The fox's wedding

(1) A line of foxfires in the mountains on a dark night is likened to a lantern procession for a fox's wedding. It is also called the fox procession. (2) A sudden rain shower even though it is sunny. Both names are thought to have arisen from the mistaken belief that a fox is tricking people. (2) is a common natural phenomenon that occurs in the evening, but as for (1), it is likely that this type of legend was born from the experience of mistaking an actual light for another, or of the illusion of abnormally refracted light.

The popular belief that foxes trick people and light fires in the dark has been widely believed. In the middle volume of the early modern essay "Hokuetsu Seppu," an author recounts his experience: "There are various theories about foxes making fires, but none of them are credible. I saw one before my eyes late one night, and I was suspicious of the fire that was spreading through the gap in the second-floor window. Looking through the gap, I saw a fox standing on top of a snow dugout and shooting fire from its mouth." The origin of the popular belief that foxes trick people is that four-legged animals that live in the mountains, the other world, have been considered messengers of the gods, and foxes that are intelligent and appear near human settlements have often been considered spiritual animals. The same is true of the foxes that act as messengers in the expansion of the Inari faith. The activities of Misaki Foxes (foxes as messengers of the gods) are told in the old word Toume (another name for old foxes). The ancient folk belief in the sacred fire became associated with foxes as messengers of the gods, and was corrupted and passed down as a deceptive legend.

[Shogo Watanabe]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

(1)闇夜(やみよ)に山野で狐火が連なっているのを、狐の嫁入りの提灯(ちょうちん)行列に見立てて、いったもの。狐の行列ともいう。(2)日が当たっているのに、にわか雨の降ること。二者とも、狐に化かされていると錯覚して、このような呼び方が生まれたと思われる。(2)は夕方などに天然現象としてよくあることだが、(1)については、実際の灯を誤って見たか、異常屈折の光を錯覚した体験が、この種の伝承を生んだのであろう。

　狐が人を化かして、闇夜に火をとぼすという俗信は、広く信じられてきた。近世随筆の『北越雪譜』中巻にも「狐の火を為(な)す説はさまざまあれどみな信(うけ)がたし。我が目前に視(み)しはある夜深更の頃(ころ)例の二階の窓の隙(すき)に火のうつるを怪しみその隙間よりみれば狐雪の掘場の上に在りて口より火をいだす」と、体験を語っている。狐が人を化かすという俗信の淵源(えんげん)は、山である他界にすむ四足獣が神の使者とみなされてきたからで、賢くて人里近くに現れる狐は、霊獣とみられることが多かった。稲荷(いなり)信仰の拡大における使者の狐も同じ。ミサキ狐（神の使者としての狐）の活動の伝承は専女(とうめ)（老狐の異称）の古語がこれを語っている。古代民俗の聖火に対する信仰が、神の使者たる狐と結び付き、零落して、化かされるような伝説に変質して伝えられたのである。

［渡邊昭五］

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