Posted by John Fiorillo on December 12, 2001 at 20:32:31:
In Reply to: Kitsune posted by Sola on December 02, 2001 at 12:28:43:
Sola,
It's difficult to find ukiyo-e prints showing foxes in the manner of a nature study. Even the Hiroshige design you mention depicts the foxes with their supernatural flames ('kitsunebi') at the Oji Inari Shrine. Much more common in ukiyo-e are depictions of the fox in its legendary aspects. The fox is celebrated in Japan as a creature capable of taking on human form, which led to many types of representations in art, literature, and theater.
Among the more frequently encountered portrayals of foxes are kabuki theater prints with the fox in human form (for example, characters such as Tadanobu in the play 'Yoshitsune senbon zakura', Kuzunoha in 'Ashiya Dôman Ouchi kagami', and Tamamo no Mae in 'Tamamo no Mae asahi no tamoto'). Another legend found occasionally in ukiyo-e is the Fox Wedding (Kitsune no yomeiri), and a popular game was the Kitsune-ken (fox charades or fox hand game), often depicted in ukiyo-e with erotic overtones. In most of these portrayals the fox itself is not shown, but rather some aspect of its animal nature is revealed, such as an actor performing a fox dance with his hands in the so-called "fox-paws" position.
There are some print designs, however, that do show the fox's animal form, sometimes during the moment of actual transformation from human to fox. Two well-known examples are the Kuzunoha designs from Kuniyoshi's 'Kisokaidô rokujûku tsugi' series (design #44: 'Tsumago'), and Yoshitoshi's (design #20: 'Kuzunoha kitsune doji ni wakaruru no zu') from his 36 Ghosts series ('Shinkei sanjûrokkaisen'). The Kuniyoshi series also shows another kabuki story ('Honchô nijûshikô') with Princess Yaegaki in a dance performance with fox specters prancing behind her (design #31: Shimo no Suwa), while Yoshitioshi shows her dancing while fox fires burn around her (design 30: 'Nijûshikô kitsunebi no zu'). Again from Yoshitoshi's brush are two fox designs from his 100 Moon series. One is titled "Fox-cry" (Konkai) in which the fox is losing its human form, and 'Musashino no tsuki', in which the fox is depicted in nature as it looks at its reflection in a river by moonlight.
There is a charming little book about the fox in Japan (unfortunately out of print) titled: Kitsune - Japan's Fox of Mystery, Romance, and Humor by Kiyoshi Nozaki (Hokuseido Press, 1961). Perhaps you can find a copy in a library or used book source.
John