According to Japanese folklore, foxes are magical creatures with supernatural powers, capable of shapeshifting at will and taking on human form if they wish. Stories of them transforming themselves into beautiful women, marrying and producing offspring are numerous, the earliest dating back as far as the ninth century. One such story is that of Kuzunoha, the fox of Shinoda Forest.
Legend has it that a young nobleman by the name of Abe no Yasuna was on his way to pay a visit to a shrine in Shinoda, in Izumi Province, when he encountered a party of hunters. The white fox that the hunters were attempting to capture (to take its liver for medicinal purposes) ran past Yasuna, who hid it within the folds of his garments and saved it from certain death. Shortly afterwards, Yasuna met a beautiful young woman by the name of Kuzunoha and, unaware that she was in fact the white fox he'd saved from the hunters, married her. Yasuna and Kuzunoha soon produced a son, Dōji (called Seimei as an adult), and the family lived together happily for three years, until Dōji (or Yasune in other versions of the tale) caught sight of the tip of Kuzunoha's tail while she was viewing chrysanthemums in the garden. With her true nature revealed, Kuzunoha decided to return to her home in Shinoda Forest, leaving behind a farewell poem on a sliding screen:
Koishikuba
tazunekite miyo
Izumi naru
Shinoda no mori no
urami Kuzu no ha.
Legend has it that a young nobleman by the name of Abe no Yasuna was on his way to pay a visit to a shrine in Shinoda, in Izumi Province, when he encountered a party of hunters. The white fox that the hunters were attempting to capture (to take its liver for medicinal purposes) ran past Yasuna, who hid it within the folds of his garments and saved it from certain death. Shortly afterwards, Yasuna met a beautiful young woman by the name of Kuzunoha and, unaware that she was in fact the white fox he'd saved from the hunters, married her. Yasuna and Kuzunoha soon produced a son, Dōji (called Seimei as an adult), and the family lived together happily for three years, until Dōji (or Yasune in other versions of the tale) caught sight of the tip of Kuzunoha's tail while she was viewing chrysanthemums in the garden. With her true nature revealed, Kuzunoha decided to return to her home in Shinoda Forest, leaving behind a farewell poem on a sliding screen:
Koishikuba
tazunekite miyo
Izumi naru
Shinoda no mori no
urami Kuzu no ha.
If you love me
come and look for me
in the Forest of Shinoda in Izumi
and you will find
an arrowroot leaf.
Yasuna and young Dōji went to search for Kuzunoha in Shinoda Forest and eventually she appeared to them in fox form. She told them that she could not return with them to their home, but granted her son the ability to understand the language of beasts.
come and look for me
in the Forest of Shinoda in Izumi
and you will find
an arrowroot leaf.
Yasuna and young Dōji went to search for Kuzunoha in Shinoda Forest and eventually she appeared to them in fox form. She told them that she could not return with them to their home, but granted her son the ability to understand the language of beasts.
Source: Floating Along
No comments:
Post a Comment