Yako ornogitsune[2][3] (野狐) is a type ofkitsune (fox spirit), as told inKyūshū. To be possessed by it is called "yako-tsuki" (野狐憑き). The word野狐,lit. 'field fox' or'wild fox', is also used for foxes in the wild in general.[4]
The appearance of a yako is almost completely consistent among all legends; they are black or white, are slightly larger than a mouse, and smaller than a cat.[5] The original yako is said to be invisible to the eye.[6] InHirado,Nagasaki Prefecture, they normally bring along a great crowd that walks with them, and thus there is the phrase "yako's thousand-fox company (ヤコの千匹連れ,yako no senbiki tsure)."[5]
InNagasaki Prefecture,Saga Prefecture, and other places inNorthern Kyūshū, those who are possessed by a yako show symptoms like an illness.[7] OnIki Island, they are also called yako, and since they resembleweasels, it is said that when one of them conceals themselves under a person's armpits, that person would become possessed by a yako. It is said that getting a burn orsmallpox scar licked by a yako results in death, and those who have been afflicted with smallpox would go inside a net in order not to get close to a yako, and protected themselves from a yako getting in by either scattering ashes from anepaulette tree or leaving a sword.[5][6]
InSouthern Kyūshū, family lines would get possessed by a yako, and family lines that raised yako (possessed by a yako) would have their progeny possessed, and if they were no longer able to support it, it would possess its cattle and horses.[5] It is said that the people of families that have a yako could incite the yako to possess those they have bad relations with, and inKiire,Ibusuki District,Kagoshima Prefecture (nowKagoshima), it is said that becoming possessed by it results in becoming a semi-invalid.[5]