Andre’s Reviews > Kitsune: Japan's Fox of Mystery, Romance & Humor > Status Update

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.

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.