What Is Hyoui? Meaning, Lore, and the Fox Possession and Living Spirit

"Hyoui" is often depicted in ghost stories and horror — a person changed by being taken hold of by something. Behind that image lies a long history of belief and folklore across the world. This article explains what hyoui is — its meaning and lore, fox possession and the living spirit, and possession cultures worldwide — purely as a matter of folklore and culture. It makes no claim that spirits are real.

What hyoui means

Hyoui (spirit possession) is a term for a phenomenon in which a spirit, deity, or animal spirit is said to take hold of a person and affect their mind and body. What takes hold is called a "possessing spirit" (tsukimono). Found widely in the world's religions and folk beliefs, it has served to make sense of a person suddenly changing, or behaving in ways that resist explanation, as an encounter with the unseen. It is a cultural telling, not a verified fact.

"Tsuki" and "mochi" — two forms of possession lore

In folklore studies, possession traditions are sometimes divided into "tsuki" and "mochi." "Tsuki" is a phenomenon in which another spirit temporarily transfers into a person — fox possession is one example. "Mochi," by contrast, is said to be inherited within a family line, and such families were called "fox-holders" (kitsune-mochi) or "inugami lineages." This notion of "mochi" bred discrimination — avoiding marriage ties with particular households — and at times set off serious conflict within local communities. Possession lore was not merely tales of the uncanny; it was inseparable from the very fabric of the community.

Japanese possession lore — fox possession and the living spirit

The best-known Japanese possession lore is kitsunetsuki, "fox possession," in which a fox spirit is said to take hold of a person and alter their words and deeds. The fox was long revered as a messenger of the rice-field god and of the Inari faith, while also being feared as a being that bewitches and possesses people; that very ambivalence sustains the fox-possession telling. Also long told as a form of possession is the ikiryo, the "living spirit" — the fierce resentment or attachment of a living person said to become a spirit and cling to another. The living spirit of Lady Rokujo in "The Tale of Genji" is a famous example. This lore tells of how greatly people's violent emotions have been feared.

Possession cultures around the world

The idea that a deity or spirit takes hold of a person is not Japan's alone. Around the world are widespread cultures of divine possession and trance, in which a god is said to descend into a person during ritual. Studies of shamanism sometimes divide the shaman into an "ecstatic" type, who journeys to the spirit world in person, and a "possession" type, who has spirits descend into the self to convey their words — and Japan's shrine-maiden practices are said to belong mainly to the latter. In other words, possession has been received not only as an object of fear but, at times, as a manifestation of sacred power. It is a cultural form universal to humankind, giving meaning to changes of mind and events of the community as an encounter with the unseen.

"Being possessed," seen through psychology

An uncontrolled possession, in which the mind is seized against one's will, and a controlled possession, in which a god is deliberately invited during ritual — this distinction speaks to us who live today as well. When resentment or anxiety toward someone will not leave your mind, so that you feel driven by it around the clock, a person feels as if "possessed" by something that came from outside the self. Possession lore can also be read as the trace of a wisdom that named emotion too strong to handle as something from outside, in order to keep a distance from it.

Thoughts that take hold of the heart — let them out in words

The lore of possession indirectly portrays how strong emotion can drive a person as if it came from outside the self. Resentment or fixation on someone that will not leave your mind, so that you feel possessed around the clock — this can happen to people of any age. But there is no need to hurl that feeling into real action.

Saved journal text in Noroi Nikki is not public to other users. Put the resentment that won't leave your mind into words first, and set it down from your chest, little by little.

For related lore, see also what a living spirit (ikiryo) is and what juso (a curse) is.