The Goblin Fox and Badger and other Witch Animals of Japan by UA Casal (1959).pdf

THE GOBLIN FOX AND BADGER

AND OTHER WITCH ANIMALS

OF JAPAN

THE FOX

Foxes seem to have been considered uncanny, shrewd, super-

natural animals all over the world, and every race has Marchen

and parables concerning them. A Chinese apologue of the year

333 B.C. already tells us how the fox warned the tiger to be

careful not to attack and eat him: "The Sovereign of Heaven has

privileged me among all animals by giving me greater cunning

than to others. Should you devour me, you would certainly

displease him very much."

In China and Japan the mistrust in the living fox and its

powers is even deeper than in Europe; yet far more dreaded

still than the real animal is the spectral fox, perhaps the most

important goblin of all. He is exceedingly dangerous and greedy.

Luckily he is also cowardly, and priests and sorcerers have power

to vanquish him-at least if sufficient inducement is forthcoming.

The belief in spooky or shape-changing foxes does not seem

to have grown on the soil of Japan itself, but to have been ac-

quired from China, where these fearful animals, able to assume

human form or to play foul tricks, were already described in

the literature of the Han dynastry, 202 B.C. to 221 A.D. Since

the Japanese were fundamentally animistic from the beginning,

the belief found no difficulty in being accepted. Written reference

to goblin-foxes does not seem to exist before the very early

11th century, in the well-known Genji Monogatari; a somewhat

more definite reference to this type of magic foxes-some demo-

niacally powerful reiko, ghost-fox, or some almost as dangerous

U. A. CASAL

koryd, haunting fox-appears in a slightly later story-book, the

Uji-shQi Monogatari, also of the 11th century. It would thus

appear that at about that time, or somewhat before, such super-

stitions came over from China, where they undoubtedly are far

older; but as earlier Japanese writings are scarce, the belief in

question may nevertheless have been current among the com-

moners for many generations before. The belief in supernatural

foxes seems to have considerably spread during the Heian-chd

and following periods, until the popular literature of the Yedo

era (1600-1850, about) became replete with stories of such beasts

of evil omen and of marvellous powers of transformation. During

these several centuries the conviction that there are bakemono-

kitsune has become so deeply ingrained in the Japanese that even

in our enlightened times few people will venture to pass a lonely

spot-especially a grave-yard or wood-at night. They openly

admit their fear of being bewitched. Nobody is ashamed of it,

and if an uncomprehending foreigner laughs at the superstition,

examples are immediately forthcoming of "well-authenticated"

cases, or at least of people who knew people whose friend was

once fooled by a f0x.l When a fox's weird yelping-kon! kon!-

is heard at night, people crawl deep under their covers, and

pray that the beast may leave them in peace and pass on.. ..

(Sorne people however say that the "kon, kon!" sound is not

dangerous, as that is the one of a "good", i.e. ordinary fox; the

"bad" one yelps "kai! kai!". . .. In some parts of Japan, again,

it is believed that some divine white Fox cries kon-kon

1) The Chinese, but not the Japanese, nevertheless use the name

"Fox" as a family-name. It has been surmised that this is due to ancient

totemism. Long after having completed this study on the Witch-animals

of Japan, I had occasion to read a most interesting long article by

Li Wei-tsu, "On the Cult of the Four Sacred Animals in the Neighbour-

hood of Peking" (in Folklore Studies, Vol. VII, Peking 1948). These

"Four Animals7',considered as "Gods of Wealth", are the Fox, the Snake,

the Hedgehog and the Weasel, with at times the addition or substitution

of the Rat; but there is a difference between the supernatural and the

vulgar kind in each "family". Many beliefs have their counterparts in

Japan; many, also, go far deeper in China, especially also in regard to

the invocations of these animal-spirits for help, through the medium

of a magician-shaman. It would almost seem that in crossing to Japan

the Chinese beliefs had been weakened, unless they have since expanded

in China itself. Some of the Chinese animal-beliefs can be found in

Japan applied to other, anthropomorphic deities.

WITCH ANIMALS OF JAPAN

when in a good mood, but kan-kan when ill-tempered.. . .) Many

communities will not even use the word kitsune at night, fearing

to "call" the powerful fox-demon;2 they may use inari instead

(the name of the deity whom, as we shall see, the foxes serve,

and which connects them with the fertility of the fields and

other advantages), or tdka, a less regular pronounciation of the

same characters but sounding like "ten days" (!), or perhaps

byakko, white fox, which is always a benevolent animal.. . .

In Japan, as in some Eastern Siberian regions, it was also

believed that if a fox crossed one's path it would bring ill luck,

and the superstition may still be found in isolated districts.

Savants tell us that there are a good many varieties of foxes,

good, bad and indifferent. The common fox, kitsune, or field-fox,

yako, hardly counts in lore, although it is of course not easy to

know whether the animal in question is a simple yako or one

of its more moody peers. Like the white foxes, the black ones,

genko, are friendly, and their appearance of a good omen. A red

shakko is still fair, but the "field-shield" yakan is highly harmful.

The air-fox k&ko and the celestial-fox tenko are probably rather

tengu of sorts, goblins that can fly through the air and of which

it is best to beware, since the entire tengu-tribe can be very nasty.3

The kQko and tenko seem rather Chinese conceptions, of no folk-

loristic importance in Japan; could they be the big "flying fox"

bats of South China? Other special characters we shall encounter

as we proceed. We may note, however, that the common people

are not at all familiar with or interested in such scholarly classifi-

cations; to them a fox is a fox.. . .

The excitement which the "appearance" of a fox may cause

is well illustrated by the following newspaper report which,

although dated 1875, would probably not sound much different if

written to-day, as applied to some forlorn village. The spot

mentioned is now one of the best residential districts of Kobe

2) In Bavaria, similarly, the farmer will not mention the fox by

its name, lest his poultry-yard should suffer from the depredations of

the animal. Queerly enough, he will substitute a term embodying "Hena",

hen: Henading, Henaloinl, Henabua etc. Wolves are at times treated in

the same respectful-awful manner.

3) A study of the Tengu bird-man forest sprite by the author ap-

peared in the Kansai Asiatic Society's Occasional Papers, Kyoto, Decem-

ber 1957.

U. A. CASAL

City. "A foreigner who lives on the hill to the North of Ikuta

temple, was witness to the observance of a curious superstition

of the Japanese a few nights ago. Some sixty or seventy of the

inhabitants of a neighbouring village turned out after nightfall,

provided with lanterns, drums and bells, and uttering loud

shouts. On enquiring into the cause of this unwonted uproar,

it appeared that a man belonging to the village had been missing

for three days past, and that it was believed he had been spirited

away by a fox. The direction which the searchers are to take is

ascertained from a diviner. Whilst the search is going on, the

people shout out the name of the missing person and call upon

the fox to restore him to his friends. What with the flashing of

lanterns, the beating of drums and the ringing of bells, the scene,

we are told, was both lively and picturesque." Whether the man

was found or not is not stated.. . .

The Ainu, too, dislike the fox and avoid him as much as

p~ssible.~This notwithstanding, the fox-skull with them is a

fetish, set up on sacred posts outside their house to protect them

from evil spirits. Its wiliness is thus put to the service of the

family, who also consults the skull for oracles. With the Ainu,

the fox is the chief (animal) god, more powerful, because of its

subtlety, than even the clever and mighty (but foreign) tiger.

Only the bear may be considered its compeer. Very interesting

I think the fact that in the Ainu legends the fox figures as one

of the "good deities", and that it is due to him that they, rather

than the evil ones, rule the world. After the world had been

created, the two groups of Benevolent and Malevolent Deities

agreed that those should reign over it who would first see the sun

the next morning. So they all went into a valley to watch, and

all faced the East, except the Fox, who looked West. The others

of course poked fun at him; yet it was the Fox-god who first

exclaimed: "I see the sun!" And indeed, when the others turned

around, there was the brilliant sunshine reflected from a high

peak in the West! They could but acknowledge the clever Fox's

victory-and so it comes that his party, the good spirits, are

supreme on earth.

4) The Ainu are the only surviving pre-Japanese race of aborigines,

now confined to the northmost island of Hokkaido (Yezo) and to

Saghalien. Their customs, which probably have not changed for a

millennium or more, may to some extent have influenced those of their

conquerors.

WITCH ANIMALS OF JAPAN

The fox, with Ainu, Japanese and Chinese, is so wise that

he can see into the future.. .. The Japanese have one easy way

of consulting him for an oracle:-when in doubt, they offer "the

fox" some rice and red beans cooked together-the azuki-meshi

of festivals-and if the next day some of it is gone, that is re-

garded as a favourable omen.. . .

His wisdom is therefore also made use of when human

memory fails or laziness prevails. What follows is reported from

China, but no doubt the same attitude was often enough dupli-

cated in old Japan, where Inari. as Fox-god, is still consulted to

find lost articles. "In the course of official business," we read,

"a great number of documents are accumulated in the archives

of the Yamen. Sometimes these are urgently required and the

person in charge is unable to find them. He then lights some

sticks of incense, and prostrates himself beseeching the help of

the fox god. Shutting up all the windows and doors, he leaves

the room for a time. Returning after an interval he will find,

it is said, thanks to the kindly help of the fox god, one volume or

packet sticking out beyond the others; this will be the manuscript

or volume he is in search

The same willing assistance, if in somewhat different garb,

is shown in a story related by Isaac Titsingh, who was in charge

of the Dutch "factory" at Deshima between 1779 and 1784. The

grandfather of his friend the imperial teasurer of Nagasaki, he

says, who had in his time filled the same office, despatched one

day a courier to Yedo with very important letters for the Coun-

cillors of State. To his consternation he found a few days later

that one of the most important documents had been left behind,

which exposed him to serious disgrace. "In his despair he re-

curred to his fox and offered him a sacrifice. The next morning

he saw, to his great satisfaction, that some of it had been eaten";

but when he went into his office he found that the forgotten paper

had mysteriously disappeared. That naturally caused him even

greater uneasiness. . . . Soon after, he received a communication

from his Yedo representative informing him that "upon opening

the box which contained the despatches, the lock of it appeared

to have been forced by a letter pressed in between the box and

its cover from without," which letter, of course, was the very

same one which had been forgotten.-Mysterious indeed.

5) "Shanghai Folklore", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,

N.C.B., 1902.

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