This dog-like tree spirit is recorded in an old Chinese text called the Soūshénjì, in which it is described as such:
The P'eng-hou in the Camphor Tree
In the time of the First Ruler of Wu, Lu Ching-shu was Grand Protector of Chien-an Commandery. Once he dispatched a man to cut down a great camphor tree. Few strokes of the axe had fallen before blood suddenly flowed from the trunk. When it was finally felled, a creature with the face of a man and the body of a dog came forth.
Ching-shu explained, "This is what is known as the p'eng-hou." He had it steamed forthwith and ate it. Its flavor was the same as dog-meat.
The Pai-tse T'u* says: "The spirit of trees is called p'eng-hou. It appears much like a black dog with no tail and can be steamed and eaten.
1
*The Hakutaku's long-lost tome.
The hōkō was also illustrated in Sekien Toriyama's Konjaku Hyakki Shūi. He gave it a similar description:
千歳の木には精あり。状黒狗のごとし。尾なし。面人に似たり。又山彦とは別なり。
There is a spirit in a tree of a thousand years. Its shape is the same as a black dog's. There is no tail. The face resembles a person's. It is also a different thing from the yamabiko.2
1. Gan, Bao; Kenneth J. DeWoskin and J. I. Crump, Jr., translators. (1996). In Search of the Supernatural: The Written Record. Stanford University Press, p. 215. ISBN 0-8047-2506-3.
2. Toriyama p. 142
