Inugami

[5] The phenomenon of inugami spiritual possession was a kojutsu (also called "kodō" or "kodoku", a greatly feared ritual for employing the spirits of certain animals) that was already banned in the Heian period that was thought to have spread throughout the population, and it was known to involve cutting off the head of a starving dog and burying the dog at a crossroads to inflame its grudges as people pass over its head so that its spirit would turn into a curse that could be used.

[6][7] However, in descriptions of an inugami's appearance, it is said that they have a somewhat large patch of color around the size of a mouse, and they have split ends on their tail, and as they were a species of talpidae, their eyes cannot be seen, and moved in single file one after another.

On the mountain of Iyayama, Miyoshi District, Tokushima Prefecture, the inugami type are called "suikazura," and they are said to be a bit larger than mice and warm themselves by the fireside.

[10] In a book titled "Chiriyahokori" by the kokugaku Oka Kumaomi, it is stated that they have a body length of 1 shaku and 1 sun and looked like bats.

In many cases, it shows how those nomadic peoples who engaged in folk sorcery would earn trust and respect and at the same time be treated with discrimination.

In various parts of Shikoku, there is a custom during marriage to check the bloodlines for inugami, and there were none too few cases when it was a problem related to "assimilation issues" (dōwa mondai).

At the same time, there were also cases where they were not treated like fox spirits that brought fortune into families by being deified, but rather detested as curse gods.