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).
Weaknesses
- substancesmell of burning fuse (reported deterrent)
- conditiontraveller remains calm / pretends to rest (behavioural prevention)
- conditionbegging without resistance (pleading saves one from attack in some accounts)
- otherbeing spoken to or casually smoking tobacco (reported to pacify in some tales)
Wards
- substancecarrying a burning fuse or source of smoke (Wakan Sansai Zue advises this as a deterrent)
- ritualoffer thanks on arrival / give food (red rice recorded in Chiisagata account)
- otheroffer a single sandal as thanks (regional motif that satisfies the follower)
- conditionspeak to the okuri-inu or casually smoke tobacco to cause it to escort rather than attack
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*Perkʷūnos is the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European thunder‑god hypothesized by comparative linguistics and mythology. Scholarly reconstructions portray him as a storm or thunder figure associated with fructifying rain and as the combatant who fights a multi‑headed water‑serpent to release life‑giving waters; no direct attestations from the Proto‑Indo‑European period survive and the figure is inferred from later Indo‑European traditions.
*Péh₂usōn (reconstructed)
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Abaddon
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Aban Yasht
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Abath
No corroborated folkloric entity named "Abath" is documented in the provided sources. The string appears in the supplied material only as a surname/personal name in Aruban/Dutch-Caribbean archival records and as an unrelated taxonomic or encyclopedic hit; no mythic attributes, origin stories, rituals, or apotropaic practices for an entity called Abath are present in the documents reviewed.
Abatur
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Abatwa (Twa / Batwa)
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Abellio
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Abraham
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Abraun
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Community Record
- [1]Okuri-inu. Wikipedia: Okuri-inu (entry summarizing regional folklore, citing Wakan Sansai Zue, Honchō shokkan, Koyama Masao, and other local sources)wiki
- [2]Chiisagata-gun mindanshū (quoted in secondary summaries). Koyama Masao’s Chiisagata-gun mindanshū (as reported in the Wikipedia summary describing the childbirth and red rice account)folk
- [3]Wakan Sansai Zue (as reported). Wakan Sansai Zue entry paraphrased in modern summaries (reports flight at smell of burning fuse; advises travellers to carry one)literary
- [4]Honchō shokkan (as reported). Honchō shokkan (as cited in secondary summaries; reports that begging and nonresistance will save one)literary
- [5]Modern folklorist hypothesis re: Japanese wolf (Kenji Murakami). Kenji Murakami's suggestion (reported in summaries) that okuri-ōkami legends may reflect behaviour of the historical Japanese wolfother