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The First Day of Kitsune – a folk tale

This entry is part 1 of 12 in the series Twelve Days of Kitsune

For the First Day of Kitsune, I’d like to share one of the oldest and most common folk stories about a kitsune. It’s a tale of a fox wife, similar to Western stories of fairy brides, and it features many of the key points in the kitsune legend.

Fox women (kitsune in human form). Woodcut by Bertha Boynton Lum, 1908. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Fox women (kitsune in human form). Woodcut by Bertha Boynton Lum, 1908. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s also a story the village girl Murame hears in Kitsune-Mochi, which prompts her to do some deep thinking….

The First Day of Kitsune – a folk tale

Twelve Days of Kitsune!

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays — but it wasn’t exactly popular during Heian and Kamakura eras in Japan, for obvious reasons. So here on the blog we’re going to celebrate Twelve Days of Kitsune, and each post we’ll discover a new folk tale, period foods, or… Twelve Days of Kitsune!

Things To Do While Waiting To Hear Back From an Agent

In Richard Westall's Sword of Damocles, 1812, ...
Richard Westall’s Sword of Damocles, 1812. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At one point in Shard & Shield, a character is waiting for his treason to be discovered. He knows it is only a matter of time before he is identified, seized, tortured, and executed, but in the meantime he must go about his daily business as if nothing is wrong, as if he fears nothing, as if his entire world does not hang by a Damoclean thread.

I might have researched and prepared for writing such a state by sending off a manuscript for consideration.

Things To Do While Waiting To Hear Back From an Agent

Catch a Kitsune at Anime Crossroads!

You can find the two-hour panel “Japanese Folklore & Mythology: A Primer for Anime, Manga, & Film” at Anime Crossroads on Dec 8. Admission is included with con badge. We’ll talk about Japanese folklore, supernatural creatures such as tengu and dragons and kitsune, why it’s smart to fart… Catch a Kitsune at Anime Crossroads!