A snake-like possessing spirit passed down in certain households
Sontsuru
No one has ever seen its shape. Only the sensation of something moving beneath the skin, and the unseen husk left somewhere in a thicket, mark that it is there.
Overview
Sontsuru is a possessing spirit said to be passed down within certain households in the Hoki region of Tottori. Described as snake- or worm-like, it is said to slip beneath a victim's skin and cause illness, though it is almost never actually seen.
Encounter
Involvement comes through birth into, or marriage into, an old Hoki household said to carry the sontsuru line, not through a chance meeting on the road. Only when a family member falls ill and describes something crawling beneath the skin does the household's reputation as a sontsuru line come to be spoken of.
Lore
Tottori's Hoki region has a tradition of hereditary possessing spirits called tsukimono-suji passed down through certain family lines, of which sontsuru is one name. Most such lines are said to be possessed by foxes, but a family is sometimes called sontsuru when the possessing being is instead a snake- or worm-like tobyo. Belief in tsukimono-suji is found across the Chugoku and Shikoku regions.
Traits
It almost never shows itself, working instead beneath the skin and flesh to afflict the sufferer's body. Asked where its body is, the possessed will answer that they left it in the shade of a tree or in a thicket, and the spirit is said to remain able to possess a person only so long as this shed, empty husk lies hidden nearby.
