Editing Otter (section)

==== Japanese folklore ====
[[File:SekienKawauso.jpg|thumb|"Kawauso" ({{nihongo2|獺}}) from the [[Gazu Hyakki Yagyō]] by [[Sekien Toriyama]]]]
In Japanese, otters are called "kawauso" ({{nihongo2|獺、川獺}}). In Japanese folklore, they fool humans in the same way as foxes ([[kitsune]]) and [[bake-danuki|tanuki]].

In the [[Noto, Ishikawa (Fugeshi)|Noto region]], [[Ishikawa Prefecture]], there are stories where they shapeshift into beautiful women or children wearing checker-patterned clothing. If a human attempts to speak to one, they will answer "oraya" and then answer "araya," and if anybody asks them anything, they say cryptic things like "kawai."<ref>{{Cite book|author=柳田國男|title=妖怪談義|orig-year=1956|year=1977|publisher=講談社|series=講談社学術文庫|isbn=978-4-06-158135-7|page=19}}</ref><ref name="村上">{{Cite book | author=村上健司編著|title=妖怪事典 | year=2000|publisher=毎日新聞社| isbn=978-4-620-31428-0|page=114 }}</ref> There are darker stories, such as one from [[Kaga Province]] (now [[Ishikawa Prefecture]]) in which an otter that lives in the castle's moat shapeshifts into a woman, invites males, and then kills and eats them.<ref>{{Cite book|author=水木しげる|title=妖怪大図鑑|year=1994|publisher=講談社|series=講談社まんが百科|isbn=978-4-06-259008-2|page=59}}</ref><!-- This is an English page; please translate these reference into English -->

In the [[kaidan (parapsychology)|kaidan]], essays, and legends of the [[Edo period]] like the "Urami Kanawa" ({{nihongo2|裏見寒話}}),<ref name="柴田">{{Cite book|author=柴田宵曲|editor=木村新他編|title=柴田宵曲文集|orig-year=1963|year=1991|publisher=小沢書店|volume=6|page=477|chapter=続妖異博物館}}</ref> "Taihei Hyaku Monogatari" ({{nihongo2|太平百物語}}), and the "Shifu Goroku" ({{nihongo2|四不語録}}), there are tales about strange occurrences like otters that shapeshift into beautiful women and kill men.<ref name="村上" />

In the town of Numatachi, Asa District, [[Hiroshima Prefecture]] (now [[Hiroshima]]), they are called "tomo no kawauso" ({{nihongo2|伴のカワウソ}}) and "ato no kawauso" ({{nihongo2|阿戸のカワウソ}}). It is said that they shapeshift into [[Bhikkhu|bōzu]] (a kind of monk) and appear before passers-by, and if the passer-by tries to get close and look up, its height steadily increases until it becomes a large bōzu.<ref>{{Cite book|author=藤井昭編著 | title=安芸の伝説 | year=1976| publisher=第一法規出版 |page=166}}</ref>

In the Tsugaru region, [[Aomori Prefecture]], they are said to possess humans. It is said that those possessed by otters lose their stamina as if their soul has been extracted.<ref name="内田">{{Cite book|author=内田邦彦|title=津軽口碑集|orig-year=1929|year=1979|publisher=歴史図書社|page=126}}</ref> They are also said to shapeshift into severed heads and get caught in fishing nets.<ref name="内田" />

In the [[Kashima District, Ishikawa|Kashima District]] and the [[Hakui District, Ishikawa|Hakui District]] in [[Ishikawa Prefecture]], they are seen as a yōkai under the name ''kabuso'' or ''kawaso''. They perform pranks like extinguishing the fire of the paper lanterns of people who walk on roads at night, shapeshifting into a beautiful woman of 18 or 19 years of age and fooling people, or tricking people and making them try to engage in sumo against a rock or a tree stump.<ref name="村上" /> It is said that they speak human words, and sometimes people are called and stopped while walking on roads.<ref>{{Cite book|author=多田克己|title=幻想世界の住人たち|year=1990|publisher=新紀元社|series=Truth in Fantasy|volume=IV|isbn=978-4-915146-44-2|page=124}}</ref>

In the Ishikawa and Kochi Prefectures, they are said to be a type of kappa, and there are stories told about how they engage in sumo with otters.<ref name="村上" /> In places like the [[Hokuriku region]], [[Kii Province|Kii]], and [[Shikoku]], the otters are seen as a type of kappa.<ref>{{Cite book|author=村上健司|editor=講談社コミッククリエイト編|title=DISCOVER 妖怪 日本妖怪大百科|year=2007|publisher=講談社|series=KODANSHA Official File Magazine|volume=1|isbn=978-4-06-370031-2|page=19|chapter=河童と水辺の妖怪たち}}</ref> In the [[Kagakushū]], a dictionary from the [[Muromachi period]], an otter that grew old becomes a kappa.<ref>{{Cite book|author=香川雅信|editor=吉良浩一編|title=怪 (ムック)|year=2012|publisher=角川書店|series=カドカワムック|volume=37|isbn=978-4-04-130038-1|page=34|chapter=カッパは緑色か?}}</ref>

In an Ainu folktale, in Urashibetsu (in [[Abashiri, Hokkaido|Abashiri]], [[Hokkaido]]), there are stories where monster otters shapeshift into humans, go into homes where there are beautiful girls, and try to kill the girl and make her its wife.<ref>{{Cite book|author=知里真志保|title=アイヌ民譚集|orig-year=1937|year=1981|publisher=岩波書店|series=岩波文庫|isbn=978-4-00-320811-3 |pages=198–200|chapter=えぞおばけ列伝}}</ref>

In China, like in Japan, there are stories where otters shapeshift into beautiful women in old books like ''[[In Search of the Supernatural]]'' and the ''Zhenyizhi'' ({{nihongo2|甄異志}}).<ref name="柴田" />