A Kawauso is a magical river-otter who has become a yokai after living to an old age. They love to play tricks on humans, though normally are playful rather than malicious.
Like many yokai they also have a fondness for sake and often try to find new ways to steal alcohol from towns, often by dressing up as beggars.
Some Kawauso like to take the form of attractive women to lure men and then playfully change back into their otter form and run away, the most favored form of trickery among Kawauso however is to use their magical sound mimicry skills to confuse, frighten or vex humans.
Very rarely there will be an evil Kawauso who uses their powers to kill and eat humans, but this should be considered no more a norm than with any species, as there can be good and evil beings in almost any society.
In general the Kawauso are harmless, if somewhat annoying, pranksters.