1st Edition
The Fox's Craft in Japanese Religion and Culture Shapeshifters, Transformations, and Duplicities
By Michael Bathgate
Copyright 2004
144 Pages
by
Routledge
144 Pages
by
Routledge
144 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
For more than a millennium, the fox has been a ubiquitous figure at the margins of the Japanese collective imagination. In the writings of the nobility and the motifs of popular literature, the fox is known as a shapeshifter, able to assume various forms in order to deceive others. Focusing on recurring themes of transformation and duplicity in folklore, theology, and court and village practice,... Read more
Preface Chapter one The Jewel Maiden and the Murder Stone: Orientations to Shapeshifting and Signification Chapter Two Foxes, Wives, and Spirits: Shapeshifting and the Languages of Marriage Chapter Three To Whom Am I Speaking? Shapeshifting and the Semiotics of Revelation Chapter Four The Gift of the Fox: Shapeshifting and Society in the Edo Period Chapter Five Using the Fox: Concluding Reflections on Shapeshifting and Signification Notes Bibliography Index
Biography
Michael Bathgate i s Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Saint Xavier University in Chicago, where he teaches courses on the comparative study of religions.
