Then at night they sneak out to be foxy in the wild. They possess a small white ball called hoshi no tama, which holds their magical power, and if a human manages to attain a kitsune’s hoshi no tama, they can control them. Many kitsunes shape-shift into geishas by day and seduce and marry men. They shape-shift by tying a skull onto their heads – the skull of whatever creature they want to shape-shift into. The more tails they have, the older and wiser they are, 9 being the upper limit. The stories are varied as to whether they are deceptive or helpful, depending on how you treat them. Kitsune’s are mythological creatures from Japanese folklore, fox spirits with multiple tails who can shape-shift into other creatures, including humans.
As part of my second series of full bodied taxidermy pieces, I made this 9 tailed Kitsune fox early this year.
