Both 'Inari' and 'Shohden' are titles of the ranks of gods. These titles are the ones conferred according to the result of Gyohs (disciplines), even though the Gyohs may be done through any kind of substantial bodies. 'An Inari' brings a white fox to the Nipponese mind, but this is wrong because it is not a fox but a god. Inaris will not hear your unreasonable requests, and they can not aid you, in most cases, with things beyond their own proper authority as they are under many higher ranking gods. The point is to reform yourselves so as to abide by divine will. Though many Inaris and Shohdens are servant-gods under an upper god, their duties differ with what kind of authority the gods have under whom they serve. Many of them preside over occupations as their principle type of duty. The greedy persons regard them as the gods who grant them what they desire, and do not consider their real duties and their Superior, and send their selfish prayers up to them. If you cling to them for all sorts of things without reforming yourselves, and pray to them for things outside their authority, they will only be embarrassed. You must not mistake gods for your servants. However familiar Inaris and Shohdens may be with things earthly, they are still nothing beyond what they are, and therefore, they know nothing beyond their own capacities. In other words, they are only what they are. A spirit can not be called an "Inari" or a "Shohden" because it has as great Tsuhriki (personal power) as Inaris or Shohdens do. There live many mischiefs with great Tsuhriki (personal power). There are so many ignorant people who mistake some soul for a god when it happens to get into someone's body and shows them something mysterious pretending to be a god. There live many fox-souls or badger-souls who have established religions here and there by taking advantage of such ignorance. Such souls cannot be aware of the truths in the god world. Some of them dislike their own Gyohs (disciplines) so much that they turn to the easy ways of occupying human bodies and taking food through those bodies. They even engage in business. Thus, you have to be aware that you will fall into great straits if you mistake such souls for Inaris, Shohdens, or other gods without discerning their true character.

 A living thing (except human) who has had a certain Tsuhriki (the power cultivated for oneself) of its own is bestowed with some mission, and, as its missions are achieved one after another, it is given more powerful Jin-tsuhriki (the power given from Heaven), while its substantial body gradually becomes transparent after it turns white over, and in the end, it can even soar into the sky.

 You can not call a fox (Inari' because its body is white, for there are many foxes and badgers with white bodies. There lives an invisible animal called 'Tengu' that is in a different world from the human world even though it lives on the same ground as human. There also live invisible animals such as Kuda-foxes, Kuri-badgers, Mane-badgers, Kokkuris, and many others. They are not lnaris or Shohdens, but merely roughish and mischievous fellows. However, a few of them sometimes recognized by high ranking gods, are bestowed with some mission, and do their duties.

 If you are really protected by some true lnaris or Shohdens, you will have an excellent skill and can carry on a flourishing business. Twenty or thirty more lnaris or Shohdens with various duties make visits of inspection to every house every day. Those who positively reform themselves acknowledging lnaris or Shohdens as guardian deities protecting their family can surely win the upper hand. The animal souls who have not been bestowed with such rank of Myohjin as lnari or Shohden often possess many People in order to get food, establishing religions here and there, and let spiritually insensible people feel grateful by saying quite unreasonable things to them.

 It is of no use trying to apply the affairs of their world to the affairs ofhuman's. Many ofthem possess people, making a living there, or descend upon them, establishing some religion under the pretense of lnaris, Shohdens, or other gods. They cannot know the truth of Heaven. They have a dislike for the missions ordered by upper gods, giving up their missions and occupying human bodies in order to take the easy ways. There live so many insensible people who feel grateful for even a slight spring in a squatted posture that such souls scoff at them, taking advantage oftheir invisibility. If you are possessed by such an animal soul, you can spring up by three feet or so from a squatted posture. However, this is quite useless for you as a human. If you concern yourselves with the religions these fellows establish, your home will be inhabited by them, so that you will almost always suffer from insomnia. By the way of a test, you burn some Senko OVipponese incence sticks) together with some cuts of dried cuttle fish in your room, and you can recover from the insomnia very quickly because such animal souls dislike so much that they are unable to stay and they will run away in horror. Many believers around me have experienced many such instances. Many of people who paid their respects to a certain Faith, Sect, Shrine, Temple, or others always showed their eccentricity before me by doing something quite unbecoming a human.

 When I penetrated an animal soul who had possessed some person's body, the soul revealed its true color and left saying "Very sorry. I possessed this body at X temple. I'l1 leave this body.", and the person became normal the moment the soul left. The shrines, the temples, or others where people have not enshrined the Chinju guardian deities since 1910 are now their ideal spots for living. You must turn them away by deifying and enshrining the Chinju guardian deities.

 Madness is almost always due to such possession if it is not due to syphilitic germs. More than a few people have become absurd and monstrous owing to those fellows.

 A dream of white foxes, red Torii (sacred archways), Sekihan (rice boiled together with red beans), Manjuh (bean jambuns), Arare (rice cake cubes), or Botamochi (rice cake dumpling covered with bean paste) is a divine revelation of lnari's special protection for you.

 A dream of Tenpura, fried meat! Botamochi, Shiosenbei (salted rice crackers), or white raccoon-dogs means Shohden's special protection.

 A dream of salted green-peas is of Hanko's (spotted fox).

 And a dream of broad beans is of Riten's or of weasel with great Tsuhriki (personal power).

 However, the same shall not apply in the case where there is something irregular or abnormal, or you feel uncomfortable or horrible in dreams, and in this case, you must take the dream for a revelation of their curses.

 They live in a world where they tend to be absorbed in curses. The religious men affiliated with the religions they establish also tend to be absorbed in curses. The dreams where you feel yourself in danger are divine revelations that you have already been cursed by those souls. In such case, I recommend you free yourself from the curses by using the Heavenly rules I have taught you. The dream where you see a god standing close to your feet means that the god is hostile to you, and you are under his curse. You have to lift the curse with the Heavenly rule. On the other hand, the ones where you see a god standing close to your pillow means that you are specially protected by the god, or the god is asking for your help. There are also some occasions when you actually see some phantoms, not in dreams. A god sometimes lets you know he is protecting you in this way. Any dream you dream is a divine revelation, and so you should read it with care. If the dream you dreamed means a curse, you have to escape from the danger of the curse with the Heavenly rule, while, if the dream means special protection for you, you should thank gods and pray to them for more protection. Even when you are cursed by Inaris or foxes with comparably great Tsuhriki (personal power), you can easily escape from the curse by eating a kind of melon, and when cursed by Hanko (spotted fox), you will get well quickly by eating salted green-peas. In addition to above food, boiled fish paste, rice with red beans, peaches, food with red beans, or these foods canned will do, too. When cursed by Shohdens or badgers, you can escape from their curses by eating fried meat, Tenpura, roast beef, Botamochi (bean-jam buns), or Shiosenbei (salted rice crackers).

 In case that someone in your family is seriously ill due to their curse or possession, the patient will get well quickly by your praying to gods to put down those souls, or by offering them your apology, and by giving the above food to the patient. After that, of course, you have to do the Kuyoh (saving spirit or making them leave: Ref. Chapt. 25) to escape from danger. When cursed or possessed by Ritens (one of the titles of the gods) or weasles, your belly swells up with gas and you come to break very ill-smelling wind too often, or you suffer from anemia and are sickly. In this case, broad beans, carrots, flesh and meat will bring you relief. However, it goes without saying that you should offer your apology to gods, or you should pray to gods for subjugation if some spirit turns against you, and then, of course, you have to do the Kuyoh to escape from danger.

 When a man is possessed by animal souls like above, his taste in food changes, so that he may come to like the same food that the souls like, and, in respect to nature, he becomes greedy, blustery, or a mimic. Most persons like him have double or triple personalities. What a patient wants to eat is what the souls want to eat, and therefore, when the food is given to the patient, the souls are satisfied with it, and they tend to leave its body, so that the patient gets well faster.

 Madness is often caused by being possessed by those souls. If parasitic souls like these are made to leave the madman's body with a series of Kuyoh-Hohs (the Heavenly rules to save spirits or to make them leave: Ref. Chapt. 25), it is difficult to believe how easily the madness can be cured.

 Many of the madmen show their own habits in compliance with each kind of the animal souls that possess them, and take behavior tinged with animal characteristics, often asking for what the souls want. Therefore, you should judge what they are from their behavior, and give them as much food as they like, and also judge them from the dreams your family dream. If the curses that bring on various disasters are cleared away with a series of Kuyoh-Hohs while you are apologizing to gods for your faults, you will get well gradually and steadily.

 Many kinds of souls are dispatched to possess you due to your various kinds of sins, and therefore, while taking this into consideration, you must get rid of them. A man possessed by fox-souls or badger-souls can guess what you have in your mind or what you think, because they have considerably powerful Tsuhriki (personal power) and are very familiar with the affairs of the human world. But, if they are asked about what you are not thinking, they can not answer. You must not take them hastily for Inaris or Shohdens (gods) because they can guess what you think, or how much money you have in your purse, or sometimes, can guess some of what you had done in your past. Many of fox-souls and badger-souls often haunt and trick you into worshipping them and establishing some religion so that they can get their food and live in idle luxury. Even many of the disciplinarians have been deceived by them. But, if they are exposed, they will always desert the human bodies.

 In case of religion through psychic medium (miko in Nippon), it is very dangerous to participate in the inspired phenomena without attendants with the superior spiritual eye. You may be sure that you will not meet with any accident as long as the phenomena are the ones caused by the Shohdens, Inaris, or other gods who inspire you in order to discharge their duties in obedience to the orders of righteous gods in higher ranks. Your recitation of Namu Chuh Koh Miyoh Hoh Ten (May I be an exemplary person with the best of balance in all respects, full of affection and spirit of co-operation, and in accordance with truth, reason, and law.) silences the wicked spirits, and make them show their true colors immediately, so that you are not imposed upon and twisted round their little finger. Moreover, you will be able to deepen your faith because you will not come to a standstill.

 The Inaris, Shohdens, or other gods by whom your forefathers once had been protected, sometimes come close to your pillow in a dream to give you some notice about your situation.

 You should apologize from your heart to the gods for your fault of being ungrateful to them.

 Even though you are not placed under protection now, an Inari or Shohden will sometimes be sent to specially protect you if only you cling to the gods, and chant ' Namu Chuh Koh Miyoh Hoh Ten' with your whole heart. You must transmit from generation to generation the fact that your family has' been placed under special protection. Only a very few Inaris or Shohdens charged with special protection for humans come down to this world. On occasions when you happen to see their substantial bodies at the places other than god's grounds, it is the time either when they fail in their own missions or when they forsake you and are going to leave their posts where they were ordered to protect you specially. You must not overlook Inaris' and Shohdens' activities under the higher ranking gods' command. However, there live many souls who pretend to be gods, so that you must be careful not to be deceived by them.