KITSUNE 狐

Pronunciation: KEY-tsoo-nay

Translation: Foxes

Also known as: Bake Kitsune (化け狐), changing fox; Yako (野狐), field fox; Yōko (妖狐), bewitching or calamitous fox; Kyūbi no Kitsune (九尾の狐), nine-tailed fox

Overview

Kitsune are foxes that have been an integral part of Japanese culture since ancient times. They have turned up in historical texts, folklore, art, Noh plays, religious stories, superstitions, and have even been blamed for bodily and mental possessions. Kitsune are respected, worshipped, and feared. No matter how you look at it, these gorgeous, clever magical creatures just can’t be ignored. Part of their irresistible appeal might be their extraordinary depth and multifaceted characters. They are at times contradictory, but they are always fascinating.

In Japan, two natural fox species exist: the Hokkaido fox and the Japanese red fox. However, when it comes to the more mystical and supernatural creatures—referred to as bake kitsune—the variations in characteristics are quite diverse. For example, bake kitsune can appear as a seductive shape-shifting beauty who drains men of their life essence, or it can be a doting mother and devoted wife. They can also be malicious spirits that possess people or bring ruin to entire family lines, or they can be messengers for the gods.

These latter type of kitsune are not just divine emissaries; sometimes, they are mistakenly revered as gods themselves. The god the fox serves is called Inari Ōkami (稲荷大神). People, recognizing the special connection between the two, offer prayers to the kitsune to pass on to Inari. They might ask for aid in a great number of areas, including: agriculture, fertility, fishing, business, sword making, clothing, shelter, family safety, tea, sake, prosperity, warfare, sex work, and more. Inari Shinkō (稲荷信仰) is a fox god faith—it’s not quite a religion, but the fox is venerated. It is similar to Ōkami Shinkō (狼信仰), or wolf god faith (mentioned in the Ōkami entry) and Ryūjin Shinkō (龍神信仰), or dragon god faith (mentioned in the Ryū entry).

Background and Popular Stories

The fascination with foxes in Japanese culture may have started back in the Yayoi era (300 B.C.E.–C.E. 300), when rice farmers valued these crafty canines because they safeguarded their crops from rats and other rodents that would otherwise damage their harvests and undermine their fields. There was a touch of enchantment in the way foxes always appeared in spring, just as planting season arrived, offering their help in keeping varmints away. Shrines were even built to properly thank these hardworking animals.

It’s very possible this long association with farming—especially rice—is what linked foxes to Inari Ōkami, also called Ōinari-san or Inari-sama, who is the goddess, god, or non-binary Shinto deity (it is sometimes said to be a combination of three to five different gods) that oversees agriculture. More than thirty thousand of the roughly eighty thousand shrines in Japan are Inari shrines. Many Inari shrines have a pair of fox statues on plinths stationed out front. Occasionally, you’ll notice these venerable vulpines holding one of four items in their mouths or under their paws: rice stalks (symbolizing abundant crops), a scroll (representing knowledge and wisdom and secret Inari techniques), a jewel, or a key (the jewel and key are held by pairs of foxes, with one fox holding each). The latter two items allude to the extremely elusive Jewel and Key Faith (玉鍵信仰), which is an obscure doctrine that involves the worship of Inari. In this belief system, the jewel represents the spiritual virtue of the Inari deity, and the key represents the desire to possess that virtue.