In the Iga region, Mie Prefecture, is a saying, “The fox has seven disguises, the tanuki has eight, and the marten has nine,” and a legend relates how the marten has greater ability in shapeshifting than the fox (kitsune) or tanuki. In the Akita Prefecture and the Ishikawa Prefecture, if a marten crosses in front of someone, it is said to be an omen of bad luck (the weasel has the same kind of legend), and in the Hiroshima Prefecture, if one kills a marten, one is said to soon encounter a fire. In the Fukushima Prefecture, they are also called heko, fuchikari, komono, and haya, and they are said to be those who have died in avalanches in disguise. In the collection of yōkai depictions, the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Sekien Toriyama, they were depicted under the title “鼬”, but this was read not as “itachi” but rather “ten”, and “ten” are weasels that have reached several years of age and became yōkai that have acquired supernatural powers. In the depiction, several martens have gathered together above a ladder and created a column of fire, and one fear about them was that if martens that have gathered together in this form appeared next to a house, the house would catch on fire.
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. 2 “Yang”
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Description In the Iga region, Mie Prefecture, is a saying, “The fox has seven disguises, the tanuki has eight, and the marten has nine,” and a legend relates how the marten has greater ability in shapeshifting than the fox (kitsune) or tanuki. In the Akita Prefecture and the Ishikawa Prefecture, if a marten crosses in front of someone, it is said to be an omen of bad luck (the weasel has the same kind of legend), and in the Hiroshima Prefecture, if one kills a marten, one is said to soon encounter a fire. In the Fukushima Prefecture, they are also called heko, fuchikari, komono, and haya, and they are said to be those who have died in avalanches in disguise. In the collection of yōkai depictions, the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Sekien Toriyama, they were depicted under the title “鼬”, but this was read not as “itachi” but rather “ten”, and “ten” are weasels that have reached several years of age and became yōkai that have acquired supernatural powers. In the depiction, several martens have gathered together above a ladder and created a column of fire, and one fear about them was that if martens that have gathered together in this form appeared next to a house, the house would catch on fire.
