Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/234

 of the dog-demon (inu-gami) flows in the veins of certain families. In the "island of the four provinces" (Shikoku) and in the eight provinces forming the "mountain shadow district" (San-in-do), the dog-demon is supposed to have tainted many households, and ignorant folks, before contracting a marriage, are careful to employ an expert who examines the genealogical tables of the bride and bridegroom in order to ascertain whether any trace of the evil influence is apparent. Bakin, Japan's greatest writer of fiction, based his celebrated romance, the "Eight-dog Tale" (Hakken-den), upon the Buddhist doctrine that animals have souls. Frequently characteristic of fox-possessed men is an outrageous insistence on being served with the best of everything at the shortest notice, but when any one lineally related to the dog-demon covets the possessions of a neighbour, the influence of the inu-gami overtakes the latter and quickly reduces him to a state of dementia. It is also supposed that if a member of a dog-demon family casts eyes of longing on viands belonging to another person, they immediately become putrid.

It will readily be conceived that if the dog finds a place in demonology, the cat is not exempted. The latter, indeed, figures prominently in some most aristocratic legends; for example, the sanguinary connection caused by a cat in the noble family of Nabeshima, a story familiar under the name of Nabeshima Sōdō to