Hito-gitsune

The supplied sources do not record a single unified cosmogonic origin. Regional accounts present the hito-gitsune as the spirit of a small marten/fox/weasel‑like animal that attaches to particular families (hito-gitsune-mochi), becoming part of household identity and social relations rather than arising from a single creation narrative.

Described as markedly smaller than normal foxes or weasels, sometimes portrayed as numerous small mustelid/fox‑like animals. In local accounts (e.g., Shimane) they are explicitly smaller than real foxes; in a pond motif several would gather and "make a bustle" in a willow by the water.

Hito-gitsune are said to enter people's bodies and cause illness (including stomach ailments and mental abnormalities) and to transform possessed persons' behavior (talking with other hito-gitsune families, walking on all fours, preferring fox food). They are credited in tradition with carrying back riches to their households, producing wealth for families that host them, while mistreatment can cause immediate decline. In death narratives a possessing hito-gitsune is said to bite a hole in the corpse's belly or back to emerge, leaving a black hole. Socially, families believed to have hito-gitsune can be sources of possession for disliked outsiders and marriages involving hito-gitsune families are said in accounts to provoke collective attack (a recurring motif cites "75 hito-gitsune" attacking the other family).