Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Masaki Fox
Category: Fox
The Myth
Masaki Kitsune is a powerful fox spirit who appears in the Japanese epic Nansō Satomi Hakkenden. Originally a female fox that lived for centuries near Shinooka Castle, she became indebted to the family of Kawagoi Moriyuki after his kind wife helped raise her cubs. When a treacherous retainer killed her mate, the fox sought revenge by disguising herself as a bandit and frightening the man and his lover into a river, where they drowned. The woman was Masaki, the wet nurse of Moriyuki’s young son, Takatsugu. Feeling pity for the child who had lost his nurse, the fox assumed Masaki’s appearance and secretly raised Takatsugu for more than two years. One day, however, she accidentally revealed her true animal face while sleeping. The shocked child cried out that his nurse’s face had turned into that of a puppy, and the fox fled before her identity could be discovered by others.
After leaving Takatsugu, the fox settled in the plains of Ueno and resolved to devote the rest of her existence to helping humanity. She disguised herself as an elderly woman and opened a teahouse near Shinobazu Pond, where she offered travellers shelter from the heat and cold. She donated her earnings to orphans, persuaded people preparing to commit suicide to abandon their plans, and provided food, clothing, and shelter to those driven to despair by poverty. Over approximately twenty years, she saved 999 lives. Through these acts of charity, she accumulated extraordinary spiritual merit. When she reached one thousand years of age, her fur turned white and her single tail divided into nine, transforming her into a divine nine-tailed fox with the power of clairvoyance.
Masaki Kitsune eventually sensed that Takatsugu was in grave danger. Using her supernatural powers, she transformed herself into Ebira Ōtoji, the mother of a deceased noblewoman, and appeared at the execution ground where Takatsugu was about to be killed for a crime he had not committed. Her attendants and horses were also illusions created by the fox. She denounced the corrupt retainers responsible for his condemnation, restored his confiscated swords, and enabled him to escape. Afterward, Takatsugu and the warrior Inue Shinbei encountered the elderly woman from the teahouse again and discovered that she was the same mysterious being who had rescued Takatsugu. Masaki revealed her true identity, explained that the sorceress Myōchin was actually a disguised tanuki, and gave the two warriors guidance for their coming struggle.
Having completed her charitable mission and repaid the kindness once shown to her cubs, Masaki announced that she had received a heavenly decree permitting her to leave the mortal world. She declared that she would ascend to heaven as a fox-dragon, a divine transformation that demonstrated the sacred nature of the nine-tailed fox. After bidding farewell to Takatsugu and Shinbei, she plunged into Shinobazu Pond. Clouds gathered, rain poured down, and a magnificent white dragon appeared in the sky amid a violent storm. The teahouse was battered by the wind, but the tree sheltering the two warriors protected them from the storm. When the weather finally cleared, the dragon had vanished into the heavens. Masaki Kitsune’s story presents the nine-tailed fox not as an inherently evil monster, but as a benevolent divine being who earns transformation through compassion, self-sacrifice, and virtuous deeds.
Sources
“正木狐 (Masaki Kitsune).” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1072119352.html