They are said to be the spirit of a Japanese marten-like animal, and it is said that those possessed by one would be afflicted with stomach aches and mental abnormalities. In some areas, it is said that a "mizu-itachi" within ponds are hitogitsune. Though it has "itachi" in its name, they are said to be much smaller than real weasels and stay in a large willow of the pond, and several of them would all make a bustle at once. In the Shimane Prefecture, hitogitsune are considered to be smaller tha a normal fox. Hitogitsune would enter people's bodies and make them ill, and when that person dies, they would bite a hole in that person's belly or back to go outside; it is said that the dead one's body would have a black hole in it somewhere. Families possessed by a hitogitsune are called "hitogitsune-mochi" and it is said that those that are hated by this family would get possessed by one of their hitogitsune. It is said that those possessed by a hitogitsune become pretty much the hitogitsune itself, and through the hitogitsune, they would talk about various things with families that have hitogitsune, walk on all fours like a fox, and like to eat food that foxes like to eat. When someone from a family that has hitogitsune marries, 75 hitogitsune would attack the other family, so families that had hitogitsune tended to be treated coldly and marriages with them tended to be avoided. Also, families that have hitogitsune would grow wealthy as a result of the hitogitsune carrying back riches, but if someone of the family mistreats the hitogitsune, the fortunes of the family, no matter how rich they were, would immediately decline. Furthermore, it is said that anyone who buys the assets of a family that falls to ruin like this would also be attacked by hitogitsune. No matter how presgegious the family, if they ever even get rumored to have hitogitsune, other people would distance themselves from them, leading them to hardship. In the Tottori Prefecture, families possessed by a fox are called "kitsune-zoru," and the foxes that possess such families are called "hitogitsune." It is said that around such a family, 75 kin of the fox would be playing around, and that its true identity was a male weasel. Also, in the Miyagi Prefecture, kuda-gitsune are also called hito-gitsune.
