The Kitsune no Yomeiri

A sunshower or sun shower is sometimes discribed as 'Kitsune no Yomeiri' in Japan. It means the fox's wedding. The fox often plays tricks on humans in Japanese legend. When something unusual happens and you are hopelessly confused, we often say you are bewitched by a fox. As for a sunshower, the interesting thing is there are similar words to refer to animals around the world. A common theme is that of clever animals and tricksters getting married or related to the devil.

I quite like the idea of 'the Kitsune no Yomeiri', because it's very Japanese and unique. Just imagine foxes who wear kimono and march along to a village like in the picture below. It's unrealistic but full of imagination and ideas. I sometimes picture scenes from the film, Akira Kurosawa's Dreams in my mind.

From an ancient time, the fox has been a closely-linked animal to the lives of Japanese people. For example, if you go to a shrine, you would notice that there are 2 foxes on the right side and left side, as messengers of God. Japanese eat rice as our staple diet. And rice crop was never without mice. So people built a small shrine around rice fields and sacrificed 'Aburaage' at the altar to draw the fox. Aburaage is a Japanese food product made from soybeans. It's a sort of deep-fried tofu. And it is believed that it's the fox's favourite. People knew the fox was enemy of mice. That's why Inari shrine became widely touted as God for a rich harvest and prosperous business. Even now we call a noodle with Aburaage, 'Kitsune Udon' or 'Kitsune Soba', like 'fox noodles'.