In Japanese, otters are called “kawauso”. In Japanese folklore, they fool humans in the same way as foxes (kitsune) and tanuki. In the Noto region, Ishikawa Prefecture, there are stories where they shapeshift into beautiful women or children wearing checker-patterned clothing. If a human attempts to speak to one, they will answer “oraya” and then answer “araya,” and if anybody asks them anything, they say cryptic things like “kawai.” There are darker stories, such as one from Kaga Province (now Ishikawa Prefecture) in which an otter that lives in the castle’s moat shapeshifts into a woman, invites males, and then kills and eats them. In the kaidan, essays, and legends of the Edo period like the “Urami Kanawa”, “Taihei Hyaku Monogatari”, and the “Shifu Goroku”, there are tales about strange occurrences like otters that shapeshift into beautiful women and kill men. In the town of Numatachi, Asa District, Hiroshima Prefecture (now Hiroshima), they are called “tomo no kawauso” and “ato no kawauso”. It is said that they shapeshift into bōzu (a kind of monk) and appear before passers-by, and if the passer-by tries to get close and look up, its height steadily increases until it becomes a large bōzu.
Alias Kawauso (獺、川獺)
Real Names/Alt Names Alt: Tomo no kawauso (伴のカワウソ), Ato no kawauso (阿戸のカワウソ)
Appearance List Gazu Hyakki Yagyō (画図百鬼夜行, “The Illustrated Night Parade of a Hundred Demons” or The Illustrated Demon Horde’s Night Parade, 1776) Vol. 1 “Yin”
Description In Japanese, otters are called “kawauso”. In Japanese folklore, they fool humans in the same way as foxes (kitsune) and tanuki. In the Noto region, Ishikawa Prefecture, there are stories where they shapeshift into beautiful women or children wearing checker-patterned clothing. If a human attempts to speak to one, they will answer “oraya” and then answer “araya,” and if anybody asks them anything, they say cryptic things like “kawai.” There are darker stories, such as one from Kaga Province (now Ishikawa Prefecture) in which an otter that lives in the castle’s moat shapeshifts into a woman, invites males, and then kills and eats them. In the kaidan, essays, and legends of the Edo period like the “Urami Kanawa”, “Taihei Hyaku Monogatari”, and the “Shifu Goroku”, there are tales about strange occurrences like otters that shapeshift into beautiful women and kill men. In the town of Numatachi, Asa District, Hiroshima Prefecture (now Hiroshima), they are called “tomo no kawauso” and “ato no kawauso”. It is said that they shapeshift into bōzu (a kind of monk) and appear before passers-by, and if the passer-by tries to get close and look up, its height steadily increases until it becomes a large bōzu.
