Stories of Tamamo-no-Mae being a legendary kitsune
fox spirit appear during the
Muromachi period as
otogizōshi (prose narratives), and were also mentioned by
Toriyama Sekien in
Konjaku Hyakki Shūi. Edo period folklore then conflated the legend with similar foreign stories about fox spirits corrupting rulers, causing chaos in their territories. In the story told by
Hokusai, formed in the
Edo period, the nine-tailed fox first appeared in China and possessed
Daji, a concubine of the
Shang dynasty's last ruler
King Zhou. She enchanted the king and brought on a reign of terror that led to a rebellion that ended the Shang dynasty. The fox spirit fled to
Magadha of
Tianzhu (ancient India) and became Lady Kayō (), concubine of the crown prince Banzoku (; based on Indian tales of
Kalmashapada the man-eater), causing him to cut off the heads of a thousand men. It was then defeated again, and fled the country. The same fox returned to China around 780 BC and was said to have possessed
Bao Si, a concubine of the
Zhou dynasty King You. It was again chased away by human military forces. The fox stayed quiet for some time. Then she appeared in Japan as Tamamo-no-Mae, the most favoured courtesan of
Emperor Konoe. She was said to be a most beautiful and intelligent woman, being able to answer any question asked. She caused the Emperor to be extremely ill and was eventually exposed as a fox spirit by the astrologer Abe no Yasuchika, who had been called to diagnose the cause of the Emperor's poor health. A few years later, the emperor sent Kazusa-no-suke () and Miura-no-suke () to kill the fox in the plains of
Nasu. (Killing Stone) and Thousand
Jizō Statues In the 1653
Tamamo no sōshi (), an addendum was added to the story describing that the spirit of Tamamo-no-mae embedded itself into a stone called the
Sesshō-seki. The stone continually released poisonous gas, killing everything that touched it. The stone was said to have been destroyed in the
Nanboku-chō period by the Buddhist monk Gennō Shinshō (), who exorcised the now-repentant fox spirit. He held a Buddhist memorial service after the deed, allowing the spirit to finally rest in peace. The stone split in two on March 5, 2022. Cracks in the stone had been seen several years before the split, possibly allowing rainwater to penetrate and weaken it, so it is highly likely that the stone cracked naturally. ==Notes==