Who Is The Fox (Mother Fox) (Otama)?
A mother fox of Oji tricked by a human
Fox (Oji no Kitsune)
The Fox is a mother fox living in the woods of Oji Inari Shrine in the classic rakugo tale Oji no Kitsune. The fun of the story lies in the reversal: a fox, who is supposed to trick humans, gets tricked by a human instead.
In Episode 8, she takes the form of a young woman, calling herself Otama, to fool a man, but he plays along, takes her to a restaurant, and she gets drunk and falls asleep. Left behind, she is woken by the staff, her true form is exposed, and she is chased around until she takes to her bed. Then the man's apology gift of botamochi arrives, and when her cub gets excited, she stops it with the punchline: "Don't eat that. It might be horse dung."
Oji Inari Shrine in Kita Ward, Tokyo, is considered the head of all Inari shrines in the Kanto region, and legend says foxes gather there on New Year's Eve.
