An Edo-period rendering of Penghou, organized within the Japanese concept of kodama after scholars and painters absorbed Chinese narratives. It is depicted as a dog with a human face, tied to venerable camphors and other old trees. Echoes in the mountains were taken as the work of tree spirits, and notes on Penghou informed dog-shaped variants within yamabiko imagery. Early modern natural histories cite Chinese texts explicitly, layering foreign entries atop local lore rather than reporting concrete regional怪談, so place-specific tales are scarce. Japanese accounts treat it as a “tree spirit,” equating kimoki with kodama, linking it to taboos on felling and the cult of ancient trees. Details vary across sources, but two elements persist: it appears bleeding from an old tree, and it bears a human-faced canine form. This version eschews embellished fiction to show how Chinese originals were received in Japanese encyclopedias.
Character Profile
This section is our own creative profile for storytelling. It is not historical fact or scholarship.
Yokai Type - Traditional Yokai
Category - Natural Phenomena Spirits
Rarity - Uncommon
Personality - taciturn, highly wary, manifests when its trees are harmed
Compatibility - harms little to those who revere ancient trees, incompatible with those who fell trees recklessly
Abilities - dwells within ancient trees and conceals its presence, appears before those who cut trees, works behind mountain echoes as understood by tradition
Weaknesses - loses its abode when old trees are felled or burned, tends to withdraw when exposed to public view
Habitat - mountain forests rich in ancient trees, shrine groves and stands of old camphor
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