![]() ![]() One of the most infamous fox spirits in Chinese mythology was Daji (妲己), who is portrayed in the Ming shenmo novel Fengshen Yanyi. The fox spirits encountered in tales and legends are usually females and appear as young, beautiful women. ![]() In Chinese mythology, it is believed that all things are capable of acquiring human forms, magical powers, and immortality, provided that they receive sufficient energy, in such forms as human breath or essence from the moon and the sun. For example, in 1111, an imperial edict was issued for the destruction of many spirit shrines within Kaifeng, including those of Daji. In the Song dynasty, fox spirit cults, such as those dedicated to Daji, became outlawed, but their suppression was unsuccessful. At the time there was a figure of speech saying, “Where there is no fox demon, no village can be established.” They make offerings in their bedchambers to beg for their favor. Since the beginning of the Tang, many commoners have worshiped fox spirits. Popular fox worship during the Tang dynasty has been mentioned in a text entitled Hu Shen (Fox gods): It serves in the Palace of the Sun and Moon and has its own fu (talisman) and a jiao ritual. says that the celestial fox has nine tails and a golden color. The Youyang Zazu made a connection between nine-tailed foxes and the divine:Īmong the arts of the Way, there is a specific doctrine of the celestial fox. Such beings are able to know things at more than a thousand miles’ distance they can poison men by sorcery, or possess and bewilder them, so that they lose their memory and knowledge and when a fox is thousand years old, it ascends to heaven and becomes a celestial fox. When a fox is fifty years old, it can transform itself into a woman when a hundred years old, it becomes a beautiful female, or a spirit medium, or an adult male who has sexual intercourse with women. According to the first-century Baihutong (Debates in the White Tiger Hall), the fox’s nine tails symbolize abundant progeny.ĭescribing the transformation and other features of the fox, Guo Pu (276–324) made the following comment: In Han iconography, the nine-tailed fox is sometimes depicted at Mount Kunlun and along with Xi Wangmu in her role as the goddess of immortality. In one ancient myth, Yu the Great encountered a white nine-tailed fox, which he interpreted as an auspicious sign that he would marry Nüjiao. Whoever eats it will be protected against insect-poison (gu). It makes a sound like a baby and is a man-eater. ![]() There is a beast here whose form resembles a fox with nine tails. ![]() Three hundred li farther east is Green-Hills Mountain, where much jade can be found on its south slope and green cinnabar on its north. However, in chapter 1, another aspect of the nine-tailed fox is described: In chapter 14 of the Shanhaijing, Guo Pu had commented that the nine-tailed fox was an auspicious omen that appeared during times of peace. According to another version, it is located north of Sunrise Valley. The foxes there have four legs and nine tails. The Land of Green-Hills lies north of Tianwu. The nine-tailed fox occurs in the Shanhaijing (Classic of Mountains and Seas), compiled from the Warring States period to the Western Han period (circa 4th to circa 1st century BC). As these traditions developed, the fox’s capacity for transformation was shaped. The idea that non-human creatures with advancing age could assume human form is presented in works such as the Lunheng by Wang Chong (27–91). Nine-tailed foxes appear in Chinese folklore, literature, and mythology, in which, depending on the tale can be a good or a bad omen.ĭuring the Han dynasty, the development of ideas about interspecies transformation had taken place in Chinese culture. Huli jing (Chinese: 狐狸精 literally: ‘fox spirit’) or jiuweihu (九尾狐 literally: ‘nine-tailed fox’) are Chinese mythological creatures who can be either good or bad spirits. ![]()
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