Case file · Folklore / legend
Kitsune, the fox spirit
In Japanese folklore, foxes that live long gain powers to shape-shift and bewitch, and serve as messengers of the Shinto kami Inari.
794 CE · 34.97, 135.78 · status: legend
The account
The oldest known written use of the word dates to a text of 794. Famous tales include the nine-tailed Tamamo-no-mae. Fox possession was treated by priests and priestesses into the 20th century.
The sceptical view
'Fox possession' served as a folk explanation for illness, treated by exorcists rather than doctors.
Connections in the atlas
- The Killing Stone splits
- Kitsune
- The fox fires of Ōji
- Fox possession under the psychiatrist's eye
- Kappa
- Kuchisake-onna