Status Updates From Kitsune: Japan's Fox of Mys...

The list of things being named after foxes (having "kitsune" in their name) was ok, just a weak ending. And epilogue or so would have been nice.

The examples of fox-possession were interesting. But probably not for everybody.

According to a certain kannagi (maiden of the shrine who divines things, besides having other duties), there are 13 kinds of foxes with their different methods of witchery, such as celestial foxes, earthly foxes, black foxes, white foxes and so forth.
So this is where the wikipedia article got it from. Since this is the only book where I ever saw that number I suspect that this was a local belief at best.

I really wonder why the author has the habit of making two chapters per topic in some cases and in others not. Was that a thing back when this was written?

The second chapter on kitsune-bi is over and still no mentioning of lightning. I really wonder where wikipedia has that from in the "kitsune" article.

Now the author explains that "Oba-san" is a friendly term for addressing an elderly woman.... Couldn't he have done that chapters earlier?

First chapter on fox-fire finished (interesting what different ideas there are, e.g. breathing fire or making light holding horse-bones in their mouths.
And so far there was no mention of lightning.

It is supposed in Japan that the fox or the badger is able to call a man or talk with hirn through the medium of suggestion.
Badger or racoon dog? Because this seems to suggest racoon dog.

So now he explains that "san" is a title of courtesy suffixed to the name of a person...
The author seriously should have done a better job.

It is weird how this describes terms like ohitsu and tenugui when wooden container and towel would do as well but it gives no explanation regarding "-san".
Also that one story saying how a man had a sensation like an electric shock when he was bewitched was the first time ever I found anything electric related in an actual fox story. Wikipedia claims kitsune-bi also refers to lighting but based on what?

No masks are strange things and the making of them is a strange art; they are not merely carvings. They are not things to be admired by hanging them on the wall. The real value of the No masks is to be appreciated when the players play their parts wearing them on the stage
Aka, they are masks. The author can be as dramatic as he wants, but what he says there is typical for all masks. NO are not special.

Kind of weird that in the chapter the fox in fairy tales they only have a short description of a fox-wedding but no tale with such a thing itself.
Well the next chapter is The Fox in plays"

The next chapter is called the fox in fairy tales??? Then what where all those previous stores?

What is going on here? The first sentences speak from a man marrying a serpent, but the tale has none.

That last story from the KONJAKU MONOGATARI was weird.

page 45. That takiguchi really should have seen it coming that the foxgirl would create an illusion, after all this is what foxes are known for.

Interesting. In contrast to the Chinese legends, here the fox part dies from the sexual encounter and not the human one.

otters or badgers, animals supposed to have the power of turning themselves into human
forms
Everytime I read books about Japanese folklore or Japan in general I have to wonder whether "badger" actually refers to the Japanese badger or whether its once a again a mistranslation of "tanuki;" which would be a raccoon dog and not a badger.

page 19:
That second chapter about the Inari shrine was over quickly. Must have been the shortest one on the subject I have ever seen.

Let's hope the author keeps his promise of us appreciating him fully and enjoy the tales found in this volume.