Of all the yokai of Japanese folklore, none is more beloved, more feared, or more various than the kitsune, the magical fox. To the people of Japan, the fox is a creature of many faces: the messenger of the rice god Inari, the shape-shifting trickster, the vengeful ghost of a wronged woman, the playful companion of the lonely. The kitsune is also a figure of genuine terror, for some foxes are believed to be able to possess human beings, to steal their faces, and to drain them of their life. To understand the kitsune is to understand one of the most ancient and persistent currents of Japanese folklore.
The Fox in Japanese Tradition
The fox is found throughout East Asian mythology, but the kitsune is a uniquely Japanese elaboration. The word itself, kitsune, is an old Japanese word meaning simply “fox.” But the magical powers of the kitsune are described in the earliest Japanese texts, including the Kojiki (712 CE) and the Nihon Shoki (720 CE), the two oldest chronicles of Japan. In these texts, the fox is often associated with the sun goddess Amaterasu and with the great gods of nature.
By the Heian period (794–1185), the kitsune had acquired a much more elaborate mythology. The Konjaku Monogatarishū, a twelfth-century collection of tales, contains many stories of kitsune, both as tricksters and as servants of the gods. The same period saw the rise of the Onmyōji, the yin-yang diviners, who studied the ways of the fox and developed elaborate techniques for distinguishing true foxes from humans.
In the medieval period, the kitsune became closely associated with Inari Ōkami, the Shintō kami of rice, fertility, agriculture, and prosperity. The connection between the fox and Inari may be very ancient, but it grew stronger over time, especially as the cult of Inari spread through Japan. By the Edo period (1603–1868), most of the major Inari shrines had statues of foxes at their entrances, and the fox was the principal messenger of the rice god.
The Messengers of Inari
The most common and most beloved kitsune are the Inari kitsune, the white foxes who serve the rice god Inari. Inari Ōkami, the “Great Kami of Inari,” is one of the most important kami in all of Shintō, and the Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto is dedicated to him. The shrine is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which wind up the sacred mountain of Inari, and for its many statues of foxes.
The Inari kitsune are described as white, although the foxes in the wild are usually red. The white color is a sign of their sacred status: in much of East Asia, white animals are considered divine, and the white fox is particularly associated with the gods. The Inari kitsune are also described as having multiple tails, and statues at Fushimi Inari often show foxes with one, three, or even more tails.
The Inari kitsune are benevolent, but they are not to be trifled with. They have the power to possess human beings, but they use this power only to enforce the will of Inari, the god of prosperity. Farmers who fail to honor Inari may be punished by the foxes, and merchants who make false oaths in the name of the god may find their businesses ruined.
Powers of the Kitsune
The kitsune has a remarkable range of magical powers. The most famous is shapeshifting: a kitsune can take the form of a human being, usually a beautiful woman, but sometimes a child, a young man, or an old person. In its human form, the kitsune is often indistinguishable from a real human, except for certain subtle clues. The tail, in some stories, cannot be entirely hidden, and sometimes the kitsune will reveal itself in moments of strong emotion, especially if startled, frightened, or drunk.
Kitsune also possess the power of possession. A fox may enter the body of a human being and speak through them, often in a strange voice, sometimes in a different language. The possessed person may fall to the ground, foam at the mouth, or be overcome with strange compulsions. To exorcise a fox, a Buddhist priest or an Onmyōji may be called. The great Onmyōji Abe no Seimei (921–1005 CE), the most famous wizard of the Heian court, was said to be able to detect a fox by its shadow and to drive it out with his incantations.
Another famous power is kitsune-bi, or fox fire. The kitsune can produce a kind of will-o’-the-wisp, a small floating ball of flame that follows it in the night. Sometimes the kitsune-bi appears as a single light, sometimes as many, sometimes as a long tongue of fire. The lights are usually associated with malevolent foxes, and to see them is often a warning of danger.
Kitsune are also said to be able to create illusionary images, to read minds, to control the wind, and to bring rain. The most powerful kitsune, the kyūbi no kitsune or “nine-tailed fox,” can do nearly anything. The nine-tailed fox is a figure of both great power and great danger, for it has lived for a thousand years and has acquired almost infinite knowledge.
Tails and Ages
The number of tails a kitsune has is a sign of its age and power. Most kitsune have only one tail, and these are the most common foxes. A three-tailed kitsune is older and more powerful, and a five-tailed kitsune is older still. A kitsune with nine tails is the most powerful of all, and is called the kyūbi no kitsune. These great foxes are sometimes considered to be kami in their own right, or to be servants of the great gods of the cosmos. The nine-tailed fox is mentioned in the Nihon Shoki as a messenger of the gods.
The white fox of the west, the byakko, is another great kitsune. In Chinese mythology, the white tiger, the white fox, and the other “white beasts” of the four cardinal directions are cosmic beings. The Japanese tradition inherited this idea, and the byakko is sometimes identified as a particularly noble or particularly dangerous kitsune.
The tenko, the “celestial fox,” is a kitsune that has reached a thousand years of age. In some traditions, the tenko becomes a kind of heavenly being, with a silver or white coat and the power of flight. In other traditions, the tenko is simply a very old and very powerful kitsune.
Wild Kitsune and Dark Foxes
Not all kitsune are servants of Inari. The yako, or “field fox,” is a wild kitsune, often mischievous or malevolent, that lives in the forests, the mountains, and the marshes. The yako is a trickster, but it can also be dangerous, and stories of wild foxes attacking travelers, bewitching maidens, and stealing babies are common in Japanese folklore.
The nogitsune, the “wild fox,” is the darker side of the kitsune tradition. A nogitsune is a kitsune that uses its powers for evil, that possesses people against their will, that brings disease, that causes miscarriages, and that drives its victims to madness or death. The nogitsune is one of the figures feared in the Onmyōji tradition, and many of the great wizards of medieval Japan were famed for their ability to drive them out.
The line between the wild kitsune and the dark kitsune is not always clear. Even the most powerful Inari kitsune can be dangerous if offended, and even the wildest yako may sometimes be a guardian of a sacred grove. The fox in Japanese folklore is not so much a symbol of one thing as a kind of container for many different ideas about the relationship between the human and the non-human world.
The Love of Fried Tofu
The kitsune has a peculiar weakness for fried tofu. The dish known as inari-zushi — sushi rice wrapped in fried tofu — is named after Inari, the god of rice, but the connection with the fox is also strong, for foxes are said to love the taste of fried tofu. The expression “kitsune no edamame” (foxes and soybeans) refers to the old practice of leaving soybeans at shrines to the fox god, for soybeans are believed to be a kind of protection against fox possession.
The fox’s love of fried tofu is sometimes used as a way of catching a fox. According to some stories, a clever hunter or Onmyōji would set out a piece of fried tofu, and the fox, unable to resist, would take it and reveal itself.
The Legend of Tamamo-no-Mae
The most famous kitsune in Japanese legend is Tamamo-no-Mae, the “Jewel-Maiden,” a nine-tailed fox who, according to the medieval tradition, took the form of a beautiful woman and became a concubine of the Emperor Konoe (later identified with Emperor Toba). She was said to be the most beautiful woman in the realm, and the Emperor was utterly infatuated with her.
But Tamamo-no-Mae was a malevolent fox. According to the story, she was draining the Emperor of his life force, and the Emperor grew weaker and weaker. The court astrologer Abe no Seimei, the great Onmyōji, was called upon to investigate. He identified the concubine as a nine-tailed fox and warned the Emperor. The Emperor, in great fear, ordered the fox to be driven from the palace.
The fox fled, pursued by the great warrior Miura no Yorimitsu (also known as Minamoto no Yorimitsu, or by his Buddhist name, Raikō). The fox took refuge on a moor called Nasu no Hara, where she hid in a black cloud. The warrior shot the cloud with an arrow, and the fox was wounded. According to the legend, the dying fox revealed her true form, the nine-tailed fox of great age and power, and her spirit, the “dung ball” of pestilence, was sealed within a stone. The stone, the Killing Stone (Sessho-seki), was said to emit noxious fumes, and any creature that came near it would die. The stone was eventually destroyed in 2022, but its legend persists.
The story of Tamamo-no-Mae is one of the great works of noh theater. The play “Tamamo-no-Mae no Densetsu” is still performed today. The tale has been retold in countless novels, films, and anime, including the popular manga and anime Naruto, in which the nine-tailed fox Kurama is a central figure.
Kitsune in Modern Culture
The kitsune has been a fixture of Japanese culture for centuries, and in the modern age it has become a global figure. The Studio Ghibli film Pom Poko (1994) features tanuki, the raccoon-dog shapeshifters who are close cousins of the kitsune, but the kitsune appears in countless other Ghibli films. The Inuyasha anime and manga features a nine-tailed fox demon. The Naruto series uses the nine-tailed fox as a major figure, with the fox’s spirit sealed within the protagonist. The Spice and Wolf anime features a wolf-deity who is sometimes compared to the kitsune. Even Pokémon includes Vulpix and Ninetales, both based on the kitsune.
In all of these works, the kitsune retains its ancient character: a being of great power, a shape-shifter, a trickster, sometimes a monster, sometimes a friend. The fox is one of the great mythological figures of the world, the Japanese cousin of the Norse Fenrir and the Greek Cerberus, but with a character that is all its own.
Last reviewed: June 2026.