Werewolf Asia

In India and the Asian islands the tiger is the most common animal for transfomation; in Japan, the kitsune (fox), the tanuki (raccoon dog), and sometimes the wolf are invoked.

Common Turkic folklore holds a different, reverential light to the werewolf legends in that Turkic Central Asian shamans after performing long and arduous rites would voluntarily be able to transform into the humanoid “Kurtadam” (literally meaning Wolfman).

Since the wolf was the totemic ancestor animal of the Turkic peoples, they would be respectful of any shaman who was in such a form.