事もあるという。場合によってはその子孫までそこで暮らさなくてはいけなくなるという。
犬神を使う技術は世襲され、その家系は犬神持ちとして知られており犬神持ちの人々は各々の犬神を床の下、箪笥、水瓶の中などに住まわせるという。犬神は世襲であるため、新しい家族が増えたとしてもその成員もまた犬神持ちになるといわれている。
犬神は主人の求める事のためにすばやく働くとされる。しかし、実態の犬と同じように、時には傲慢で残忍になった主人を裏切って彼を殺してしまう事もあるという。また逆に犬神を祀り上げていればその家に富をもたらすとされているが、その裏には災難があるともいわれている。
他の妖怪にも興味をもっていただけたなら、是非アマゾンから「The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons（百鬼夜行）」をどうぞ！
