Weasel Demon (巨大なイタチ妖怪) was a demon who attacked a village near his cave.
History[]
This yōkai had taken shelter in a shrine that was inside a cave near a village. The villagers were initially content with leaving it alone since it was just feeding on mountain prey, but then it started to consume their crops and livestock. The villagers asked Miroku, who was actually Hachiemon in disguise at the time, to deal with it. They villagers believed the yōkai to be a tanuki. So Hachiemon believed that he could reason with it since they were both tanuki. When Hachiemon approached the shrine, the yōkai emerged. Hachiemon also believed him to be a tanuki, but the yōkai exclaimed that he was a weasel. He stated that he loved to eat tanuki. He paused for a moment and began to question where the person was actually a human after smelling him. Hachiemon then professed that he was the famous Monk Miroku. The yōkai instantly recognized him as the one with the Kazaana. He planned to consume him and became the strongest yōkai. Hachiemon was able to run away after the yōkai accidentally took a bit into one of Hachiemon's statues. His disguise began to were off as he ran away. The yōkai caught up to him and planned to tern him into stew. He began to attack Hachiemon. He was able momentarily hold him by threatening to use his Kazaana on him, but his disguise had fully worn off after that. Hachiemon begged for his forgiveness once he had been discovered. It was then that the real Miroku and his friends arrived. Miroku offered the yōkai the chance to surrender, but he believed that they were all tanuki that were trying to trick him. He was prepared to attack them, but Miroku unleashed the Kazaana on him.
Realizing that he was the real Miroku, the weasel yōkai became scared and begged for mercy while he was clinging on a rock in order to avoid being sucked in. After hearing him promise to stop, Miroku closed the Kazaana and approached the weasel and sternly ordered him to leave the villagers alone and return to the mountains. The weasel thanked him for his mercy and promised to do so before he ran away to the mountains.
Trivia[]
- A recurring gag throughout the episode that this yōkai was in is that everyone initially mistakes him for a tanuki before he would correct them by saying that he is an itachi.
- Kagome Higurashi was the only one who called his actual species.