Gratitude moves the fox family to do whatever they can to repay the father’s kindness. The Japanese fox suggests how we should feel toward the kindness people show us. Unlike the well-digging old man, the human father of this story expresses his gratitude by erecting a shrine to honor the sacrifice of the foxes. They realize the fox couple could never be repaid. By building a family shrine, the human father ensures that the fox couple's sacrifice would be remembered for as long as the father’s lineage continues. In a similar story, an old man finds a pack of stray dogs eating a horse carcass. A starving, lame fox watches the grotesque feast. The old man feels sorry for the fox and drives the dogs away at great personal risk. The man cuts a slab of horse flesh and offers it to the fox, and the grateful fox teleports the old man to the fox’s home. There, the fox’s elderly parents give the man a book called the Choni-soshi. The book allows the man to understand the language of animals. Using the book, the old man learns about many things, such as how to help a wealthy woman struggling with a hard labor. The woman successfully gives birth and rewards the old man with so much money that he doesn’t have to worry about material things again.[46]
As a creature that lives on the border of the human and animal world, the fox acts as a gatekeeper for animal knowledge. The lame, starving fox’s family gives the kind old man the ability to access animal knowledge. They trust the man to use the knowledge to benefit others. Notice how the man doesn’t set out to benefit from the fox’s gift. Intention determines reward. As you may guess, if the man had fed the fox with the intention of getting something in return, the fox wouldn’t have rewarded him. The Japanese fox rewards those who lack ulterior motives and punishes complainers and connivers. She repays kindness with kindness and loyalty, even when the person originally acts cruelly toward her. For example, people will sometimes take one of the fox’s most precious possessions: her soul-pearl. Both Chinese and Japanese fox stories mention how fox souls live in a gem the fox carries with her. Chinese foxes carry their soul-pearl in their mouths; Japanese foxes carry theirs on the tip of their tails. As you can guess, people desire such a priceless gem. For a fox that has the gem stolen and returned, the word gratitude lacks the ability to express her feelings:
Once long ago lived a woman who was thought to be possessed by a fox. The woman would play with a mysterious, gemlike ball. She didn’t cause any harm, but out of good caution, the villagers avoided her. One day a young samurai entered the village and witnessed the woman’s play. In a flash, he snatched her ball out of the air and examined it. It was nothing like anything he had seen. The woman begged him to return the ball, saying she would protect him if he did. After the woman pleaded, cried, and threatened, the samurai relented and returned the strange plaything. The woman told him to call her by her name should he ever need her protection. Her name was Kitsune.
On his way home, the samurai suddenly felt dread. This deep foreboding chilled him. He knew he was in danger. But from where? After remembering the fox’s promise, he called out her name. She appeared from nowhere and listened to the samurai’s feelings. She too felt the danger crackling the air, and she walked ahead of him to sense the way. After walking for a time, she directed him to enter the bamboo forest and led the samurai on a winding trail. Then he saw them: Enemy samurai waited in the darkness to ambush him, but the cunning fox-protector led him around them and to safety. The samurai felt gratitude toward the fox. Over the course of the samurai’s life, he had to call upon the fox for help on several more occasions. Each time she came and acted as his guardian angel.[47]
At first, the samurai acts cruelly. He steals the fox’s soul and only relents after she threatens and cries. However, the fox feels grateful when the samurai returns her precious ball. She realizes he could have stolen the soul ball despite her threats. She repays his kindness in a way that transforms the young samurai. He realizes “that Kitsune was an animal very grateful, repaying the kindness of man.” The revelation changs how the samurai treats people. Because foxes can shape-shift and cast illusions, everyone must be treated with kindness. After all, a stranger may well be a fox in disguise. People who act differently should also be treated with kindness. Again, they could be a fox. The likelihood of the person being a fox increases with the person’s abnormal behavior. Western society inherited a similar idea from Christianity. People are called to be kind to others because the other person could be an angel in disguise.[48]
Modern Gratitude
Fox gratitude stories continue into the modern period and have some interesting twists. Like folktales, modern newspaper accounts of fox kindness are understood as a matter-of-fact. Japan Chronicle relates how a kindhearted fox helped a murder investigation in April 1923.
Last August in a house near the Hanshin Terminus, right opposite to a police box, a whole family was done to death with an iron bar. The murder was discovered by a neighbor, and after all details had been widely published, the police forbade mention of it. Incidentally, the Chronicle was fined ¥30 for mentioning that a crime had been committed such was the strictness of the embargo, and there were, in consequence of this procedure, all sorts of rumors about a policeman being the culprit, these rumors being indignantly denied. Suspects were duly arrested and examined in the usual manner.
after, at Onoye-dori, a fox was seen and chased and caught in a thicket, where an iron bar, believed to be the weapon with which the murders were committed, was discovered by the hunters. The fox was taken alive, and the Japanese papers reported that when he was produced in the police station—of all extraordinary things to do—a man who was at that time under examination, trembled all over and made a clean breast of the crime.
The fox is still a captive but has been deified, and a shrine has been erected for him at Kurakuen, the pleasure resort on the Rokko hill-side. A few days ago the formal dedication ceremony was conducted in the presence of numerous local officials, policemen, and some Japanese newspaper representatives. The shrine has been provided in honor of the creature's 'having at the risk of his life suggested the whereabouts of the concealed weapon.' Anyhow the animal is attracting a number of devotees since his consecration at Kurakuen, including, it is said, police officials and detectives. The new shrine is adorned with the red torii, sembon-nobori, and other adornments peculiar to the shrine of Inari-san. Nothing, by the way, has been heard further of the man who confessed. Perhaps it did not turn out to be him after all, or perhaps he is in prison still awaiting trial. With a deified fox put in as evidence against him, he will have to prove a very good alibi to get off.[49]
This newspaper article reveals how people expressed gratitude toward the fox for her help: they built shrines. The act of building a shrinepublicly honors the actions of the fox. The self-sacrificing fox-couple enjoyed the honor of having a shrine dedicated to them, and the guardian-angel fox and book-giving fox family express the same level of gratitude. The appreciation of the fox ties back to her unique place as the ideal wife. The fox-wife takes care of her family out of duty, love, and appreciation. The Japanese fox risked death with every human interaction. Welcoming a fox into the family as a wife creates the deepest feelings of gratitude. That sense of gratitude drives the fox to protect the samurai who stole the soul-pearl. It motivates the lame fox to give an old man the key to animal language.
However, fox gratitude has a hidden dark side. The common thread shared by the positive gratitude stories involves fox shrines or fox guardianship. The family becomes associated with the fox, and this association becomes trouble. In later periods of Japanese history, families with a history of fox dealings face a label: fox-owners. What was once a benefit becomes a serious problem, a problem that still plagues some families in Japan.
Chapter 3 Fox in the Family
Fox-ownership doesn’t involve actually owning a fox. Fox-adoption would be a better phrase. Anyway, do you remember the story of the fox-cub from the previous chapter? The fox family chooses to help the human family. The family doesn’t strike a deal with the fox f
amily; the fox family simply acts. Fox-ownership builds on this autonomy. Stories of wild fox trickery create the foundation for fox-ownership. One of the most famous of these stories links the fox with ill-gotten wealth: “The Lucky Teakettle.” There is another story of the same name that features the other shape-shifter in Japanese folklore, the tanuki.
The story tells of a man who saves a fox from death. To repay the kindness, the fox uses its shape-shifting powers to transform into various objects for the man to sell for a nice sum. After each sale, the fox eventually returns, assumes a new shape, and is sold again. Money pours into the man’s pocket. Eventually, the man becomes a village elite. The poor fox, on the other hand, pays for the man’s increasing social status. When the fox transforms into a teakettle, the priest who bought the teakettle tries to put it to use. Burned, the fox reverts to her true form and runs, yelping away. Later, a feudal lord buys the fox disguised as a horse. Despite appearances, the fox is still just a fox and unable to bear a human rider. The disappointed and disgusted lord dumps the exhausted fox-horse into a muddy ditch.[50]
In the story, the fox sacrifices herself for the man’s benefit because of his altruism. She does this without the man’s prompting. The story shows how foxes have a sense of honor, but that honor isn’t as well developed as a person’s sense of honor. She doesn’t hesitate to trick others out of money. This behavior sets the stage for fox-ownership stories.
Money and Fox-ownership
During the 17th and 18th century, many farmers and merchants followed a teakettle path to the aristocracy. During this time, Japan moved away from rice as currency and toward coins.[51] As society shifted to money as a currency, some farmers and merchants were able to capitalize on the change. This had moral implications. Feudal Japanese considered wealth as a reward for good acts. That also meant an evil action plunged you into poverty.[52] However, the rapid rise of neighbors mixed jealousy with admiration. Fears about changing village dynamics led to people labeling these wealthy neighbors as fox-owners.
New, rapid wealth revived stories like the “Lucky Teakettle”. Many people began to realize families who had dealings with foxes in their past were among those who gained wealth. Jealousy, fear, folklore, and family history combined into the fox-ownership label.
Money and the Threat to Tradition
About the width of a fox’s paw separated the new currency and past concepts of wealth. At the time, currency undermined folk beliefs. Farmers believed any object or tool could gain a spirit through age and use. For example, feudal farmers held memorial services for long-used needles. The needles became alive through their long use by a single family. You may be more familiar with the idea of a sword gaining a spirit than sewing needles, as samurai movies make a fuss of their sword spirits. It’s the same idea. Farmers didn’t believe needles could speak, feel, or think. The needles were still needles, but they did gain a sort of spiritual power that demanded respect. Memorial services put the spirit in the needle to rest and expressed appreciation for the needle’s service. Hammers, knives, and other kitchen utensils needed similar send-offs. A priest would chant a sacred text as the needles were cremated or set adrift on a river.[53] In contrast, money didn’t have an owner or the ability to gain a spirit. A coin couldn’t have a single owner like a needle. Money was a lifeless thing, and folk beliefs struggled with this gap before settling on the fox as the spirit that should be connected to money. Currency couldn’t fit into the rural way of thinking without this association. Already, the fox had many stories dealing with wealth. She was also associated with Inari, the goddess of rice. These ideas mixed with fears of social upheaval and created the negative label of fox-ownership.
The Price of Being Adopted by a Fox
Fox owning families were shunned and excluded from community life because of the nature of their foxes. The fact that foxes stole the family’s wealth didn’t concern villagers as much as the threat of spiritual possession and trickery. People believed foxes acted on the owner’s anger, jealousy, or resentment without any orders from the owner. People avoided fox-owners to keep from accidentally upsetting them and unknowingly bringing down the fox’s wrath. Fox-owners were kept out of community life because of how fox-ownership was contracted.
There are five ways for a family to become fox-owners. First, as we have already seen, a fox may adopt a family out of gratitude for saving its life or some other good deed. The second method is through birth. Being born into a fox-owning family labels a person as a fox-owner for life. Escape can only be found by shoving a blade into the stomach—or jugular if you happen to be a woman. Moving is an option. After all, not everyone in Japan knows every winner of the fox lottery. The third way is through marriage. Marrying a fox-owner marries the fox. Marriage gives you in-laws and in-foxes. Trouble is, divorce doesn’t free you from the fox. Once a fox-owner, always a fox-owner.[54]
The fourth method involves land. Buying land from fox-owners blesses the buyer with the fox’s beneficial curse. Let me illustrate. Let’s say a young man named Takeshi moves into a village several miles from Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Takeshi wants to spend money on a weekend home. He finds a quaint house for sale by the owners and buys it outright. Soon after moving in, he notices neighbors and townspeople avoid him. He tries to get involved with the community, but he gets witheringly polite looks. He discovers that the family who owned the home had a fox. Luckily, several rice paddies away another home hits the market, this one owned by the local bank. Takeshi foists the fox-home on a colleague and buys the bank-owned home. Soon after, the village warms to him.
What happened?
The transfer of the fox’s wealth—land in this case—labels Takeshi as a temporary fox-owner. As long as he owns the land, the community wants nothing to do with him. Temporary fox-owners even risk being thrown out of their families to avoid spreading the fox-ownership disease. Luckily, Takeshi doesn’t have to worry about this because he doesn’t have family in the village. Buying a fox-home muddies the reputation of the entire family. This taboo on buying land of families that became rich in the 17-18th centuries protects the wealth of those families.
Years pass. Takeshi begins to use his wealth to work his way into the village council. A man from Edo could offer much to a village. Besides, Takeshi wants the village to prosper. A proper stone wall would attract merchants and keep some of the Shogun’s darn dogs out. Suddenly, his relationships with his neighbors ice. Close friends keep having something come up whenever Takeshi plans a card night. Oh, everyone still acts politely. Perhaps a touch too polite. He remembers his first time in the village. The realization chills him. No one would tell him to his face, of course. Japanese society is too civil for that. Just the same, Takeshi knows what people say about him: fox-owner. But how? His land doesn’t have a fox!
Our Takeshi stumbles across the last way of becoming a fox-owner. Feudal Japanese villages frowned upon using wealth to buy social influence. A young upstart like Takeshi posed a danger to a village’s established hierarchy. In order to prevent new wealth from corrupting politics, people who overstepped themselves with their money were labeled fox-owners.[55] Councils kept villages in order by creating rules about how taxes for the local lord were collected and regulating their own militia.[56] New wealth like Takeshi, regardless if they came from outside or inside the village, threatened a village’s self-governance. Slapping the fox-owner label on such—sometimes well-meaning—wastrels segregated them from the rest of the village. The label placed them under special sets of rules that kept the fox-infection from spreading.
Despite newly rich families gaining the label of fox-owners centuries ago, the idea of owning a fox still influences marriage in modern Japan. Our fictional Takeshi’s descendants would suffer from his mistake. In 1952, a young man’s family forbade his marriage because his fiancé came from a fox-owning family. The young couple decided to die together instead of facing a life apart or a marriage of shame.[57] Fox-ownership isn’t as rare as you may think. The town of
Kamo in Shimane Prefecture has 10% of its families labeled as fox-owners.[58]
Why Call People Fox-owners?
For those of us in the West, the label seems silly. But the separation of these families from the rest of the community attempts to retain social harmony. It prevents these wealthy families from taking control of the village. But being a fox-owner isn’t all muck and manure; the label protects rich families from the jealousy of less-fortunate neighbors. All the negative aspects of being a fox-owner help keep envy in check. Fox-ownership protects the family’s wealth and the interests of the community.
Speaking of wealth, how can land be sold and bought without gaining the fox-owner label? After all, eventually some of these families will need to sell or rent their land. This, too, needs to be done in a way that keeps the social fabric of the village harmonious. Luckily, fox-ownership rules provide a loophole: government officials may buy land without a problem. They have the ability to drive foxes away, allowing the land to be bought and sold without worrying about the fox. I guess foxes dislike government? Actually, the rule protects the community’s harmony. It keeps debt in the hands of a third party instead of in the hands of neighbors. Debt held within a community can fester into resentment and other problems. Imagine owing someone you see every day a large amount of money. Now imagine many people owing money to that neighbor. Pretty soon, he will become wealthier than his neighbors. This was the same path many new-money families strolled when currency was adopted. To prevent this, villages started allowing the government to sell land and keep the community’s balance from toppling.
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