Foxy City 狐

          This spring a carload of us went for a drive. The destination was the Wisteria flower park about three hours south of us, but there were a lot of detours and pit stops along the way, One of the detours was the azalea gardens mentioned in an earlier post. We also visited this foxy city. They chose the fox - as you can see on the bottom of the red flag in the photo - the fox was the mascot for the city market, was predominant in the local shrine, and the local festival featured taiko drummers dressed like foxes. 

Like many market streets in Japan, this street was lined with various shops, and not just any shops. These are the kinds of independent shops that could sell anything - so you have to take a thorough look around each one to make sure you are not missing anything. My favorite image is the fox figurines . They are adorable and I think foxes are my favorite animal because they are soooooo cute. 

In Japan, foxes (kitsune) are closely associated with the supernatural realm. Sometimes at shrines you will even see two foxes guarding the entrance instead of the traditional two lions. They are clever tricksters, just like in western lore, but with the addition powers of shape-shifting into human form (a power that every fox has according to lore) and serving as a messenger between the mortals and immortals. You can also gauge the age and degree of cunning of each fox by the number of tails it has, maxing out at nine. Pokemon anyone?

Below are some photos of the fox taiko drummers 

and 

above is the tree that we sat under to watch them.