Greetings yokai fans!

This week’s yokai is last week’s yokai’s husband. Keizobo, the postman fox! His story is a bit tragic. Sadly, not all kitsune are as good at tricking people as Otonjoro was…

経蔵坊
けいぞうぼう

Translation: none; this is his name
Alternate names: Kyōzōbō, hikyaku gitsune (“postman fox”)

Appearance: Keizōbō is a famous kitsune from Tottori Prefecture. He served Lord Ikeda Mitsunaka of Tottori Castle during the 17th century. He is most famous for his skill at transforming into a young samurai and running messages from Tottori Castle to Edo. He could make the journey in a record-breaking three days. He was beloved by his lord for his talent and dedicated service.

Keizōbō is the husband of the famous kitsune Otonjorō and one of the famous Inaba Five Kitsune.

Legends: One day Keizōbō was sent by his lord to Edo with an important message. On the way, he approached a small village where he encountered a rich and delicious aroma wafting up from the side of the road. Looking over, he saw a farmer placing fried mice into traps. Keizōbō transformed himself to a young samurai and asked the farmer what he was doing. The farmer replied he was setting traps for a fox who had been destroying his fields. Keizōbō continued on his way.

Keizōbō delivered his message in Edo. On his way back to Tottori, he happened to pass through the same village as he did before. Once again the smell of delicious friend mice hit his nose. Even though Keizōbō knew it was a trap, the smell was too enticing to resist. He moved as quickly as he could to snatch the fried mouse of the trap. But poor Keizōbō was not fast enough. The trap caught him, and he died.

Lord Ikeda heard that Keizōbō had died, he was filled with sadness. He had a shrine built on the side of the mountain near his castle. Keizōbō’s spirit was enshrined there as a guardian deity. His Nakazaka Inari Shrine still stands in Tottori City today.

Greetings yokai fans!

Today I give you Otonjoro, aka Otomi. Doesn’t she look cute snacking on some deep fried rats?

I hope you like stories in which the yokai wins! 

おとん女郎
おとんじょろう

Translation: Otomi the prostitute

Appearance: Otonjorō is a famous kitsune from the old province of Ibana (present-day Tottori Prefecture). She haunted a mountain pass called Tachimi tōge. She is most famous for disguising herself as a prostitute named Otomi and bewitching men crossing through the mountains, and for her ability to escape capture over and over. Her name Otomi jorō (Otomi the prostitute) was shortened over time into the nickname Otonjorō.

Her favorite food was said to be fried rat, and if you put up a bunch of them for sale she was sure to come and try to buy one. She transformed leaves into one sen coins and used them to buy the friend rats. Sellers would try to rip the coins in half before accepting them. If it didn’t rip, it was a genuine coin. But if it ripped, it was a transformed leaf, and the person buying your fried rats was actually Otonjorō.

A number of famous kitsune come from this region. Together they are known as the Inaba Five Kitsune. In addition to Otonjorō, the other four are her husband Keizōbō, Shoroshoro kitsune, Onashi gitsune, and Onji no kitsune.

Legends: One night, a merchant was traveling through the Tachimi pass on his way to the castle. On the road up ahead he spotted a young woman wearing a kerchief. The merchant thought to himself that she must be the wicked Otonjorō, out hunting for men.

The woman called out to the merchant, “Oh merchant! Would you take me to a nearby village and help me find someone who would take me as a bride?” He decided to trick her before she could trick him. He could take her to his friend Jūbē’s house, and together they would capture her and make her suffer. He put on his best poker face and told her to come with him.

He led her to Jūbē’s house, only to discover it was already decorate in preparation to receive a bride. It was quite late at night, but Jūbē’s servants welcomed him inside, and treated him with the greatest hospitality. They offered him a nice hot bath, which sounded just wonderful to the road-weary merchant. He soaked in the hot bath for some time, and eventually the sky began to lighten as dawn approached.

The village’s farmers awoke with the dawn and headed out into the fields. They called out, “Look over there! That merchant must have been bewitched by Otonjorō! He’s washing himself in the dung pots!” The merchant suddenly found himself sitting naked in a dung tank in the middle of a field, rubbing fertilizer into his face, surrounded by laughing farmers. The whole night had been an illusion.

Another legend tells of a village headman who could no longer contain his anger at Otonjorō’s constant mischief. He called all the villagers together and promised to greatly reward anyone who would exterminate the kitsune. A pair of braggadocious young men volunteered to take her down.

The men ventured into the mountains to look for Otonjorō. Soon they reached Tachimi tōge, where they spied a fox walking along a small river up ahead of them. They watched as the creature rubbed river mud all over its body, and transformed into a young woman. Then, she picked up a river stone and transformed it into a baby, which she cradled in her arms. The two men followed her all the way to a small mountain hovel, which she entered.

Peering into the hovel, the young men saw an old man and an old woman gleefully cradling the stone baby. They burst inside and told the elderly couple that the baby was a stone, and that they had been bewitched by a kitsune. But no matter how much they explained, the old couple would not hear it. They kept insisting that the baby was their own grandchild.

The young men had enough. To prove the baby was just an illusion, they snatched it up from the elderly couple and dropped it into a boiling pot. The baby screamed, and died, and did not not turn back into rock. The young men were horrified. The elderly couple were furious. They overpowered the shocked young men and tied them up, then called for someone to fetch the town magistrate to come arrest them.

A passing priest heard them, and said that he had a better idea. They should give the two criminals to his temple, and he would ensure they spend the rest of their lives praying for the soul of the dead grandchild. The elderly couple agreed. The young men shaved their heads, and traveled into the mountains to join the priest’s temple to pray for the soul of the baby they had killed.

Some time passed, and people back in the village began to worry about the fate of the two strong young men. They sent a search party into the mountains to find them. Near Tachimi tōge, by a small river, they discovered the two young men sitting river mud. Their heads were shaved, and they were reciting the name of Buddha over and over while striking a river rock.

Greetings yokai lovers!

Today I bring you this week’s yokai, Denpachi gitsune, aka Konoha.

I have a feeling he’ll be a popular one, as mischievous animal yokai always are.  Enjoy!

伝八狐
でんぱちぎつね

Translation: Denpachi the fox
Alternate names: Konoha, Konoha Inari Daimyōjin

Appearance: Denpachi gitsune is a famous kitsune from Iidaka, Sōsa City, Chiba Prefecure. He disguised himself as a young student, infiltrated a seminary, and studied Nichiren Buddhism for ten years until his disguise was discovered.

Legends: Long ago, there was a major Buddhist seminary in Iidaka. Young men from all over eastern Japan would go there and study to become priests. Its most famous student, however, was a kitsune named Konoha, who attended the seminary disguised as a boy named Denpachi. Konoha woke up early every morning, transformed into Denpachi, and arrived at school before anyone else.

When the other students and teachers arrived each morning, Denpachi would already be there, performing his temple chores like sweeping the floors and preparing meals. Denpachi was an exemplary student. He poured himself into his studies. He performed his ascetic training diligently, and learned to comprehend the deepest esoteric mysteries. From time to time he even instructed the other students in some of the more difficult teachings. Denpachi came to be highly respected among his fellow students and the faculty.

Though he was a diligent student, Denpachi was occasionally careless. Students and teachers discovered fox’s paw prints leading into and out of seminary buildings. Once in a while, leaves onto which Denpachi had copied the Lotus Sutra and accidentally dropped would be found in the gardens. Rumors spread that a kitsune was performing mischief at the seminary. Of course nobody suspected Denpachi.

For ten years, Denpachi continued to study diligently at Iidaka. One day, a high priest named Saint Nōke was installed as the new headmaster of Iidaka. There was a ceremony and a great banquet. Though alcohol was normally forbidden, the restriction was lifted for the evening, and it turned into a night of wild drinking. The students, including Denpachi, drank themselves into a stupor. Denpachi became so drunk that he lost control over his disguise, and transformed back into a fox.

His deception revealed, the other students descended upon Denpachi. They tied him up and beat him nearly to death, then dragged him before Saint Nōke for judgment. Denpachi kneeled before the headmaster with tears in his eyes and begged for forgiveness. He explained that his real name was Konoha, and he lived in a hole in the woods near the seminary. He had heard the young priests every day reciting their chants and performing their studies. He wanted to try studying too. So he had disguised himself as a young boy and slipped into the seminary, blending in with the crowds.

Saint Nōke listened to Konoha’s plea. He was touched by the kitsune’s sincerety, his success and diligence as a student, and his passion for helping others. He told the students, “For the teachings of the Lotus Sutra to have reached the heart of this lowly beast, it is truly a marvelous thing!” Saint Nōke forgave Konoha’s deception.

Konoha promised that from then on, he would serve the temple as a guardian spirit and protector of the faith. Saint Nōke built a small shrine for Konoha to live in, in one corner of the lecture hall’s front garden. Konoha’s spirit came to be known as Konoha Inari Daimyōjin, a popular local deity who grants wishes to farmers, merchants, and students. His shrine still stands, and remains a popular place of devotion to this day.