Raiju

Raiju is the animal-like familiar of the god of thunder, Raijin (also known as Raiden). Michael Ashkenazi writes, "The raiju is another personification of thunder, this time in the form of a weasel- or cat-shaped animal that leaps onto trees and marks them with fiery claws. Lightning burns on trees are said to be formed by a raiju's claws" (276). In the Gold and Silver versions of Pokemon, released in the U.S. in 2000, Raikou, a legendary, cat-like creature, seems to be directly influenced by Raiju.

The legendary Pokemon Raikou (Pokemon Gold..., np).

Raikou seems to fit the visual description of Raiju rather well. The Japanese beast is often referred to as "cat-like" in appearance and Raikou seems to look very much like a feline--in fact, it looks rather like a tiger. Also, it sports wicked claws, like Raiju, who uses them to tear into trees. In the Gold/Silver games, Raikou is described as "A POKEMON that races across the land while barking a cry that sounds like crashing thunder" and that "The rain clouds it carries let it fire thunderbolts at will. They say that it descended with lightning" (np). The fact that Raikou is a lightning-based Pokemon puts it very near on the scale with Raiju, who follows around the god of thunder--in fact, the notion of Raikou having "descended with lightning" is like that of Raiju "descending" with the thunder god during storms. Raikou is also a very rare, legendary creature within the games, which seems analogous to Raiju being a legendary, mythical familiar of the thunder god.