Okuri-inu

The Okuri-inu emerges from Japanese mountain-path folklore as a liminal wild-canid spirit that follows nighttime travellers. Stories of the escorting dog/wolf appear across Japan from Tōhoku to Kyushu and are variously classified in local taxonomies (for example, protective okuri-inu vs. attacking mukae-inu). Modern folklorists have hypothesized a historical link between these legends and human encounters with the Japanese wolf — an interpretive proposal offered to explain how observed animal behaviour could be encoded into yōkai narratives — but the primary tradition treats the okuri-inu as a supernatural follower that tests or repays human conduct on dark mountain roads.

Accounts consistently present the Okuri-inu as a canid: either a dog or a wolf depending on region. In some locales it is indistinguishable from a wild wolf (ōkami) and elsewhere called yama-inu (mountain dog); variant forms such as okuri-itachi (sending-off weasel) are also recorded as related follower-spirits. It may appear singly as a single escorting animal or, in some tales, manifest pack behaviour—stories warn that if a traveller falls a pack of dogs will quickly appear and attack. No standardized monstrous anthropomorphism is described in the cited material beyond these canid forms and occasional reports of multiple animals gathering.

The Okuri-inu follows people walking on mountain paths at night and thereby tests travellers' behaviour. If a person falls, panics, or resists, regional accounts report that it (or an accompanying pack) will attack or eat the victim. Conversely, if a traveller remains composed—pretends to be resting rather than succumbing, begs without fighting, speaks to it, or in some accounts casually smokes tobacco—the creature will refrain from attacking and may escort and even protect the person to the trail's end. Specific behaviors recorded include protection of a woman who gave birth on a mountain path (accounts say many okuri-inu gathered around and protected mother and child) and rapid pack attacks triggered by a fallen victim. The literature also records interactions with objects and smells (see wards and weaknesses).