Tails of the Supernatural

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, and Japanese mythology, "In Shinto legends Inari is identified with Uka no Mitama no Kami,"[4] who is the son of the famous storm kami, Susanō. Susanō being the son of the creators of the Japanese archipelago, Izanaki and Izanami, and the younger brother to the main sun deity Amaterasu. "Inari is also sometimes seen as a collection of three deities (Inari sanza); since the Kamakura period , this number has sometimes increased to five kami (Inari goza). The identification of these kami has varied over time. According to the records of Fushimi Inari, these kami have included Izanagi, Izanami, Ninigi and Wakumusubi." [5]. Inari is rarely mentioned in supernatural stories save for a few setsuwa, a spoken word on myths and folklore, and the vaguest of the Japanese literary forms. Their servants and messengers, the multi-tailed kitsune, however, appear frequently.

One legend involving Inari is that of a selfish nameless lord, and teaches a lesson to its audience, as many of the setsuwa do. A wealthy and prosperous lord with a young a beautiful wife and five daughters grew tired of pesky foxes on his land. Despite his wife's protest and insistence that he had enough land to share , he ordered a fox hunt. The lord and his men returned content with a vixen corpse and five kits. Following his success, the lord planned a feast and order the execution of the kits. One of his men, unable to fulfil the task, set the kits loose, and to his surprise, they transformed into the lord's five daughters. Disgusted, four of them left while the fifth remained grateful to the man who spared their lives, and became his wife. This fifth daughter returned to the town and declared her father a murderer, presenting her mother's dead body as evidence. This daughter and her new husband claimed the land and fortune of her renounced father. When her husband asked what had happened she told him the her father had been blessed by Inari with a beautiful wife and prosperity, and succumbing to his selfishness, he had betrayed Inari by killing their children, the kitsune.

This story keeps to the common theme involving the kitsune, which is their shapeshifting and illusory abilities. Kitsune will often shapeshift into beautiful young women and trick young men into marrying and mating with them. The story also speaks to the lesson-teaching nature of Japanese folklore. The idea of punishment for one's selfishness, and ungratefulness is popular. These two main themes, while manifesting in different ways, can be seen throughout Japanese mythology, but considering the name "Inari" is comparatively recent, the kami finds no explicit mention in many Heian period stories.

An example of this lack of mention in classical Japan is the story of a man who became the husband of a fox and was saved by the buddhist deity Kannon. In this story a married young man was seduced by a young beautiful woman, he followed her home one night, married her, and had a child with her. His family searched for him for a few days, meanwhile years and years were passing for the young man with his new family. He's lead to salvation by a strange creature, who is later believed to be a manifestation of Kannon. He and his original family return to the place he had been hiding for the past few days, or years from his perspective, where the once vast and luxurious mansion was revealed to be a small crawling space and his beautiful young wife, a fox. The foxes commonly have shapeshifting and illusory powers, thus giving them the ability to trick men into marriage and mating. The reason for this charade is unknown but, as kitsune are often portrayed as female, it is hypothesized that, in order to reproduce, the foxes rely on tricking human men into mating with them.

The lesson in this story is again one dissuading selfishness, a warning against the dangers of lust, and an argument for belief in Kannon. The man in the story should have been grateful for his wife and family, and should not have given into his lust. His only salvation was a result of his faith in Kannon as well as the prayers from the villagers. While the story prominent features the magic bearing kitsune, Inari is not mentioned, and instead the story is meant to be a buddhists fable persuading faith in Kannon.