A sacred rock has been split in two, releasing the spirit imprisoned inside. This spirit is said to be an evil kyubi, a nine-tailed fox spirit, named Tamamo-no-Mae. Fans of series like Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Kamisama Kiss are familiar with the legendary creature and how tricky they can be. Tamamo-no-Mae even appears in Fate/Grand Order. She is said to have tried to assassinate Emperor Toba using her charm and beauty. However, there may be more to this story than just a beautiful woman out to kill.
Kitsune are fox spirits, also known as kumiho in Korean culture and huli jing in Chinese. Kitsune are said to be tricksters who like to torment humans by taking on the appearance of beautiful women. Despite how they are often depicted as mischievous creatures, other stories tell of them actually being faithful and taking on the role of guardians. They are often associated with the goddess Inari, who uses pure white foxes as messengers. Their negative reputation would gain traction during the Edo period, which is when many yokai would be seen as wanting to harm humans. For every 100 years a kitsune lives, it gains a tail and becomes wiser and more powerful. A kyubi is a fox that has nine tails, making it at least 900 years old.
Tamamo-no-Mae is said to be one of these kyubi. The first legends featuring her appeared during the Muromachi period between the years 1336 and 1573. In these stories, she was a courtesan to Emperor Konoe, who ruled Japan from 1142 to 1155. Stories say that she first possessed a concubine in China named Daji and manipulated the last emperor of the Shang dynasty, King Zhou, into ruling maliciously. Once conflict arose and the kingdom fell, she fled to India, where she once again possessed a concubine named Lady Kayo, who served Prince Banzoku. Again, she was blamed when the prince would go on to behead 1,000 men, causing her to flee back to China. Here's she became Bao Si, concubine to King You of the Zhou dynasty. Once again, she would be chased out by the military. She would finally reach Japan and become Tamamo-no-Mae.
It would be this form that would become the most infamous in Japanese legend. She was the most favored among Emperor Toba's courtesans, being intelligent and the most beautiful. However, she would be blamed for Toba becoming sick by astrologer Abe no Yasuchika and chased out of the castle. They deemed her a kitsune and two men, Kazusa-no-suke and Miura-no-suke, were sent to kill her. She hid inside the stone Sesshoseki, which was said to kill anything that touched it. A Buddhist monk would later claim that he exorcised the stone, causing it to shatter and the fox spirit to be laid to rest. However, many locals believe that the stone still remained near Mount Nasu.
While many deemed Tamamo-no-Mae to be an evil spirit, it's more likely that she was used as a scapegoat for the Emperor falling ill. In every story she appears in, the courtesan or concubine was blamed for the kingdom befalling tragedy by enchanting the ruler. Stories of Tamamo-no-Mae being a courtesan existed before the stories of her being a kyubi. The stories of her supposed misdeeds didn't appear until the Edo period, which was when women's roles in society were changing to be more subservient than in previous eras. Having a woman be so close to the Emperor, most likely giving him advice on royal affairs, didn't set a good standard for the time; she had to have been a trickster.
The stone that was said to house her spirit was found by a hiker on March 5, 2022, having split in half. While government officials and geologists have said that rainwater caused the split after cracks had formed several years earlier, the more superstitious believe that Tamamo-no-Mae has been released, fearing that she will exact her revenge.
