How a Man Got the Better of Two Foxes (Japanese folktale)
"How a Man Got the Better of Two Foxes" is a Japanese folktale rooted in Ainu culture, featuring themes of cunning and deception. The story begins with a man who discovers two foxes planning a scheme to deceive humans. The first fox intends to disguise himself as a man while the second transforms into a horse, allowing them to infiltrate human society for profit. The man overhears their plan and cleverly outsmarts them by mimicking the first fox’s voice, tricking the second fox into becoming a horse that he subsequently sells.
The plot unfolds with the fox trapped and facing starvation, leading both foxes to seek revenge on the man once they realize they have been deceived. However, the man negotiates a truce by promising to brew rice beer for them and ensure that humans will honor foxes going forward. This tale not only illustrates the cleverness of the characters but also highlights the cultural significance of foxes in Ainu mythology, where they are both worshipped and feared. The story reflects a blend of Ainu and Japanese folklore, showcasing the complexities of cultural interactions and beliefs regarding the mystical abilities of foxes.
How a Man Got the Better of Two Foxes (Japanese folktale)
Author: Traditional
Time Period: 501 CE–1000 CE
Country or Culture: Japan
Genre: Folktale
PLOT SUMMARY
One day, a man collecting bark in the mountains comes upon a foxhole. Hiding behind a tree, he observes a fox approaching the foxhole and speaking to another fox in human language. The outside fox makes a promising proposition. The next day, around lunchtime, he will return to the foxhole in the shape of a man. The other fox should change into a horse, and together they will ride into a human settlement on the shoreline. There, the outside fox will sell his companion as a horse and buy valuables and food with the proceeds. When the new owner puts the horse outside to feed on grass, the first fox will return, free the horse, and help it escape. The foxes will then share the spoils equally.
With this knowledge, the man returns to the foxhole the next day and imitates the voice of the first fox. The second fox appears from the foxhole, and as agreed, he transforms himself into a magnificent, reddish-colored horse. In a prosperous village nearby, the man sells this fine horse for a good deal of food and precious things. Afterward, he leaves.
The new owner likes his splendid horse so much that he keeps him inside his house and cuts grass himself to feed his horse rather than allow the horse to graze outside. Because the fox cannot eat grass, he faces starvation. After four days, he manages to escape through the window and run home. Believing the other fox has tricked him, he intends to kill him. However, upon meeting, the two foxes realize they have been cheated by the man and vow to kill him instead.
The man approaches the two foxes and apologizes for his trick. He tells them they would gain nothing from killing him. However, if the foxes let him live, he will brew rice beer for them and worship them for all time. In addition, the man promises that whenever he lands a good catch, he will make the foxes an offer of fish. Finally, he explains that all humans will worship foxes from now on. The foxes believe this offer is a good one, and they accept it. This is the reason, the folktale concludes, why the Ainu and the remainder of the Japanese population revere foxes.
SIGNIFICANCE
The story of the man and the two foxes is a folktale of the Ainu, the indigenous people of northern Japan. Contemporary anthropological and genetic research strongly suggests that the Ainu people were formed by the thirteenth century CE from members of the Satsumon culture of northern Japan and the Okhotsk culture flourishing on the island of Hokkaido and around the Sea of Okhotsk. Because individuals of Ainu descent differ physically from ethnic Japanese, typically having more facial and body hair, round eyes, and lighter skin, they often faced discrimination in Japan.
The best-known version of this tale was told by Ainu storyteller Ishanashte to British Japanologist Basil Hall Chamberlain on July 15, 1887. Hall, who spoke Ainu, recorded the tale in Ainu, translated it into English, and published it in his anthology Aino Folk-tales (1888).
For the Ainu, the significance of the folktale lies in its explanation of the cultural practice of fox worship. This was still practiced at the end of the nineteenth century on Hokkaido. English missionary John Batchelor, an early friend of the Ainu and speaker of their language, reported as late as 1901 that Ainu homes featured fox skulls decorated with wood shavings at the sacred eastern end of the dwellings. Ainu also took fox skulls on journeys as amulets.
Japanese and Western studies of Ainu folklore have confirmed that Ainu folklore distinguished between two kinds of foxes. The rare dark or black fox, called shitunpe in the Ainu language, represents a good divine spirit, or kamui, even though he is believed to be mischievous or cruel at times. The red fox, called chironnup, is more common. However, in Ainu mythology, this fox has the power to change shape and is generally of a negative character. It is interesting that the fox in the folktale changes into a reddish-colored horse. This indicates that he belongs to the shape-shifting, chironnup variety. Even though he has less spiritual power than his benevolent counterpart, he and his companion accept human worship.
In its transcribed form, the folktale is a combination of Ainu material and material adapted from Japanese folklore. Foxes figure prominently in Japanese folktales, in which they can shift shapes and are distinguished by color. Yet use of fox skulls for worship is a unique Ainu feature. The story elements pointing most significantly at Japanese influence are the horse and the rice beer. There is no archaeological evidence for horses among the Ainu of Hokkaido before contact and trading began with the Japanese after the thirteenth century CE. Horses disappeared from Satsumon culture in northern Japan by the tenth century and thus never traveled to Hokkaido. The horse into which the fox changes in the folktale might be inspired by a remote Satsumon collective memory. More likely, it is the result of trade with the Japanese.
Japanese rice beer, often known as sake, was not brewed on Hokkaido before 1868. Some sake may have been brought to the island by Japanese traders prior to that date. However, this story element appears to be a more recent addition. By the time Ishanashte told the folktale to Chamberlain, sake was brewed widely on Hokkaido. It seems reasonable to suggest that the two foxes of the tale were given a fondness for rice beer to ease their acceptance of the man’s apology for tricking these two tricksters.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Batchelor, John. The Ainu and Their Folk-lore. London: Religious Tract Soc., 1901. Print.
Casal, U. A. “The Goblin, Fox and Badger and Other Witch Animals of Japan.” Asian Folklore Studies 18 (1959): 1–94. Print.
Chamberlain, Basil Hall. “How a Man Got the Better of Two Foxes.” Aino Folk-tales. 1888. London: Folk-Lore Soc., 2006. 10–12. Print.
Ota, Yuzo. Basil Hall Chamberlain: Portrait of a Japanologist. New York: Routledge, 2011. Print.
Siddle, Richard. “From Assimilation to Indigenous Rights: Ainu Resistance since 1869.” Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People. Ed. William Fitzhugh and Chisato O. Dubreuil. Washington: Natl. Museum of Natural History, 1999. 108–15. Print.
Strong, Sarah. “The Most Revered of Foxes: Knowledge of Animals and Animal Power in an Ainu Kamui Yukar.” Asian Ethnology 68.1 (2009): 27–54. Print.