Denpachi gitsune
over 5 years ago
– Tue, Dec 22, 2020 at 11:22:48 PM
Greetings yokai fans!
Today's fox story comes from Chiba Prefecture. This little creature goes by Konoha or Denpatchi, and he was no trickster like the kitsune we've looked at lately. He's quite beloved by the residents of Sosa, Chiba, and you can even visit his shrine today and pray to him.
Long ago, there was a major Buddhist seminary in Iidaka. Young men from all over eastern Japan would go there and study to become priests. Its most famous student, however, was a kitsune named Konoha, who attended the seminary disguised as a boy named Denpachi. Konoha woke up early every morning, transformed into Denpachi, and arrived at school before anyone else.
When the other students and teachers arrived each morning, Denpachi would already be there, performing his temple chores like sweeping the floors and preparing meals. Denpachi was an exemplary student. He poured himself into his studies. He performed his ascetic training diligently, and learned to comprehend the deepest esoteric mysteries. From time to time he even instructed the other students in some of the more difficult teachings. Denpachi came to be highly respected among his fellow students and the faculty.
Though he was a diligent student, Denpachi was occasionally careless. Students and teachers discovered fox’s paw prints leading into and out of seminary buildings. Once in a while, leaves onto which Denpachi had copied the Lotus Sutra and accidentally dropped would be found in the gardens. Rumors spread that a kitsune was performing mischief at the seminary. Of course nobody suspected Denpachi.
For ten years, Denpachi continued to study diligently at Iidaka. One day, a high priest named Saint Nōke was installed as the new headmaster of Iidaka. There was a ceremony and a great banquet. Though alcohol was normally forbidden, the restriction was lifted for the evening, and it turned into a night of wild drinking. The students, including Denpachi, drank themselves into a stupor. Denpachi became so drunk that he lost control over his disguise, and transformed back into a fox.
His deception revealed, the other students descended upon Denpachi. They tied him up and beat him nearly to death, then dragged him before Saint Nōke for judgment. Denpachi kneeled before the headmaster with tears in his eyes and begged for forgiveness. He explained that his real name was Konoha, and he lived in a hole in the woods near the seminary. He had heard the young priests every day reciting their chants and performing their studies. He wanted to try studying too. So he had disguised himself as a young boy and slipped into the seminary, blending in with the crowds.
Saint Nōke listened to Konoha’s plea. He was touched by the kitsune’s sincerity, his success and diligence as a student, and his passion for helping others. He told the students, “For the teachings of the Lotus Sutra to have reached the heart of this lowly beast, it is truly a marvelous thing!” Saint Nōke forgave Konoha’s deception.
Konoha promised that from then on, he would serve the temple as a guardian spirit and protector of the faith. Saint Nōke built a small shrine for Konoha to live in, in one corner of the lecture hall’s front garden. Konoha’s spirit came to be known as Konoha Inari Daimyōjin, a popular local deity who grants wishes to farmers, merchants, and students. His shrine still stands, and remains a popular place of devotion to this day.
Okon gitsune
over 5 years ago
– Mon, Dec 21, 2020 at 07:01:35 PM
Greetings yokai lovers!
Today let's look at another tricky kitsune. Okon is a famous kitsune from Makinohara, Shizuoka. She was a malicious troublemaker, and loved playing tricks on the humans who lived near her home. Her signature prank was to attack travelers on the road and shave them bald.
A fishmonger was carrying his daily catch through the hills when an elegant looking lady approached him and asked him to sell her some fish. She said she was having a party, and wanted every single fish he had. The fisherman was shocked. He had never traded all of his fish in a single day before. He happily sold his catch to the woman, and went home early.
His wife was surprised to hear his story. She thought it was strange, as there were no families with that kind of money living anywhere near those hills. On second thought, the fisherman agreed it was strange. He opened up his purse, but the coins the woman had paid with were gone. All that was inside was a handful of leaves. He realized that he must have been tricked by Okon gitsune.
The fisherman decided to find the kitsune and punish her. He grabbed a wooden staff and went back to the hills. The day grew late, but he could not find the kitsune anywhere. Suddenly, he heard a call from down the road. A daimyo’s procession was heading up the hill and straight his way! The soldiers at the front of the procession were ordering him to make way.
The fisherman jumped off the road and prostrated himself before the procession. He bowed his head, and the ground rumbled as soldiers, horses, and the daimyo’s palanquin passed. Suddenly, it struck him as odd that daimyo would process through this rural stretch of hills. He though that this must be Okon gitsune playing a trick on him. Now was his chance to punish her! The fisherman jumped up and approached the daimyo’s palanquin. He tried to pull open the door.
“INSOLENT PEASANT!” came a voice from the palanquin.
The daimyo’s guards seized the fisherman and forced him to the ground. The daimyo stepped out of his palanquin. He drew his sword from its sheath and raised it to cut off the fisherman’s head. The fisherman groveled and begged the daimyo to spare his life.
The daimyo’s rage subsided. “Very well. You may live, but you must shave your head to show repentance.”
Guards held the fisherman down and cut all the hair from his head. The fisherman groveled on the side of the road until the procession left. He had his life, but everyone in the village would tease him for this. He wrapped his head in a kerchief and sheepishly returned home.
His wife was shocked to see him return shaven and ashamed. Even more so when she heard his story. There was no way a daimyo would travel through such rural, backwater hills. The whole procession was clearly a trick. Her husband bad been fooled by Okon gitsune again.
“But,” she point out, “whether it was a kitsune or not, if you had just bowed your head and let the procession pass, you would still have your hair.”
Osan gitsune
over 5 years ago
– Thu, Dec 17, 2020 at 11:13:13 PM
Greetings yokai lovers!
So far this month we've taken a general look at kitsune society, going over types of kitsune and their ranks. Today, let's dig in and get a little more specific. I'd like to introduce an individual kitsune named Osan.
Osan is a famous fox whose legends cover western Japan, especially Hiroshima and Tottori Prefectures. She was well known for being elegant and style, and of course for seducing countless men into adultery. She lived for a very long time, and frequently traveled between her home and Kyoto. She even received ranks and degrees from the Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto.
Osan liked to disguise herself as a lion and set fire to her tail, then terrorize people traveling on the roads at night. One time she was captured by a merchant, who threatened to burn her alive. She begged for forgiveness, and promised him that if he would let her go, the following night she would transform into a daimyō’s procession—a rare sight indeed! The merchant agreed and released her. Sure enough, the following night, a splendid daimyō’s procession approached the city. The merchant was thoroughly impressed and approached the procession to praise Osan. However, this just happened to be a real daimyō’s procession. The daimyō was so offended by the merchant’s impudence that he had him beheaded.
Despite all this mischief, Osan is beloved by the areas she was known to haunt. In particular, Eba, Hiroshima, where she is memorialized with a bronze statue. Her spirit is enshrined in a small shrine at Marukoyama Fudōin. According to legend, by the time she was 80 years old, she had given birth to over 500 foxes who lived in the vicinity. During the food shortages after World War 2, the locals fed and took care of the city’s foxes, which were considered to be Osan's descendants.
Kuko
over 5 years ago
– Thu, Dec 17, 2020 at 06:24:37 PM
Greetings yokai fans!
Today, let's look at the final rank that good foxes can achieve in their long lifetimes.
Kuko (空狐) means sky fox. A tenko can attain the rank of kuko after 3000 years of dedicated ascetic training and service. At this age, a kitsune is essentially a god. While gaining tails is a typical trait of kitsune evolution, by the time a kitsune reaches kuko, it has shed all of its tails. Now it has zero tails and looks more like a human, although it still has pointed foxy ears.
Interestingly, while kuko is the oldest and most powerful type of kitsune, it is not the highest rank. Tenko remains the highest rank, while kuko is only #2. This is because tenko are still in active service, while kuko are more like retired or emeritus status. If a tenko is like a CEO, a kuko would be like a board of trustees member. Or if a tenko were a king, a kuko would be like a member of the privy council.
Everything we know of kitsune society comes from a kuko who possessed a human back in the 1800s. This kuko was traveling from Kyoto to Edo and decided to stop at a large residence to rest. He "borrowed" the body of one of the house's servants so he could chat with the master of the house. He regaled the household with eyewitness stories of ancient wars and battles. And he told them all about kitsune society, zenko and yako, the different ranks, and so on. When he left the servant's body, he cured the servant of all of his ailments as a thanks for "lending" him a body. The words of the kitsune were recorded by the household staff, and thanks to that legend we have a general understanding of how kitsune society works.
Tenko
over 5 years ago
– Tue, Dec 15, 2020 at 11:41:52 PM
Greetings yokai fans!
Today I'd like to show you the tenko (天狐), or heavenly fox.
Tenko is a rank in kitsune society. Like chiko before it, tenko is restricted only to zenko, or good kitsune. A good kitsune that has practiced its ascetic training and served Inari for 1000 years is eligible to rank up and become a tenko.
By the time a kitsune reaches tenko, they have weeded all of that natural fox wickedness out of their system. They no longer do commit any evil deeds or do anything nasty to humans. They have no physical bodies, and exist as benevolent spirits.
Power-wise, tenko are essentially gods themselves. They are sometimes worshipped by humans, and when they appear before mankind it is usually in the form of beautiful goddesses and gods. One of their chief abilities is clairvoyance. When they possess a human being, they temporarily bestow that ability upon them.
Tenko is the highest rank in kitsune society, but it is not the oldest rank. More on that next time...
