Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Kitamu Inkyo, North-facing Hermit
Category: Fox
The Myth
Kitamu-Inkyo is a powerful shapeshifting fox from the mountains of Aomori Prefecture, feared for its cunning disguises and deadly schemes. It belongs to a hierarchy of exceptionally old foxes, each possessing greater size and supernatural power than the last. Among them are Old Man Higashiyama, a fox as large as a fawn, and the Old Man of the Sunset, a fox as large as a calf. Kitamu-Inkyo surpasses them both, appearing as an enormous old fox whose long white fur drags along the ground. It possesses such mastery of transformation that it can impersonate a human being convincingly and devise elaborate plans to deceive its enemies.
The creature’s story begins with a hunter named Minomi Tozo, who once spotted a young fox stripping the feathers from a pheasant. The fox transformed the featherless bird into a baby, turned a horse bone into beautiful sandals, and fashioned a baby carrier from plants before disguising itself as a woman carrying a child. It entered a house pretending to be Kinko, the daughter of the household’s owner. Tozo followed and exposed the deception by holding a knife to the supposed baby’s throat, causing it to revert to a pheasant and fly away. That night, a fox disguised as Tozo’s wife lured him into shooting his real wife, who was hiding in the latrine. Devastated by the trick, Tozo vowed to hunt down the evil foxes responsible. While hiding in a cave, he overheard a gathering of foxes discussing how to kill him. Their leader decided that Kitamu-Inkyo should disguise itself as Tozo’s older brother, a Buddhist monk from Kyoto, and visit his home to murder him.
Having heard the plot, Tozo prepared an ambush at his house, sealing its openings and hiding a large dog in a boat in the garden. When Kitamu-Inkyo arrived disguised as the monk, accompanied by an impressive procession, Tozo welcomed the visitors and served them sake. At a signal from the hunter, the doors were shut, the young men attacked with mallets, and the dog sprang from its hiding place. Many foxes were killed, but Kitamu-Inkyo escaped through a smoke vent in the roof. Tozo pursued the white fox across the mountains until he reached a strange village where metal objects were forbidden and a young woman was to be sacrificed to a terrifying local god. Tozo volunteered to take her place and hid inside a wicker basket placed at the entrance of the monster’s cave. When the creature reached for the basket’s lid, Tozo shot it through the throat. The next morning, the villagers discovered a huge dead fox deep inside the cave: Kitamu-Inkyo at last lay defeated. Grateful for his bravery, the villagers welcomed Tozo, and he married the young woman he had saved.
Sources
“北村隠居 (Kitamu-inkyo).” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1065549434.html