Portent sound precedes death
A motif, one of the traits figures share. All traits.
Omens
5 figures
To hear them is taken as a sign that someone nearby will die soon, sometimes within days, though the tradition is careful that the hounds are a portent rather than a cause: they do not kill, they announce.
It keeps out those who would disturb the graves — sorcerers, thieves, the irreverent — and in some accounts it appears to warn of a coming death, or is seen by the person about to die.
The sound of Ankou's cart is said to be a portent of doom, with those who hear it advised to avoid looking directly at the apparition, lest they hasten their own demise.
The Wanyūdō's presence is heralded by the sound of a creaking wheel and the smell of burning flesh.
Its most distinctive trait is its bark: the Cù Sìth is said to bay three times, and each bay carries progressively farther, audible for great distances across the hills.