Kitsune and tanuki
Japanese folk belief in shape-shifting foxes and raccoon dogs, and the history of people said to be possessed by them.
Also: fox spirit, kitsune-tsuki, inari fox, raccoon dog
In Japanese tradition the fox, kitsune, and the raccoon dog, tanuki, can take human form and trick people. Foxes are also linked to Inari, the kami of rice and commerce, whose shrines are guarded by fox statues. Folk belief held that a fox could enter a person, an affliction called kitsune-tsuki, and in some regions families were said to keep foxes and were shunned for it, a stigma that damaged marriages and livelihoods into the twentieth century. Tanuki, in contrast, appear in tales as comic tricksters and are shown at shop doors as figures of good fortune. Scholars place the possession belief within a wider history of how Japanese communities described mental distress.