Thread by @Ninetail_foxQ

Nice to see Japanese folklore get so much attention, but one thing drives me nuts about the coverage: the translations. Sessho-seki is “Life-taking Stone,” not killing. And a ninetailed fox is not a "demon." She's a yokai. Here's why that's important (1/12 nytimes.com/2022/03/18/wor…

Might sound like splitting hairs, but nuance is important. "Demon” is deeply linked to Judeo-Christian good-vs-evil, heaven-vs-hell worldview. Demons are evil. But yokai aren’t from hell. Nor are they necessarily bad. What they are, is personifications of natural forces. (2/12

In Japanese lore, foxes are tricky shape-shifters. The older they get, the more tails they grow and power they obtain. A nine-tailed fox is at the peak of its supernatural power. (You might know this trope from Sonic’s Tails, or Pokemon’s Ninetales.) (3/12

Yokai foxes aren’t seen as evil here. They’re respected for being dangerously powerful -- but also, this is key! -- unpredictable. For example, the Japanese idiom for rain on a sunny day is “Kitsune no yome iri,” literally “a fox’s wedding procession.” (4/12

Now on to the stone. Sessho-seki is written 殺生石, which more accurately is “Life-taking stone.” Here’s a photo I took in June 2017. (You can already see the crack!) The reason why this is a better translation than "killing" is simple: (5/12

It sits on a field of fumaroles spewing volcanic gas; anything that gets too close can die. Here’s an illustration from Toriyama Sekien’s 1779 yokai guide Gazu Hyakki Yagyo, which @matt_alt and I translated in 2016 as Japandemonium Illustrated. Note the dead birds. (6/12

It’s also unusually warm. When I hiked behind the stone, I heard cicadas chirping all around a month too early, and only in that one area. Odd! The story of the ninetailed fox and “life-taking” was obviously added to explain the unusual natural phenomena around the stone. (7/12

Now we know it’s geothermal, but back in time it must have seemed so mysterious. Yokai aren’t demons. That’s too simplistic; they live in a gray zone, embody it. Yokai help explain the inexplicable. So as preface of Yokai Attack! says, best translation of yokai, is yokai! (8/12

Near Life-Taking Stone, there’s Kyubi Inari, a shrine VENERATING the ninetailed fox! The reason being because she’s a personification of powerful natural forces that evoke awe. This isn’t a good vs bad thing. It’s Shinto animism (=everything has a spirit, even the terrain.) (9/12

This is why I also strongly disagree with the NYT’s claim that the ninetailed fox legend is "misogynistic." Speaking as Japanese, no way. She toppled an Emperor because of her shrewdness. This is why local officials quoted saying “auspicious” she’s loose! (10/12

In closing, foxes, ninetailed or otherwise, aren’t demons. They are beloved presences here. Check out this capsule toy I got of one a few years back, or the many people who wear fox masks with kimono. Japan loves yokai foxes! I mean, check out my Twitter handle! (11/12)

If you enjoyed this thread, please check out my books on the subject, including Yokai Attack! The Japanese Survival Guide and the English translation of Sekien’s Japandemonium Illustrated! (12/12)

amazon.com/gp/product/048…

amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS…