“Kitsune”

If, on a cloudless day, it suddenly starts to rain, beware. It might be a fox’s wedding. And witnesses aren’t welcome.

The fox, or kitsune, in Japan is a mystical animal. Revered and feared, this trickster has a long and chequered history.

The good fox, or zenko, is the messenger of the Shinto deity Inari, the goddess of rice. Their statues stand guard at the entrance to Inari shrines, holding the key to the rice store in their mouths, or a scroll from the gods.

But there is a malevolent version. Yako foxes are notorious shape-changers. Men have mistakenly married beautiful women, and even had children with them, only to discover their wife was a fox all along. A barking dog often gives the game away.

Foxes can possess people. Lafcadio Hearn, the famous 19th century writer and Japanese cognoscente, reported how the stricken run naked in the streets, yelp like foxes, speak unintelligible languages and eat vast amounts of atsuage, deep-fried tofu.

The Japanese of old knew to shun any beauty found sauntering along alone at dusk. Especially one with a narrow face, close-set eyes, thin eyebrows and high cheekbones.