Japanese Shapeshifter Mythology Archives

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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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Mei-kuwanu Nyōbō (“The Wife Who Does Not Eat”)
Category: Yōkai, shapeshifter, Mountain dweller

The Myth

There was once a man so stingy that he constantly complained about the cost of food. Again and again he declared that what he truly wanted was a wife who did not eat at all. One day, as if answering his foolish wish, a beautiful young woman appeared before him and said calmly, “I do not eat. Please take me as your wife.” Delighted, the man married her at once.

The woman was everything she promised. She worked tirelessly from morning until night and never once sat down to eat a meal. Yet despite this, something strange began to happen. The rice chest in the house grew emptier by the day. No matter how carefully the man measured it, the rice continued to vanish. Suspicion crept into his mind.

One morning, the man pretended to leave for work but instead hid himself in the attic, peering down to spy on his wife. When he was certain she believed herself alone, the woman set a great pot on the fire and cooked an enormous amount of rice. She shaped the rice into ball after ball, far more than any one person could eat. Then she did something horrifying. Letting her hair fall loose, she opened a hidden opening at the top of her head and began stuffing the rice balls into it, one after another. At that moment, the man understood that his wife was no human being, but a monster in disguise.

That evening, shaken with fear, the man confronted her and dismissed her from the house. Realizing her secret had been discovered, the woman did not protest. Instead, she asked for a large bucket as the price of her departure. The man agreed, eager only to see her gone. But once the bucket was ready, the wife suddenly seized him, shoved him inside, and carried the bucket upon her back as she fled into the mountains, revealing her monstrous strength.

Along the way, the man managed to escape and hid himself among thick patches of mugwort and iris. When the wife pursued him, she stopped short, unable to come near those plants. Snarling in frustration, she turned back and vanished into the wilds.

From that time on, people said that mugwort and iris could ward off such creatures, and they began hanging them from their eaves during the May Festival. As for the wife who claimed she did not eat, her true form was never agreed upon. Some said she was a mountain hag, others a demon, a snake, a spider, a frog, or even a crow. But all versions agreed on one thing: a wife who eats nothing is not to be trusted.