kitsune stories

Which legends thrill you? Make you wonder? Shaped your beliefs? We'd love to know!
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuzunoha

Kuzunoha (葛の葉 Kuzunoha?), also written Kuzu-no-Ha, is the name of a popular kitsune character in Japanese folklore. Her name means kudzu leaf. Legend states that she is the mother of Abe no Seimei, the famous onmyōji.

•Legend


The Fox-woman Kuzunoha Leaving Her Child. A famous print by Yoshitoshi depicting Kuzunoha's departure.
The young nobleman Abe no Yasuna (安倍 保名), on his way to visit a shrine in Shinoda, in Settsu Province, encounters a young military commissioner who is hunting foxes in order to obtain their livers for use as medicine. Yasuna battles the hunter, sustaining several wounds in the process, and sets free the white fox he had trapped. Afterward, a beautiful woman named Kuzunoha comes along and helps him return to his home.

In reality, this woman is the fox he had saved, adopting human form in order to tend to his wounds. He falls in love with her, and they marry. Later, she bears him a child, Seimei (childhood name Dōji), who proves prodigiously clever. Kuzunoha realizes that her son has inherited part of her supernatural nature.

Several years later, while Kuzunoha is viewing some chrysanthemums, her son catches sight of the tip of her tail. Her true nature revealed, Kuzunoha prepares to depart to return to her life in the wild. She leaves behind a farewell poem, asking her husband Yasuna to come to see her in Shinoda forest.

Yasuna and his son search Shinoda for Kuzunoha, and eventually she appears to them as a fox. Revealing that she is the kami, or deific spirit, of Shinoda shrine, she gives her son Seimei a gift, allowing him to comprehend the language of beasts.

•Plays

Kuzunoha figures in kabuki and bunraku plays based on her legend, including the five-part Ashiya Dōman Ōuchi Kagami (A Courtly Mirror of Ashiya Dōman). The fourth part, Kuzunoha or The Fox of Shinoda, which is frequently performed independently of the other scenes, focuses on her story, adding minor variations such as the idea that Kuzunoha imitates a princess and is forced to depart not because Seimei glimpsed her tail but because the real woman unexpectedly appears.

•In Izumi

In Izumi there is a Kuzunoha Inari shrine, said to be built upon the place at which Kuzunoha departed, leaving her farewell poem on a silk screen.

The poem itself has become famous: "Koishiku ba / tazunekite miyo / izumi naru / shinoda no mori no / urami kuzunoha." Folklorist Kiyoshi Nozaki offers the following translation: "If you love me, darling, come and see me. / You will find me yonder in the great wood / Of Shinoda of Izumi Province where the leaves / Of arrowroots always rustle in pensive mood."

A pond in the area is also remembered in connection with the legend, and has been designated a historic site by the city.


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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamamo-no-Mae

Tamamo-no-Mae (玉藻前, 玉藻の前, also 玉藻御前) is a legendary figure in Japanese mythology. In the Otogizōshi, a collection of Japanese prose written in the Muromachi period, Tamamo-no-Mae was a courtesan under the Japanese Emperor Konoe (who reigned from 1142 through 1155).

•Legends

Stories of Tamamo-no-Mae being a legendary fox spirit were written and collected in the Otogizōshi (companion tales) of the Muromachi period, and were also mentioned by Toriyama Sekien in Konjaku Hyakki Shūi. Edo period folklore then conflated the legend with similar foreign stories about fox spirits corrupting rulers, causing chaos in their territories.


Fleeing fox spirit as Lady Kayō depicted in Hokusai's Sangoku Yōko-den (三国妖狐伝)
In the story told by Hokusai, formed in the Edo period, the nine-tail fox first appeared in China and possessed Daji, concubine of Shang dynasty's last ruler King Zhou. She enchanted the king and brought upon a reign of terror that led to a rebellion that ended the Shang dynasty. The fox spirit fled to Magadha of Tianzhu (ancient India) and became Lady Kayō (華陽夫人), concubine of the crown prince Banzoku (班足太子; based on Indian tales of Kalmashapada the man-eater), causing him to cut off the heads of 1000 men. It was then defeated again, and fled the country. Around 780 BC, the same fox returned to China was said to have possessed Bao Si, concubine of the Zhou dynasty King You. It was again chased away by human military forces.

The fox stayed quiet for some period. Then she appeared in Japan as Tamamo-no-Mae, the most favoured courtesan of Emperor Toba. She was said to be a most beautiful and intelligent woman, being able to answer any question asked. She caused the Emperor to be extremely ill and was eventually exposed as a fox spirit by the astrologer Abe no Yasuchika, who had been called to diagnose the cause of the Emperor's poor health. A few years later, the emperor sent Kazusa-no-suke (上総介) and Miura-no-suke (三浦介) to kill the fox in the plains of Nasu.


Sessho-seki(Killing Stone) and Thousand Jizo Statues
In the 1653 Tamamo no sōshi (玉藻の草紙), an addendum was added to the story describing that the spirit of Tamamo-no-mae embedded itself into a stone called the Sessho-seki. The stone continually released poisonous gas, killing everything that touched it.The stone was said to have been destroyed in the Nanboku-chō period by the Buddhist monk Gennō Shinshō (源翁心昭), who exorcised the now-repentant fox spirit. He held a Buddhist memorial service after the deed, allowing the spirit to finally rest in peace.


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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamamo-no-Mae

Tamamo-no-Mae (玉藻前, 玉藻の前, also 玉藻御前) is a legendary figure in Japanese mythology. In the Otogizōshi, a collection of Japanese prose written in the Muromachi period, Tamamo-no-Mae was a courtesan under the Japanese Emperor Konoe (who reigned from 1142 through 1155).

•Legends

Stories of Tamamo-no-Mae being a legendary fox spirit were written and collected in the Otogizōshi (companion tales) of the Muromachi period, and were also mentioned by Toriyama Sekien in Konjaku Hyakki Shūi. Edo period folklore then conflated the legend with similar foreign stories about fox spirits corrupting rulers, causing chaos in their territories.


Fleeing fox spirit as Lady Kayō depicted in Hokusai's Sangoku Yōko-den (三国妖狐伝)
In the story told by Hokusai, formed in the Edo period, the nine-tail fox first appeared in China and possessed Daji, concubine of Shang dynasty's last ruler King Zhou. She enchanted the king and brought upon a reign of terror that led to a rebellion that ended the Shang dynasty. The fox spirit fled to Magadha of Tianzhu (ancient India) and became Lady Kayō (華陽夫人), concubine of the crown prince Banzoku (班足太子; based on Indian tales of Kalmashapada the man-eater), causing him to cut off the heads of 1000 men. It was then defeated again, and fled the country. Around 780 BC, the same fox returned to China was said to have possessed Bao Si, concubine of the Zhou dynasty King You. It was again chased away by human military forces.

The fox stayed quiet for some period. Then she appeared in Japan as Tamamo-no-Mae, the most favoured courtesan of Emperor Toba. She was said to be a most beautiful and intelligent woman, being able to answer any question asked. She caused the Emperor to be extremely ill and was eventually exposed as a fox spirit by the astrologer Abe no Yasuchika, who had been called to diagnose the cause of the Emperor's poor health. A few years later, the emperor sent Kazusa-no-suke (上総介) and Miura-no-suke (三浦介) to kill the fox in the plains of Nasu.


Sessho-seki(Killing Stone) and Thousand Jizo Statues
In the 1653 Tamamo no sōshi (玉藻の草紙), an addendum was added to the story describing that the spirit of Tamamo-no-mae embedded itself into a stone called the Sessho-seki. The stone continually released poisonous gas, killing everything that touched it.The stone was said to have been destroyed in the Nanboku-chō period by the Buddhist monk Gennō Shinshō (源翁心昭), who exorcised the now-repentant fox spirit. He held a Buddhist memorial service after the deed, allowing the spirit to finally rest in peace


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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sessho-seki

The Sessho-seki (殺生石 Sesshōseki?), or "Killing Stone", is an object in Japanese mythology. It is said that the stone kills anyone who comes into contact with it. The stone is believed to be the transformed corpse of Tamamo no Mae, a beautiful woman who was exposed to be a nine-tailed fox working for an evil daimyo plotting to kill Emperor Konoe and take his throne. As told in the Otogizoshi, when the nine-tailed fox was killed by the famous warrior Miura-no-suke, its body became the Sessho-seki.

The Sessho-seki was said to be haunted by Tamamo no Mae, the transformed spirit of the nine-tailed fox, until a Buddhist priest called Genno stopped for a rest near the stone, and was threatened by Tamamo no Mae. Genno performed certain spiritual rituals, and begged the spirit to consider her spiritual salvation, until finally Tamamo no Mae relented and swore to never haunt the stone again.

In Matsuo Bashō's famous book, The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Oku no Hosomichi), Bashō tells of visiting the stone in Nasu, located in modern-day Tochigi Prefecture. Today, an area in the volcanic mountains of Nasu (famous for their sulfur hot springs) commemorates the myth.


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Mmm because they're from wikipedia and everyone can access it, rather than just copy and paste the page, you might want to paraphrase the story in your own words, and add your personal opinion.

For example, what do you think or feel about the story of Kuzunoha? Or do you have further question about Tamamo no Mae?
Etc etc. : )


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I would say nine tailed fox is a mythology originated from ancient China which later been introduced into neighbor countries like Japan, and Korea. The nine tailed fox stories already existed in the Shan Hai Jing (山海经) since 4th BC during the famous Warring States pre-Qin period. In Shan Hai Jing, there is even nine headed phoenix (九凤).


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Have any of you ever heard of a folklore story involving an older male fox getting revenge against a landlord that killed the fox's entire family in cold blood by pretending to be an astrologer and basically building up the landlord up with fame, power etc then leaving when the landlord was going up against the emperor's forces or no?


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