6) Possession: Different means to interact.

The tales involved with kitsune interaction among mortals is full of contradictions. As listed earlier, you had manifesting fox-spirits, women seducing samurai, foxes that scampered around and played tricks, and people possessed. This section deals with what I think is involved in all of this, and why kitsune legends have more than one reason for these stories. This comes from many sources.

Kitsune, being spirits, aren't expected to just 'appear'. Doing so is a risk to a spirit, leaving them vulnerable to attack. Also, considering the kitsune gains power from the land they are in, they risk harming the land by taking too much power, just to be 'there'.

As such, kitsune have learned a few ways to 'cheat', and show up more often. The following ways are possible tricks the kitsune have learned:

Possession - Simple taking over a target for a period of time. Possessing someone was not a long-term event as far as kitsune were concerned. A kitsune usually required the permission of the target, to be able to possess them, but that doesn't seem to always be the case. When the target was possessed, their will was completely taken over. When the kitsune left the target, they had no memories of what had transpired.

Possessing an unwilling target would mean taking over the person's will. This could result by the kitsune draining the target's will, or perhaps driving them insane. In either event, the kitsune is now inside a mortal body.

From an email, recounting a very recent kitsune possession:

Possessions by foxes include violent seizures in which the afflicted speak "in the voice of the fox", deriding humans and making demands of priests and practitioners through the body of the possessed. One ongoing story within the religion tells of a girl in Tokyo who was possessed by two hundred and fifty foxes at once... After being possessed by the fox and making demands of the priest for sake and food, the girl's priest ritually banished the fox, converting it to a kind of universal doctrine and sending it back to the shrine of Inari... It then possessed the girl again and attacked the priest, who "killed" it using okiyome, the practice of a kind of purifying ray from the hands. For months after, the girl would attack the priest suddenly, crying "Attack! Attack!" Reportedly these attempts were being made by the two hundred forty-nine in an attempt to avenge their master.

Kitsune who possess a mortal don't seem to retain most of their abilities. The taking of a mortal body gives the kitsune a semblance of mortality, themselves. One exception I read is that a kitsune possessing someone had on them a small object, called a 'kitsune ball'. This ball, when taken from the kitsune, caused them to whine and plead for it back. From what else I've read, the kitsune ball is a portion of their spirit, and could be the only means for them to regain their freedom, or it could hold the soul of the person they are possessing. I don't know for certain, either way.

Kitsune do not have to possess only mortals, mind you. A kitsune can just as easily possess a fox's body, and wander around as a fox.

Taking an Avatar - Possessing either a dead body, or an unborn child. This would be a more permanent means of being able to stay around. There are stories that mention when a person dies, they can become a kitsune. This could either be a kitsune possessing the body, or it could be a literal transformation, where the person steps 'outside' the cycle of birth-death-rebirth, becoming immortal instead. In any case, a kitsune can take the dead body of someone, and animate it since it has no soul inside it. Doing so would require that the body was not properly buried, and had not been concecrated.

While inside the body, the kitsune has some abilities that it would possess as a true spirit. This would mean shapeshifting to a lesser extent, and more often than not, the person would have a fox's tail. Kitsune illusions would still be available, as would causing bad luck.

Possessing an unborn child is another matter. While doing so, the mother would most likely become sick, or weak, as the kitsune invades her unborn child. When the child is born, it would most likely be sick too, until either it died, or the kitsune was successful in possessing it. The kitsune would be able to grow and adapt to mortal life, and eventually gain most of it's powers. A kitsune with a mortal body would be able to shapeshift, and live fairly well as a mortal.

From what I have read, most kitsune, when taking a mortal body, prefer to take the fox's form, instead of the mortal form. I think the conflict between the spirit of the kitsune, and the mortal soul, is inherently, to the oriental culture, 'bad kharma'. With their belief in a natural order, anything that would disrupt this natural order causes sickness and pain. The possession of a mortal, especially the unborn or the dead, is an example of this disruption.

Aiding someone into becoming a kitsune - This is a draining process, but the results include fertility, the breeding of more kitsune, and a mortal, physical body. The transformation of a mortal into a kitsune is a rare legend, but has been mentioned in the past, and is still used in stories written in the present day. Other legends recall a mortal being seduced (mind controlled), and fathering children by the kitsune. The children have always been kitsune, and are usually in foxform when born, though this latter is not always the case.

These children are mortal, but possess the usual 900+ year lifespan. This is probably the easiest way for a kitsune to be able to stay on the physical world, without disrupting the balance of nature.

Cultural Note: The crossbreeding of foxes and mortals was not really frowned upon by the oriental culture. To them, animal spirits often attempted to breed with humans, and often succeeded. The concept of 'bestiality' did not apply to these spirits, since most agreed, and a good number still do, that kitsune, tanuki, and other such creatures are not animals, nor are they mortal, but instead, are something very different.

With almost all cases of kitsune appearance, the kitsune wants something from the mortals around them. Kitsune are hedonistic and demanding for the most part, and are willing to ask or just take from those around them. Things could be as simple as a lemon-rice ball, which is a kitsune delicacy, to a simple kimono, to a samurai's favourite geisha, or even to a samurai as a husband. If the kitsune is powerful enough, or old enough, it could even be an empire, and everyone inside it.

The reasons the kitsune are so demanding could be that with the sensations the physical world has to offer, the kitsune may be enraptured, and want to experience more. The more jaded kitsune, on the other hand, become demanding of more extreme things.