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For more than a millennium, the fox has been a ubiquitous figure at the margins of the Japanese collective imagination. In the writings of the nobility and the motifs of popular literature, the fox is known as a shapeshifter, able to assume various forms in order to deceive others. Focusing on recurring themes of transformation and duplicity in folklore, theology, and court and village practice, The Fox's Craft explores the meanings and uses of shapeshifter fox imagery in Japanese history. Michael Bathgate finds that the shapeshifting powers of the fox make it a surprisingly fundamental symbol in the discourse of elite and folk alike, and a key component in formulations of marriage and human identity, religious knowledge, and the power of money. The symbol of the shapeshifter fox thus provides a vantage point from which to understand the social practice of signification.
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RELIGION IN HISTORY, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE Edited by Frank Reynolds and
Winnifred Fallers Sullivan The University of Chicago, Divinity School
A ROUTLEDGE SERIES
RELIGION IN HISTORY, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE edited by Frank Reynolds and Winnifred Fallers Sullivan 1. LAS ABEJAS
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2. THE SPIRIT OF DEVELOPMENT
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3. EXPLAINING MANTRAS
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4. LITURGY WARS
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5. HEAVENLY JOURNEYS, EARTHLY CONCERNS
The Legacy of the Mi’raj in the Formation of Islam Brooke Olson Vuckovic
6. LEST WE BE DAMNED
Practical Innovation and Lived Experience among Catholics in Protestant England, 1559–1642 Lisa McClain
THE Fox’s CRAFT IN JAPANESE RELIGION AND FOLKLORE SHAPESHIFTERS, TRANSFORMATIONS AND DUPLICITIES
MICHAEL BATHGATE
ROUTLEDGE NEW YORK AND LONDON
Published in 2004 by Routledge 29 West 35th Street New York, NY 10001 www.routledge-ny.com Published in Great Britain by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane London EC4P 4EE www.routledge.co.uk Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Copyright © 2004 by Taylor & Francis Books, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bathgate, Michael, 1967– The fox’s craft in Japanese religion and folklore: shapeshifters, transformations, and duplicities/by Michael Bathgate. p. cm.—(Religion in history, society & culture; 7) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-96821-6 (alk. paper) 1. Foxes—Religious aspects. 2. Foxes—Japan—Folklore. 3. Inari. 4. Japan— Religious life and customs. I. Title. II. Series. BL12211.I5B37 2003 398′.3699775′0952–dc22 2003014635 ISBN 0-203-48476-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-57929-1 (Adobe eReader Format)
For Wanda, who taught me stories, And for Buzz, who lived one.
Contents Series Editors’ Foreword
1
2
3
4
viii
Preface
x
The Jewel Maiden and the Murder Stone: Orientations to Shapeshifting and Signification
1
Metamorphosis and Duplicity
7
Imagined Foxes, Ima