Kitsune in popular culture

The following is a list of appearances made by kitsune (Japanese foxes) in various works of popular fiction. For information on kitsune in traditional Japanese culture, please see the main article.

Embedded in popular folklore as they are, kitsune have made appearances in many contemporary Japanese works. A few Western authors have also made use of the kitsune legends. In anime, kitsune are often depicted as kemonomimi, usually as female, seductive, and fond of alcohol. Specific depictions of kitsune include:

Kitsune in television and radio

• An episode of The X-Files is titled Kitsunegari, which is Japanese for "fox-hunt"(referring to Fox Mulder), and is discussed in that episode.
• Jewel Staite plays the role of a creature referred to as a "kitsune" in the "Girl Next Door" episode of Supernatural (U.S. TV series). Other than the fox-like eyes and claws, this version of a kitsune holds little in common with the traditional interpretation.
• On the American TV series Teen Wolf, a main character named Kira Yukimura and her mother are both kitsunes. Kira is a thunder kitsune.

Kitsune in animation and comics

• Shuichi Minamino — the human alias of Kurama, a main character of Yu Yu Hakusho — is the reincarnation of a kitsune thief named Yōko Kurama.
• In xxxHolic, Watanuki eventually acquires the Kudakitsune (pipe-fox-spirit) which first appears as a furry serpent but later morphs into a more traditional Kitsune (with nine-tails). In earlier arcs, he also meets two Kitsune who sell Kitsune Oden (Oden with fried tofu) to him in exchange for a lucky arrow.
• The series Crescent Moon by Haruko Iida and Stuart Hazleton has a demon fox named Misoka Asagi as the unofficial leader of the Moonlight Bandits.
• The digimon Renamon and her Digivolved forms from the third season of the Digimon anime (known in Japan as Digimon Tamers) were inspired by the kitsune.
• Ryutarō and his show girls from Pom Poko.
• A shapeshifting kyūbi no kitsune named Sakura Bokuseiinmonzeninari is one of the main characters of the anime/manga series Hyper Police. Technically, she only has eight and a half tails.
• The spirit of a kyūbi no kitsune, called the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, was sealed within Naruto Uzumaki, the main character of anime/manga Naruto. Naruto has lines that suggest fox-like whiskers on his face and has a prankster personality.
• The Pokémon known as Vulpix (Rokon in Japanese) and Ninetales (Kyukon) are based on the Kitsune legend. The "evolution" of Vulpix into Ninetales is a direct parallel to the change in color and abilities when a fox gains its ninth tail after a thousand years. In episode 234 (US name: Just Waiting On A Friend) in the Pokémon anime, a 200-year-old Ninetales is featured which gained supernatural powers (primarily of creating illusions) by growing old.
• A kitsune named Yōko (a common Japanese feminine name, but also another word for a kitsune) is one of the main characters of the anime and manga Tactics.
• Konno Mitsune of Love Hina is almost exclusively referred to as "Kitsune" due to her sly prankster nature, her fondness for alcohol, and her almost always closed eyes, which make her appear fox-like.
• In Rurouni Kenshin, Takani Megumi is nicknamed "Kitsune" and even portrayed as one in some episodes by Goro Fujita (Hajime Saitou).
• In the series Angel Tails (Tenshi no Shippo) there are two kitsune: Akane is a young benevolent guardian spirit, while her mother seeks to become a nine-tail fox and throw humans into a pit of fear.
• One of the key allies in the anime/manga Hell Teacher Nūbē is the kitsune known as Tamamo, who has many aspects of his abilities, such as his illusion abilities and fire capabilities, similar to the classic fox creatures.
• In the anime Cardcaptor Sakura, the spirit of the Dash Card, one of the many Clow Cards, almost resembles a one-tailed kitsune.
• In the manga series Soul Hunter, the character So Dakki is a charmingly amusing but vapid bimbo. Her Valley Girl behavior is a cover for her true nature as an incredibly intelligent and horrendously evil fox spirit.
• In Inukami!, Yoko, initially introduced as an Inukami (dog spirit), is actually a kitsune.
• In the anime Kanon, Makoto Sawatari was later found out as a magical Kitsune who gave up her life and memories to become a human girl.
• In the anime Air Gear, a student named Kitsune appears.
• Yobi the 5 Tailed fox is a Korean animation about a 5 tailed fox who falls in love with a human boy.
• In the children's anime Yo-Kai Watch, a Mysterious-Clan Yokai called Kyubi appears, whose resemblance is very much inspired by nine-tail foxes. Kyubi lives to steal women's hearts, and transforms into a handsome young man to do so. As a Fire-class Yokai, Kyubi has also been shown to throw fireballs on occasion.
• In the Hiveworks webcomic Sister claire, Clementine and Gabby encounter a creature called a kitsune in a dungeon. This creature fits the description of a kitsune transformed into a female human.
• In Ushio and Tora, the chief antagonist Hakumen no Mono is a kitsune

Kitsune in computer and videogames

• In Animal Crossing: Wild World Crazy Redd, the shop-keeper of a black market in the game, is the subject of a glitch were after a while his tail splits, for a brief period of time, into two tails suggesting he was a kitsune.
• In the Bloody Roar series, Fox turns into a foxman, and Mana turns into a baby Arctic fox (referred to as the "Ninetails").
• Two Pokémon, the Vulpix and the Ninetales, are derived from the mythical nine-tailed fox.
• Additionally the Pokémon Eevee and its evolutions also possess Kitsune traits of different elements.
• The SNES/Super Famicom game Shadowrun features a female shaman named Kitsune. She can transform into a fox, which is also her totem animal, and is an extensive magic user.
• In some Legend of Zelda games, Keaton is a yellow 'ghost fox.' In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, we get to see a mask that is based on the kitsune. Also in the latter game, a real kitsune appears, though this character was renamed to Keaton for releases outside Japan.
• In Mega Man X Command Mission there is a set of secret bosses named OneTail through NineTails, and each looks like an anthropomorphic fox with the described number of tails.
• In Mega Man Zero 3, there is an enemy named Kyuubit Foxtar, who is a perfect portrait of one of kitsune's trickeries; He is male (officially stated by Capcom and Inti creates, the companies that make Mega Man Zero series), but appears so feminine that people formerly mistook him as female, and even until today some people still refuse to call him a 'he'.
• In Breath of Fire IV, Ursula, a playable character, is a foxgirl.
• In Namco x Capcom, a crossover game of Namco and Capcom franchises, two of the original characters, Xiaomu and Saya, are known as werefoxes, known for possessing fox ears. Xiaomu also shows the personality traits of a kitsune, as she loves alcohol, and can be portrayed as a trickster, as for Saya being rather seductive. While Xiaomu is not seductive, she portrays a flirty nature towards Reiji. It is also hinted that the two werefoxes can transform, as Saito Musashibo Benkei, who appears as depicted in Genpei Tōma Den and as such is a villain in the crossover, has stated that Xiaomu has chosen to take the form of a young girl to hide her age (of which, she is 765 years old).
• In Ragnarok Online, the kitsune is featured as a powerful monster called a Ninetails and as a boss named Moonlight Flower. Also featured in Ragnarok Online is a head gear known as the Kitsune Mask.
• Miles "Tails" Prower, the best friend and sidekick of Sonic the Hedgehog, is a two-tailed fox with the ability to fly, using his twin tails as a sort of propeller. However, beyond having multiple tails, he has none of the traditional characteristics of a kitsune (save for his wisdom. Tails' IQ is said to rival that of Doctor Eggman, who's IQ is 300). In the Archie comics, though, he does have an uncle that does dabble in magic.
• In Bioware's game Jade Empire, Fox Demons such as the Forest Shadow have multiple tails and are acknowledged as notorious tricksters
• In the Touhou Project series of games, Ran Yakumo, a nine-tailed fox, is the extremely powerful boss of Perfect Cherry Blossom's Extra stage, and also one of Yukari Yakumo's shikigami.
• In Konami's game Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, one of the enemies is a fire-breathing kitsune mask.
• In Ōkami, by Clover Studio, one of the creatures under Yami is a golden fox demon called Ninetails, with the afformentioned number of tails. Ninetails killed and took the form of a human priestess and used her body to manipulate an entire nation to its near-downfall. The deception was so perfect that Ninetails even fooled the Sun God Amaterasu (the main character).
• In the game Tales of Symphonia, Corrine, one of the many Summon Spirits, closely resembles a kitsune.
• In the Xbox game Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors the arch enemy is a Nine Tailed Demon Fox.
• In the 2007 MMORPG Vanguard (Sigil/SOE), the Raki, are a playable Humanoid Fox race, About 3–4 ft high, good spell casters, healers, Palidans, and Rouges.
• In the game Fire Emblem Fates, Kaden and Selkie are able to switch between humanoid and demonic fox form. Their default class is called Kitsune and they can promote to Nine-Tails.
• In League of Legends, the kitsune is featured as a mage assassin champion Ahri, also known as The Nine-Tailed Fox.

Kitsune in comics and graphic novels

• Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: The Dream Hunters is a short story featuring a kitsune protagonist, lushly illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano.
• One of the two main characters of Andi Watson's comic Skeleton Key is a transplanted kitsune with a sweet tooth named Kitsune.
• Lorelei and Issac in the webcomic Black Tapestries webcomic appear as anthropomorphic foxes (Lorelei being a werefox) and both often behave as tricksters. Lorelei is also fond of alcohol and has many personality similarities to the modern depiction of Kitsune. Kitsune are mentioned as an explanation or how Lorelei briefly ended up in our universe, as drunken student occultists try to summon a Kitsune and summon the were-fox Lorelei instead (much to her confusion and rage). It should be noticed that neither Lorelei nor Issac are "Kitsune" as they are merely anthropomorphic foxes (Lorelei not full-time).
• An issue of the Psycho Circus comic book, starring the members of the band KISS as cosmic beings, featured a story where a feudal-era samurai is trapped in a traveling circus populated by kitsune.
• In one of Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo color specials, Usagi becomes mystically enthralled by a villainous Kitsune while Tomoe Ame realizes the situation and tries to free him. The series later features a female fox character with the stage name "Kitsune", who is simply a mortal trickster and master thief.
• In the online story series Terra Fabula, one of the main characters, Tarioshi Kitanaka, is a Kitsune.

Kitsune in film and literature

• The story of the nine-tailed fox is told by Shuri Kurogane in Ran, Akira Kurosawa's epic retelling of King Lear. Kurogane, appalled at an order to behead Lady Sué, instead throws a stone fox head at his lord Jiro's feet and likens his manipulation by Lady Kaede to the mischief caused by a legendary Kitsune. Kurosawa's Dreams contains a segment, Sunshine through the Rain, about a boy who witnesses a kitsune wedding and thereby angers them.
• The protagonist of Kij Johnson's novel The Fox Woman is a kitsune named Kitsune.
• Fantasy author Mercedes Lackey introduced kitsune characters into her SERRAted Edge novels, with the novel The Chrome Circle dealing with the novel's protagonist Tannim's entanglement with the politics of a kitsune/dragon family feud. Also, there is a reference to one in her Five Hundred Kingdoms book Fortune's Fool.
• Jon Courtenay Grimwood's sf/police procedural/Gothic horror/thriller novel 9tail Fox uses the kitsune as a critical plot element — one gives a murdered Chinese SFPD detective a second life to investigate his own death.
• Larissa Lai's When Fox is a Thousand includes a marvelous retelling of the kitsune legend from the fox's point of view.
• Hoa Pham's Vixen also tells the kitsune legend from the fox's point of view, dealing with the fox's journey from Vietnam to Australia and back again.
• The Time Hunter novella Kitsune.
• In Tom Robbins's novel Villa Incognito, a kitsune is the companion of one of the main characters, Tanuki.
• In Viktor Pelevin's novel The Sacred Book of Werewolf, the main character is a female kitsune named A Huli. Her name is a wordplay on a Russian obscene expletive.

Kitsune in roleplaying and card games

• White Wolf Game Studio's Werewolf: The Apocalypse roleplaying game features a race of shapeshifting fox-people known as the "Kitsune". These are two versions. The first version being the kitsune who follow the pre-corrupted Wyrm of Balance, have magical powers and are immune to silver. The second version being the kitsune who were created by Luna amongst other changes and expansions on kitsune society and paths, in Hengeyokai: Shapeshifters of the East.
• In "Skinchangers", a book from White Wolf Game Studio's newer World of Darkness setting, Kitsune are again seen. They appear as a collection of varieties of different fox spirits renowned for their talents as tricksters. They are separated into the obedient servants of Inari who only trick those who deserve it (Inari Seha) and the cruel tricksters who defy their patron (Inari Kihar). There are four varieties of kitsune: kitsune ka (which remain in fox form), kitsune unu (which take on humanoid form), kitsune sedu (spirits that Claim mortals in similar manner of other spirits, and are almost invariably Inari Kihar), and siten uzu. The siten uzu are notable in that they do not possess mortals but still reside in a human's body. Almost always Inari Seha, they 'hide out' in a human for some reason (usually to escape pursuers) for the length of the mortal's lifespan. As compensation, the human is allowed to draw upon a measure of the kitsune's power. The book provides rules for siten uzu as player characters.
• In the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game, the kitsune appear in the Champions of Kamigawa block as a race of noble, plains-dwelling anthropomorphic foxes. Several different kitsune characters are mentioned by name on the cards and in the fiction based on the cards, including the legendary fox cleric "Eight-and-a-Half-Tails."
• There are multiple references to Kitsune in D20 System supplements. Initially, such appearances were in creature supplements for settings inspired by East Asian folklore such as Jade Dragons and Hungry Ghosts by Green Ronin Publishing and Creatures of Rokugan by Alderac Entertainment Group. In 2006, the D20 System Publisher Dog Soul Publishing published Kitsunemori, by Matthew A.J. Gregory and Alejandro Melchor, a fantasy setting in which the Kitsune take center stage, including complete character generation rules for Kitsune and character classes specific to Kitsune.
• There is a Kitsune in the Collectible Miniatures Game, Dreamblade.

Kitsune in music

• Kitsuné Music is the name of a French record label focusing on electronic music. It is part of the Kitsuné Fashion Label created by Gildas Loaëc (Roulé) and Masaya Kuroki.
• The Kitsune Ensemble is a New York chamber group that performs music inspired by Japanese culture and history.
• Japanese metal idol band Babymetal refer to the kitsune myth in their lyrics and include the use of fox masks, hand signs, and animation interludes during live shows.^[1]
• Japanese musician Daoko once made a song directly referencing the kitsune in both lyrics^[2] and music video.^[3]

Notes