狐 - Kitsune in Japanese Language and Culture.

Kitsune is Fox in Japanese. This word refers to a fox, both in the literal and mythological sense. It commonly denotes the actual animal but takes on a deeper cultural significance in Japanese folklore and culture.

There are few animals as integral to Japanese culture as the fox. This is evident in several words with Kitsune in them, from foods to everyday words. The fox is about as rare to see in Japan as many other parts of the world, due to its elusive nature. Even though the fox is not something you will see everyday walking down the streets, unlike in English, the fox is important enough to have a word dedicated to how it speaks. So, What does the fox say? Let’s find out and discover more about how this animal fits into the Japanese language and culture.

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Kitsune in Japanese

Kitsune in Japanese is how you say fox as we know now. But, what does that really refer to? When you talk about a Kitsune in Japanese this can refer to two different Types of Kitsune. You could be talking about the everyday animal or you could be talking about the mythical fox spirits with shape-shifting abilities and supernatural powers. Obviously, the context will make it clear which. Basically, that is because even though the Kitsune is a Japanese Yokai (妖怪) or Monster, it is an animal at the same time.

Kitsune in Japanese vs. Kitsune in English

The words Kitsune has entered the English language and refers to something that is not quite the same. Several different games created in other countries feature characters or races known as Kitsune. Also, fans of the Kitsune overseas often depicts them as a human that can transform into a fox. Often the fox will be a nine tail fox, and often the human form will have fox ears.

In Japanese anime there may be characters with fox ears, and there is the nine-tail fox, 九尾(kyūbi) in famous Anime such as Naruto. So, in a sense, people outside of Japan often jumble these concepts together.

First, the normal Kitsune as a Japanese Yokai does not have nine-tails. That is a completely different type of fox taking roots in the celestial fox from China.

Now, it is common to see foxes turning into humans in Japanese Anime and they may have fox ears. That is because the Kitsune in Japanese folklore has the ability to transform into humans and other things. But, traditionally the fox form proceeds and is the main form of the fox. Also, they may turn into different things, and change other things to look like what they are not. It is more that the Kitsune has the power of deception, instead of being a werewolf like creature. So it does transform into things, but this is more of a way that it changes its form as a means of deception.

Kitsune Written in Japanese

The Japanese language has a few writings systems they use and you may see Kitsune written a few different ways. Here they are in Kanji, Hiragana, and finally Katakana.

狐 – Kanji
きつね – Hiragana
キツネ – Katakana

Without going into too much detail depending on the context you may see Kitsune written one of these ways. Generally the Kanji is the normal way you would see it, or sometimes in Hiragana. The Katakana is more used when talking about the species of the Kitsune.

Kitsune Pronunciation

Kitsune is not hard to say. In English you /kiːtsuːneɪ/. The Japanese way of saying it is close but not exact. First, for comparison lets look at the English way of saying Kitsune.

/kiː/: This represents the ‘kee’ sound, similar to the English word ‘key.’
/tsuː/: Pronounced as ‘tsoo,’ it combines the ‘ts’ sound with a prolonged ‘oo’ sound.
/neɪ/: Ending with ‘nei,’ it mirrors the English ‘nay’ sound.

Great! So moving onto Japanese. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) representation for Kitsune is [kʲi̥t͡sɨᵝne̞]. Let’s break down that down into it’s components one Syllable or Mora at a time.

/kʲi̥/: き　ー　The initial sound /kʲi̥/ consists of a voiceless palatalized velar plosive “k” followed by a voiceless, central, and unrounded vowel “i̥.” The “i̥” represents a near-close, near-front unrounded vowel pronounced without vibration of the vocal cords. In layman terms, that means that you say the i sound like a whisper. Basically Japanese has what voiceless vowels which are not in English or many other languages. For that reason if you hear a Japanese person saying Kitsune you may not here the i sound. It may instead sound like they are saying ktsune. They are holding the “i” sound though for the full length of the sound while blowing air out with their mouth in the position. But, you say it without voicing it. Something voiced or not is similar to the different between z and s in English. The z is the voiced version and the s the non-voiced version. Other than that they are exactly the same.
/t͡sɨᵝ/: つ　ー　The “/t͡s/” represents a voiceless alveolar affricate, combining the sounds of “t” and “s” in quick succession. This sounds like the end of the word cats in English. The u however in the tsu is more central in the mouth than in English. Meaning the tough is not as far back. Also, the English u makes you round your lips, where in Japanese you just slightly constrict the lips. The mid-central unrounded vowel “ɨᵝ” is the term for this vowel, with the superscript, ᵝ, indicating lip constriction instead of rounding.
/ne̞/: ね　ー　The alveolar nasal “n” proceeds a mid-open front unrounded vowel “e̞,” pronounced slightly lower and more central than a standard “e” in English, in the sequence “/ne̞/.”

Summary

Putting it all together, “Kitsune” is [kʲi̥t͡sɨᵝne̞] in Japanese. Remember that you pronounce the “ne̞” sound at the end quickly. Actually, in Japanese there is a difference between long and short vowels. This is very important since this aspect of Japanese is extremely productive and there are many words that differ just from the length of vowels.

In English you may stress the tsu and lengthen it, but that would be incorrect in Japanese. In Japanese every syllable is exactly the same length. Also, speaking of stress, that is an aspect that is not in Japanese. Where in English in order to stress a syllable you say it louder and maybe longer, Japanese uses pitch accent. For the word Kitsune there is actually no accent, so I will not go into pitch accent here. But, it is important to know that you pronounce all syllables with the same loudness, and pitch.

What does the Fox Say?

two small Foxes or Kitsune saying something to eachother

It would be impossible to create a Japanese version of the popular song “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)” by Ylvis, which has over 1.1 billion views. The reason, well unlike in English, the Japanese fox says kon-kon. This onomatopoeic term is コンコン in Japanese. A fox in real life makes all sorts of noises like any animal. So we don’t know the reason they say コンコン.

But, the sound kon-kon does not need to specifically sounds what the fox says for real. That is because first humans vocal chords are not the same as Foxes, and also because of Japanese Sound Symbolism.

Unlink English which has very limited numbers of Onomatopoeia that is basically just to represent sounds, Japanese takes this a step further. Japanese has Sound symbolism that imitates sounds, what things look like, motion and so on. So, just like a dog can say woof woof, or a cat meow in English, Japanese can allow a sound to something that does not even have a sound! If that makes sense. Japanese sound symbolism represents more of the impression that something is giving you through sound.

For that reason, it maybe that Japanese has a word for what the fox says since it does not need to be as specific in English. Who knows, but again it is important if you are learning Japanese to know how important Sound Symbolism is. Also, you don’t want to think too much about if a sound matches exactly or not.

Etymology of Kitsune, What the Fox used to say?

Speaking of what a fox says, what does the word Kitsune come from in Japanese?

Well, long long ago, the old way to say Kitsune with Kitsu. Later on the elusive ne showed up at the end of the word. It’s possible that kitsu comes from キツキツ (kitsu-kitsu). This is a proposed word to represent the sound that a fox makes. It is not a really word, but could have potentially been how people in the past represented what a fox used to say.

Types of Foxes in Japanese Culture

There are several different types of foxes or Kitsune in Japanese folklore and Mythology. Most of the names have the Japanese Kanji character 狐 in them, so they should be fairly easy to recognize.

Onyomi (音読み) and kunyomi (訓読み) are two reading systems used for kanji characters in the Japanese writing system. These terms refer to the different ways you read kanji characters based on their origins and usage. Let’s explore each.

Onyomi derive from the original Chinese pronunciations of kanji characters. When characters came into Japan from China, they brought their Chinese pronunciations with them. Over time the sounds did change quite a bit and no longer represent the traditional Chinese sounds. The Onyomi for 狐 is ko or こ.

Kunyomi readings are native Japanese readings for kanji characters. These are native Japanese word from the old Japanese. So, in this case the Kunyomi for 狐 is simply, Kitsune or きつね.

Great! So now that we have that out of the way, lets look at the different types of Kitsune.

九尾 – The Nine-Tail Fox

Outside of Japan this fox most people probably know it the best, and so where we will be starting. The term 九尾(pronounced kyūbi) in Japanese refers to a mythical creature known as the Nine-Tailed Fox. This creature originates in Chinese Folklore and later transferred to Japan. The word is a combination of the numeral 九 (kyū) meaning nine and 尾 (bi) meaning tail.

One of the most famous Anime of all time, Naruto, introduced most people to this creature.

妖狐 – The Yōkai Fox

The word Kitsune is use in Japanese folklore to refer to the monster or spirit foxes. You say the same word for normal everyday foxes. So, the words 妖狐 (yōko) is one way you can talk about just the type in folklore. The Yōko may also go by 野狐 (nogitsune, yako). This just means field fox and represents both normal foxes and the mischievous and sometimes malicious foxes in folklore.

They can also go by the name 化け狐 (bake-Gitsune). This is from the verb 化ける (bakeru) for shapeshifting.

善狐 – The Good Kitsune

Are Kitsune good or evil? Well it depends on the Kitsune. The term 善狐 (zenko) in Japanese refers to a specific type of fox spirit that has benevolence or good qualities. We already know that 狐 means fox. The 善 kanji character means good or virtuous.　

This word is a general way to refer to the good Kitsune. 　In 宮川舎漫筆 (miyagawanoya manpitsu) 狐ものがたり (kitsune monogatari) which was written in the Edo Period in Japan, five types of Zenko or good Kitsune are described.

天狐 (Tenko, amatsu kitsune)　ー　Heavenly Fox, Celestial Fox
金狐 (kinko, kingitsune) 　ー　Golden Fox
銀狐 (ginko, gingitsune) 　ー　Silver Fox
白狐 (byakko, shirogitsune)　ー　White Fox
黒狐 (kokuko, kurogitsune)　ー　Black Fox

These foxes or Zenko go by this name in contrast with the 妖狐 or 野狐 we previously talked about.

霊狐 – The Spirit Kitsune

Next we have the 霊狐 (reiko) or Spirit Foxes. These are not really a different type of fox from the Zenko, but more of a different perspective. The Zenko are just a way to talk about good foxes, where reiko focuses on the spirit aspect of the good foxes. The 霊 in the name means spirit or ghost.

These Reiko are the helpful foxes or spirit foxes that help the gods, spirits or 神 (kami) at 稲荷神社 (inari jinja) or Inari shrines. We will talk about Inari shrines in a moment. Before that, let’s look more specifically at a type of 霊狐 known as 管狐 (kuda gitsune)

管狐 – The Pipe Kitsune

管狐 (kuda gitsune) literally means Pipe Fox. 修験者 (shugenja, mountain ascetic) and 陰陽師 (onmyōji, special medium during Heian Period) can wield these small foxes, which live in bamboo shoots, utilizing their precognition or other mystical powers.

The Kuda-Gitsune also go by 飯綱 (iizuna)　Which today refers to the least weasel. Those that wield these Foxes or weasel then go by the name of 飯綱使い (izuna-tsukai).

お稲荷さん – O-Inari-san and Inari Shrines

Inari Shrines, which you call 稲荷神社 (Inari Jinja), are Shinto shrines for the Inari deities. These Inari deities are agricultural and fertility kami or gods. The foxes or Reiko we talked about earlier are messengers of the Inari kami. That is why you will see foxes at these shrines often with red aprons. Some consider the foxes themselves to be the Inari deities, and so the word Inari has become synonymous for referring to foxes in different contexts. For example the 稲荷寿司 (Inarizushi).

The word 稲荷 is from 稲生 (ina-nari) and means something like bearing a rice harvest.

In summary, Kitsune, translating to fox in Japanese, extends beyond its literal meaning to to encompass both everyday foxes and mythical foxes in Folklore. This explanation should give a baseline for further understanding concepts related to the Kitsune. Outside of Japan, people have taken many of the elements of the Fox and put them into various game characters and fan art. That is great that the Kitsune has such a global appeal! It is important though that the concept of a Kitsune is complex as there are several types, and depending on the context you may be referring to a Kyūbi or nogitsune.

These sometimes are conflated together but are separate entities. So I hope that the terminology here will help in distinguishing the spot for our furry friends in Japanese culture and folklore. Japanese Folklore has many other Yōkai also and other animals that are important to the culture. But, the Kitsune is in a special spot through all of its types, different powers and broad context it shows up.

狐 – Kitsune in Japanese Language and Culture.