The Tale of Kitsune

According to an ancient Japanese legend from 545 AD, a man named Ono spent the seasons longing for his ideal female beauty. He met her one evening and married her. At the time of the birth of their son, Ono’s dog gave birth to a pup which grew to be increasingly hostile to Ono’s wife. She begged her husband to kill it, but he refused. At last one day, the dog attacked her so furiously that she lost courage and resumed vulpine shape, leaped over a fence, and fled.

“You may be a fox,” Ono called out after her, “but you are the mother of my son and I love you. Come back when you please; you will always be welcome.”

So, every evening she came back and slept in his arms. Kitsune are believed to possess superior intelligence, long life, and magical powers. The kitsune is considered a type of spiritual entity and the word kitsune is often translated as “fox spirit” in Japanese mythology.

In the early spring of 2006 I spied a pair of young fox in my backyard. They stayed for 10 days out among the pines. They would sleep all day and when dusk approached they would stretch like felines, and slip under the fence and disappear into the moonlit evening. I imagined them as kitsune spirit roaming the night wood turning into fantastic shapes and making mischief into the morning hours.