Inugami ( 犬神 , "dog god/spirit") , like kitsunetsuki , is a spiritual possession by the spirit of a dog , widely known about in western Japan. They seemed firmly rooted until recent years in eastern Ōita Prefecture , Shimane Prefecture , and a part of Kōchi Prefecture in northern Shikoku , and it is also theorized that Shikoku, where no foxes ( kitsune ) could be found, is the main base of the inugami. Furthermore, traces of belief in inugami exists in the Yamaguchi Prefecture , all of Kyushu , even going past the Satsunan Islands all the way to the Okinawa Prefecture . In the Miyazaki Prefecture , the Kuma District , Kumamoto Prefecture , and Yakushima , the local dialect pronounces it "ingami" and in Tanegashima , they are called "irigami." It can also be written in kanji as 狗神.
31-507: 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
62-404: A saw , it would become useless. The idea there exist bloodlines of families that easily get possessed by an inugami as well as bloodlines of inugami themselves come from the regional tales told by the bloodlines of the sorcerers, yamabushi , priests, and fuko that engaged in kodoku. In many cases, it shows how those nomadic peoples who engaged in folk sorcery would earn trust and respect and at
93-463: A curse that could be used. Another method was to bury the dog alive leaving only its head sticking out or attach the dog to a supporting pole, put some food in front of the dog, cut the dog's neck just when it is about to starve so that the head would fly towards and bite at the food, burn the dog into mere bones, put the remains into a vessel, and deify it. By doing so, it will spiritually possess that person forever, granting their wishes. Another method
124-457: A dog. They would enter and invade the human body from the ears, and it's said that those who get possessed by these would develop a personality full of jealousy. In Tokushima Prefecture , it is said that those that get possessed by an inugami would become voracious big eaters and would have teeth marks on their body when they die. Not limited to just humans, inugami would also possess cows and horses and even inorganic materials, and when they possess
155-560: A proposed merger of the towns of Itano District into Itano City in the future. In April 2023 a school of tech entrepreneurship - the first of its kind in Japan - was opened in the Tokushima town of Kamiyama. The students, aged from 15 to 20, will be taught engineering, programming and designing, as well as business skills such as marketing. They will also learn how to pitch their business plans to investors in order to raise money. The man behind it
186-538: A road, plus interest in gold and silver, the insect would devour the home owner. Therefore, this ritual could also be used as a death curse by giving the riches to an ignorant individual. The term kodoku can also be applied to the spirit which is the incarnation of this particular magic (which usually appears in the shape of a worm or other animal). The technique was used in the Nara period . Tokushima Prefecture Tokushima Prefecture ( 徳島県 , Tokushima-ken )
217-432: A weasel with black and white spots. On the island of Aishima in the aforementioned Yamaguchi Prefecture, they are called "inugami nezumi" (inugami mice), and like the long-nosed house mouse, they are said to form groups of 75 mice in a single house. 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
248-482: Is Chikahiro Terada, the boss of Tokyo-based start-up Sansan, which specialises in the digitalisation of business cards. These still play a huge role in Japan's corporate world. Tokushima abounds in agricultural resources and is the site of large-scale production of many different types of vegetables. The plains north of the Yoshino River are particularly fertile and the produce here is often shipped to mainland Japan in
279-489: Is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku . Tokushima Prefecture has a population of 728,633 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,146 km (1,601 sq mi ). Tokushima Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the north, Ehime Prefecture to the west, and Kōchi Prefecture to the southwest. Tokushima is the capital and largest city of Tokushima Prefecture, with other major cities including Anan , Naruto , and Yoshinogawa . Tokushima Prefecture
310-719: Is a type of poisonous magic found in Japanese folklore . It is the Japanese derivative of the Chinese gu magic. It is said to have been widely used in ancient China. It is not clear for how long it has been used, but scholars of Chinese characters such as Shizuka Shirakawa, who advocates the importance of magic in ancient times, have found traces of poison in the oracle bone script of the Yin ;and Zhou dynasties. The earliest record of worms is in
341-748: Is located on the Kii Channel , connecting the Pacific Ocean and Seto Inland Sea , across from Wakayama Prefecture on the Kii Peninsula of the island of Honshu . Tokushima Prefecture is connected to Awaji Island across the Naruto Strait by the Ōnaruto Bridge as part of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway , connecting the prefecture to the city of Kobe and the San'yō Expressway on Honshu. Until
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#1732880885813372-408: 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. Thus, they would seem to be more like kuda-gitsune or osaki rather than dogs, so it does not appear as if they were purely following the legends of kodō curses (such as
403-611: The Meiji Restoration , Tokushima Prefecture was known as Awa Province . In ancient times, Tokushima City belonged to a region known as Myōdō-gun . In the first wave of government consolidation following the abolishment of the fiefdom system and construction of prefectures in 1871, it became known as Myodo Prefecture . At the time, it included the Awa region to the south and the Awaji Island regions as well. In 1873 it further incorporated
434-491: The "Fresh! Tokushima" moving display about the country with its mobile kitchen set to increase general awareness of the local food available in Tokushima Prefecture. Tokushima hosted the official 2007 Asian Basketball Championship . Further, the sports teams listed below are based in Tokushima. Baseball Football (soccer) Tokushima's prefectural symbol is a stylized combination of the hiragana for to and ku ,
465-597: The "dog curse" found in the In Search of the Supernatural ). In fact, it would seem more as if the main focus of these descriptions were imitations of the belief in fox spirits. They also seem similar in appearance to house mouse , and their mouths are said be torn vertically with a pointy end, and in the Ōita Prefecture , they are said to resemble a dsinezumi shrew , and in Toyooka town, Hayami District , Ōita, they are said to be
496-572: The Geography of the Suishu reads: On May 5th, 100 species of insects were collected, the larger ones were snakes, the smaller ones were lice, Place them inside, let them eat each other, and keep what is left of the last species. If it is a snake, it is a serpent, if it is a louse, it is a louse. Do this and kill a person. To create kodoku , sorcerers would mix several insects in a jar, and let them kill one another until only one survived. The fluids of
527-450: The areas around Kobe, Osaka and Kyoto. Produce from Tokushima always claims top shares in markets in the Kansai region and particularly prominent are Naruto sweet potatoes, the citrus fruit " sudachi ", lotus roots and strawberries. The lack of goods heading to Tokyo has led to a relatively low national profile for local Tokushima brands. To combat this, the local Tokushima government now sends
558-432: The family wanted something. However, it is said that sometimes they didn't behave in an obedient manner and would bite to death members of the family that have inugami. It is said that those afflicted with illnesses that come from inugami were unable to be cured by doctors and needed to have the inugami removed by a sorcerer. In Tanegashima , there is a practice called "inugami-tsure" (meaning "taking along an inugami") that
589-516: The fireside. 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. Also, in Asai Ryōi 's Otogi Bōko , the inugami of Tosa Province was told to have a physical appearance with length similar to that of a rice grain and a body that was colored with patches of black and white, among other colors. There are several theories about how inugami came to be, including
620-482: The fourth largest producer of carrots. Japanese indigo is only produced here. Northern Tokushima's growth was accelerated by the completion of the Akashi Channel Bridge, which completes the road connection from Tokushima to Kobe. Industrial development continues around the Tokushima and Naruto districts. In particular, Itano District's Aizumi Town and Kitajima Town have experienced rapid growth, which has led to
651-525: The fragments that flew to Shikoku became inugami. Inugami are explained to be raised in the storage room chests ( tansu ), under the floors, and in the water jugs of the families that have inugami. Like other types of spirit possession, inugami become more easily attached to people who are wildly unstable in emotions. Those who get possessed by it (those who get an inugami attached to them) are said to feel pain in their chest, complain about pain in their arms and feet, suddenly sway without warning, and bark like
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#1732880885813682-446: The insect that survived would be used to poison an individual with a curse that would control them, cause them misfortune, or kill them. The remaining insect could also be used as a sort of "luck charm" granting the one who performed the ritual great wealth. In return the owner is supposed to feed the bug. Neglecting to do so would enrage the insect, if the owner does not equivalently repay the insect by placing all his or her riches beside
713-458: The mountains. Families that had inugami were thought to have prospered and grew wealthy. 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. Kodoku Kodoku ( 蠱毒 , 'curse poison') , also called kodō ( 蠱道 , 'curse method') , kojutsu ( 蠱術 , 'curse technique') , and fuko ( 巫蠱 , 'sorcery curse')
744-572: The northern border of the prefecture. As of April 1, 2012, 9% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks , namely the Setonaikai National Park ; Muroto-Anan Kaigan and Tsurugisan Quasi-National Parks; and Chūbu Sankei , Dochū-Kōtsu , Hashikura , Higashi Sankei , Okumiyagawa-Uchidani , and Ōasayama Prefectural Natural Parks. Eight cities are located in Tokushima Prefecture: These are
775-599: The region currently occupied by Kagawa Prefecture in its borders. In the second wave of government consolidation, on September 5, 1875, the Sanuki Region separated to form the modern day Kagawa Prefecture. On August 21, 1876, Awaji Island separated to join Hyōgo Prefecture and the Awa region separated to form Kochi Prefecture. On March 2, 1880, Myodo Prefecture fully separated from Kochi Prefecture to be inaugurated as Tokushima Prefecture. The Sanuki Mountains run along
806-416: The same time be treated with discrimination. This is because inugami follows people into their descendants, and it was normal for everyday villagers to consider it taboo to marry into an inugami bloodline, and even associating with them was normally seen with apprehension. 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
837-490: The tale that the body of the nue slain by Minamoto no Yorimasa split into 4 parts and scattered and flew to different lands to become inugami, as well as the tale that it was born from Kōbō-Daishi 's painting of a dog that was made for the sake of warding off boars. There is also the legend that when Gennō Shinshō attempted to calm the curse of a sessho-seki by splitting the stone, the fragments that flew off to Kōzuke Province (now Gunma Prefecture ) turned into osaki and
868-506: The towns and villages in each district : Tokushima depends on agriculture, forestry and fisheries. The percentage of agricultural workers and productivity is the second largest in Shikoku next to Kochi. Rice fields occupy the lower region of the Yoshino River and the small, narrow plains along the shore. Much of the remaining land is used for vegetables and flowers. The prefecture is the nation's largest supplier of cauliflower and lotus roots, and
899-449: Was a problem related to "assimilation issues" ( dōwa mondai ). In the legends of Komatsu , Shūsō District , Ehime Prefecture (now part of Saijō ), there were as many inugami as there were people in families that had inugami, and the number of inugami increased each time the family grew larger. It is said that these inugami would pick up cues and understand what the family is thinking and the inugami would immediately go possess them when
930-474: Was performed when a family that had inugami was known or even just suspected without confirmation to have transferred an inugami to another family whereby the family that originally had inugami would bring food into the other family's house to take the inugami along with them and then go to live in seclusion in a hut in the outskirts of town until the newly afflicted person was cured, and it is said that their descendants would continue even after that to live alone in
961-501: Was to set several dogs to fight against each other, give the one dog remaining alive some fish, cut off that dog's head, and eat the remaining fish. In Yamaga , Hayami District , Ōita Prefecture (now Kitsuki ), there were actual cases where a miko did cut off a dog's heads this way, dried the maggots that gathered at the heads, and sold them calling it inugami, and there were also people who were thankful for these and bought them. However, in descriptions of an inugami's appearance, it