Big book of mythology

Kitsune

This Mythological creature was requested by _lostforwords_ and trust me when I say there is sooo much info on this creature. So buckle up folks this one is a doozy :) XOXO BUTTERBALL.
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Kitsune

Origin: Japanese Mythology and Chinese mythology , it is the Japanese word for fox. And folklore about foxes are abundant in Japanese mythology.

Summary and or Explanation: (This one is another big one guys I'll include the most important details.)

Stories depict them as intelligent beings and as possessing magical abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. According to Yōkai folklore (Which is another word for Japanese Mythology) , all foxes have the ability to shape shift into women. While some folktales speak of kitsune employing this ability to trick others-as foxes in folklore often do-other stories portray them as faithful guardians, friends, lovers, and wives.

Foxes and human beings lived close together in ancient Japan; this companionship gave rise to legends about the creatures. Kitsune have become closely associated with Inari, a Shinto kami or spirit, and serve as its messengers. This role has reinforced the fox's supernatural significance. The more tails a kitsune has-they may have as many as nine-the older, wiser, and more powerful it is. Because of their potential power and influence, some people make offerings to them as to a deity. ( In Japan there are many monuments dedicated to them).

Conversely foxes were often seen as "witch animals", especially during the superstitious Edo period (1603-1867), and were goblins who could not be trusted (similar to some badgers and cats).

Japanese fox myths had its origins in Chinese mythology. Chinese folk tales tell of fox spirits called huli jing that may have up to nine tails (Kyūbi no Kitsune in Japanese). Many of the earliest surviving stories are recorded in the Konjaku Monogatarishū, an 11th-century collection of Chinese, Indian, and Japanese narratives. The nine-tailed foxes came to be adapted as a motif from Chinese mythology to Japanese mythology.

Japanese folklorist Kiyoshi Nozaki argues that the Japanese regarded kitsune positively as early as the 4th century A.D.; the only things imported from China or Korea were the kitsune's negative attributes. He states that, according to a 16th-century book of records called the Nihon Ryakki, foxes and human beings lived close together in ancient Japan, and he contends that indigenous legends about the creatures arose as a result. Inari scholar Karen Smyers notes that the idea of the fox as seductress and the connection of the fox myths to Buddhism were introduced into Japanese folklore through similar Chinese stories, but she maintains that some fox stories contain elements unique to Japan.

The full etymology is unknown. The oldest known usage of the word is in the 794 text Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki. Other old sources include Nihon Ryōiki (810-824) and Wamyō Ruijushō (c. 934). These oldest sources are written in Man'yōgana which clearly identifies the historical spelling as ki1tune. Following several diachronic phonological changes, this becomes kitsune.

Many etymological suggestions have been made, though there is no general agreement:

Myōgoki (1268) suggests that it is so called because it is "always (tsune) yellow (ki)".

Early  Mizukagami indicates that it means "came (ki) [ perfective aspect particle tsu] to bedroom (ne)" due to a legend that a kitsune would change into one's wife and bear children.

Arai Hakuseki in Tōga (1717) suggests that ki means "stench", tsu is a possessive particle, and neis related to inu, the word for "dog".