Nichibunken (2002). "Inugami" イヌガミ. Yōkai database 怪異・妖怪伝承データベース. Retrieved 2025-03-12. The top data is inugami from Kōchi Prefecture 1954. Other entries are inugami-mochi, Shimane, 1922; tsukimono, kitsune, tōbyō, Shimane 1948.
Nakamura points out that the avian soul-possessor, actually a kite being called a "celestial fox" (tenko) further indicates how much the "fox" was the stereotypical soul-possessing creature. The term celestial fox as used in China had a different meaning, a supernatural evolution of an aged fox, which Nakamura notes also. It is pointed out that the terms tenko "celestial fox" and tengu "celestial dog" were once often mixed up,[12] and a work as late as the Ainōshō [ja] (1445) states the same.[13] The tengu or rather karasutengu are familiarly depicted as winged or birdlike.
Inoue says the tōhyō name derives from the lore that the spirit was stored in earthenware jars called dobin (土瓶; lit.'earth bottle') apparently pronounced tōhyō in slang.
The Izumo and Hōki Provinces are named in the full title of Jinko benwaku dan which tries to explode the fox possession myth.[22] These provinces occurred within what is now called the San'in region[c] is the honba (≈the capital) of the ninko myth according to Teiri Nakamura [ja].[27]
