INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

We’re finishing off February this week - thankfully spring is round the corner, and the weather will start to get a bit warmer, although being ginger, not sure how much I like the sun, but I do appreciate not turning my heating on. It’s the perfect time to start walking your dogs in the mornings again - but what about ghostly dogs? 

DESCRIPTION:

Yes, this week, we’re heading back over to Japan and looking at the dog spirit, the Inugami. It’s a lesser known yokai, or demon in Japanese - yokai is one of the more common terms I’ll use in any Japanese monster episodes as they would either be classed as yokai or yurei, which means ghosts. I went into them more as a thing in my Jorogumo episode from way back if you’re interested.

The Inugami is described as a man-made spirit that appears in a dog form, usually dressed in human clothing, or in a cloak of some kind - although they can also appear as inanimate objects, humans or other animals from time to time. They are common within the region of West Japan stretching down to Okinawa island in the middle of the Philippine Sea - but can only be found where foxes cannot - I’ll talk about why later.

There are two separate types of Inugami - the most common is sadly the most horrific. This type of Inugami is more seen as a type of familiar, which are created through a ritual called Kojutsu which has been banned since the Henian era over 1000 years ago. This ritual is really horrific, so if you’re squeamish or really bothered by animal abuse, maybe skip the next minute or so - I’ll indicate when it’s over. 

Kojutsu is performed by a sorcerer, and is usually where a faithful family dog is starved to death by its owners, or horrendously starving it with food just out of reach, and burying it up to its neck before decapitating it. The head is then buried beneath a crossroads, and its trapped soul becomes an onryo, or a vengeful spirit. It then is calmed by the food that it left, and becomes loyal to its master again in death. Another method is to get dogs to fight to the death, and the winner is given a fish but before the fish is finished, the dog will be decapitated. Once they have done this, they would mummify the head and bones, and keep them in a special place, keeping the spirit bound to the person who stores them faithfully. 

The gorey and horrible bit is over - it is truly a horrible practice.  

The Inugami would then be faithful and serve their masters, and bring good fortune to the family they serve too. They’re also sometimes known to be able to curse enemies with illness and bring wealth to allies of the family - so that’s why people did it. There are families within Japan called Inugami-mochi families, which are very much frowned upon, but also feared as they had these powers because of their tortured dog spirits - although, they couldn’t tell people about them because of the stigma and the illegality of the practice in the first place, keeping them in secret places around the house. 

The Inugami could turn on the family if it was mistreated still though and cause havoc around the household or even mauling the owner to death - so there is that. But if they were kept well (minus the torture to get them there), they would be passed down within families through generations and there could be as many Inugamis in the household for each person to have one. Of course, there is a class point here too, they were usually very rich families - and some are still around today.

The other type of Inugami is a lot better, but much rarer - and that’s a natural Inugami. There are a few legends behind this one, such as it emerging from a painting to scare off boars or to calm curses and fight their fox counterpart, the Kitsune - which is why when I said that the Inugami will only be in regions without foxes - as they are their natural replacement and competitor, and it is said they have fierce rivalries between them. 

In terms of powers, both types have the same - the most terrifying is possession of weak and emotionally unstable people. Their spirit would enter through the ears of the person, and would settle in their internal organs - causing chest pain, intense hunger, jealousy and the occasional bout of barking. If the person dies whilst possessed, their body would appear with scratch and bite marks all over their body - however if you caught it early enough, a sorcerer could remove this for you over a very long period, costing a hell of a lot of money. They could also possess animals and tools - both of which would become useless and lame overtime whilst possessed.

ORIGIN:

Now onto etymology, the word Inugami is split into two roots, inu meaning dog (which fun fact is why a Shiba Inu is called that - and Shiba meaning brushwood, so they’re literally brushwood dogs, the more you know) and gami meaning god - so it literally translates into dog-god, which is the same word backwards. It can also be argued that the gami can mean spirit, which does fit more with this monster - but the more popular is god. 

The history of this monster however, is a little more unclear. We know that the practice of creating Inugami was banned within the Henian period in Japan, which was around 794 to 1185. But we’ve not really got any formal reports of this before this time. 

One legend about their original creation is pretty cool though, again we think this is from the Henian period - but it’s of a yokai called a Nue, which will eventually get its own episode, which is a chimaera-type monster, made up of many animals. This monster was made up of a monkey, dog and snake, which was killed by Minamoto no Yorimasa, who was a famous poet and warrior back in the 1100’s. When the monster died, the body of it split into its three gods; the snake-god, the monkey-god and the dog-god - or the Inugami. This one however, only explains these supernatural-created versions and not the cruel man-made practice - although, maybe these came first and people attempted to create their own version of the dog-god from this story. 

A good question for this monster is are they good or evil? Well, it’s kind of down to the master I suppose, they could literally work them like dogs or they could do menial tasks around the house - which itself is pretty cruel, but not inherently evil. I don’t think there’s any evil intent in this monster, but the creation of them clearly breaks their spirit enough to get them to obey the same master who slaughtered it - so it’s more of a good boy spirit that has been manipulated by people. We see this in cases of abused dogs though, where they are still happy to see people after horrific abuse at the hands of them - dogs are just good boys. 

What this monster represents is the evil-spirit of man, and how they are willing to torture and kill something that is absolutely devoted to them for their own gain. It’s also a symbol of privilege, as this was mostly done by these very wealthy individuals who could afford to get a massively illegal ritual performed for these spirits. On the other hand though, they represent undying (literally) loyalty and love to their families - and as I said - just overall good boys.

The myth is very much alive and kicking in Japan to this day, I chatted to a Japanese colleague of mine who knew of the Inugami, and told me of its significance within Japanese history and culture - which is so nice - so big up for Kohei and thank you for your insight here!

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, we have a few for the Inugami specifically this week - which is always fun!

For art, have a look at the traditional portraits such as Inugami by Sawaki Suushi, Inugami by Sekien Toriyama and Inugami by Bakemono no e for drawings of the monster from around the 1700s. Or you can look at independent artists for more modern takes.

In movies, we have; Inugami, X, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Paranorman & The Haunting.

For TV, we have; Grimm, Inuyasha, Yokai Watch, X, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, Gin Tama, Gugure! Kokkuri-san, Engaged to the Unidentified, Inukami!, Danny Phantom & GeGeGe no Kitarō.

In video games, we have ones such as; Shin Megami Tensei, X: Unmei no Sentaku, X: Card of Fate, Luigi’s Mansion, Warcraft, World of Warcraft & Pokemon.

My book recommendation this week is always Yokai Attack!: The Japanese Monster Survival Guide and Yurei Attack!: The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide by Hiroko Yoda, as they are just fantastic books - I will never stop suggesting these. I'm sorry, but they’re great! 

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed? 1235

I’m going to say I don’t know for this one, because it seems really secretive and underground, which isn’t something I’ve experienced on the podcast before honestly. Although it’s widely talked and known about in Japan, it’s a secretive practice hidden within the elite and wealthy - which I don’t put past the upper class if I’m completely honest. 

And if you’ve been listening for a while, you’ll know that I’m usually sceptical to say a full on yes or no to spirit types and this is no exception to that rule, and because it is still practised, it’s clearly a big enough myth that people still believe in it and the gains from these poor dead doggies. 

It’s an incredibly sad myth actually, and I honestly hope the people who do practise this get eaten by their poor tortured ghost doggies - go you doggies. 

But what do you think? Did the Inugami serve the west side of Japan? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

What a horribly sad, but interesting monster this week - I love covering yokai and yurei, and this one is no exception. I find them so interesting, and I’m so glad there is so much interest from others in them too!

Next week, we’re not heading somewhere in particular, but a specific religion instead - look out for these half snake-half people next Thursday with the amazing Naga from Hindu folklore!

Just a bit of a heads up too, that I’ll be having my annual 2 week March break from the 9th to the 30th March for my birthday - so we’ve got 2 weeks of episodes left, then I’ll be off for a little while, but I will end with a bang and do a St Paddy’s special, so look forward to that!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.