T6 — Shape-Shifting Animals

Foxes, wolves and monkeys that change their shape or step into human lives.

• Strange Fates
• Shape-Shifting Animals
• Yokai and the Uncanny
• Gods and Belief
• Death, Ghosts and Omens
• Taboos and Customs
• How Places Got Their Names
• Mountain Folk and Strangers
• Spirited Away, Other Worlds
• Origins of Plants and Animals

Tono25 tales

• Tale 20The snake's curse and the snake moundBefore the ill fortune came, while stirring the fodder a large snake, a serpent, often a spirit in disguise, appeared, and though the master told…
• Tale 21Magozaemon and the Inari foxMagozaemon, who had a scholar's temperament, wishing to grow close to a fox, a shape-shifting fox, and to enrich his family's fortune, built an Inari…
• Tale 32Mount Senbangatake's white deer and the Shisuke mountain godsThe swamp at Mount Senbangatake lay in a valley that smelled terribly raw, and the mountain took its name from the time long ago when a hunter called…
• Tale 36The futtachi of monkey and wolfThe futtachi, an animal grown so old it turns uncanny, of the monkey and of the wolf, the mountain wolf once called o-inu, were fearsome things. At…
• Tale 37A pack of wolf and the warding off of fireBetween Sakaige Pass and Wayama Pass, in the old days the packhorse drivers who drove their horses along the night road often met a pack of wolf, the…
• Tale 38A wolf calamity invited by drunkennessThe master of an old family in Otomo village got drunk on sake and imitated the howl of a wolf, the mountain wolf once called o-inu, and the wolf…
• Tale 39The deer eaten by a wolfWhen Sasaki was young, he was returning from the mountain with his grandfather, and near the village, on the bank of a valley stream, they found the…
• Tale 40The wolf's camouflage and coat colorIt was said that if the grass grew to about three sun in height, the wolf, the mountain wolf, once called o-inu, could hide itself within it. It was…
• Tale 41The great pack of wolfs crossing the passOne autumn evening, Sasaki Kahei of Wano went out hunting at Oyachi across Sakaige Crossing, and saw several hundred wolfs, the mountain wolf, once…
• Tale 42The wolf hunt and Tetsu's endAt the foot of Mount Rokkoshi, in a reed-covered hill, a person of Iide village found three wolf cubs, the mountain wolf once called o-inu, killed…
• Tale 43A tale of grappling with bearA man called bear from Kamigo village went hunting with a friend at Mount Rokkoshi on a snowy day. They came upon a large bear, and he threw down his…
• Tale 44The flute-playing man and the futtachiAt a mine in Hashino village, on the ridge continuing from Rokkoshi, a man skilled at the flute who burned charcoal lay on his back in his hut one…
• Tale 45The appearance and habits of the futtachiIt was said that a monkey, old mountain monkeys said to turn uncanny, behaved very much like a human and, being fond of women, often carried off…
• Tale 46Futtachi and the deer hunter's mistakeA man of nearly fifty living in Hayashizaki, Tochinai village, had gone deer hunting on Mount Rokkoshi more than ten years before and blew an oki (a…
• Tale 47Rumor of the futtachi that frightens childrenIn this region, it was customary when scolding children to say, 'The monkey of Rokkoshi will come!' In fact, this mountain had many monkeys, old…
• Tale 48The mischievous monkeys of Sennin PassMany monkeys also lived on Sennin Pass, and it was said that they sometimes played mischievous tricks on passersby, clinging to them or throwing…
• Tale 51The sad love of the otto-doriThe bird that cried with the loneliest voice in the mountains was the otto-dori, a bird said to call for a lost husband. The daughter of a choja, a…
• Tale 52The umaoidori and the omen of famineThe umaoidori, the bird said to call the horses home, resembled a cuckoo. A servant in the household of a choja, a very rich man, let one horse out…
• Tale 53The tale of the cuckoo and the lesser cuckoo sistersThe cuckoo and the lesser cuckoo were once sisters. The elder sister ate the hard part of a potato herself and gave the soft part to the younger one…
• Tale 60The hunter who was bewitched by a foxOld man Kahei of Wano village was waiting in a pheasant blind when a fox, a shape-shifting fox, appeared again and again to drive the pheasants away.…
• Tale 61The stone that turned into a white deerA famous hunter encountered the white deer at Rokkoshi. The white deer was regarded as a god, and though he feared its curse, he fired at it, but the…
• Tale 69The origin of Oshira-samaWhen the father of a poor farmer's daughter learned that she had become husband and wife with her beloved horse, he killed the horse. The daughter…
• Tale 94Kikuzo who wrestled with a foxKikuzo was passing through the woods of Mount Atago with mochi in his robe, which he had received from his sister's house in Kashiwazaki, when his…
• Tale 100Cutting down a fox disguised as a wifeA fisherman of Funakoshi met a woman who looked like his wife on a night road, believed her to be a monster, and stabbed her to death with a kitchen…
• Tale 101The mystery of a fox that manipulated a dead manA traveler stayed the night at an acquaintance's house in Toyomane village, and a dead person rose up on the floor. When he looked closely, he saw a…

Shiwa District18 tales

• No. 7The priest did itFor the sake of a priest who, every time he got drunk on sake at a parishioner's house, was deceived by a fox, a shape-shifting fox, on his way home…
• No. 12Jingaoka Zaemon and Baba MatsukoAt night, the husband joked about the shape of his wife's hand, and the next morning two samurai appeared, saying they had come to take the wife away…
• No. 15Uemontaro and ZaemontaroNeighbors Uemontaro and Zaemontaro stayed one night in a mountain hut, when the mountain gods, gods of the mountains, came late and spoke of the sex…
• No. 18Goose soupAn old man picked up and raised a white dog, and it helped him hunt deer, so that he got meat from the game. The greedy old woman next door imitated…
• No. 20The transformed tea kettleMonjiya no Kichi, who had lost at gambling, met a fox, a shape-shifting fox, near Hodoshima, and gave it red bean rice and herring in exchange for it…
• No. 21The packhorseA horse trader fell into a muddy paddy and swallowed a frog into his body through his rear, and the frog began to croak inside his belly. On the…
• No. 27The cat who made a pilgrimage to IseA married couple kept a cat, borrowed from a family home, to watch the house while they were away. When they joked that the cat was useless, the cat…
• No. 28Monjiya no KichiMonjiya no Kichi, who seemed to be the heir of a choja, a very rich man, was walking across a field in search of a bride when he came upon foxes…
• No. 29The fox's bride-takingMonjiya no Kichi was asked by the choja, a very rich man, to find him a bride, and he asked the foxes, shape-shifting foxes, to disguise themselves…
• No. 32The monkey's night raidA monkey, old mountain monkeys said to turn uncanny, and a crab pounded rice cakes together on a mountain, but the monkey ran off with the mortar and…
• No. 35Okichi and OtamaThe stepmother disliked Okichi, the daughter of the first wife, and tried to kill her with a poisoned bun and with a blade aimed at her as she slept…
• No. 43Destroying the snake's child with mercuryTo help a daughter who had come to carry the child of a snake, a serpent, often a spirit in disguise, the parents drew water into a tub and had her…
• No. 45The otter and the foxA fox, a shape-shifting fox, hungry from the snow, got some fish from an otter. When the fox asked how fish were caught, the otter lied and told it…
• No. 57The old man's field tillingAn old man tilling his field gave a portion of his rice cake to a rat. In gratitude, the parent rat closed the old man's eyes and led him to the…
• No. 60The monkey's brideA choja, a very rich man, had promised his daughter in marriage to a monkey, old mountain monkeys said to turn uncanny, after it plowed his field…
• No. 77The fox's Ubako-samaThe fox of Hodoshima, a shape-shifting fox, used leaves and pheasant feathers to turn into a beautiful girl called Ubako-sama, and entered the…
• No. 79Kachikachi MountainAn old man caught an evil tanuki, a shape-shifting raccoon dog, and while he was away it tricked and killed his old woman, made her into soup, and…
• No. 80The lodging of the tongue-cut sparrowAn honest old man was fond of a sparrow. The greedy old woman next door scolded it for licking her paste, cut its tongue, and it fled. The old man…

Inaba and Hoki6 tales

• No. 5The shaving courtesanIn Tatsumi Pass in Ketaka District, a fox, a shape-shifting fox, lived and enchanted people, shaving off their heads, and troubled the villagers. At…
• No. 8KyozoboA loyal fox named Kyozobo lived on Mount Kyusho at Tottori castle, and served as the lord's messenger, making the round trip of two hundred ri…
• No. 10The bear that helped a manThe woodcutter Kuemon of Hino District, Hoki Province, lost his way in the mountains during a great snowfall, fell into a valley, was buried in snow…
• No. 12The greedy old manAn honest old man dropped a dumpling in the mountains, and when it rolled into a hole, he followed it in and came upon a world of rats. The rats, who…
• No. 13The white hare of InabaThe spiteful elder brother gods of Okuninushi, a god of the land, were on their way to Inaba to court Princess Yakami when, near Utsumi village, Keta…
• No. 14The white hare of InabaA white hare that wished to cross from Oki Island to Inaba tricked the wani, a creature of the sea, into lining up their backs like a bridge while…