- Just what we need — a sadistic demon running rampant.
As if there wasn’t enough calamity going on in the world already. We may now also have to contend with an escaped Japanese fox succubus.
On March 4, a decidedly ominous sight awaited tourists arriving to see the Sessho-seki in the mountains of Nasu, some 100 miles north of Tokyo. The Sessho-seki — known in English as the “killing stone” — is a volcanic boulder that Japanese mythology claims is the prison of Tamamo-no-Mae, a chaotic fox demon.
But on the fateful day, the seals binding the demon shattered. People who came to see the stone found that it, along with the sealing rope around it, had split in two.
“I feel like I’ve seen something that shouldn’t be seen,” one witness tweeted in Japanese.
Of course, there was no sight of Tamano-no-Mae. But if you’d been imprisoned in a rock for nearly a millennium, would you stick around when you finally got out?
The Fox of Chaos
If the stories surrounding the Sessho-seki are true, we’re in for a world of trouble. Tamano-no-Mae is not a nice spirit.
Her true form is said to be that of a fox with nine tails. But she prefers to appear as a woman possessing otherworldly beauty and intelligence.
She likes to use her looks to seduce and influence men in powerful positions. And when she does, people usually start dying.
Legends say Tamano-no-Mae first surfaced in China around 1050 BCE. She possessed Daji, a favored concubine of Zhou, the last king of the Shang dynasty.
He’s the last because of Tamano-no-Mae. Her influence drove King Zhou to bring on a reign of terror, leading to a rebellion that ended his dynasty.
The fox demon next surfaced in India, where she became Lady Kayo, a concubine to a prince called Banzoku. According to the story, Tamano-no-Moe manipulated Banzoku to personally decapitate 1,000 men.
After a second brief trip to China, Tamano-no-Mae took a vacation until roughly 1100 CE. She then took the role of the most cherished courtesan of Japanese emperor Toba.
The demon caused the emperor to fall seriously ill, but luckily a court astronomer recognized her for what she was. Emperor Toba sent two warriors after Tamano-no-Mae, who vanquished and imprisoned her in the plains of Nasu.
They sealed the fox spirit into a stone that continuously released poisonous gas. However, some 250 years later, a Buddhist monk supposedly exorcised the now-repentant demon.
That’s what the story says, anyway. Many Japanese nonetheless choose to believe that Tamano-no-Mae still resided in the now destroyed stone.
The legend of the fox remains popular in Japan. It has spawned played, novels, and an anime movie.
Just a Legend… Right?
But let’s assume for a moment that Sessho-seki split because of completely natural reasons. What, then, could’ve caused it?
According to experts, the stone most likely cracked because of perfectly normal erosion. In fact, they say that cracks in the stones surface first appeared several years ago.
Water could’ve seeped into the stone and enlarged the cracks. Then, when a sufficiently cold day came along, frozen water could’ve easily split the rock.
In either case, the rock’s destruction is a blow to local tourism. Masaharu Sugawara, the head of a local volunteer guide group, said it was a “shame” that the area’s symbol was lost, reported The Guardian.
Local authorities said the will convene a meeting to discuss what they should to about the Sessho-seki. One tourism official has suggested that the stone halves could be reattached and reinforced to keep tourists coming in.
That’s all well and good, but what about the demon fox? Will they perform a new ritual to seal it back in the stone? Can they do that?
But then again, Tamano-no-Mae is just a folk legend. After all, if she was real and free, we probably would’ve already seen a powerful world leader start a war or something.
Wait. Oh no…