Japanese Mythology

Hakumō Hachibi Kitsune

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: White-Haired Eight-Tailed Fox
Category: Fox

The Myth

In a village east of Incheon, strange events troubled the people for several years. Young men returning from nearby villages often spoke of meeting a beautiful woman on the mountain path at dusk. She appeared suddenly, graceful and calm, yet before anyone could question her, she vanished just as mysteriously. Each time she was seen, chickens from the village also disappeared.

One evening, a man working in a field encountered such a woman. She appeared beside him without warning and spoke gently, saying that traveling alone at night was lonely and asking him to accompany her to a distant village. Glad for company, he agreed and walked beside her.

But before long he collapsed and lost consciousness.

When he awoke, others told him what they had seen. He had wandered toward a hole by the roadside, thrusting his head inside while struggling as though something unseen held him. When the villagers examined the hole, they found it filled with countless bones of chickens and other birds. The tunnel stretched deep into the earth, so far that no one could see its end.

People came to believe that the mysterious woman and the vanishing livestock were connected. The hole was said to be the dwelling of a fox spirit, and the woman herself its human form.

Soon afterward, a witness claimed to have seen the creature directly — a fox with a reddish body and eight tails, each tail shining white as snow. Word spread quickly, and the tale of the White-Haired Eight-Tailed Fox traveled far beyond the village. Some even spoke of organizing a hunt to capture the strange fox alive.

Thus the spirit of the mountain path was remembered as a fox of great age and power, appearing as a beautiful woman by twilight and returning to the earth by night, leaving only bones and rumors behind.

Gallery

Sources

Tyz-Yokai Blog. (n.d.). Hakumō Hachibi Kitsune. Retrieved March 1, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1040562430.html.

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Shichibi-Furugitsune

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Seven-Tailed Old Fox
Category: Fox

The Myth

In the Takamatsu area of Shimada Village, farmers began to suffer repeated thefts of chickens and other small livestock. The villagers suspected that a fox or raccoon dog was responsible, but the losses continued, and people grew uneasy.

At last, on the night of May 18th, several young men armed themselves and hid in wait, determined to catch the culprit. They watched through the darkness until, around the second hour of the night, a large fox suddenly appeared.

The men rushed after it and, after a hard chase, managed to capture it. When they finally saw the creature clearly, they realized it was no ordinary animal.

The fox was enormous, nearly twice the size of a normal fox, and its body bore the look of great age. Most striking of all were its tails — seven of them, each forked and spreading like branches. Around its neck was a strange mark shaped like a coin, as though it carried a crest upon its fur.

Those who saw it said the sight recalled the legends of powerful fox spirits, like the golden nine-tailed fox of old tales. The captured creature was whispered to be a furugitsune, an ancient fox that had lived long enough to gain strange power and form.

And so the fox of Shimada Village passed into local memory as a sign that, even in ordinary fields and farms, creatures of great age and mystery might still walk unseen among humans.

Gallery

Sources

Tyz-Yokai Blog. (n.d.). Shichibi-Furugitsune. Retrieved March 1, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1039850186.html.

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Akaeri

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Aka-eri
Category: Fox

The Myth

Near Sendasuka Nishi on Chiejima Island there once lay a deep and gloomy body of water known as Dongan Pond. Willow trees leaned over its banks, bamboo thickets surrounded it, and the surface of the water shone a murky blue-black. People already whispered that kappa and raccoon dogs haunted the place.

Around the Taishō period, another rumor spread.

A strange being called Akaeri was said to live in the bushes near the pond. Those who claimed to see it described a creature about the size of a ten-year-old child, with a red body and the features of a fox. Yet what made it most unsettling was not its shape, but its posture.

Akaeri did not skulk or creep like an animal. It sat at the edge of the thicket facing the pond, legs crossed and back straight, like a person quietly resting. From a distance it looked almost human, but the red body and fox-like face betrayed its true nature.

The sight of it was so eerie that schoolchildren walking from Nishichiejima to the elementary school avoided the pond entirely, choosing longer routes rather than pass near the bushes. Workers traveling nearby also spoke of it. One plasterer returning each day would say that a strange red creature sat there again, unmoving, watching the water.

Whether it was spirit, fox, or something else, the figure remained part of the pond’s reputation. And long after the stories faded, people still remembered Dongan Pond as a place where something red once sat silently at the water’s edge, waiting in the reeds.

Sources

Tyz-Yokai Blog. (n.d.). Akaeri. Retrieved March 1, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1013136220.html.

O-Yoshi

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Oyoshi-san
Category: Fox

The Myth

In the village of Takasu there was once a boy named Yoshifumi who fell mysteriously ill. Though he continued to eat, his body weakened day by day, and his behavior became strange.

When his grandmother asked why he was growing so thin, the boy answered, “I don’t eat alone. O-Yoshi eats too.”

Pressed to explain, he spoke calmly of someone called O-Yoshi who lived in the Noba area of Takasu with grandparents and a younger sister named O-Sato. He described their house in detail, even though he had never visited the place.

As the days passed, the boy’s condition worsened. He began to move and speak like a fox, muttering requests such as, “I want fried tofu,” “I want chicken,” and “Please build me an Inari shrine.” His family feared that he had been possessed.

When asked where this fox might be, Yoshifumi replied that it lived in the weeds along the Kokai River near a certain house. His grandmother took him there, and the boy pointed to a small hole hidden beneath the grass, saying, “Grandma, it’s here.” The hole was exactly where he had said.

Fearing for the child, the family made a pilgrimage to Mitake Shrine and returned with a talisman meant to drive fox spirits away. When the charm was brought into the house, Yoshifumi trembled and cried out that he could not stay there and must run away, begging to be allowed to eat.

Soon after, he fell into a deep sleep that lasted several days. When he awoke, the strange behavior was gone, and little by little he recovered completely.

Yet the story spread among the villages, and people spoke uneasily of a fox called O-Yoshi that might still dwell near the riverbank, waiting to enter another child if the chance arose.

Gallery

Sources

Tyz-Yokai Blog. (n.d.). O-Yoshi-san. Retrieved March 1, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010655051.html.

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Hakuzōsu

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Hakuzosu, Hakuzōsu the Fox-Priest
Category: Fox, kitsune, shapeshifter

The Myth

At a temple called Shōrin-ji in Izumi Province there once lived a poor priest named Hakuzōsu. He had little income and few visitors, and his life was one of quiet hardship. Hoping for divine aid, he prayed for seven days and seven nights before the altar of the Inari deity.

At the end of his prayers, a white fox suddenly leapt from the altar and curled up before him. Seeing this as a sign from the god, the priest took the fox in and cared for it. From that time on, fortune changed. Offerings began to arrive at the temple, and people came more often. It seemed that the fox had brought blessing with it.

The fox was no ordinary animal. It could take human shape and sometimes transformed into a warrior, guarding the temple and driving away bandits who threatened the grounds. It stayed close to the priest, as though bound to him by gratitude or divine purpose.

Yet there was danger nearby. Hakuzōsu had a nephew who was a hunter of foxes. Suspicious of the strange events at the temple, the man soon realized that the white fox sometimes took the form of his uncle. Determined to catch it, he used all the tricks of his trade to try to trap the creature.

Still, the fox remained elusive, shifting between forms and slipping away whenever danger came too near.

Stories of the fox-priest spread, and people said that descendants of the white fox lingered around the temple grounds long afterward, some even bearing the mark of three legs like their ancestor.

Thus Hakuzōsu was remembered as a fox who walked among humans in the robes of a priest — a creature of Inari’s favor, whose presence brought both blessing and mystery to the temple where he once dwelled.

Gallery

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Hakuzōsu. In Wikipedia. Retrieved March 1, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakuz%C5%8Dsu

yokai.com. (n.d.). Hakuzōsu. Retrieved March 1, 2026, from https://yokai.com/hakuzousu/?srsltid=AfmBOoqwM964QwrmicqVN43qzmMLevLPyJUwL0_eJzcEtCVma_AP0YLw

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Kuzunoha

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Kuzu-no-Ha
Category: Fox

The Myth

Long ago, in the land of Izumi, there lived a man named Abe no Yasuna. One day he encountered a fox being hunted and chased by men. Moved by pity, Yasuna drove the hunters away and saved the animal’s life.

Not long afterward, Yasuna met a beautiful woman named Kuzunoha. She became his wife, and the two lived happily together. In time, she gave birth to a son, who would grow to be Abe no Seimei, a child of extraordinary intelligence and spiritual power.

For years their household was peaceful. Yet Kuzunoha always seemed to carry a quiet sadness, as though she guarded a secret. One day, while the child was playing, he accidentally glimpsed his mother’s shadow — and saw that it was not fully human. The truth was revealed: Kuzunoha was the fox Yasuna had once saved, who had taken human form out of gratitude and love.

Knowing she could no longer remain among humans once her nature was discovered, Kuzunoha prepared to leave. Before departing, she wrote a farewell poem upon a paper door, telling her husband and child that if they missed her, they should come to the forest of Shinoda.

She then vanished, returning to the wild as a fox.

Yasuna later brought their son to that forest, where the boy is said to have received his first teachings in hidden knowledge. From this beginning, Abe no Seimei grew into one of the greatest masters of onmyōdō, carrying within him the wisdom of both human and fox.

Thus Kuzunoha is remembered not as a trickster, but as a fox spirit of devotion — a mother who crossed the boundary between worlds for love, and whose legacy lived on through her child.

Gallery

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Kuzunoha. In Wikipedia. Retrieved March 1, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuzunoha

yokai.com. (n.d.). Kuzunoha. Retrieved March 1, 2026, from https://yokai.com/kuzunoha/?srsltid=AfmBOooL0A8LfeRbnPjmFs8_N3Z4ETbc8ITLHzMNBQPxAXV54g9FzIkj

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Ginseng

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Ninjin no Kami, Ginseng Deity
Category: Plant, deity

The Myth

In old illustrated books of curious gods, there is mention of a strange deity known simply as the Carrot.

This being was said to have come from Korea and to dwell in the form of a precious medicinal root. It was believed that the true plant possessed great power, able to cure even illnesses thought impossible to heal. Apothecaries prized it, and those who obtained it treated it almost like a divine object.

The deity was imagined with a human face bearing a foreign beard, while its body was formed from roots. Bundles of carrot-like tendrils served as its arms and legs, giving it the appearance of a spirit grown directly from the soil.

People also spoke of another plant with the same name found at ordinary greengrocers. This one, however, had no power at all. Though it looked similar, it was merely a vegetable and brought no blessings to those who ate it.

Thus the Carrot Deity was remembered as a spirit of the rare medicinal root — a being whose strength lay hidden in the earth, revered when genuine, but easily mistaken for the humble plant that shared its name.

Gallery

Sources

Tyz-Yokai Blog. (n.d.). Ginseng. Retrieved March 1, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1076296170.html

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Nobiagari

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Nobiagari Nyūdō, Mikoshi Nyūdō, Miage Nyūdō
Category: Plant

The Myth

In the bamboo groves of Shikoku, people tell of a strange and dangerous being known as the Nobiagari.

It hides low among the stalks, no larger than a small stone or clump of shadow. At rest it is hardly noticeable — a dark, smoky shape about the height of a hand above the ground, blending perfectly with the fallen leaves and tangled roots of the grove.

But when a traveler comes close and notices it, the creature suddenly rises.

The Nobiagari stretches upward at once, its body lengthening like smoke pulled toward the sky. It grows taller than a person, then taller still. No matter how high the traveler lifts their head, the being continues to rise, forcing them to look higher and higher.

While the victim’s gaze is drawn upward, their throat is exposed. That is when the attack comes.

In some places, people say the creature bites into the throat and tears it open. In others, it coils its long body around the neck and strangles its prey. Elsewhere, it simply collapses forward, crushing the victim beneath its towering form.

Yet there is said to be one way to escape. If a person keeps their eyes lowered and refuses to look up, the creature cannot seize them. Striking at the ground where it first appeared — just above the height of a small stone — may cause it to vanish at once.

Thus the Nobiagari is remembered as a lurking danger of the bamboo forest: a thing that begins small and harmless, but rises without limit the moment one gives it their gaze.

Gallery

Sources

yokai.com. (n.d.). Nobiagari. Retrieved March 1, 2026, from https://yokai.com/nobiagari/?srsltid=AfmBOopGYBhws1WGqT7ZdR81Jq_G9tMhQFZ1E3612EWys_7dEQsouyO5

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Jubokko

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Tradition / Region: Japanese folklore
Alternate Names: Tree Child, Shrub Child
Category: Plant

The Myth

On old battlefields and places where many people died, there are said to grow strange trees known as Jubokko. At first glance they appear no different from any other tree. They stand quietly among the grasses and ruins, their trunks weathered and their branches spreading like any woodland growth.

Yet those who look more closely notice unsettling signs. The branches seem twisted and grasping, like fingers waiting to close. Beneath the tree, half-hidden in the weeds, lie scattered bones bleached pale by sun and time.

These trees were once ordinary. But where the soil became soaked with the blood of countless dead, their roots drank deeply of it. Over the years, this nourishment changed them. They awakened into something else, a living tree that no longer drew strength from water alone but hungered for human blood.

The Jubokko waits in stillness for a traveler to pass beneath its branches. When someone comes too near, the limbs lash down with sudden force, seizing the victim and lifting them high into the canopy. Thin, sharp twigs pierce the skin and draw out the blood until the body is emptied.

What remains is left to the birds, insects, and beasts of the field. In time, only dry bones fall back to the ground, joining the others that lie beneath the tree.

From a distance, the Jubokko stands silent and unchanged, just another tree among many. Only when it is too late does a traveler understand that this is no ordinary plant, but a tree grown from the memory of war, still feeding on the lives of the living.

Gallery

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Jubokko. In Wikipedia. Retrieved March 1, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubokko

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O-ude

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Big Arm
Category: Plant

The Myth

In Shisō County of Banshū there once lived a man named Yamanaka Zen’emon. He was known as honest and kind, but poverty weighed heavily on him. Hoping to improve his fortunes, he set out on foot toward Kobe to look for work.

As he crossed into the deep mountain roads, night fell around him. The forest grew dark and still, and only the sound of his own steps followed him. Then, without warning, something emerged from a grove of cedars beside the path — a gigantic arm, stretching out toward him from the trees.

The sight was so sudden and unnatural that Zen’emon collapsed in terror. After a short time he came to, scrambled to his feet, and fled down the road as fast as he could.

Not long afterward, he saw someone sitting in a roadside tree. Drawing closer, he recognized the man as Gen’ya, a childhood friend he had not seen in years. Gen’ya greeted him calmly and said he had been waiting for him. Still shaken, Zen’emon told him about the monstrous arm he had just encountered.

Gen’ya listened, then held out his own arm with a strange smile.
“This one is much bigger than yours,” he said.

Zen’emon stared in horror. Gen’ya’s arm had grown enormous, swelling until it seemed as large as the arm of the Great Buddha of Nara itself. The sight nearly made him faint again. As he watched, his friend suddenly vanished like smoke, leaving nothing behind.

Terrified, Zen’emon ran until he found shelter at a nearby house and stayed there through the night. The next day he continued on to Kobe, but though he searched, no good work came his way.

And so the story remained — a tale told in the region of how, in the mountain forests, even a familiar face may hide something uncanny, and how the deep woods can stretch ordinary things into frightening shapes.

Gallery

Sources

Tyz-Yokai Blog. (n.d.). O-ude. Retrieved March 1, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010653

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