The Dog's Circle, a group of various power-level yokai who greatly admires Natsume Takashi, due to him being the grandchild of the famous and supremely powerful late exorcist Natsume Reiko.
Youkai, also called Ayakashi, Apparitions, Specters, Demons or Spirits, are supernatural beings that live alongside humans. They are not visible to humans who possess little to no spiritual power, which is most of the population. It has been mentioned multiple times in the series that humans who can see them are rare. One whose spiritual or demonic powers and skills are exceptionally strong are daiyokai; Madara being one main example.
Overview[]
As stated before, only those with strong spiritual powers can see youkai. Youkai all have their own personalities and unique abilities attributed to them. They have diverse habitats and diets. Many feast of fruits, vegetables, and fish but some have developed a liking towards human flesh, especially towards those with strong spiritual powers, noting that they "smell yummy."
Appearance[]
A youkai's appearance ranges from humanoid forms, to shapes, to poofs of cloud or dust, and sometimes strange figures. Many closely resemble animals but are instead, bipedal and even have fur; roughness ranges from very fluffy and soft to crinkly and brittle.
Some are very beautiful and others, the opposite.
Temperament[]
One of Madara's many priceless facial expressions in contrast to his true form of a white wolf spirit.
Youkai temperament is just as diverse, plenty are hostile and have a strong hatred towards mankind. They often mention the deliciousness of humans and those who have strong spiritual power. Whereas others are kind and gentle with a strong sense of duty and are respectful. They also have insecurities and although they claim to not understand human feelings, it is shown that they tend to display human feelings. Natsume has pointed out that they are a nuisance at times and often find joy in messing/tormenting those who can see them, especially when they're young.
Reasonably, they hate and fear (dependent on their level of power/personality) exorcists. Many steer clear or scatter when they hear an exorcist is nearby.
Sumie's true personality is revealed upon being released from the Book of Friends.
As mentioned before, there are different power levels and ranks: low-medium-high ranks. Both Madara and Misuzu are ranked highly in this regard. Some of the lower-leveled ones are tiny and even resemble tiny animals.
There are youkai that are pure evil, finding joy in tormenting and killing humans and even other youkai. One example is Sumie, she was encountered in a hot spring inn where she once terrorized people who visited. Her head was sealed in a jar but the rest of her body escaped. She was powerful enough to break the sealing on her head and when she lied to Natsume so that he would return her name, she wasted no time in attacking and trying to eat him. She was ecstatic to know she'll have a meal and didn't hesitate to express it.
The kind Wooden-Face Youkai comforts a sick Natsume as a child.
Another notable youkai was the one that was sealed away, below the earth. It lacked intelligence and verbal capabilities. It reeked poison and if left to reach the surface, it would've destroyed anything and everything. It was merely a mindless, rampaging monster.
But the most common thing to all youkai is how they request assistance, through threats (and/or kidnapping) rather than simply asking. Mostly seen from the spirits that request Natsume's help due to how strong his innate spiritual powers are.
Powers & Abilities[]
- Longevity: There are capable of living for many centuries unlike humans.
- Decelerated Aging: Most have a slowed aging process over the centuries coupled with their extraordinarily long lifespan.
- Invisibility: To most human beings, they are free to walk among them whenever they please as their presence and form can never perceived or detected by most, save those born with strong spiritual powers. Although some born with even the lowest level of spiritual power like Kaname Tanuma can sense the presence of low-level spirits and even vaguely perceive blurred images of supernatural, spiritual artifacts.
- Flight: Those spirits of extremely high power levels such as Madara and Mizusu are capable of flying at high speed without the need of wings.
- Spiritual Teleporation: A few can teleport great distances in a flash at will.
- Shapeshifting: High-level spirits can assume a humanoid form at will, though low-level ones require a certain potion like the young fox spirit.
- Aura-Reading: Benio is seen to possess this ability, which she used to ascertain the identity of the black cat.
Weaknesses[]
- Sacred Mirror: With one in hand, an exorcist can blind a spirit to ward off an attack by using the reflection of the sun's light. It could even dispel malevolent spirits contaminating a sacred tree. It also reveals whether there are any spirits possessing humans or happen to be behind them to those certain humans who are capable of perceiving them.
Exorcisms: Most fall prey to purification or complete annihilation if they are caught in a powerful spell
- Upside-Down Sealing Spell: This method was created by the young normal human Shin'ichiro Taki completely oblivious that it worked very well enough to seal a strong spirit inside his family's storehouse for many decades.
- Shikigami: By infusing one's spiritual power into an animated paper doll, a spirit can be restrained by it like ropes or even entirely immobilized until the spiritual energy destroys or purify them entirely, no matter how strong it is.
- Purification Blasts/Waves: Emitting a wave of spiritual energy that is effective enough to weaken and drive off spirits of low strength. Tanuma Kaname's father, a Buddhist monk who lacks the spiritual ability to perceive spirits, still manages to cause them pain with his own low-level of innate spiritual powers that he trained endlessly to develop.