Okuri-inu

◆ The legend

Walking alone on a mountain path at night, you hear soft footsteps behind you: a dog is following. Tales like this survive in mountain villages across Japan. Stop, and it stops. Walk on, and it follows again. And if you trip and fall on the path, it's said to pounce at once. But even if you do fall, you can pretend you only sat down for a rest — sigh "dokkoisho," the little grunt people make when settling down — and the okuri-inu won't attack.

Some stories say that once you're safely home, you should say "thank you for seeing me home," and the okuri-inu will go back to the mountains. In some places, people say it was following to protect travelers from other animals, so it isn't simply a creature of fear. In some regions it's called okuri-okami, the "sending-off wolf," and it's thought to carry people's awe and respect for the Japanese wolf that once lived in the mountains.