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| | A History of Fox Beliefs by Chris Azure (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20) |
 | | Although the fox was not considered as effective in this regard as the hedgehog or the snake, we can certainly see the practices resemblances to the Japanese belief in the fox as the spirit of rice, and its later associations with Inari, the god of rice and prosperity. |
 | | The difference was, in the case of the kitsune-mochi, the fox and its powers was possessed by the entire family and, furthermore, it was believed to be both contagious and hereditary in the female line. |
 | | Conversely, the fox in Japan, while of a more ambiguous nature in the folklore, is treated as a demonic being in folk practices, while at the same time enjoying an elevated status as the envoy of Inari, and indeed, in many cases, as Inari itself. |
| inari.garunya.com /chapter2.htm (1746 words) |
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