Foxes in Asian Mythology

Cathy Henrichs

Humanities 115

November 27, 2012

Foxes in Asian Mythology

Various elements are necessary to make a myth something that is remembered and passes down through the ages. Little things such as needing a protagonist, often a sidekick type character, a quest, a climax of problems that are then to be resolved, and a nice and neat resolution to a particular problem. Somewhere in that list often times a wise man or a person outside the problem is called on for aid, and in several myths the wise person turns out to be a shape shifter often of canine persuasion. In Asian culture foxes play a large part of the mythology. Every single ethnic group in Asia and Europe has foxes playing the roles of trickster or wise man, or cunning stranger. Across the globe there are foxes in mythology, and most often they are cast in a rather unappealing light. Focusing on the foxes in Asiatic mythology alone would include Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and Vietnamese myths to get a true sense of the importance of the fox. Foxes, also called kitsune, and huli jing, seem to fall on both sides of the spectrum in being seen as good and clever, or evil and clever. Note that cleverness is a continuing theme, because in every myth that is commonly told, this trait is praised. Because there is a large amount of myths that deal with foxes, it is very interesting to read through them and find the one that has the most elements.