Hakuzōsu

Hakuzōsu (白蔵主), also written Hakuzosu and Hakuzousu, is the name of a popular ''kitsune'' character who pretended to be a priest in Japanese folklore.

Legend

The better known version of the legend is set in of Sakai, Izumi Province (now Osaka Prefecture), summarized in the actor 's (1823) as well as the ''engi'' history of the said temple,.

Due to the late date of both documents, their appended note that this Shōrin-ji version inspired the ''kyōgen'' play, is considered a specious claim. There is no written evidence on this anywhere close to the 16th century when the play ''Trurigitsune'' about this fox is already known to have existed (attested in the Tenshō-bon of 1581) Cf. below.

A variant legend is set in of Ōmi Province (Shiga Prefecture), also summarized in the ''fushin gami''.

In the adapted ''Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, Hyaku monogatari'' version, the setting shifts to Kai Province (cf. ). Some well known elements such as the fox loving fried mouse is not in these legend texts, but are a part of the ''kyōgen'' play.

Shōrin-ji

(in what is now Sakai, Osaka) in Izumi Province is said to have been founded Bunna 1/1352, propitiating the Inari dai-myōjin according to the ''engi'' history of the temple. According to this document, the temple's own version of its history, Shōrin-ji had attached to it a or small hall called , where lived a priest named during the years 1526–1555 who had no income and destitute, thus praying 7 days and 7 nights, when a three-legged white fox darted out of the altar and curled up before him. The priest interpreted this happenstance to be a gift from the Inari deity, and fostered the fox, and from then, he received plenty of alms from devotees. The fox even transformed into a brave warrior and warded off bandits. The priest had a nephew who hunted foxes for a living, and the white fox also used his shapeshifting to impersonate Priest Hakuzō, but the man was shrewd and guessed it was the fox in disguise, so he tried to use every trick of his hunting trade to trap the fox.

But the aforementioned ''Kyōgen fushin gami'' dates the presence of the priest at Kōun-an of Shōrin-ji much earlier, during the Eitoku era years of 1381 onward. He regularly venerated the Inari dai-myōjin and never forgot the daily priestly duty, thereby receiving a white fox, etc., thus otherwise matching the ''engi''s summary.

This version is reprinted in geographical and travel guides of the Edo period such as the , 』, , the essay , and the encyclopedia ''Wakan Sansai Zue, Wakan sansai zue''.

In ''Sakai kagami'' (or ''Wago renjushū'') it merely states the priest found a three-legged wild fox in the woods and raised it, adding that its descendants all inherited the three-leggedness and a clan of them still occupied the premises of the same temple.Quoted in ''Koji Ruien, Koji ruien''

Shōraku-ji

Shōraku-ji in Ōmi Province is stated to have been established around the same period as the rival legend temple (before 1385) as a subordinate temple to Kennin-ji in Kyoto. This Shōraku-ji also lays claim to living there, who had two nephews, named Kohei and Kojūrō.

Adaptations

Tsurigitsune

The legend of Hakuzōsu became a Kyōgen play, (‘Fox Trapping’) also known by the title ''Konkai'' (‘The Cry of the Fox’).

In this story, a hunter is visited by his uncle, the priest Hakuzōsu, who lectures his nephew on the evils of killing foxes. The hunter is nearly convinced, but after the priest departs, he hears the cry of the fox and realizes it wasn't his uncle after all but a fox in disguise. The fox resumes his natural form and reverts to his wild ways, takes the bait in a trap and is captured.

Hyaku monogatari

In the ''Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, Hyaku monogatari'' version of the story, a hunter named Yasaku made his living trapping foxes for fur at the base of in Kai Province. An ancient fox lost many offspring, and upon learning that the man's uncle was the priest Hakuzōsu at , assumed the priest's identity and preached the evils of animal slaying for his "future" (i.e. that the karma would damn him to a wicked reincarnation), and carried away all the traps for a sum of money. But the fox saw the hunter walking towards the temple, and fearing his ploy would be exposed, went ahead and killed the priest, now assuming his identity permanently, and lived on for priest for another 50 years, until it was chewed to death by the dog of one Satō Tarō on the occasion of a village festival.

Folkloristics

In the "A Type and Motif Index of Japanese Folk-Literature" compiled by Hiroko Ikeda, motif "68* The Fox Jeers at the Fox-Trap" lists "''Tsuri-gitsune'', ''Konkwai'', ''Hakuzoosu''" as representative, with pattern "I. Fox Disguised as Uncle" conforming to these tales.

Notes

References

Bibliography

*

*

External links

{{Japanese folklore long

Buddhist folklore
Kitsune (fox)
Anthropomorphic animals
Literature featuring anthropomorphic foxes
Japanese folklore
Shapeshifters
Inari faith