Kitsune

In Japanese folklore, kitsune (狐, キツネ, IPA: [kʲi̥t͡sɯne̞] (listen)), are foxes that possess paranormal abilities that increase as they get older and wiser. According to yōkai folklore, all foxes have the ability to shapeshift into human form. While some folktales speak of kitsune employing this ability to trick others—as foxes in folklore often do—other stories portray them as faithful guardians, friends, and lovers.

A nine-tailed fox spirit (kyūbi no kitsune) scaring Prince Hanzoku; print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Edo period, 19th century

Foxes and humans lived close together in ancient Japan;[1][2] this companionship gave rise to legends about the creatures. Kitsune have become closely associated with Inari, a Shinto kami or spirit, and serve as its messengers. This role has reinforced the fox's supernatural significance. The more tails a kitsune has—they may have as many as nine—the older, wiser, and more powerful it is. Because of their potential power and influence, some people make sacrifices to them as to a deity.

Conversely foxes were often seen as "witch animals", especially during the Edo period (1603–1867), and were thought of as goblins who could not be trusted (similar to some badgers and cats).[3]

Origins
A nine-tailed fox, from the Qing edition of the ancient text Classic of Mountains and Seas
Japan is home to two non-fictional red fox subspecies: the Hokkaido fox (Vulpes vulpes schrencki, pictured), and the Japanese red fox (V. v. japonica).
The moon on Musashi Plain (fox) by Yoshitoshi[4]

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.[1][2]

In Nihon Shoki, which was compiled in 720 and is one of the oldest history books in Japan, foxes appeared for the first time as supernatural beings that let people know good omens and bad omens.[5] Various legends about foxes with human personality were first described in Nihon Ryōiki which was compiled around 822. In this story, a man from Mino Province and a kitsune having a female personality get married and have a child, and the kitsune as the wife is described as a person who has a deep resentment against dogs. Also, their descendants are depicted as doing evil things by taking advantage of their power.[6]

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 kitsune as messengers of Inari Okami.[7]

Folktales from China tell of fox spirits called húli jīng (Chinese: 狐狸精) that may have up to nine tails. These fox spirits were adopted to Japanese culture through merchants as kyūbi no kitsune (九尾の狐, lit. 'nine-tailed fox').[8] Many of the earliest surviving stories are recorded in the Konjaku Monogatarishū, an 11th-century Japanese collection of Japanese, Chinese, and Indian literary narratives.[9]

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.[10]

Etymology


The full etymology is unknown. The oldest known usage of the word is in text Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki, dating to 794. Other old sources include 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 ki1tune. Following several diachronic phonological changes, this became kitsune.

Many etymological suggestions have been made, though there is no general agreement:

  • Myōgoki (1268) suggests that it is so called because it is "always (tsune) yellow (ki)".
  • The early Kamakura-period Mizukagami indicates that it means "came (ki) [perfective aspect particle tsu] to bedroom (ne)", from a legend that a kitsune could take a human woman form, marry a man, and bear children.
  • Arai Hakuseki in Tōga (1717) suggests that ki means 'stench', tsu is a possessive particle, and ne is related to inu, the word for 'dog'.
  • Tanikawa Kotosuga in Wakun no Shiori (1777–1887) suggests that ki means 'yellow', tsu is a possessive particle, and ne is related to neko, the word for 'cat'.
  • Ōtsuki Fumihiko in Daigenkai (1932–1935) proposes that the word comes from kitsu, which is an onomatopoeia for the bark of a fox, and ne, which may be an honorific referring to a servant of an Inari shrine.
  • Nozaki also suggests that the word was originally onomatopoetic: kitsu represented a fox's yelp and came to be the general word for 'fox'; -ne signified an affectionate mood.[11]

Kitsu is now archaic; in modern Japanese, a fox's cry is transcribed as kon kon or gon gon.

A widely known folk etymology of the word[12] relates to sleeping and returning home: in classical Japanese, kitsu-ne means 'come and sleep', and ki-tsune means 'always comes'.[13] This appears to be tied to a specific story; it is one of the oldest surviving kitsune tales,[12] and unlike most of those in which a kitsune takes the form of a human woman and marries men, this one does not end tragically.[9][13] From Hamel's translation:[12]

Ono, an inhabitant of Mino (says an ancient Japanese legend of A.D. 545), spent the seasons longing for his ideal of female beauty. He met her one evening on a vast moor and married her. Simultaneously with the birth of their son, Ono's dog was delivered of a pup which as it grew up became more and more hostile to the lady of the moors. She begged her husband to kill it, but he refused. At last one day the dog attacked her so furiously that she lost courage, resumed vulpine shape, leaped over a fence and fled.

"You may be a fox," Ono called after her, "but you are the mother of my son and I will always love you. Come back when you please; you will always be welcome."

So every evening she stole back and slept in his arms.

The folk etymology would have it that because the fox returns to her husband each night as a woman but leaves each morning as a fox she is called kitsune.

Characteristics

Kitsune are believed to possess superior intelligence, long life, and magical powers. They are a type of yōkai. The word kitsune is sometimes translated as 'fox spirit', which is actually a broader folkloric category. This does not mean that kitsune are ghosts, nor that they are fundamentally different from regular foxes. Because the word spirit is used to reflect a state of knowledge or enlightenment, all long-lived foxes were believed to gain supernatural abilities.[10]

There are two common classifications of kitsune:

  • The zenko (善狐, lit. 'good foxes') are benevolent, celestial foxes associated with Inari; they are sometimes simply called Inari foxes in English.
  • On the other hand, the yako (野狐, lit. 'field foxes', also called nogitsune) tend to be mischievous or even malicious.[14]

Local traditions add further types.[14] For example, a ninko is an invisible fox spirit that human beings can only perceive when it possesses them.

This obake karuta ('monster card') from the early 19th century depicts a kitsune. The associated game involves matching clues from folklore to pictures of specific creatures.

Kitsune have as many as nine tails.[15] Generally, a greater number of tails indicates an older and more powerful Kitsune; in fact, some folktales say that a fox will only grow additional tails after it has lived 100 years.[16] (In the wild, the typical lifespan of a real fox is one to three years, although individuals may live up to ten years in captivity.) One, five, seven, and nine tails are the most common numbers in folktales.[17] These kyūbi no kitsune (九尾の狐, 'nine-tailed foxes') gain the abilities to see and hear anything happening anywhere in the world. Other tales credit them with infinite wisdom (omniscience).[18] After reaching 1,000 years of age and gaining its ninth tail, a kitsune turns a white or golden color,[15] becoming a tenko (天狐, 'heavenly/celestial fox'), the most powerful form of the kitsune, and then ascends to the heavens.

Foxes
Inari Ōkami and its fox spirits help the blacksmith Munechika forge the blade Kogitsune-maru ('Little Fox') at the end of the 10th century. The legend is the subject of the noh drama Sanjō Kokaji.

A kitsune may take on human form, an ability learned when it reaches a certain age—usually 100 years, although some tales say 50.[16] As a common prerequisite for the transformation, the fox must place reeds, a leaf, or a skull over its head.[19] Common forms assumed by kitsune include beautiful women, young girls, elderly men, and less often young boys.[20] These shapes are not limited by the fox's own age or gender,[10] and a kitsune can duplicate the appearance of a specific person.[21] Kitsune are particularly renowned for impersonating beautiful women. Common belief in medieval Japan was that any woman encountered alone, especially at dusk or night, could be a kitsune.[22] Kitsune-gao ('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.[23] Variants on the theme have the kitsune retain other foxy traits, such as a coating of fine hair, a fox-shaped shadow, or a reflection that shows its true form.[24]

In some stories, kitsune 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.[25] A particularly devout individual may even be able to see through a fox's disguise merely by perceiving them.[26] Kitsune 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.

One folktale illustrating these imperfections in the kitsune's human shape concerns Koan, a historical person later credited with legendary wisdom and magical powers of divination. According to the story, he was staying at the home of one of his devotees when he scalded his foot entering a bath because the water had been drawn too hot. Then, "in his pain, he ran out of the bathroom naked. When the people of the household saw him, they were astonished to see that Koan had fur covering much of his body, along with a fox's tail. Then Koan transformed in front of them, becoming an elderly fox and running away."[27]

Other supernatural abilities commonly attributed to kitsune include possession, generating fire or lightning, willful manifestation in the dreams of others, flight, invisibility, and the creation of illusions so elaborate as to be almost indistinguishable from reality.[19][24] Some tales speak of kitsune with even greater powers, able to bend time and space, drive people mad, or take fantastic shapes such as an incredibly tall tree or a second moon in the sky.[28][29] Other kitsune have characteristics reminiscent of vampires or succubi, and feed on the life or spirit of human beings, generally through sexual contact.[30]

Kitsunetsuki
A depiction of a kitsunetsuki in the Gyokuzan Gafu by Okada Gyokuzan

Kitsunetsuki (狐憑き, 狐付き), also written kitsune-tsuki, literally means 'the state of being possessed by a fox'. The victim is usually said to be a young woman, whom the fox enters beneath her fingernails or through her breasts.[31] In some cases, the victims' facial expressions are said to change in such a way that they resemble those of a fox. Japanese tradition holds that fox possession can cause illiterate victims to temporarily gain the ability to read.[32] Though foxes in folklore can possess a person of their own will, kitsunetsuki is often attributed to the malign intents of hereditary fox employers.[33]

Folklorist Lafcadio Hearn describes the condition in Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan:[34]

Strange is the madness of those into whom demon foxes enter. Sometimes they run naked shouting through the streets. Sometimes they lie down and froth at the mouth, and yelp as a fox yelps. And on some part of the body of the possessed a moving lump appears under the skin, which seems to have a life of its own. Prick it with a needle, and it glides instantly to another place. By no grasp can it be so tightly compressed by a strong hand that it will not slip from under the fingers. Possessed folk are also said to speak and write languages of which they were totally ignorant prior to possession. They eat only what foxes are believed to like – tofu, aburagé, azukimeshi, etc. – and they eat a great deal, alleging that not they, but the possessing foxes, are hungry.

He goes on to note that, once freed from the possession, the victim would never again be able to eat tofu, azukimeshi, or other foods favored by foxes.

Attempting to rid someone of a fox spirit was done via an exorcism, often at an Inari shrine.[35] If a priest was not available or if the exorcism failed, alleged victims of kitsunetsuki might be badly burned or beaten in hopes of driving out the fox spirits. The whole family of someone thought to be possessed might be ostracized by their community.[34]

In Japan, kitsunetsuki was described as a disease as early as the Heian period and remained a common diagnosis for mental illness until the early 20th century.[36][37] Possession was the explanation for the abnormal behavior displayed by the afflicted individuals. In the late 19th century, Shunichi Shimamura noted that physical diseases that caused fever were often considered kitsunetsuki.[38] The superstition has lost favor, but stories of fox possession still occur, such as allegations that members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult had been possessed.[39]

In modern psychiatry, the term kitsunetsuki refers to a culture-bound syndrome unique to Japanese culture. Those who suffer from the condition believe they are possessed by a fox.[40] Symptoms include cravings for rice or sweet adzuki beans, listlessness, restlessness, and aversion to eye contact. This sense of kitsunetsuki is similar to but distinct from clinical lycanthropy.[41]

Folk beliefs

In folk religion, stories of fox possession can be found in all lands of Japan. Those possessed by a fox are thought to suffer from a mental illness or similar condition.[42]

There are families that tell of protective fox spirits, and in certain regions, possession by a kuda-gitsune,[20] osaki,[20][43] yako,[42] and hito-gitsune are also called kitsunetsuki.[42][43] 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.[42] They are also said to be able to bring about illness and curse the possessions, crops, and livestock of ones that they hate, and as a result of being considered taboo by the other families, it has led to societal problems.[43]

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 dakini-ten by mikkyō and shugendō practitioners and in the oracles of miko; the customs related to kitsunetsuki can be seen as having developed in such a religious background.[42]

Hoshi no tama
"Kitsunebi on New Year's Night under the Enoki Tree near Ōji" in the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo by Hiroshige. Each fox has a kitsunebi floating close to its face.

Depictions of kitsune or people possessed by them may feature round white balls known as hoshi no tama (ほしのたま, lit. 'star balls'). Tales describe these as glowing with kitsunebi.[44] Some stories identify them as magical jewels or pearls.[45] When not in human form or possessing a human, a kitsune keeps the ball in its mouth or carries it on its tail.[16] Jewels are a common symbol of Inari and representations of sacred Inari foxes without them are rare.[46]

One belief is that when a kitsune changes shape, its hoshi no tama holds a portion of its magical power. Another tradition is that the pearl represents the kitsune's soul; the kitsune will die if separated from it for too long. Those who obtain the ball may be able to extract a promise from the kitsune to help them in exchange for its return.[47] For example, a 12th-century tale describes a man using a fox's hoshi no tama to secure a favor;

"Confound you!" snapped the fox. "Give me back my ball!" The man ignored its pleas till finally it said tearfully, "All right, you've got the ball, but you don't know how to keep it. It won't be any good to you. For me, it's a terrible loss. I tell you, if you don't give it back, I'll be your enemy forever. If you do give it back though, I'll stick to you like a protector god."

The fox later saves his life by leading him past a band of armed robbers.[48]

Portrayal
Inari Ōkami appears to a warrior accompanied by a kitsune. This portrayal shows the influence of Dakiniten concepts from Buddhism. Print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

Embedded in Japanese folklore as they are, kitsune appear in numerous Japanese works. Noh, kyogen, bunraku, and kabuki plays derived from folk tales feature them,[49][50] as do contemporary works such as native animations, comic books and video games.[51] 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.[52] Western authors of fiction have also made use of the kitsune legends although not in extensive detail.[53][54][55]

Servants of Inari

Kitsune are associated with Inari, the Shinto deity of rice.[56] This association has reinforced the fox's supernatural significance.[57] 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.[14] Fox spirits are said to be particularly fond of a fried slice of tofu called abura-age, which is accordingly found in the noodle-based dishes kitsune udon and kitsune soba. Similarly, Inari-zushi is a type of sushi named for Inari Ōkami that consists of rice-filled pouches of fried tofu.[58] There is speculation among folklorists as to whether another Shinto fox deity existed in the past. Foxes have long been worshipped as kami.[59]

Inari's kitsune are white, a color of a good omen.[14] 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.[25]

According to beliefs derived from fusui (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.

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.[60]

Tricksters
The Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto features numerous kitsune statues.

Kitsune are often presented as tricksters, with motives that vary from mischief to malevolence. Stories tell of kitsune playing tricks on overly proud samurai, greedy merchants, and boastful commoners, while the crueler ones abuse poor tradesmen and farmers or devout Buddhist monks. Their victims are usually men; women are possessed instead.[22] For example, kitsune are thought to employ their kitsunebi to lead travelers astray in the manner of a will-o'-the-wisp.[61][62] Another tactic is for the kitsune to confuse its target with illusions or visions.[22] Other common goals of trickster kitsune include seduction, theft of food, humiliation of the prideful, or vengeance for a perceived slight.

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.[63][64]

This ambiguous portrayal, coupled with their reputation for vengefulness, leads people to try to discover a troublesome fox's motives. In one case, the 16th-century leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi wrote a letter to the kami Inari:[65]

To Inari Daimyojin,

My lord, I have the honor to inform you that one of the foxes under your jurisdiction has bewitched one of my servants, causing her and others a great deal of trouble. I have to request that you make minute inquiries into the matter, and endeavor to find out the reason of your subject misbehaving in this way, and let me know the result.

If it turns out that the fox has no adequate reason to give for his behavior, you are to arrest and punish him at once. If you hesitate to take action in this matter I shall issue orders for the destruction of every fox in the land. Any other particulars that you may wish to be informed of in reference to what has occurred, you can learn from the high priest of Yoshida.

Tamamo-no-Mae, a legendary kitsune featured in noh and kyogen plays. Print by Yoshitoshi.

Kitsune keep their promises and strive to repay any favor. Occasionally a kitsune attaches itself to a person or household, where they can cause all sorts of mischief. In one story from the 12th century, only the homeowner's threat to exterminate the foxes convinces them to behave. The kitsune patriarch appears in the man's dreams:[66]

"My father lived here before me, sir, and by now I have many children and grandchildren. They get into a lot of mischief, I'm afraid, and I'm always after them to stop, but they never listen. And now, sir, you're understandably fed up with us. I gather that you're going to kill us all. But I just want you to know, sir, how sorry I am that this is our last night of life. Won't you pardon us, one more time? If we ever make trouble again, then of course you must act as you think best. But the young ones, sir – I'm sure they'll understand when I explain to them why you're so upset. We'll do everything we can to protect you from now on, if only you'll forgive us, and we'll be sure to let you know when anything good is going to happen!"

Other kitsune use their magic for the benefit of their companion or hosts as long as the humans treat them with respect. As yōkai, however, kitsune do not share human morality, and a kitsune who has adopted a house in this manner may, for example, bring its host money or items that it has stolen from the neighbors. Accordingly, common households thought to harbor kitsune are treated with suspicion.[67] Oddly, samurai families were often reputed to share similar arrangements with kitsune, but these foxes were considered zenko and the use of their magic a sign of prestige.[68] Abandoned homes were common haunts for kitsune.[22] One 12th-century story tells of a minister moving into an old mansion only to discover a family of foxes living there. They first try to scare him away, then claim that the house "has been ours for many years, and … we wish to register a vigorous protest." The man refuses, and the foxes resign themselves to moving to an abandoned lot nearby.[69]

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.[70] True kitsune gifts are usually intangibles, such as protection, knowledge, or long life.[71]

The kitsune Kuzunoha casts a fox's shadow even in human form. Kuzunoha is a popular figure in folklore and the subject of kabuki plays. Print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

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.[72] The kitsune may be a seductress, but these stories are more often romantic in nature.[73] 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.

Many stories 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.[25] The astrologer-magician Abe no Seimei was reputed to have inherited such extraordinary powers.[74]

Inro depicting the kitsune no yomeiri. The reverse side depicting the bride in a litter.

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.[75] The event is considered a good omen, but the kitsune will seek revenge on any uninvited guests,[76] as is depicted in the 1990 Akira Kurosawa film Dreams.[77]

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".[78]

See also
  • Fox spirit, a general overview about this being in East Asian folklore
    • Huli jing – a Chinese fox spirit
    • Kumiho – a Korean fox spirit
    • Hồ ly tinh – a Vietnamese fox spirit
  • Hakuzōsu
  • Reynard the Fox – Cycle of medieval, allegorical, Dutch, English, French and German fables
  • The Sacred Book of the Werewolf
  • The Sandman: The Dream Hunters
  • Sessho-seki
  • Tamamo-no-Mae
  • Wild fox koan

Notes
  1. Hiromasa Kaneko. (1984) 貝塚の獣骨の知識―人と動物とのかかわり. pp.127–128. Tokyo bijutsu. ISBN 978-4808702298
  2. Takayuki Seino. (2009) 発掘された日本列島2009. p.27. Agency for Cultural Affairs. ISBN 978-4022505224
  3. Casal, U.A. The Goblin Fox and Badger and Other Witch Animals of Japan. Nanzan University Press. pp. 1–93.
  4. Yoshitori, Tsukioka. "from the series One hundred aspects of the moon". National Gallery of Victoria, Australia. Archived from the original on 2016-08-26. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  5. Taro Sakamoto. (1995) Nihon Shoki 4. Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 978-4003000441
  6. Yoshihiko Sasama. (1998) 怪異・きつね百物語. pp.1, 7, 12. Yuzankaku. ISBN 978-4639015444
  7. 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.
  8. Wallen, Martin (2006). Fox. London: Reaktion Books. pp. 69–70. ISBN 9781861892973.
  9. Goff, Janet (April 1997). "Foxes in Japanese culture: beautiful or beastly?" (PDF). Japan Quarterly. 44 (2).
  10. Smyers 1999, pp. 127–8
  11. Nozaki 1961, p. 3
  12. Hamel 2003, p. 89
  13. Smyers 1999, p. 72
  14. Hearn, p. 154
  15. Smyers 1999, p. 129
  16. Hamel 2003, p. 91
  17. "Kitsune, Kumiho, Huli Jing, Fox". 2003-04-28. Retrieved 2006-12-14.
  18. Hearn, p. 159
  19. Nozaki 1961, pp. 25–26
  20. 民俗学研究所編, ed. (1951). 民俗学辞典. 東京堂. pp. 137–8. NCID BN01703544.
  21. Hall 2003, p. 145
  22. Tyler 1987, p. xlix
  23. Nozaki 1961, pp. 95, 206
  24. Hearn, p. 155
  25. Ashkenazy 2003, p. 148
  26. Heine, Steven (1999). Shifting Shape, Shaping Text: Philosophy and Folklore in the Fox Koan. University of Hawaii Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-8248-2150-0.
  27. Hall 2003, p. 144
  28. Hearn, pp. 156–7
  29. Nozaki 1961, pp. 36–37
  30. Nozaki 1961, p. 26, 221
  31. Nozaki 1961, p. 59
  32. Nozaki 1961, p. 216
  33. Blacker, Carmen (1999). The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan (PDF). Routledge. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-873410-85-1.
  34. Hearn, p. 158
  35. Smyers 1999, p. 90
  36. Nozaki 1961, p. 211
  37. Hearn, p. 165
  38. Nozaki 1961, pp. 214–5
  39. Miyake-Downey, Jean. "Ten Thousand Things". Kyoto Journal. Archived from the original on April 6, 2008.
  40. Haviland, William A. (2002). Cultural Anthropology (10th ed.). Wadsworth. pp. 144–5. ISBN 978-0155085503.
  41. Yonebayashi, T. (1964). "Kitsunetsuki (Possession by Foxes)". Transcultural Psychiatry. 1 (2): 95–97. doi:10.1177/136346156400100206. S2CID 220489895.
  42. 宮本袈裟雄他 (1980). 桜井徳太郎編 (ed.). 民間信仰辞典. 東京堂出版. pp. 97–98. ISBN 978-4-490-10137-9.
  43. 佐藤米司他 (1977). 稲田浩二他編 (ed.). 日本昔話事典. 弘文堂. pp. 250–1. ISBN 978-4-335-95002-5.
  44. Nozaki 1961, p. 183
  45. Nozaki 1961, pp. 169–170
  46. Smyers 1999, pp. 112–4
  47. Hall 2003, p. 149
  48. Tyler 1987, pp. 299–300
  49. Hearn, pp. 162–3
  50. Nozaki 1961, pp. 109–124
  51. Nakamura, Miri (2014). "Kitsune". In Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew (ed.). The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 358–360. ISBN 978-1-4724-0060-4.
  52. "Metal Hammer UK issue 273". Metal Hammer. 2015-07-21. Retrieved 2015-08-14.
  53. Johnson, Kij (2001). The Fox Woman. Tom Doherty. ISBN 978-0-312-87559-6.
  54. Lackey, Mercedes; Edghill, Rosemary (2001). Spirits White as Lightning. Baen Books. pp. 91–. ISBN 978-0-671-31853-6.
  55. Highbridge, Dianne (1999). In the Empire of Dreams. New York: Soho Press. ISBN 978-1-56947-146-3.
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  65. Hall 2003, p. 137 the Yoshida priest in question was Yoshida Kanemi (1535–1610), then head priest at the Yoshida Shrine in Kyoto.
  66. Tyler 1987, pp. 114–5
  67. Hearn, pp. 159–161
  68. Hall 2003, p. 148
  69. Tyler 1987, pp. 122–4
  70. Nozaki 1961, p. 195
  71. Smyers 1999, pp. 103–5
  72. Hamel 2003, p. 90
  73. Hearn, p. 157
  74. Ashkenazy 2003, p. 150
  75. Addiss 1985, p. 132
  76. Vaux, Bert (December 1998). "Sunshower summary". Linguist. 9 (1795). A compilation of terms for sun showers from various cultures and languages.
  77. Blust, Robert (1999). "The Fox's Wedding". Anthropos. 94 (4/6): 487–499. JSTOR 40465016.
  78. Turnbull, Stephen (2000). Nagashino 1575. Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84176-250-0.

References

Further reading
  • Bathgate, Michael (2004). The Fox's Craft in Japanese Religion and Folklore: Shapeshifters, Transformations, and Duplicities. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-96821-8.
  • Media related to Kitsune at Wikimedia Commons
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