Fox Spirits of East Asia

The idea of the fox

The belief common to all three countries is that a fox which lives long enough gains power. With age it grows wise, learns to take human form, and adds tails, until at a great age it has nine and its fur turns white or gold. Such a fox may use its gifts for mischief, for love, for learning, or for the long work of perfecting itself.

The oldest Chinese sources describe a nine-tailed fox as a creature of good omen, whose appearance marked a peaceful reign. Its reputation darkened in later centuries, and much of the fox lore known today, the charming and the sinister alike, descends from that double inheritance.

Kitsune, the fox of Japan

In Japan the fox is kitsune. Tradition sorts foxes into two kinds. The good foxes are the white messengers of the deity of rice and prosperity, and stone foxes still sit in pairs at the gates of that deity's many shrines, often with a key or a jewel in their mouths. The field foxes are the tricksters: they lead travelers in circles, pass off leaves as coins, and take the form of a beautiful stranger on a lonely road.

A kitsune is said to change by setting something on its head, a leaf or a few reeds, and turning a somersault. Lights seen drifting over the marshes at night are fox fire. Rain that falls while the sun shines is a fox's wedding procession passing by.

The fox wife

The most loved of the fox stories are about marriage. A man rescues a white fox, or meets a gracious woman at the forest's edge. They marry and are happy. She is a perfect wife and bears him a child. Then, one day, she forgets herself: she dozes, and a tail slips out, or the family dog barks at her, or the child sees her shape in the lamplight. She cannot stay once she is known. In the most famous version she writes a farewell poem on the paper screen, telling her family where to find her in the forest if they miss her, and is gone. Her son grows up to be the greatest diviner of his age.

These are not horror stories. They are about the sorrow of a love that crosses a boundary and must, in the end, give way to it.

Huli jing, the fox of China

The Chinese fox spirit, huli jing, has the widest range of character. In popular legend the nine-tailed fox is the dangerous beauty who bewitches a king and brings down a dynasty. But in the great collections of strange tales written in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, foxes are just as often good neighbors: witty friends, faithful lovers, patrons of poor scholars, and tenants in the upper rooms of old houses who pay their rent in favors.

Chinese tradition also gives the fox a purpose. By study, discipline and the gathering of vital essence over centuries, a fox may refine itself, become human, and at last become an immortal. The fox is on a path, as a person might be, and can walk it well or badly.

Kumiho, the fox of Korea

The Korean nine-tailed fox, kumiho, is the most perilous of the three. In the older tales it usually appears as a lovely young woman who preys on the unwary. Yet even here the fox longs for something. Many stories turn on a kumiho's wish to become truly human, which it may achieve by long restraint and by holding to a promise for a set number of days, and loses at the last moment through someone's impatience or broken word. Some tell of a fox bead, passed in a kiss, that holds the creature's knowledge.

How a fox is found out

A fox in human form is nearly perfect, and the tales take delight in the "nearly."

• A tail that will not stay hidden, especially in sleep or after wine.
• A shadow or a reflection that shows the true shape.
• A fear of dogs, which are never fooled.
• A way of speaking that stumbles on certain words.
• A fondness for fried bean curd, the fox's favorite food.

A shadow on the lore

One part of the tradition deserves a sober note. In earlier centuries the fox was also blamed for illness. A person, most often a woman, who behaved strangely might be said to be possessed by a fox, and the attempts to drive it out could be cruel. This is a reminder that beliefs about transformation have not always been harmless to those they were applied to.

The fox today

The fox spirit is as popular now as it has ever been, and has traveled far beyond East Asia. Some otherkin and therians identify as foxes of this kind. The lore they draw on remains part of living religious and cultural traditions, and the stone foxes still keep their gates. It is best approached as a guest would approach: with interest, good manners, and a willingness to learn from those whose stories these are.