Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Dog’s Head Thread, Kentō Thread
Category: Dog
The Myth
Long ago in Mikawa Province, a county governor had two wives. Both women raised silkworms and produced fine silk. One year, however, all of the silkworms belonging to one of the wives suddenly died. Her husband lost interest in her and stopped visiting her home, and she gradually fell into poverty.
One day, she discovered a single surviving silkworm on a mulberry leaf. She cared for it tenderly, hoping it would save her fortunes. But before it could grow, her white dog swallowed it.
Though she was overcome with grief, she decided not to punish the dog for the loss of a single worm. Instead, she wept in despair over her misfortune. As she cried before the animal, the dog suddenly sneezed, and from each of its nostrils emerged a thin white thread.
Curious, she pulled the threads, and they continued to unravel without end. She reeled in an enormous amount of silk—so much that it piled up around her like snow. At last, after producing an immense quantity, the dog collapsed and died.
The woman believed that the Buddha had taken the form of a dog to aid her in her suffering. She buried the animal at the foot of a mulberry tree in her field.
Later, her husband passed by her house and, seeing its desolation, entered out of pity. Inside he found his wife living quietly among heaps of beautiful silk, shining white and fine beyond compare. When he heard her story, he regretted abandoning a woman so clearly blessed by divine favor. From then on he remained with her and did not return to the other wife.
The mulberry tree above the dog’s grave grew strong, and the silkworms raised there produced exceptional thread. The silk became known as Inukashira Ito, the “Dog’s Head Thread,” and was sent as tribute to the Imperial Court, where it was valued highly and even used in the Emperor’s garments.
People said that the wife’s virtue from a previous life had brought her both divine aid and the restoration of her marriage, and that the faithful dog had given its life so that she might prosper.
Gallery
Sources
Tyz-Yokai Blog. (n.d.). Inukashira-ito. Retrieved March 1, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1073346122.ht
Interpretive Lenses
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