Inugami Gyobu (Ehime)

Inugami Gyobu (also Gyobu-danuki) is a tanuki chief said to live in Matsuyama, Ehime, leader of the legendary 808 tanuki of Iyo. He stands alongside Danzaburo-danuki of Sado and Shibaemon-danuki of Awaji among the great named tanuki of Shikoku. His den is placed at the foot of Mount Kutani, and from the late Edo period the popular jitsuroku and koshakubon work Matsuyama Sodo Happyaku-ya Danuki Monogatari recounts how the tanuki band intervened in domain politics, eventually subdued by Inoo Butayu (identified in popular tradition with the protagonist of the Hiroshima Ino Mononoke Roku). Sources include the early-modern jitsuroku and koshakubon Matsuyama Sodo Happyaku-ya Danuki Monogatari, Iyo gazetteers such as the Yoyo Gungo Rigen-shu, and Murakami Kenji's Nihon Yokai Daijiten (Kadokawa, 2005). The Nichibunken Strange Phenomena and Yokai Folklore Database also records Iyo cases.