Noto otter spirit that snuffs lanterns and makes people wrestle stones
Kabuso
The riverside lantern goes out. A young woman beckons from the dark, but the thing in your arms is a cold stone. "Araya," laughs the wet-tailed beast.
Overview
Kabuso is the Noto and Kaga name for a yokai-like otter, also called kawaso. It is a small black beast said to understand human speech and excel at transformation, much like foxes and tanuki.
Encounter
At night it appears by rivers or roads, snuffing out lanterns and calling to travelers. It may become a young beauty or a boy and trick people into wrestling stones or tree roots.
Lore
Kabuso is recorded in works by Murakami Kenji and Mizuki Shigeru as an Ishikawa otter yokai. Local customs also connect otter spirits with kappa-like water beings.
Traits
It imitates speech but gives strange, evasive answers. By extinguishing lanterns and disguising stones as people, it turns the night road into a stage for trickery.
