ISBN:
1-135-88391-2
,
1-280-05262-7
,
0-203-48476-2
Language:
English
Pages:
1 online resource (210 p.)
Series Statement:
Religion in history, society & culture ; 7
Series Statement:
Religion in history, society & culture ;
DDC:
398/.3699775/0952
Keywords:
Foxes Religious aspects.
;
Foxes Folklore.
;
Inari.
;
Japan Religious life and customs.
Abstract:
For more than a millennium, the fox has been a ubiquitous figure at the margins of the Japanese collective imagination. In the writings of the nobility and the motifs of popular literature, the fox is known as a shapeshifter, able to assume various forms in order to deceive others. Focusing on recurring themes of transformation and duplicity in folklore, theology, and court and village practice, The Fox's Craft explores the meanings and uses of shapeshifter fox imagery in Japanese history. Michael Bathgate finds that the shapeshifting powers of the fox make it a surprisingly fundamental symbol
Description / Table of Contents:
Book Cover; Title; Contents; Series Editors' Foreword; Preface; The Jewel Maiden and the Murder Stone: Orientations to Shapeshifting and Signification; Foxes, Wives and Spirits: Shapeshifting and the Languages of Marriage; To Whom Am I Speaking? Shapeshifting and the Semiotics of Revelation; The Gift of the Fox: Shapeshifting and the Power of Wealth; Using the Fox: The Crafts of Shapeshifting and Signification; Glossary; Bibliography; Index
Note:
Description based upon print version of record.
,
English
DOI:
10.4324/9780203484760
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