But then the critter is so obscure and poorly-attested even by youkai standards that arguably about anything goes anyway so eh. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯Kenji Murakami did not find any legends that followed this explanatory text and posits that this is nothing more than a made-up imagination based on Sekien's otoroshi picture in the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō (where it perches atop a torii).