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What is a kitsune?

The fox spirit is a ubiquitous figure in Asian folklore. Chinese legends tell of the fox who meditated for centuries in order to attain magical powers. In Japan, the kitsune (fox demon) is a shapeshifter, representing the power of transformation, its level of power indicated by the number of tails. The legendary female Nine-Tailed Fox Tamamo-no-Mae represents the pinnacle of that power as a being of terror and majesty. Over the centuries, Japanese folklore and mythology surrounding the kitsune have produced a myriad of tales that embody "the belief in the ability of foxes to transform themselves at will into any shape of their choosing, from scholars, students and bodhisattvas to beautiful women who seduce men." (Japan Quarterly, Janet Goff)

The Japanese fox spirit is by turns playful, resourceful, alluring, ingenious, mischievous, helpful, powerful, and a bit of a trickster akin to the Native American Old Man Coyote. Whether benefactor or trickster or demon, the kitsune has remained a compelling figure within the human imagination for well over a thousand years.

It is this magical, shifting, many-faceted attribute that appeals to the founders of Kitsune Books. We intend that our catalog of publications, as it grows in the coming years, will reflect this outlook. We seek to publish books that bewitch and beguile, that provoke thought and evoke emotions, that produce laughter and invite play. Little bursts of foxfire to brighten your mind.