Kitsune no yomeiri
The kitsune no yomeiri (狐の嫁入り, "the fox's wedding") is a term or metaphor for certain natural phenomena, or a folk belief regarding a supernatural event, in Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu.
[19] In Horado, Mugi District, Gifu Prefecture (now Seki), it is said that it was not merely atmospheric ghost lights that were seen, but the sound of bamboo burning and tearing was also heard continuing for several days, but that there were no traces found even when an attempt was made to check what it was.
[24] Other than this, there is also a similar tale in the Nihonkoku Genpō Zen'aku Ryōiki, as well as in the "Tonegawa Zushi" (利根川図志) a topography book published in 1857 (Ansei 5).
[24] Also, in the kaidan collection "Tonoigusa" (宿直草) published in 1677 (Enpō 5), there is the reverse story where a male fox fell in love with a female human, shapeshifted and disguised as that woman's husband and intercourse, and resulted in the birth of children with atypical appearance.
[24] The "Kitsune no Yomeiri-zu" from the Edo period by the ukiyo-e artist Hokusai Katsushika was based upon this folk belief, and it depicted various people surprised by a fox's wedding procession and a sudden shower, and their bustle to take in their crop[29] (refer to image).
[29] In a poem of Kobayashi Issa, a haiku poet of the same era, there is one that read, "in the autumn flames and mountains, there is the rain of fox's weddings" (秋の火や山は狐の嫁入雨).
[30] Also, in the works of the Meiji period waka and haiku poet Kobayashi Issa, there was a tanka that read, "when the rain falls on the village from a blue sky at the hour of the horse, perhaps the king fox is getting married" (青空にむら雨すぐる馬時狐の大王妻めすらんか).
Japanese music producer -MASA Works DESIGN- the song "The Fox's Wedding"/"狐の嫁入り", featuring the voicebanks of Vocaloid's Hatsune Miku and GUMI.
[41] Also in the Hanaoka Tokufuku Inari-sha in Kudamatsu, Yamaguchi Prefecture, in the Inari festival held in November 3 every year, the "kitsune no yomeiri" is performed.
[41] This is not related to either atmospheric ghost lights or sunshowers, but is rather a re-enactment of a wedding between foxes, and is due to the efforts of volunteers after the old practice of praying for good harvest at the Inari festival at that shrine ceased in the chaos of the postwar period, and the re-enactment refers to the fact a white fox couple at that shrine was looking for something lost, and was deified as a god of good harvest and thriving business.
[41] The ones who perform as the fox couple are selected among the people of Kudamatsu, but it is said that as the female who plays the part of one of the newlywed is going to be blessed with a good match, there is a benefit to a marriage at that same shrine.
[41] Also, in the Suzakihamamiyashinemei Jinja in Miyado, Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, during setsubun, a shinto ritual called "kitsune no yomeiri dōchū (the fox's wedding journey)" is performed.
This was also a ritual performed in the Edo period, but this was also a practice revived in the postwar period, and a man and woman who were in a yakudoshi or "unlucky age" that year would dress up as a little fox, the head envoy of the gods, and a girl fox, the envoy of the god of Suzakihamamiyashinemei Jinja, and then re-enact a wedding,[42][43] which at that time it can be seen to flourish with several tens of thousands of visitors to the shrine.
