Kitsune
Template:Short description Template:For-multi Template:Italic title
The Template:Nihongo, in popular Japanese folklore, is a fox or fox spirit which possesses the supernatural ability to shapeshift or bewitch other life forms.
General overview
Template:Lang, though literally a 'fox', becomes in folklore a 'fox spirit', or perhaps a type of Template:Lang. They are ascribed with intelligence and magical or supernatural powers, especially so with long-living foxes.Template:Sfn
The kitsune exhibit the ability of Template:Lang, or transforming its shape and appearance, like the tanukiTemplate:RefnTemplate:Efn as well as the ability to Template:Lang, i.e. beguile or bewitch; these terms are related to the generic term Template:Lang meaning "spectre" or "goblin".Template:Sfn Another scholar ascribes the kitsune with being a "disorienting deity" (that makes the traveler lose his way)Template:Refn and such capabilities were also ascribed to badgersTemplate:Sfn (actually tanuki or raccoon dog) and occasionally to cats (cf. bakeneko).Template:Sfn<ref name="miyao2009"/>
The archetypal method by which the kitsune tricks (Template:Lang) humans is to lead them astray, or make them lose their way. The experiences of people losing their way (usually in the mountain after dark) and blaming the kitsune fox has been recounted first or secondhand to folklorists well into the present times.Template:Efn<ref name="ito2023&1999"/>
Other typical standard tricks occur as folktaleTemplate:Efn types: people are tricked into taking a "bath in a night-soil pot" (i.e., manure pitTemplate:RefnTemplate:Refn), or eating "horse-dung dumpling",Template:Refn or accepting "leaf money" (cf. Template:Section link).Template:RefnTemplate:Refn<ref name="yamada1985"/><ref name="yamauchi1980"/>Template:Sfn
The "fox wife" theme occurs in a number of noted medieval works (e.g. Nihon ryōiki),<ref>Template:Harvnb. Chapter 2. "Foxes, Wives and Spirits: Shapeshifting and the Language of Marriage", pp. 33–70</ref> but on that theme, the story of nine-tailed vixen Tamamo-no-mae ('Jewel-algae ladyship') and sessho-seki ("murder stone") deserve special attention,<ref>Template:Harvnb. Chapter 1. "The Jewel Maiden and the Murder Stone: Orientations to Shapeshifting and Signification", pp. 1–32</ref> as well as the story of a vixen Kuzunoha giving birth to the astrologist-magician Abe no Seimei.<ref>Template:Harvnb. Chapter 5.</ref>
The "Fox wife" is also a folktale type category.<ref>{{#invoke:URL|url}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:URL with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y | 1 | 2 }}, # 116ABC Template:Nihongo, pp. 161–170</ref>Template:Refn There is a weather myth that associates sunshine rain with the kitsune's wedding (Cf. Template:Section link), and the folktale type for it.Template:Refn
The fox jewel or tama (cf. Template:Section link) sometimes occur in folktale tradition as something held important by the fox, sometimes as the item necessary for it to transform or conduct other magic.Template:Sfn This and the kitsunebi ('fox-fire') which the creature is reputed capable of firing off (cf. Template:Section link) are standard parts of the pictorial depictions of kitsune, especially on a white kitsune or byakkoTemplate:Sfn (Template:Section link).
The Template:Lang came to be associated with Inari, a Shinto Template:Lang or spirit, and serve as its messengers (Template:Section link). The fox also figures in Buddhist as the mount of the deva Dakini, and there is some conflation between the two deities (Template:Section link).
Another dimension is that the kitsune was thought capable of spiritual possession or kitsunetsuki (q.v.), which was a superstition widespread throughout Japan.<ref name="minkan_shinko_jiten"/> This is multi-faceted: the illness causing possession might be sought to be exorcized by hiring some shaman, but the fox can turn into a benevolent guardian spirit also,Template:Sfn or a case of both as in the case of an 11th century taleTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref name="foster2024-p228">Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvnb</ref> (cf. Kitsunetsuki#Hungry fox).
For an unwanted possession to be exorcised, a professional miko priestess (as in the foregoing tale) or a shugendō priest would be consulted, well into the 20th century as the superstition persisted.Template:Sfn A miko or itako purports to be capable of forcing a controlled possession of herself by a fox spirit, and engage in Template:Illm, a sort of séance to speak on behalf of the spirit.<ref name="foster2009"/><ref>Template:Harvnb: kitsune no kuchiyose; Template:Harvnb: a izuna kuchiyose might also be considered fox spirit summoning ; but Template:Harvnb, et passim, a miko performs such kuchiyose for various spirits not necessarily of the fox kind.</ref>
The concept of certain families being "fox owners" (kitsune-mochi) due to it taming a jinko or ninko were written about in the Edo Period and Meiji era, but appear to be localized around Izumo Province (also further described under kitsunetsuki)<ref name="chamberlain1908"/><ref name="inoue1886"/> which was the backdrop of Lafcadio Hearn's folkloristics.Template:Sfn In Izumo, the "owner" families were feared as being able to unleash the fox spirits on normal people.Template:Sfn
In other regions, it is only the yamabushi or lay priests trained in shugendō who have the reputation of using Template:Nihongo.Template:Sfn In some cases, the fox or fox-spirit summoned is called the osaki.Template:Sfn The familiar may also be known as the Template:Nihongo because they were believed to be so small, or become so small as to fit inside a tube.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
The kitsune appears in numerous Japanese works. Noh (Template:Illm), kyogen (Template:Interlanguage link), or bunraku and kabuki (Template:Illm, Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura) plays derived from folk tales feature them,Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Harvnb: "the most interesting part of fox-literature belongs to the Japanese stage". However, Hearn's example which he excepts as if it is a play with dialogues, is Hizakurige, an Edo Period novel widely known in Japan.</ref> as do contemporary works such as native animations, comic books and video games.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Etymology
The full etymology of Template:Lang is unknown. The oldest known usage of the word is in the text Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki, dating to 794.
Other old sources include the aforementioned story in the Nihon ryōiki (810–824) and Wamyō Ruijushō (c. 934). These old sources are written in Man'yōgana, which clearly identifies the historical form of the word (when rendered into a Latin-alphabet transliteration) as Template:Lang. Following several diachronic phonological changes, this became Template:Lang.
The fox-wife narrative in Nihon ryōiki gives the folk etymology Template:Lang as 'come and sleep',Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn while in a double-entendre, the phrase can also be parsed differently as Template:Lang to mean 'always comes'.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Many etymological suggestions have been made, though there is no general agreement:
- Myōgoki (1268) suggests that it is so called because it is "always (Template:Lang) yellow (Template:Lang)".
- Arai Hakuseki in Template:Lang (1717) suggests that Template:Lang means 'stench', Template:Lang is a possessive particle, and Template:Lang is related to Template:Lang, the word for 'dog'.
- Tanikawa Kotosuga in Template:Lang (1777–1887) suggests that Template:Lang means 'yellow', Template:Lang is a possessive particle, and Template:Lang is related to Template:Lang, the word for 'cat'.
- Ōtsuki Fumihiko in Template:Lang (1932–1935) proposes that the word comes from Template:Lang, which is an onomatopoeia for the bark of a fox, and Template:Lang, which may be an honorific referring to a servant of an Inari shrine.
- Nozaki also suggests that the word was originally onomatopoetic: Template:Lang represented a fox's yelp and came to be the general word for 'fox'; Template:Lang signified an affectionate mood.Template:Sfn
Template:Lang is now archaic; in modern Japanese, a fox's cry is transcribed as Template:Lang or Template:Lang.
Nihongi chronicle
In the Nihon Shoki (or Nihongi, compiled 720), the fox is mentioned twice, as omens.Template:Sfn In the year 657 a byakko or "white fox" was reported to have been witnessed in Iwami Province,<ref name="nihongi-tr-aston-saimei3"/>Template:Sfn possibly a sign of good omen.Template:Efn And in 659, a fox bit off the end of a creeping vine plant held by the laborer (shrine construction worker),Template:Efn interpreted as an inauspicious omen foreshadowing the death of Empress Saimei the following year.<ref name="nihongi-tr-aston-saimei5"/>Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
For pre-historic considerations before the chronicles, Cf. Template:Section link
Template:Anchor Anciently-aged foxes
Template:Illm (1850) argued that there were three classes of foxes, gradable by age, the sky or celestial tenko,Template:Refn the white fox byakko and black fox, of which the tenko was the most ancient,Template:Refn but had no corporeal form and was strictly a spiritTemplate:Refn(cf. Template:Section link).
In Japanese folklore, Template:Lang have as many as nine tailsTemplate:Sfn (but this is derived straight from Chinese classics, as explained below). Generally, a greater number of tails indicates an older and more powerful Template:Lang; in fact, some folktales say that a fox will only grow additional tails after it has lived 100 years.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn One, five, seven, and nine tails are the most common numbers in folktales.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The story was later introduced or invented (established by the 14th century), that the queen-consort Daji (Japanese pronunciation: Template:Lang) was really a nine-tailed fox that led to the destruction of Yin/Shang dynasty,Template:Efn and the same vixen some 2,000 years later appeared as Tamamo-no-mae in Japan (q.v., also Template:Section link and Hokusai's painting of Tamamo previously as Lady Kayō of India). Tamamo clearly draws from Chinese myth and literature,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn so her being depicted as a golden-furred and Template:NihongoTemplate:Sfn matches precisely what the Chinese classics writes about the celestial fox (tian hu Template:Lang) which a 1,000 year old fox turns into.Template:Refn
(Cf. also Template:Section link)
Inari Shinto deity
According to Hiroshi Moriyama, a professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture, foxes have come to be regarded as sacred by the Japanese because they are the natural enemies of rats that eat up rice or burrow into rice paddies. Because fox urine has a rat-repelling effect, Japanese people placed a stone with fox urine on a hokora of a Shinto shrine set up near a rice field. In this way, it is assumed that people in Japan acquired the culture of respecting Template:Lang as messengers of Inari Okami.<ref>Hiroshi Moriyama. (2007) 「ごんぎつね」がいたころ――作品の背景となる農村空間と心象世界. pp.80–84. Rural Culture Association Japan.</ref>
Inari's kitsune are white, a color of a good omen.Template:Sfn They possess the power to ward off evil, and they sometimes serve as guardian spirits. In addition to protecting Inari shrines, they are petitioned to intervene on behalf of the locals and particularly to aid against troublesome nogitsune, those spirit foxes who do not serve Inari. Black foxes and nine-tailed foxes are likewise considered good omens.<ref name="Ashkenazy148"/>
There can also be attendant or servant foxes associated with Inari, the Shinto deity of rice.Template:Sfn Originally, kitsune were Inari's messengers, but the line between the two is now blurred so that Inari Ōkami may be depicted as a fox. Likewise, entire shrines are dedicated to kitsune, where devotees can leave offerings.Template:Sfn
According to beliefs derived from fūsui (feng shui), the fox's power over evil is such that a mere statue of a fox can dispel the evil kimon, or energy, that flows from the northeast. Many Inari shrines, such as the famous Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto, feature such statues, sometimes large numbers of them.
Swordsmith deity
Aburage
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The fact that Japanese soup noodles garnished with fried slice of tofu called aburage or abura-age are called kitsune udon and kitsune soba (in Eastern Japan) stems from the popular belief the Inari deity (and its fox minions) prefer to be offered the abura-age (or sushi-rice stuffed in aburage pouches, called inarizushiTemplate:Sfn).<ref name="mizusawa2010"/>
However, the custom of offering abura-age must have arisen rather late (in the Edo Period).Template:Refn In comparison, the notion that the fox's favorite food being Template:Nihongo dates farther back, since it is attested in Template:Illm's Matsunoya hikki (c. 1845), which also cites a Muromachi period work Sekyō shō (where there is a metaphor of "springing up like a fox at a yaki-nezumi [roasted rat]").Template:Refn<ref>Template:Illm {{#invoke:URL|url}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:URL with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y | 1 | 2 }}卷九十六</ref>
Watchers of the kyōgen-play Template:Interlanguage link know full well that part of the theatrics involves the fox character being driven crazy by the presence of its favorite food, the "oil-fried young mice",<ref name="kenny1968"/><ref name="koyama1990"/><ref name="omori2003"/>Template:SfnTemplate:Efn While this freak food bait might be thought of as the stuff of popular belief,Template:Efn the oil-fried mouse was an effective bait for trapping foxes, and actually used into the modern era (see fig. right).<ref name="Noshomusho1892"/>
Some commentators have extrapolated (on websites, etc.Template:Sfn) that people used to offer deep-fried mice to Inari Jinja but was switched to vegetarian substitute, but this has already been rejected by scholar Template:Illm who offers an alternate origin, where in the esoteric rites of Dakini buddhism (associated with foxes, cf. Template:Section link) dumpling coated with soy flour was offered, which was people colloquially called something like "oil [dump]ling",Template:Efn which hints at this actually being an oil-fried dough treat as found in Chinese cuisine.Template:RefnTemplate:Refn
Buddhist context
Smyers (1999) notes that the idea of the fox as seductress and the connection of the fox myths to Buddhism were introduced into Japanese folklore through similar Chinese stories, but she maintains that some fox stories contain elements unique to Japan.Template:Sfn
Foxes were blamed as a cause for illness, and the Buddhist liturgy called Template:Nihongo were being performed to exorcize it since those timesTemplate:Sfn (cf. kitsunetsuki).
Kitsune are connected to the Buddhist religion through the Dakiniten, goddesses conflated with Inari's female aspect. Dakiniten is depicted as a female boddhisattva wielding a sword and riding a flying white fox.Template:Sfn
Classifications
A number authors tried to classify and sub-classify the foxes in different ways, starting from the Heian Period, intensifying in the Edo Period.Template:Sfn A sample of it is given as anonymously undated opinions by Lafcadio Hearn.Template:Refn<ref>Hearn's Gimpses; translated by Teiichi Hirai. (1964) {{#invoke:URL|url}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:URL with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y | 1 | 2 }} 1, Gutenberg21; Template:Harvnb; [1896], p. 317</ref>
The Inari Shinto liturgical text Template:Nihongo (1780 colophon) lists five types of foxes to be revered, mainly the three: tenko (celestial), Template:Nihongo, chiko (earth), plus byakko (white), and Template:Nihongo.Template:Sfn Template:Illm's Template:Nihongo ( 1781) appeared, which ranks the Template:Nihongo as the most obtuseTemplate:Efn, followed by the newly created Template:Nihongo, kūko (sky), then tenko (celestial).Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Template:Illm's essay Zen'an zuihitsu, Book 2 (1850) gives his own conclusion that there are Template:Nihongo, graded by age, of which the celestial is the most ancient.<ref name="hyakka_setsurin-zenanzuihitsu1891"/>
Hearn was of the opinion that these precise and intricate stratifications of fox kind according to learned opinion could not be reconciled with the more down-to-earth picture of the kitsune held by the common peasantry.<ref>Template:Harvnb: "One cannot possibly unravel the confusion of these beliefs, especially among the peasantry".</ref>
(Cf. also Template:Section link)
Good vs. evil, or
Hearn's observation was that the Izumo Province during the time of his residence there did conform to the idea that kitsune divided into the good, which are Inari foxes, and the bad. The worst of the bad are called Template:Nihongo (associated with spiritual possession), and there are other bad, called the Template:Nihongo.<ref>Template:Harvnb: "I have only been able after a residence of fourteen months in Izumo.. etc., [made] the following very loose summary".</ref>
However, Hearn also doubts that such a stark differentiation between the Inari fox and possession fox (good vs. evil) had always been made by the populace in bygone times, and opines this was something imposed upon by the literati.Template:Sfn A similar verdict is rendered by Template:Illm, that "practitioners of religion and the intelligentsia were the ones who made commonplace the divide between the good fox vs bad fox".<ref>Template:Harvnb:"Template:Lang"</ref> And it was in that milieu that Template:Nihongo in Book 3 of his essay work (1858) set apart Template:Nihongo and yako ('wild foxes') as the bad.Template:Refn According to Miyagawa, the good fox breaks down further into five subtypes: gold, silver, white, black, and celestial.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Eye for eye, favor for favor
One analysis is that the kitsune will avenge malice with malice, but generally does not repay goodwill with malice, and is loyal to its debt.<ref name="EncyRelEthics-lloyd1912"/>
An example of revenge is found in a tale set in Kai Province<ref name="EncyRelEthics-lloyd1912"/> from the 11th century Uji shūi monogatari, where the fox sets fire to a man's home.Template:RefnTemplate:Sfn
An example tale of gratitude involving the dainagon (major counselor) Yasumichi<ref name="EncyRelEthics-lloyd1912"/> occurs in the Kokon Chomonjū of the mid-13th century, , who was pestered by a family of foxes that took up lair at his mansion, and their bake or mischief escalated to a level of intolerance. But the nobleman halted his plan to eradicate them after a fox appeared in his dream to beg mercy. The foxes after that rarely made rowdy noises, except to cry out loud to announce some good fortune about to happen.Template:Refn
Ninko
Template:Main A Template:Lang ("man-fox") according to Lafcadio Hearn is a fox spirit, apparently smaller than the usual fox (no larger than a weasel) except its tail being like a normal full-sized fox's. It is invisible so cannot be detected until it takes possession of some human.Template:Sfn Actually the ninko is considered to be kept by the kitsune-mochi, i.e., families gossiped to own and control a fox that can possess, gaining success via that power.Template:Sfn As Inoue Enryō noted, the ninko held by kitsune-mochi is just a localized version in Izumo (of the lore of "Animal Spirit Families"Template:Sfn), which occurs as the lore of the inkgami or dohyō in neighboring Iwami Province.<ref name="inoue1886"/>
Tricksters
Kitsune are often presented as tricksters, preferring to victimize laymen over monks according to one anthologist,Template:Sfn though this is not always the case, such as with the fictionalized Hakuzōsu, which in one version (Hyaku monogatari) kills the priest and assumes his place.<ref name="gadai-jiten-hakuzosu"/><ref name="okimoto1993"/> In the theatrical comedy (kyōgen) version, the hunter realizes the hoax and makes the fox behave ridiculously using a bait of deep-fried mouse, and then captures the fox.<ref name="kenny1968"/>Template:Efn
A common trick is to transform into a beautiful woman to beguile men.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn (cf. Template:Section link) The Template:Lang that initiates sexual contact may also manifest the ability to suck the life force or spirit from human beings, reminiscent of vampires or succubi.Template:Sfn
Besides the ability to transform, the Template:Lang is credited with kitsune other supernatural abilities such as spiritual possession (Template:Illm), generating fox-fireTemplate:Sfn (cf. kitsunebi and Template:Section link).
Another favorite trick of the fox is to give human fake money.<ref>Template:Harvnb, Type of Tale "108. Leaf Money".</ref> Paper currency turns into a leaf once inside the wallet in modern versions,<ref>Mayer, Fanny Hagin 1984 {{#invoke:URL|url}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:URL with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y | 1 | 2 }}, p. 212</ref> or gold coinage (koban) turns to leaf in older tales.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn
The fox in fable is also famed for tricking humans into eating dumpling (dango) actually made of horse dung.<ref>Template:Harvnb, Type of Tale "105. The Horse-dung Dumpling".</ref> This is alluded to in the novel Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige (1822) colloquially known as Yaji-Kita after the characters making the journey. In one scene, Yajirobē who "imagines that the fox has taken the shape of [Kitahachi]" refuses the mochi offered him on suspicion of it being inedible horse dung.Template:Sfn Foxes are also accused of tricking people into taking a bath in a night soil pot (human manure pit)<ref>Template:Harvnb, Type of Tale "104. Taking a Bath in a Nigh-soil Pot".</ref> or a "cesspool" as Hearn puts it politely.<ref>Template:Harvnb, note</ref>
Tales distinguish kitsune gifts from kitsune payments. If a kitsune offers a payment or reward that includes money or material wealth, part or all of the sum will consist of old paper, leaves, twigs, stones, or similar valueless items under a magical illusion.Template:Sfn True kitsune gifts are usually intangibles, such as protection, knowledge, or long life.Template:Sfn
Shape-shifters
A Template:Lang may take on human form, an ability learned when it reaches a certain age—usually 100 years, although some tales say 50.Template:Sfn
As a common prerequisite for the transformation, the fox must place a leaf (or reeds, weeds) or a skull over its headTemplate:Sfn<ref>Komatsu 1990, pp. 49, 53, 56 apud Template:Harvnb</ref> (cf. Kitsune zōshi picture scroll). The fox's use of skull to transform derives from China, as it is attested in Youyang zazu (9th century).Template:Sfn<ref name="komatsu2003"/> It may have to run a circle around a tree three times to transform.<ref>Mayer, Fanny Hagin 1984 {{#invoke:URL|url}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:URL with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y | 1 | 2 }}, p. 140 apud Template:Harvnb</ref> The imagery held by present-day Japanese is that the fox will place a leaf on its head and do a flip in the air to turn into someone or some thing.<ref name="komatsu2003"/> The use of leaf is hard to explain, but when one examines the corpus of mukashibanashi folktales, the fox frequently stand by water (to look at the reflection of itself) transforms by placing waterweeds on its head, the weed being a sort to ersatz wig.<ref name="komatsu2003"/>。
Common forms assumed by Template:Lang include beautiful women, young girls, elderly men, and less often young boys.<ref name="minzokugaku_jiten" /> These shapes are not limited by the fox's own age or gender,Template:Sfn and a Template:Lang can duplicate the appearance of a specific person.Template:Citation needed Template:Lang are particularly renowned for impersonating beautiful women. Common belief in feudal Japan was that any woman encountered alone, especially at dusk or night, could be a Template:Lang.Template:Sfn Template:Lang ('fox-faced') refers to human females who have a narrow face with close-set eyes, thin eyebrows, and high cheekbones. Traditionally, this facial structure is considered attractive, and some tales ascribe it to foxes in human form.Template:Sfn Variants on the theme have the Template:Lang retain other foxy traits, such as a coating of fine hair, a fox-shaped shadow, or a reflection that shows its true form.Template:Sfn
A medieval tale describes an old fox that transformed into an enormously tall sugi ("cedar") tree, but this raised the suspicion of a man who was searching for his horse; he and his minions shot the tree with arrows, and later a fox was found lying dead.Template:RefnTemplate:Refn
In some stories, Template:Lang retain—and have difficulty hiding—their tails when they take human form; looking for the tail, perhaps when the fox gets drunk or careless, is a common method of discerning the creature's true nature.<ref name="Ashkenazy148">Template:Harvnb</ref> A particularly devout individual may even be able to see through a fox's disguise merely by perceiving them.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Lang can also be exposed while in human form by their fear and hatred of dogs, and some become so rattled by their presence that they revert to the form of a fox and flee.
Yoshitsune story
Template:Main In the fictional kabuki and puppet play material Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura, the premises is that a 1,000 year old mother and father foxes are hunted for their skin to span the special set of tsuzumi drum, known as the Hatsune ("first sound"). The fox kit assumes the shape of Yoshitsune's retainer Tadanobu in order to be with the drum made from its parents, or possibly to take possession of it.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Kitsunebi control
Template:Main The kitsune was purportedly capable of firing off the kitsunebi ("fox fire") flame from their tail by stroking it, as portrayed in the Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga (fig. right),Template:Sfn or by striking the tail against the ground.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Or it might have been the kitsuneTemplate:'s fiery breath, according to regional tradition.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
The kitsune were also said to employ their kitsunebi to lead travelers astray in the manner of a will-o'-the-wisp.Template:Sfn
Spiritual possession Template:Anchor
Template:Main Template:Nihongo, also written Template:Lang, literally means 'the state of being possessed by a fox'.Template:Sfn Stories of fox possession (kitsunetsuki) are widespread throughout Japan.<ref name="minkan_shinko_jiten"/>
Stories of kitsunetsuki s have already been attested during the Heian period,Template:Sfn and the setsuwa narrative blaming illness on a fox spirit in Nihon ryōiki can be taken as an early attestation of kitsunetsuki.Template:Sfn
From a clinical standpoint, those possessed by a fox are thought to suffer from a mental illness or similar condition.<ref name="minkan_shinko_jiten"/> Such illness explanations were already being published by the 19th century, but the superstition was difficult to eradicate<ref name="komatsu1992"/> (cf. Template:Section link).
The patient struck ill by the kitsunetsuki syndrome is evidently unable to speak on the kitsune spirit's mind, so that a (hired) miko exorcist temporarily takes over the possession and explains what the fox wants, as in the case of the narrative in the 11th century Uji shūi monogatari, where the fox discloses it merely craved human food.Template:RefnTemplate:Sfn<ref name="foster2024-p228"/>
The idea of fox possession arguably became more widespread in the fifteenth century.Template:Sfn Various learned men argued fox possession as superstition or an illness during the Edo period to no avail, the superstition persisted.Template:Sfn Lafcadio Hearn picked up on the kitsunetsuki lore during the Meiji Era current near his adoptive home province of Izumo,<ref>Template:Harvnb et seqq.</ref> even while Medical science continued to tried to debunk the myth,Template:Sfn and the belief in fox and other animal spirit owning families regionally persisted even in the studies conducted c. 1960.<ref>Template:Harvnb and note 21, citing Ishizuka, T. (1959). "Tsukimono" MiInzokugaku taikei 8: 28ff</ref>
Familiar spirits
There are families that tell of protective fox spirits, and in certain regions, possession by a Template:Lang,<ref name="minkan_shinko_jiten"/> Template:Lang,<ref name="minzokugaku_jiten" /><ref name="mukashibanashi_jiten"/> Template:Lang,<ref name="minkan_shinko_jiten"/> and hito-gitsune are also called Template:Lang.<ref name="minkan_shinko_jiten"/><ref name="mukashibanashi_jiten" /> These families are said to have been able to use their fox to gain fortune, but marriage into such a family was considered forbidden as it would enlarge the family.<ref name="minkan_shinko_jiten"/> They were also said to be able to bring about illness and curse the possessions, crops, and livestock of enemies.<ref name="mukashibanashi_jiten" /> This caused them to be considered taboo by the other families, which led to societal problems.<ref name="mukashibanashi_jiten" />
The great amount of faith given to foxes can be seen in how, as a result of the Inari belief where foxes were believed to be Inari no Kami or its servant, they were employed in practices of Template:Lang by Template:Lang and Template:Lang practitioners and in the oracles of Template:Lang; the customs related to Template:Lang can be seen as having developed in such a religious background.<ref name="minkan_shinko_jiten"/>
Wives and lovers
Kitsune are commonly portrayed as lovers, usually in stories involving a young human male and a kitsune who takes the form of a human woman.Template:Sfn The kitsune may be a seductress, but these stories are more often romantic in nature. Typically, the young man unknowingly marries the fox, who proves a devoted wife. The man eventually discovers the fox's true nature, and the fox-wife is forced to leave him. In some cases, the husband wakes as if from a dream, filthy, disoriented, and far from home. He must then return to confront his abandoned family in shame.
Nihon Ryōiki
The earliest "fox wife" (Template:NihongoTemplate:Sfn) tale type, concerning a wife whose identity as fox is revealed after being frightened by the house pet dog,Template:Refn occurs in Nihon Ryōiki, an anthology of Buddhist tales compiled around 822.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Harvnb: "prototype of a recurring motif.. the theme of the 'fox wife' kitsune nyōbo 狐女房".</ref> The plotline involves a man who takes a wife, whose identity is later revealed to be a fox pretending to be a woman.
In this story,Template:Refn a man from Template:Interlanguage link, Mino ProvinceTemplate:RefnTemplate:Refn found and married a fox-wife, who bore a child by him. But the household dog born the same time as the baby always harassed the wife, until one day frightened her so much she transformed back into a Template:Nihongo, construed to mean "wild fox".Template:SfnTemplate:EfnTemplate:Sfn Although the husband and wife become separated (during the day), she fulfills the promises to come sleep with him every night,Template:Efn hence the Japanese name of the creature, meaning "come and sleep" or "come always", according to the folk etymology presented in the tale.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Alternate versions of the fox-wife tale appeared later during the Kamakura-period in the works Mizukagami and Fusō Ryakuki of the 12th century.Template:Sfn
The fox-wife's descendants were also depicted as doing evil things by taking advantage of their power.<ref>Yoshihiko Sasama. (1998) Kaii ・ kitsune hyaku monogatari 怪異・きつね百物語. pp. 1, 7, 12. Yuzankaku. Template:ISBN</ref> According to the foregoing story, the fox-wife's child became the first ancestor of the surname Template:Nihongo.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, in another tale from the Nihon Ryōiki, a story was told about a ruffian female descendant;<ref name="watson-tr-2.4">Template:Harvnb, "On a Contest between Two Women of Extraordinary Strength (2:4)", pp. 70–71</ref>Template:Sfn the tale was also placed in the repertoire of the later work Konjaku monogatari.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Here, the woman nicknamed "Mino kitsune" (Mino fox), was tall and powerful and engaged in open banditry seizing goods from merchants.<ref name="watson-tr-2.4"/>Template:Sfn
Abe no Seimei
A well-known example of the fox woman motif involves the astrologer-magician Abe no Seimei, to whom was attached a legend that he was born from a fox-woman (named Kuzunoha), and taken up in a number of works during the early modern period, commonly referred to as "Shinoda no mori" ("Shinoda Forest") material (cf. below).<ref name="nakano-commentary-in-nihonryoiki-tr-nakata1975"/>
The historical Abe no Seimei later developed a fictional reputation of being the scion of fox-kind, and his extraordinary powers became associated with that mixed bloodline.<ref name="Ashkenazy">Template:Harvnb</ref> Seimei was purported to have been born a hybrid between the (non-historical) Abe no Yasuna,Template:Refn and a white fox rescued by him that gratefully assumed the shape of the widower's sister-in-law, KuzunohaTemplate:Efn to become his wife, a piece of fantasy with the earliest known example being the Abe no Seimei monogatari printed 1662, and later adapted into puppet plays (and kabuki) bearing such titles as Shinodazuma ("The Shinoda Wife", 1678) and Template:Interlanguage link ("A Courtly Mirror of Ashiya Dōman", 1734).Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Konjaku monogatari
Another medieval "fox wife" tale is found in the Template:Lang (c. 11–12th century), Book 16, tale number 17, concerning the marriage of a man named Kaya Yoshifuji,Template:Efn but the same narrative about this man and the fox had already been written down by Miyoshi Kiyotsura (d. 919) in Zenka hikiTemplate:Efn and quoted in the Fusō ryakki entry for the 9th month of Kanpyō 8 (Oct./Nov. 896),Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn so it is in fact quite old.Template:Refn
Otogi zōshi
Later the medieval novella Kitsune zōshi (or Kitsune no sōshi) appeared,<ref name="nakano-commentary-in-nihonryoiki-tr-nakata1975"/> which may be included in the Otogi-zōshi genreTemplate:Sfn under the broader definition,Template:Sfn and the Kobata-gitsune include in the 23 titles of the Otogi-zōshi "library" proper.<ref name="nakano-commentary-in-nihonryoiki-tr-nakata1975"/>Template:Sfn It has also been noted that the context in Kitsune zōshi, which is no longer a fox-wife tale strictly speaking, since the man is a Buddhist monk, and though he and the bewitching fox-woman spend a night of sensuality together, he is not taking on a spouse, and he merely suffers humiliation.Template:Sfn
One scene in Kitsune zōshi reveals the foxes caught in the act of performing transformation by placing as skull or human hair on its head<ref name="komatsu2003"/> (cf. image right).
Tamamo-no-mae
The story about the Lady Tamamo-no-Mae developed in the 14th century, claiming that the vixen captivated the Emperor Konoe (reigned 1141–1155).Template:Sfn This was a truly ancient nine-tailed fox, since two thousand years before that, she had been queen-consort Daji to King Zhou of Yin/Shang (Japanese: Template:Nihongo), bringing about the downfall of the dynasty.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn allowing the Western Zhou dynasty to come into being, only to cause its fall too by assuming the persona of the concubine Bao Si and seducing its last emperor.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
After fleeing from Shang dynasty China, she was Template:Nihongo consort named serving King Hanzoku (Kalmashapada of India (cf. figure right below).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Takeda Shingen
Stephen Turnbull, in Nagashino 1575, relates the tale of the Takeda clan's involvement with a fox-woman. The warlord Takeda Shingen, in 1544, defeated in battle a lesser local warlord named Suwa Yorishige and drove him to suicide after a "humiliating and spurious" peace conference, after which Shingen forced marriage on Suwa Yorishige's beautiful 14-year-old daughter Lady Koi—Shingen's own niece. Shingen, Turnbull writes, "was so obsessed with the girl that his superstitious followers became alarmed and believed her to be an incarnation of the white fox-spirit of the Suwa Shrine, who had bewitched him in order to gain revenge." When their son Takeda Katsuyori proved to be a disastrous leader and led the clan to their devastating defeat at the battle of Nagashino, Turnbull writes, "wise old heads nodded, remembering the unhappy circumstances of his birth and his magical mother".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Edo Period
Edo Period scholar Hayashi Razan's Template:Interlanguage link("Study of the Shrines of our Country", 1645) records the lore concerning a man from the Tarui clan,Template:Sfn who wedded a fox and begot the historical Template:Interlanguage link.
Ancestral lines
A number of stories of this type tell of fox-wives bearing children. When such progeny are human, they possess special physical or supernatural qualities that often pass to their own children.<ref name="Ashkenazy148"/>
As aforementioned, the fox wife in the Nihon ryōiki tale gave rise to the ancestral line of the Kitsune-no-atae clan,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and a woman of great strength named "Mino kitsune" belonged to that heritage.<ref name="watson-tr-2.4"/>Template:Sfn
Kitsune no yomeiri
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Other stories tell of kitsune marrying one another. Rain falling from a clear sky—a sunshower—is called kitsune no yomeiri or the kitsune's wedding, in reference to a folktale describing a wedding ceremony between the creatures being held during such conditions.Template:Sfn The event is considered a good omen, but the kitsune will seek revenge on any uninvited guests,<ref>Template:Cite journal A compilation of terms for sun showers from various cultures and languages.</ref> as is depicted in the 1990 Akira Kurosawa film Dreams.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Fox jewel
There is the notion that the kitsune is in possession of a supernatural luminous jewel or tama lodged in their tail (or possibly kept externally), while in the Chinese version the mythical fox has a special jewel or pearl embedded inside its heart.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The jewel on the tail tip is also depicted in Buddhist temple art.Template:EfnTemplate:Sfn
A fox's jewel is described as a round white object the size of a small mandarin orangeTemplate:Refn in a tale from the Konjaku monogatarishū compilation (12th century). The miko (female "exorcist") acting as spiritual medium for the fox is playing with it,Template:Refn and a samurai snatches it away.<ref name="konjakumonogatari-kan27.40"/><ref>Template:Harvnb: "The Story of a Fox Repaying Kindness For Returning Its Treasured Ball"</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb: "The Fox's Ball"</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn
It is held that the fox jewel is necessary for the fox to change shape, or use its magical power.Template:Sfn Another tradition is that the pearl represents the kitsune's soul; the kitsune will die if separated from it for too long.Template:Cn
An anecdote is recorded in the 18th century, which purports that an actual fox jewel was stolen from the creatures by several temple samurai, causing the temple's high priest (Template:Illm, "bishop") distress, prompting its return to the foxes. The stone flashed kitsunebi fire according to the account.Template:EfnTemplate:RefnTemplate:Refn
The fox jewel was frequently discussed under the name of Template:Nihongo in the post-medieval period, and stories about Template:Nihongo is common in the popular telling (recorded oral literature), which often speaks of such stone or tufty object being found or acquired and given over to the custody of a temple, etc., to be enshrined.Template:Refn<ref name="iikura2006"/><ref>Template:Cite web The top data is from Fukushima 1991, followed by Byakko no hōshi no tama, Fukushima 1996, etc., followed by many different name headings.</ref>
(Cf. Template:Section link).
Iconography
In traditional art, the white fox or byakko has been a favorite theme into the Meiji era.Template:Sfn
And the phosphorescent fox is not only depicted with the kitsune-bi fire floating above their heads, but with a luminous jewel (tama) at its tail tip, which Lafcadio Hearn surmises is the same Template:Illm from Buddhism (cf. Mani Jewel and Template:Section link).Template:Sfn
Fox Jewels are a common symbol of Inari and representations of sacred Inari foxes without them are rare.Template:Sfn
In the Buddhist context, the fox is standardly depicted as the creature on which the goddess Dakini rides. The luminous jewel is depicted on the fox's tail.Template:Sfn
Chinese parallels
Folktales from China tell of fox spirits called Template:Lang (Template:Zh) also known as nine-tailed fox (Template:Zh) that may have up to nine tails. These fox spirits were adopted into Japanese culture through merchants as Template:Nihongo.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The earliest "fox wife" (Template:NihongoTemplate:Sfn) tale type in Japan in Nihon Ryōiki (Cf. Template:Section link) bears close resemblance toTemplate:Sfn the Tang dynasty Chinese story Renshi zhuan ("The Story of Lady Ren", c. 800),Template:RefnTemplate:Refn and the possibility has been suggested that this is a remake of the Chinese version.Template:RefnTemplate:Refn A composite fashioned from the confluence of Tang dynasty wonder tales (chuanqi genre, as exemplified by the Renshi zhuan) and earlier wonder tales (Zhiguai genre) has also been proposed.Template:Refn
The trope of the fox as femme fatale in Japanese literature also originates from China. Ōe no Masafusa (d. 1111) in Kobiki or Template:NihongoTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn The femme fatale vixen was the mult-millenarian Tamamo-no-mae who was queen-consort during the Yin/Shang dynasty of China according to the fantastic tale.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Foxes in Japanese archaeology
Foxes and humans lived close together in ancient Japan;<ref name="kaneko_H.1984"/><ref name="seino09"/> this companionship gave rise to legends about the creatures.
The oldest relationship between the Japanese people and the fox dates back to the Jomon period necklace made by piercing the canine teeth and jawbone of the fox.<ref name="kaneko_H.1984">Kaneko, Hiromasa (1984) Kaizuka no jūkotsu no chishiki: hito to dōbutsu no kakawari 貝塚の獣骨の知識―人と動物とのかかわり. pp. 127–128. Tokyo bijutsu. Template:ISBN</ref><ref name ="seino09">Seino, Takayuki (2009) Hakkutsu sareta Nihon retto 2009 発掘された日本列島2009. p. 27. Agency for Cultural Affairs. Template:ISBN</ref>
In popular culture
A traditional game called kitsune-ken ('fox-fist') references the kitsune's powers over human beings. The game is similar to rock paper scissors, but the three hand positions signify a fox, a hunter, and a village headman. The headman beats the hunter, whom he outranks; the hunter beats the fox, whom he shoots; the fox beats the headman, whom he bewitches.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
The kitsune figures in animations, comic books and video games.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Japanese metal idol band Babymetal refer to the kitsune myth in their lyrics and include the use of fox masks, hand signs, and animation interludes during live shows.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Western authors of fiction have also made use of the kitsune legends although not in extensive detail.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
See also
- Fox spirit, a general overview about this being in East Asian folklore
- Template:Lang – a Chinese fox spirit
- Template:Lang – a Korean fox spirit
- Template:Lang – a Vietnamese fox spirit
- Foxes in popular culture, films and literature
- Template:Lang
- Template:Annotated link
- The Sacred Book of the Werewolf
- The Sandman: The Dream Hunters
- Template:Lang
- Template:Lang
- Wild fox koan
Notes
References
Works cited
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite journal