Kitsune Myōbu

The myōbu (命婦) is, in the Japanese tradition, the celestial fox at the service of Inari Ōkami, the deity of rice, fertility, commerce and prosperity. It belongs to the class of the zenko (善狐), the benevolent foxes, and is distinguished from the wild yako by its purity and its sacred bond. According to folklore, a kitsune that demonstrates exceptional virtue (protecting crops, assisting pilgrims) can be elevated by Inari to this celestial service, acquiring a white coat and the nine tails. These messenger foxes inhabit and guard the shrines of Inari, of which there are tens of thousands scattered throughout Japan, the most famous being the Fushimi Inari Taisha of Kyoto, renowned for its tunnels of thousands of vermilion torii.

The myōbu acts as an intermediary between Inari and the faithful: it transmits blessings of abundant harvest, mercantile prosperity and success, and inspires prophetic dreams to devout farmers and merchants. It is attributed the ability to move between the shrines of Inari, to take human form to deal with the chosen priests and to punish the profanations of sacred places. Its usual image is that of a white fox, sometimes carrying in its mouth a jewel (the hōju or nyoi-hōju, the «jewel that grants wishes»), a key to the rice barn, a sheaf or a scroll, attributes that appear in the pairs of fox statues that flank the shrines of Inari. It is considered protected by its purity against ordinary weapons.

The iconography of the myōbu is omnipresent in the cult of Inari: the white fox statues with the jewel or the key, the vermilion torii and the offerings of rice, sake and aburaage. Its whiteness symbolizes purity and its sacred condition, in contrast with the wild fox. The link between the fox and the rice cult, very rooted in rural Japan, made the myōbu one of the most beloved protective figures of popular Shintoism. Within the family of the nine-tailed fox, it represents the benevolent path of elevation, that of the fox that ascends by virtue and service to a deity, in contrast to the path of solitary cultivation (the tenko) or that of predation (the yako).