The Fox Fires of Ōji
Japanese folklore tells of kitsunebi, fox fires: strings of floating lights seen at night in the countryside, said to be carried by foxes.
What was reported
In Japanese folklore, kitsunebi, 'fox fires', are mysterious lights seen floating in lines across fields and hillsides at night, appearing and vanishing. They were said to be carried by foxes, or to be the breath of foxes, and to lead travellers astray.
One famous legend says that on New Year's Eve, the foxes of the Kantō region gathered under a great tree near Ōji Inari Shrine in Edo, now Tokyo, their fires shining in the dark. The artist Hiroshige made a famous print of the scene. A festival there still remembers it.
Explanations offered
Suggested explanations include will-o'-the-wisps from marsh gas, mirages of distant lights, glowing fungi, and the lanterns of people walking in procession at night. The legend is now a celebrated part of Japanese art and festivals.
- When
- Told for centuries
- Where
- Ōji Inari Shrine, Tokyo, Japan
- Witnesses
- Japanese tradition
- Status
- Mostly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.