Kitsune no Yomeiri
The Kitsune no Yomeiri (狐の嫁入り, "the fox's wedding") is a strange event told about in all of Japan except Hokkaidō and Okinawa.[1]
Overview
Generally at night in the mountains or at riverbeds, it is said that countless kitsunebi would come together in a line and look like a procession of paper lanterns, and it is said that the foxes are lighting paper lanterns for a wedding ceremony, and thus it is called "the foxe's wedding."[2] These mysterious flames have the particular characteristic that they can only e seen from afar. In the Tokushima Prefecture, these are not for a wedding, but rather a funeral, and it is an omen that there will be someone to die.[1]
These mysterious flames were not only thought of as a fox's wedding, but in the essay "Kokon Yōdan Shū" from the Edo Period, there was a story where someone actually encountered the wedding. In Kanpō 5 (1745), a man appeared in the ferry landing in Takemachi, Honjo, and since there was a wedding ceremony in the home of his employer who he works for, he requested many ferryboats to gather, and as a gift to the host of the ferry landing, he gave one ryō as a tip. The host happily prepared the boats and waited, and since a splendid wedding procession came, the host courteously escorted the procession. However, the next morning, not to mention the tip, all of the ferriage money turned into tree leaves. It is said that people rumored that there was a wedding from Handa Inari in Kanamachi, Kasai (now Katsushika, Tokyo) to Yasuzemon Inari in Asakusa.[1]
There are many foxes that live in Kirinzan in the Niigata Prefecture, and it is said that at night, there was a wedding procession that hanged paper lanterns. For this reason, int his same prefecture, there is a festival called the Kitsune no Yomeiri Gyōretsu.[3]
Legend related to the weather
For sunshowers to be called "kitsune no yomeiri" comes from the folk belief that during sunshowers, a fox's wedding takes place, and is also called "kitsune no shūgen (狐の祝言)." The "Kitsune no Yomeiri-zu" from the Edo period by the ukiyo-e artist Hokusai Katsushika was based upon this folk belief, and it depicted various people surprised by a fox's wedding procession and a sudden shower and would bustle to take in their crops[4] (refer to image).
The relation between a fox's wedding and the weather also differs by area, and in the Kumamoto Prefecture, it is when a rainbow appears, and in the Ehime Prefecture, it is when graupel falls that there is a fox's wedding. In the Fukushima Prefecture, it is said that at evening in 10/10 on the lunisolar calendar, if one wears a suribachi on one's head, and sticks a wooden pestle in one's waist, and stand under a date plum, it is possible to see a fox's wedding.[5]
References
- ^ a b c 村上健司編著 (2005). 日本妖怪大事典. Kwai books. 角川書店. pp. 117頁. ISBN 978-4-04-883926-6.
{{cite book}}: Text "和書" ignored (help) - ^ 笹間良彦 (1994). 図説・日本未確認生物事典. 柏書房. pp. 109頁. ISBN 978-4-7601-1299-9.
{{cite book}}: Text "和書" ignored (help) - ^ "津川 狐の嫁入り行列実行委員会 狐のメイクをした人々が練り歩く幻想的なイベントを町を挙げて展開". サントリー. 1999-11. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ 京極夏彦文 多田克己・久保田一洋編 (2004). 北斎妖怪百景. 国書刊行会. pp. 58頁. ISBN 978-4-336-04636-9.
{{cite book}}: Text "和書" ignored (help) - ^ 水木しげる (2004). 妖鬼化 1 関東・北海道・沖縄編. Softgarage. pp. 42頁. ISBN 978-4-86133-004-9.
{{cite book}}: Text "和書" ignored (help)