Departments
Intermediate Japanese - Free Online Course
KITSUNE
狐
fox
The fox frequently appears in Japanese folklore. Sometimes the animal is portrayed as a friendly presence, at other times as a duplicitous rascal. The old legends indicate that foxes can hypnotize people for either good or evil purposes.
The fox is worshipped in the form of the god Inari. This is the god of harvest and business prosperity. The center of the Inari cult is the Fushimi Shrine in Kyoto.
Many businesses erect small shrines to Inari to solicit the god’s favor. Since Inari supposedly likes fresh air, the roof of a business is a common place for such a shrine. In the early 1980s, the New Miyako Hotel in Kyoto supposedly spent more that $25,000 on an elaborate rooftop shrine for the fox god.