Hengeyokai

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Hengeyokai are a category of monster (or "yokai") within Japanese mythology. Technically a subcategory of obake (shapechanging monsters), although the terms are often used interchangeably, hengeyokai is a generic title used to cover an array of monsters based on the idea of magical animals who can transform into human form, and often times into other shapes as well. The term is actually pretty rare, and more usually these critters are identified as "bakemono" instead. The term is real, and would translate from Japanese as something like "changing phantom", it's just not commonly used - but then, Japanese mythology can be a right clusterfuck to try and unravel.

The list of hengeyokai is pretty damn long, and this is more a collection of the species most obviously connected to this term. It's muddled somewhat because many individual yokai of assorted species can learn to shapeshift, but these species are known to have it as inherent abilities.

Kitsune: Without a doubt the most iconic of all hengeyokai, the kitsune is a shapeshifting fox, often described as gaining multiple tails as its power increases. Cunning and seductive, but as likely to help humans as harm them, it has achieved a great deal of fame. A common myth-related saying suggests kitsunes tend to have seven different forms they can assume.

Tanuki: As popular as kitsunes in its home country, the tanuki myths have had a hard time getting abroad, mostly because of a certain bowdlerization issue. See, the jolly and happy-go-lucky tanuki are considered symbols of good luck, which is most prominently manifested in their enormous ball-sacks. Add in that the real animal, commonly known as the "raccoon dog", only exists in Japan, sometimes leading to translators referring to them as "raccoons" or "badgers", and they've had a hard time getting known. Ironically, although typically depicted as more oafish and goofy than the sleek, elegant kitsunes, tanuki are even better shapeshifters, able to assume eight different forms - which may not be accounting for the stories of them turning their scrotums into things like the shop around them or a palanquin with servants to carry them about.

Bakeneko: Shapeshifting cats are one of the most famous of the "lesser" hengeyokai. In fact, there are three different varieties of bakeneko at the least; the common bakeneko, who can be benevolent or malevolent as it sees fit; the two-tailed, always malevolent nekomata, who love to enslave, kill and eat people; and the kasha, particularly large and fiendish bakeneko who have a taste for corpse meat and are often servitors of hell. All varieties are known for having fire-creating and necromantic powers in addition to their shapeshifting.

Mujina: are shapeshifting badgers, very frequently confused with tanuki in the stories, to the point it's hard to really define them. Like tanuki, they are said to be capable of eight different transformations, and they're supposedly very shy and reclusive, which makes them much more careful about not giving themselves away when they do decide to walk amongst humans. Ironically, this means that Japan's badger-spirits have an attitude closer to the typical D&D elf, despite being more thematically associated with the dwarf.

Itachi: Without a doubt the most obscure of the "true" hengeyokai, itachi are shapeshifting weasels feared for their potent non-shapeshifting magic, which includes hypnotising people to become their slaves and gathering in groups to create huge firestorms. They are said to be the masters of shapeshifting, attributed with wielding nine different forms. Their cousins the Kamaitachi, a trio of super-fast weasels who run around knocking people over and cutting them with sickles, are much more famous.

Kawauso: A more obscure hengeyokai, the kawauso are jovial and friendly shapeshifting otters, who mostly take on human form to play tricks and buy booze.

Sazae-oni: These aquatic hengeyokai are based are turban snails - a sort of spiky sea snail native to Japan - that learn to take on the form of beautiful women in order to lure victims to their doom.

Jorogumo: These are the closest thing in Japanese mythology to a succubus; female spiders who assume the form of beautiful maidens in order to seduce and usually devour men. Their name literally means "whore spider" in its original format, although politeness means the modern version of their name is written with characters that translate as "entangling bride".

Tsuchigumo: Like the jorogumo, these are shapeshifting spiders, but tsuchigumo are more powerful, ambitious and politically minded. The other big difference is in the species; jorogumo are based on golden orb-weavers, whilst tsuchigumo are based on purseweb spiders.

Unagi-hime: Among the more obscure hengeyokai, these are female eels who assume human form in order to interact with humans, often to beg for their assistance in battling other yokai who want to claim their homes.

/tg/ Relevance

Beyond being natural monsters to try and include in games with more of an oriental theme, hengeyokai have appeared in two different roleplaying games.

Dungeons & Dragons

First introduced in the very first edition of Dungeons & Dragons via the "Oriental Adventures" splatbook, the D&D hengeyokai is treated as a singular race divided into sub-races based on which animal forms it can take. This is perhaps the laziest way to handle it, because hengeyokai actually covers a wide variety of different animals who just happen to have "assume human form" as a common trait, but it seems fairly cemented in tradition: D&D has had the hengeyokai appear according to this formula in every edition from 1st to 4th, and they're absent only in 5th edition so far.

Precisely what animal forms of hengeyokai have been availible have varied depending on the edition.

In 1st edition, appearing in the 1e Oriental Adventures, the hengeyokai species available were Carp, Cat, Crab, Crane, Dog, Drake, Fox, Hare, Monkey, Raccoon Dog, Rat and Sparrow.

In 2nd edition, the hengeyokai didn't appear until Dragon Magazine #266, which had a very different lineup: Badger, Dolphin, Falcon, Frog, Lizard, Lynx, Octopus, Owl, Panda, Turtle and Weasel.

In 3rd edition, under the 3e Oriental Adventures, a new lineup appeared that blended elements of both of the previous lists: Badger, Carp, Cat, Crab, Crane, Dog, Fox, Hare, Monkey, Raccoon Dog, Rat, Sparrow and Weasel.

In 4th edition, hengeyokai were again relegated to Dragon Magazine, with the lineup of volume #404 starring the Badger, Carp, Cat, Crab, Crane, Dog, Fox, Hare, Monkey, Raccoon Dog, Rat and Sparrow.

World of Darkness

The Old World of Darkness attempted to broaden its appeal by doing "Oriental Flavors" for several of its gamelines. Out of the original Changing Breeds sourcebook, came the Oriental Therianthropes of the World of Darkness, in the form of the Hengeyokai: Hakken (werewolves), Khans (weretigers), Kitsunes (werefoxes), Kumo (werespiders), Nagahs (wereserpents), Nezumi (wererats), Same-Bito (weresharks), Tengu (wereravens) and Zhong Lung (weredragons).