Kamaitachi

Kamaitachi is a weasel spirit from the stories, described in the novel through a folk explanation for sudden cuts: people may blame an unseen spirit, or attribute the injury to a sharp wind. The comparison enters a conversation about the Pusher, making Kamaitachi a way to frame the question of whether apparent accidents have an agent behind them or are simply misread as something supernatural.

The Folkloric Explanation

A woman seeking work from Morning Glory compares the Pusher to Kamaitachi. In her account, someone may suddenly find a cut on an arm or leg and cry out that a kamaitachi got them, while the supposed cause is only a sharp wind. She uses the story to suggest that people who blame the Pusher for a person being hit by a car or jumping in front of a train may likewise be inventing an explanation for events that have no hidden instigator.

Morning Glory’s Rebuttal

Morning Glory reverses the woman’s interpretation. He argues that people are mistaken to attribute the cuts to wind: the wind is the made-up explanation, not the spirit. His answer makes the comparison more than a discussion of folklore; it exposes the disagreement between the woman’s skepticism about the Pusher and Morning Glory’s insistence that apparently accidental harm can have an intentional cause.

Narrative Significance

The conversation occurs while Morning Glory is representing the Pusher and the woman is probing for information about the figure. He dislikes her questions, refuses the job, and walks away, but she follows him. As the light is about to turn red, he pushes her into the road, where a pickup truck strikes her. The scene gives the folklore analogy an unsettling narrative force: the supposed hidden agent is not merely a story used to explain misfortune. Morning Glory is an actual human agent who deliberately sets events in motion, while the language of accident and supernatural explanation obscures responsibility.