Written by: Simona Sirish - 2025017, Grade VII
Posted on: 27 January, 2021
The fox which has got nine tails is known to be the nine-tailed fox. It is known as fox spirit in china (Chinese: 狐狸精; pinyin: húlijīng) or nine-tailed fox. The nine-tailed foxes are said to be ordinary foxes that lived 50 to 100 years, and as their age grew, so did their number of tails. It is also known that they have acquired magical powers that allow them to turn into humans, usually young beautiful girls. The nine-tailed fox is symbolized for peace and prosperity in the world and also the nine-tailed fox is a sign of marriage and love, and whoever marries a nine-tailed fox would have many children and many grandchildren.
In the legends, a monarch called Yu did not get married until he reached the age of thirty. He said that he saw a nine-tailed fox in a place called Tushan, and he thought it was an auspicious sign of a king so he married a woman in Tushan. The nine-tailed fox witnessed the love between Yu and the Tushan woman. Also depending on their origin nine-tailed foxes can be good and bad but it's more commonly described to be impish and also a lot of folklore commonly refers to the beast's ability to change its physical appearance and to fool innocent people. In Japan, the nine-tailed fox got a similar reputation. And also these are playful but the white fox spirits protect humans and ward off evil. As in Japan nine-tailed fox is known as Kitsune but in English Kitsune usually refers to the magical fox-spirit, in which a fox can become human. Kitsune has many tails like nine tail foxes. Generally, a greater number of tails indicates an older and more powerful Kitsune, and also some folktales say that a fox will only grow additional tails after it has lived 100 years.
Kitsune is often used as the name for nine-tailed foxes. There are also different types of Kitsune which are: Heaven (or Celestial or Prime), Void (or Dark), Wind, Spirit, Fire, Earth, River, Ocean, Mountain, Forest, Thunder, Time and Sound and one of the most important things to a Kitsune is freedom. And the Nine-Tails is a giant, malevolent demon fox of mass destruction. It is also intelligent and has a sadistic and sarcastic personality. As for the nine-tailed fox, it is nowhere to be seen and I wonder how it is said it used to exist before. And there are also a lot of stories, movies, and dramas about nine-tailed foxes ( Kitsune ) like the Tale of the nine-tailed fox.
