いぬがみ

Japanese

For pronunciation and definitions of いぬがみ – see the following entry.
犬神
[noun] A (guardian) dog spirit; an attendant/familiar spirit: In Japanese mythology an inugami (lit. a "dog spirit") is a type of shikigami (式神), similar to a familiar spirit, resembling, and usually originating from, a dog, and most commonly carrying out vengeance or acting as guardians on behalf of their 'owner'.
(This term, いぬがみ (inugami), is the hiragana spelling of the above term.)