Kitsune
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The kitsune, in popular Japanese folklore, is a fox or fox spirit which possesses the supernatural ability to shapeshift or bewitch other life forms.
The moon on Musashi Plain (fox) by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
The Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto features numerous kitsune statues.
![Inari Ōkami and its fox spirits help the blacksmith Sanjō Munechika [ja] forge the blade Kogitsune-maru ('Little Fox') at the end of the 10th century.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Blacksmith_Munechika%2C_helped_by_a_fox_spirit%2C_forging_the_blade_Ko-Gitsune_Maru%2C_by_Ogata_Gekk%C5%8D.jpg/500px-Blacksmith_Munechika%2C_helped_by_a_fox_spirit%2C_forging_the_blade_Ko-Gitsune_Maru%2C_by_Ogata_Gekk%C5%8D.jpg)
Inari Ōkami and its fox spirits help the blacksmith Sanjō Munechika [ja] forge the blade Kogitsune-maru ('Little Fox') at the end of the 10th century. The legend is the subject of the noh drama Sanjō Kokaji.
Inari Ōkami appears to a warrior accompanied by a kitsune. This portrayal shows the influence of Dakiniten concepts from Buddhism. Print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
Yōkai
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Yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore. Yōkai are a vast range of beings, including shapeshifters, ghosts, demons, and tricksters. They can be mischievous, helpful
Kitsune
…supernatural ability to shapeshift or bewitch other life forms. Kitsune, though literally a 'fox', becomes in folklore a 'fox spirit', and a type of yōkai. They are ascribed intelligence and magical or supernatural powers, especially with long-living foxes. The kitsune exhibit the ability of bakeru, or…
A yōkai print by Kawanabe Kyōsai
Chōchin-oiwa by Katsushika Hokusai
Kidōmaru by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Nekomata from the Hyakkai Zukan by Sawaki Suushi