christheroux:

I keep trying to avoid practicing any form of Japanese religion or following any Japanese deity because I think it’ll make someone call me a weeaboo or something but I am being surrounded by symbols of Inari Okami and it’s like I’m being told yes Inari is who you’re supposed to follow…

Yeah, I had that fear too when I first started (well, more specifically about cultural appropriation), but he-and-she was quite insistent. In the end, you have to decide whose opinion matters most to you.

Inari

kkitsune:

Kitsune are associated with Inari, the Shinto deity of rice. This association has reinforced the fox’s supernatural significance. Originally, kitsune were Inari’s messengers, but the line between the two is now blurred so that Inari itself may be depicted as a fox. Likewise, entire shrines are dedicated to kitsune, where devotees can leave offerings. Fox spirits are said to be particularly fond of a fried sliced tofu called aburage, which is accordingly found in the noodle-based dishes kitsune udon and kitsune soba. Similarly, Inari-zushi is a type of sushi named for Inari that consists of rice-filled pouches of fried tofu.There is speculation among folklorists as to whether another Shinto fox deity existed in the past. Foxes have long been worshipped as kami.

Inari’s kitsune are white, a color of good omen. They possess the power to ward off evil, and they sometimes serve as guardian spirits. In addition to protecting Inari shrines, they are petitioned to intervene on behalf of the locals and particularly to aid against troublesomenogitsune, those spirit foxes who do not serve Inari. Black foxes and nine-tailed foxes are likewise considered good omens.

According to beliefs derived from fusui (feng shui), the fox’s power over evil is such that a mere statue of a fox can dispel the evil kimon, or energy, that flows from the northeast. Many Inari shrines, such as the famous Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto, feature such statues, sometimes large numbers of them.

Kitsune are connected to the Buddhist religion through the Dakiniten, goddesses conflated with Inari’s female aspect. Dakiniten is depicted as a female boddhisattva wielding a sword and riding a flying white fox.

Ibaraki`s Unique HATSU UMA (初午) Celebrations

Getting ready for Hatsu Uma ( February 3rd this year), by cleaning the precincts of Inari Shrines ( this one in Inari-Mae, Tsukuba)

SUMITSUKARI- a dish served only on Hatsu-Uma which is unique to certain parts of Ibaraki and Tochigi Prefectures. This uncooked type (生) was prepared by Asako Seo of Tsukuba

Sumitsukarei wrapped in straw and left as an offering at a small Inari Shrine in Hojo, Tsukuba. Identical objects are also sometimes thrown on rooftops to prevent fire

This morning as I was get getting ready to leave for work, my front door suddenly slid open. It was my next-door neighbor. She was bringing over some SEKIHAN (glutinous rice cooked with beans- something eaten on special occassions). It all happened so suddenly that I forgot to ask WHICH special event she had cooked it for. You see, as it turns out, this year two traditional events fall on the same day! There is SETSUBUN, the Bean Throwing Festival which is celebrated nationwide- and HATSU UMA, a special day which is quite obscure on a national scale but which has long been important in this part of Japan ( Ibaraki and Tochigi Prefectures).

Since I have already written in detail about SETSUBUN, let me tell about this area`s unique way of celebrating HATSU-UMA- which literally means the FIRST HORSE.

The kitchen-ware section at the Seibu Department Store put up a display explaining how to make the local Hatsu Uma speciality SUMITSU KAREI

If you look at a Japanese calendar, you will notice that every day of the month has been designated as belonging to a different animal of the Japanese zodiac. Today, February 6th on the Gregorian calendar, is the first Day of the Horse of the second month of the year, making it HATSU UMA (初午, the First Horse, a day which has been celebrated for more than 1000 years by devotees of O-INARI-SAMA. There are tens of thousands of Inari shrines around Japan (more numerous than any other type of shrine), ranging from the grand to the tiny (these are called HOKORA, 祠), which are instantly recognizable by their red or vermilion torii gates (sometimes lined up one behind the other forming a tunnel!) and their many fox statues and figurines which lead to the mistaken notion that the foxes are the Gods of these shrines. Even those who have never been to Japan have probably seen them in books or posters as these exotic features make them a very popular subject for photographers. 

Fox figurines at a small Inari Shrine in Hojo, Tsukuba. Foxes are the messengers of the deity, not the deity itself, as some assume

The first Day of the Horse of the second month of the 4th year of WADO (711 AD) was the day on which the God UKANOMITAMA NO KAMI was called down to HIS/HER new home, Mt Inari (in modern day Kyoto), upon which later the Fushimi Inari Shrine would be built, as the Titular God (ujigami) of the great Hata Family, which had come to Japan from China. Ukanomitama No Mikoto was originally a god of food and rice. The alternate name INARI is actually a variation of INE NARI, which means to become rice (INE: 稲, rice; NARU: 成, to become, to grow).

The fox, the messenger or servant of this god, has become so strongly associated with Inari shrines that these animals are often confused with the god him/herself.

Over the years, as Inari shrines sprang up throughout the country, they became associated with other things besides agriculture, all in accordance with various stages of Japanese economic development: industry, business, sales, household safety, the arts, etc. Inari is even considered the patron of mahjong parlors and tobacconists. Truly an all-purpose deity. In fact, the Fushimi Inari Shrine actually enshrined four other Gods besides Ukanomitama No Kami, which have become incorporated into the Inari of that shrine, though not necessarily all of the Inari shrines, especially the small ones, around Japan.

Inari-Mae’s Inari Shrine、across from YU-WORLD in Tsukuba

To celebrate the Inari’s original descent to Japan, devotees begin by cleaning the grounds around the Inari Shrines, as well as the shrine structures themselves. Today I chatted with the men who were getting ready for Hatsu Uma ceremonies at the Inari Shrine in Inarimae in Tsukuba, just across from Yu World and Cineplex. They were burning fallen leaves, cleaning the shrine building and preparing new sacred ornaments of straw, rope and paper, all in preparation for the ceremony which will be held at 10am on Tuesday ( February 8th).

At homes, many families throughout Japan will be eating SEKI HAN (celebratory rice with red beans), and offering rice wine (o-miki), mochi, and seki han to the shrines along with plenty of ABURA AGE (fried tofu) which is supposedly a favorite food of foxes. Doing this is said to bring good harvests in the coming year and prevent disasters and sickness as well. Others believe that in this entrance examination period, PASSING THROUGH THE TORII GATE TUNNELS will help students PASS exams.

 Morie Nakano Sensei`s Hatsu Uma decorations on display in Tsukuba

An important belief associated with HATSU UMA is that it is a dangerous day on which to make a fire. Because of this superstition a very interesting and extremely localized custom has developed in parts of Ibaraki and Tochigi Prefectures. In order to avoid cooking with fire on this day, a special COLD DISH is made, which utilizes leftover beans from the setsubun bean throwing ceremony, the salted salmon which was eaten during New Year’s and the vegetables of the season- daikon radish and carrots, which is roughly grated with a bamboo grate called ONI OROSHI.

Abura-age ( fried bean curd) is also added as an hommage to the fox messengers. This special dish is known either as SUMITSUKARI, SUMITSUKARE or SHIMOTSUKARE, depending on the area.

Sumitsukari and Celebration rice (sekihan) are also often wrapped in straw (separately) and offered to Inari Shrines and to the Household Gods ( Ujigami- Sama, 氏神様). Since this dish does not spoil easily, it is usually eaten by the family- for a few days anyway, until it is all finished.

Offerings to an Inari Shrine in Hojo, Tsukuba for Hatsu Uma 2012- fried tofu,sekihan,soy beans, and sumitsukrei

SUMITSUKARE- the cooked type

Also, in the belief that that it can help prevent fire, the sumitsukari and the rice, wrapped in their straw , are sometimes thrown over the roofs of houses.

SUMITSUKARI appears to be experiencing a revival of sorts. I have met several women who have prepared this dish for this weeks celebrations, and there have even been classes in how to make it at community centers in this area. If you make it to the shrine in Inarimae on the morning of the 8th you might get a chance to taste this very unique dish. If you cant and are still interested, tell a local farmer that you`d lke to try some. Im sure they`d be happy to share with you.

If you`d like to try and make it yourself here is the recipe.

This is the type of grater used to roughly grate the daikon radish and carrots for sumitsukari (called an ONI-OROSHI)

Recipes for Sumitsukari (スミツカリ)- which is sometimes pronounced SUMITSUKAREI (スミツカレ), and in Tochigi Prefecture SHIMOTSUKARE (シモツカレ)

These recipes do not include salted salmon which is often used, especially in Tochigi.

Recipe for the Cooked Type of Sumitsukarei

Ingredients : Half a daikon radish, half a carrot, half a cup of setsubun soy beans, a sheet of ABURA-AGE ( fried tofu), a tablespoon of Sake dregs, dashi (Japanese soup stock) to taste, and 2 tablespoons each of sugar, vinegar, and soy sauce.

How to make:

Roughly grate the radish and the carrot. Lightly grill or toast th abura-age, and chop up into thin pieces. Peel the soy beans after roasting a bit. Add to pot with the rest of the ingredients and simmer.Recipe forUncooked (nama) Type

Ingredients- the same as above WITHOUT the sake dregs, soy sauce or dashi

How to make::

Same as the above, except lightly drain the liquid from the grated radish and carrot before adding the vinegar and sugar.

Some delicious SUMITSUKARI (スミツカレ)- prepared by Asako Seo

The most famous Inari Shrines in Japan are the Fushimi Inari in Kyoto, the Kasama Inari in Ibaraki, and the Toyokawa Inari in Aichi. Even more interesting, however, are the small Inari Hokora you can find in Tsukuba’s bamboo groves and forests, or behind shops or restaurants. You can’t miss them with their red wooden gates and little fox figurines.

Sumitsukare and Sekihan wrapped in straw thrown on top of the roof of one of Ryuichi Someya`s sheds – in the hope that it will prevent fires

Hatsuuma

(via Encyclopedia of Shinto - Home : Rituals in Daily Life)

“First Horse Day Festival.” This term refers to the event that is held on the first day of the horse in February.

It is the custom to worship Inari all over Japan, and beginning with Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyōto and Toyokawa Inari in Aichi Prefecture, shrines in all regions hold First Horse Day Festivals. The event celebrated on the second day of the horse in February is called ni no uma (“second horse”). This festival is held in conjunction with hatsuuma.

In many places groups called Inari ko (confraternities) make offerings of fried bean curd (abura age) and similar items before small Inari shrines (hokora) and share food and drink.

The origin of treating the first day of the horse in February as the ennichi (special festival day) of Inari is found in a legend that states that the deity (saijin) of Fushimi Inari Shrine descended from Mount Inari in 711 on the eleventh (alternatively, ninth) day of the second month, the first day of the horse, but it is not certain if this is true.

On this day, apart from being the festival day of the deity Inari, all over the country horse-related events can be seen, such as taking decorated horses to a shrine or to a horse-headed Kannon (batō kannon) for worship, or offering rice cakes (mochi) on the backs of straw horses to a traveler’s tutelary deity (dōsojin). In places where sericulture is popular, people also make mayudama (festive bamboo twigs hung with cocoon shaped cakes) and rice cakes and offer them to the silkworm deity (oshirasama, kokagesama).

The legend that the tutelary deity of the rice paddy (ta no kami) descended from a mountain on hatsuuma can be found all over the country. The present form of this event for requesting a good harvest corresponds to the beginning of the agricultural year, and is linked to the agricultural deity aspect of Inari belief (inari shinkō).

fashionableai:

Went to Fushimi Inari after classes today. It was really pretty but we only got to climb it like halfway ‘cause it got dark.  I wanna go back sometime soon and buy a little stuffed fox and a cellphone strap.  There are fox statues all over the grounds and there’s over a thousand torii.  They showed it in a scene in Memoirs of a Geisha.  The place is ginormous. I really need a whole day to explore the whole thing, but idk if I’ll get the chance. I definitely wanna try to get to the top before dark next time though.

The shrine is named for the goddess Inari, who has an affinity with foxes and whose favorite food is sweet fried tofu.  She’s the name sake for foods like inarizushi and why they call kitsune udon kitsune udon.

I’m so jealous of anyone who has the ability to go to Fushimi Inari. I would give a limb just for an ofuda and a fox plush, maybe a torii souvenir, but mostly I just have an overwhelming need to physically go there, maybe do a circumambulation of the mountain. I hope I’m able to make it sometime soon (by which I mean in the next decade)

Inari (Oinari) and Kitsune

genestho:

Often associated with other gods, Inari is a major Shintō kami that can be depicted in either male or female form. S/he protects the rice harvest, farmers, merchants, fisheries, and other foodstuffs.

Foxes, usually white in color, traditionally flock to the sides of Inari’s image, but it is more popular today for the shape-shifting fox (“kitsune” in Japanese). Foxes are associated with bringing and sustaining life and also warding off evil Kimon (“demon gate”, the northeast quarter where “demons gather and enter” in Chinese feng shui).

In early records of lore, Inari was identified with Uga no Mitama no Kami, the Shintō goddess of agriculture, and also with a male counterpart - Uka no Mitama no Mikoto, the god of the grains. Also, Inari was familiarized with Ukemochi no Kami, another food goddess.

Even more confusing is that Inari is the fact that pre-modern artwork depicted Inari as a bearded man standing on a sack of rice with two foxes by his sides, or as a long-haired woman carrying sheaves of rice or riding a white fox. Upon these attributes of Inari, there are even more.

—-from my Pagan Blog Project entry, here.

Yes perfect

Inari (Oinari) and Kitsune

genestho:

Often associated with other gods, Inari is a major Shintō kami that can be depicted in either male or female form. S/he protects the rice harvest, farmers, merchants, fisheries, and other foodstuffs.

Foxes, usually white in color, traditionally flock to the sides of Inari’s image, but it is more popular today for the shape-shifting fox (“kitsune” in Japanese). Foxes are associated with bringing and sustaining life and also warding off evil Kimon (“demon gate”, the northeast quarter where “demons gather and enter” in Chinese feng shui).

In early records of lore, Inari was identified with Uga no Mitama no Kami, the Shintō goddess of agriculture, and also with a male counterpart - Uka no Mitama no Mikoto, the god of the grains. Also, Inari was familiarized with Ukemochi no Kami, another food goddess.

Even more confusing is that Inari is the fact that pre-modern artwork depicted Inari as a bearded man standing on a sack of rice with two foxes by his sides, or as a long-haired woman carrying sheaves of rice or riding a white fox. Upon these attributes of Inari, there are even more.

—-from my Pagan Blog Project entry, here.

Kitsune

shoeboxofstories:

As part of my 2010 pilgrimage to Japan I had the pleasure of visiting the amazing Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine. This hauntingly beautiful place and the surrounding folklore of trickster fox-spirits gave me the idea for the latter day ghost story that follows. I ended up writing it in 2011 as part of a creative writing course. Here it is in full. Enjoy.

———————————————————————————————————————————————-

‘What on earth do you want one of those for, Edward?’

  The rebuke came almost immediately, as he turned the small wooden carving over in his hand, bowing politely to the smiling Japanese lady who stood behind the stall.

   ‘Horrible, cheap looking thing,’ continued the abuse from somewhere beyond his line of vision, ‘I bet they only cost pennies to make while fools like you pay a fortune.’

  Wincing, he rummaged in his pocket for the perfectly reasonable four-hundred Yen the stallholder was asking for and ultimately handed over a larger denomination, motioning away her attempts to deliver change. He turned, instead, to face Jessica, his wife of ten years, and the source of the insults; turned to meet the searing stare he could already feel burning into him from behind the shield of her ray-bans.

  ‘Perfectly happy to waste money on silly little fox trinkets, then?’ she remarked, her hands perched on her hips in the way that an eagle might grip a freshly slain rabbit. ‘Meanwhile we have to slum about like peasants in some kind of paper house where there isn’t even a proper bed.’

  Edward looked down at the little carving he had bought. Its long angular snout, narrow eyes and the mouth that seemed to smile slyly back at him. He might have guessed she wouldn’t see the value in it. He didn’t know what he had been thinking in finally bringing her along on one of his trips.

  ‘Come on,’ he said with a sigh, ‘let’s get going,’ and he set off past her, walking at a slow pace towards the sea of red torii gates that lay ahead; curling their way up the greenery of the mountain, through the various shrines of Fushimi Inari-taisha. As he walked, he pushed the little statue of the fox-spirit, the Kitsune, into his pocket and tried to put the nagging and perpetual moaning of his wife to the back of his mind.

  In truth, he thought, he must have known that she wouldn’t enjoy Japan. They had been in Kyoto for only three days and already she was unhappy with most things.  The food, she claimed, was not to her taste, despite the variety of western style eateries available in their prefecture. She disliked the way that there were no street names with which to orient herself and blamed this for being unable to find her way around. As for his choice of accommodation…well, he really should have known better.

  For him, the magic of visiting another country was in embracing its culture and traditions, of exploring its folklore and engaging with its locals. It was, however, clear to him now that she viewed this - perhaps would always view this - as the most ridiculous of behaviour; as the romantic folly of people like her husband…of people like him.

  In his naiveté, he had booked them into a traditional Japanese ryokan, the kind he often enjoyed staying in while on business in Japan; tatami flooring, sliding doors, a futon to sleep on and an outdoorspa for bathing.  After the ear-bashing he had received over this choice he now couldn’t even begin to imagine why he had imagined that it would ever be acceptable to Jessica.

  As he passed under the first of the torii gates, each of them embossed with a large black kanji script, he could already hear her voice calling to him again.

  ‘Slow down, Edward, for goodness sake. I’m going to end up with blisters!’

  Not for the first time, he struggled to recall what strange force it was that had ever pulled them together to begin with.

 

 

                                                                                            *

‘Why are there cats everywhere?’ she asked with a frown, as her lips ceased sucking the life out of the water bottle.  They had reached the halfway point of their trek up the mountainside and were now seated at a popular resting point overlooking the city below and the surrounding woodland. They had indeed passed several cats on their way.

  She passed the bottle across to him and for a moment a smile cracked through the surface of her frosty visage as she waited for his answer.  It almost made him remember the fondness of their early years together, before her bitterness and jealousy over his work had seemingly overtaken her and left him at the constant mercy of wild, unpredictable mood swings. He took a sip and wiped the sweat from his brow, gesticulating at their surroundings.

  ‘This mountain,’ he began ‘is a shrine to Inari,’

  His wife already appeared distracted with the large, fairly healthy looking feline that lounged across the path from them. He smiled unconsciously. She could find beauty in things when she tried.

  ‘Inari is sort of…’ he began again, trying to find a terminology that her more forthright side wouldn’t instantly dismiss, ‘not a…god exactly but a sort of…spirit or natural force, in this case one that regulates industry and agriculture…in the Shinto belief system he’s a sort of…business deity.’

  Jessica rolled her eyes, as the previously serene expression tumbled from her face.

  ‘I might have guessed,’ she exhaled, as, across from them, the cat rose and began stalking something in the shrubbery. ‘There I was assuming that today was a day off for you, but it turns out you’ve actually taken me here so that we can commune with some make-believe ghost and ask it to help you out in your meeting tomorrow,’ she scowled.

  Not for the first time, Edward winced at her turn of phrase.

  ‘Never mind,’ she said, slipping her sunglasses back over her eyes, ‘I was asking about the cats,’ she reminded him as, from across the path, the feline which had prompted her questioning now stood poised and ready to pounce.

  ‘Cats are considered good luck charms for businesses, here,’ he shrugged ‘it’s natural that these strays have found themselves a home where they will be well respected by those passing through.’

  Jessica made an ugly facial expression.

 ‘Strays?’ she began, but was cut off as, in front of them, the stray in question dived into the undergrowth.  There was a distinctive squeak and several seconds later the cat re-emerged with a large, and now very evidently dead, toad hanging from its mouth.

  ‘I think,’ said Jessica, her face barely moving beneath the ray-bans, ‘that I am going to be sick.’

                                                      

                                                                                         *

   It was late afternoon by the time they reached the higher echelons of the mountain and the heart of the shrine.  Now they strolled through tightly compacted corridors of leaf and natural rock, narrow passageways that branched off into a seemingly endless array of miniature Shinto shrines and large, ominous looking statues that resembled the carving he carried in his pocket. In the sky above, the sun had begun its descent and the light it emitted radiated down through the cracks in the foliage, casting an ethereal glow over the silence and intermittent birdsong that accompanied their progress.

  ‘These things give me the creeps,’ said Jessica, looking up into the stony, grey eyes and laughing maw of the statue closest to her. ‘I thought you said they liked cats here. These things look more like wolves,’ she said, rubbing her arms.

  He smiled and removed the carving from his pocket.

  ‘They’re Kitsune,’ he explained, holding up the miniature, ‘fox spirits. These ones are supposed to act as messengers to Inari. They also act as guardians of the shrines themselves. The belief is that they protect them from thieves,’ he explained.
  Jessica tutted and rolled her eyes.

  ‘They’d be better off employing security guards,’ she muttered ‘these things are just creepy, it’s like their eyes follow you about.’

  He smiled.

  ‘Well, that’s probably the intention,’ he remarked.

  ‘Is that why you bought one, then?’ she asked him, as, from behind the ray bans, he could already feel the look of disapproval forming, ‘because I think we already have a burglar alarm back home for those purposes,’ she sniped.

  He shook his head.

  ‘I just think they are interesting,’ he tried to explain ‘before Inari, the Kitsune were a different part of Japanese folklore,’ he went on. ‘People viewed them as trickster spirits who could shape-shift and appear in human form. There are all sorts of legends where some poor farmer ends up falling in love with and marrying what turns out to be a fox,’ he laughed…then he noticed something else.

  ‘Jessica, where did you get that?’

  In her left hand, dangled a miniature of the numerous red torii gates they had traversed on their trek; duplicates of which could be seen decorating the various shrines around them.

  ‘Nice isn’t it,’ she smiled ‘I think it’s a much better souvenir than your silly fox thing. I’m going to put it in the garden when we get home.’

  He bristled at her blasé attitude.

  ‘That isn’t what I asked you, Jessica,’ he said, pacing up to her. ‘Did you take this from a shrine?’

  She shrugged.

  ‘What if I did?’ she asked ‘There are hundreds lying about here and they’re the exact same type that the stallholders are selling to fools like you at the entrance. What’s the harm in taking one? There’s nobody around and, even if there was, how would anyone know I didn’t buy it?’

  Without listening to her anymore, he snatched the replica from her hand, feeling the warm prickling sensation cascade over his face.

  ‘That’s not the point!’ he yelled, as, from above them, a flutter of wings ricocheted through the treetops; his voice disturbing some unseen, avian spy. His wife glared back at him.

  ‘How dare you snatch at me like that,’ she yelled and her face crinkled into the familiar look of disgust. ‘Look at you,’ she snarled ‘a grown man, fretting about some silly made up fairytales. Are you worried that the big bad fox will come and get you?’ she enthused, her tone changing to that of a child. ‘I only wanted a crappy souvenir. You’re pathetic, Edward, as pathetic as this stupid country.’ And with this remark she turned and stomped back along the winding paths, while he stood, vacant and trembling, the Kitsune in one hand, the miniature torii gate in the other and the cold, grey eyes of the statue looking down at him from above.  It was some time before he sensed the overpowering musk and looked up to find the woman standing there, observing him keenly.

  ‘Your wife is very angry at you,’ observed the woman.

  She was evidently Japanese, although she spoke English with only a trace accent. She was dressed in a white and orange robe and her dyed auburn hair sparkled in the fading sunlight. He thought she looked quite beautiful.

  ‘No,’ he said in response ‘my wife is just very angry at everybody.’

  She came over to him and took the replica from his hand with little more persuasion than her smile.

  ‘Would you like me to fix this for you?’ she asked and, without even thinking, he found himself nodding, uncertain or unclear that he even understood her question.

  Taking the replica, she wandered over to a nearby shrine and hung it next to the others.

  ‘That was a simple thing to fix,’ she said smiling at him, her eyes clear and unnaturally blue. ‘I’m sure that fixing things with your wife will be easy, too.’

  He felt himself blushing again.

  ‘Yes,’ he said and suddenly felt very awkward ‘I’m sure they will…Domo arigato.’ He bowed to her.

  She bowed back and began tending to another nearby shrine while, shaken as if from a dream, he set off after Jessica.

                                                        

                                                                                     *       

  They barely spoke on the train and when they finally got back to the sparse confines of their ryokan and were able to change out of their hot, sweaty clothes, Jessica still refused to use the bubbling spa that sat in their garden; ready to soothe. Instead she changed into her dressing gown, ignoring the traditional jacket provided and sat sulking on the futon while he went to the nearby store to collect some batteries.

 He was halfway there when the feeling of uneasiness came over him. Maybe it was the quietude of the streets or his memories of the strange encounter with the woman at the shrine. Maybe it was Jessica herself and how unusually silent she had been on the train, the way she had held her bag close to her and refused to let him carry it for her.  Halfway to the store he stopped and turned back, quickening his pace.

 He reached the ryokan some five minutes later and, removing his shoes at the entrance and padding up the wooden staircase, slid open the door to their lodgings.

  ‘Jessica?’

  Almost immediately he noticed the smell. It overpowered his nostrils as he stepped into the small living quarters; a strong musky, earthy scent; animal and familiar.

  ‘Jessica?’ he called out.

  Silence.

  He hurried through to the sleeping quarters. The smell was even stronger here; feral and wild. On the futon her dressing gown lay shorn like a discarded skin, her bag overturned; the contents spilling out across the floor.

  ‘Jessica,’ he muttered…and then he saw it.

  On a nearby table was the carving he had bought; the little statue of the Kitsune. Beside it sat an all too familiar object.

   From the corner of his eye, a flash of something huge and orange caused him to whirl around to the nearby window, as from outside, beyond the quiet bubbling of the spa, he thought he heard the smallest, quickest of sounds. It was a squeak. Exactly like the one they had heard in the undergrowth when the cat had pounced on the toad.

  He ran back into the living quarters and, almost pulling the sliding door off its hinges, bounded out onto the wet grass of the garden beyond.  The smell of animal was overpowering now, the spa bubbled emptily in the gloom.

  ‘Jessica!’ he yelled.

  But there was nothing. Whatever had been here was now gone.

  Unsteadily he staggered back into the ryokan, as words heard earlier in the day now took on new significance in his head.

  ‘The belief is they protect the shrines from thieves…’

  ‘There are hundreds of them lying about here…’

  ‘People viewed them as trickster spirits who could shape-shift and appear in human form…’

  The memory of the words filled his head as he stepped back into the bedroom, looked once again at the table; at the carving of the Kitsune and the second item that Jessica had adorned it with. 

  The miniature red torii gate stood over the little carving; a second souvenir, one taken, almost certainly, from another shrine, while he had meandered and dallied with the woman and her words.

  ‘Your wife is very angry…would you like me to fix this?’

  He collapsed onto the futon, his mind spinning as he heard his own reply and the confirmation he now realised he had both given and received from something with sparkling blue eyes that might not have been a woman at all.

  ‘I’m sure fixing things with your wife will be just as easy.’

  He sat for a long time, rocking gently on the futon, wondering what to do next, while above him the Kitsunesat under the arch of Jessica’s plundered treasure; its narrow eyes looking back at him.

  It seemed almost to be smiling.