Tamamo no Mae (玉藻前)
Tamamo no Mae (may be written with a few different sets of Chinese characters) was an imaginary woman of great beauty which was the transformed figure of the Hakumenkinmokyubi no kitsune (white-faced, golden-haired, and nine-tailed fox) that served Emperor Toba at the end of the Heian period. Tamamo no Mae supposedly played an important role during the cloistered rule of the Retired Emperor Toba, which was from 1129 to 1156, and she was supposed to be a young woman of about 20 years old (or some say a young girl) with extensive knowledge and great beauty, and she was said to be the most beautiful and smartest woman in the country. She is also known as Kesho no mae and some believe that her real identity was a fox with two tails instead of a white-faced, golden-haired, and nine-tailed fox.
Summary of the Legend
She was first called Mizukume and raised with much love by a husband and wife who could not have children of their own, and Mizukume grew to be a beautiful girl. She started to work at the Imperial Palace at the age of 18 and became a court lady who served the Retired Emperor Toba, and as he came to love her very much, they exchanged marriage vows.
After exchanging marriage vows, however, the Retired Emperor Toba gradually became ill. The Imperial Family's doctor could not find the cause of his illness, but the sorcerer ABE no Yasunari (or ABE no Yasuchika or ABE no Seimei) found that Tamamo no Mae was causing his illness, and Tamamo no Mae, having her real self as a nine-tailed fox revealed by the sorcerer, ran from the Imperial Court in the form of the white-faced, golden-haired, and nine-tailed fox, and hid herself.
Later, there was a report to the Imperial Court that the fox had been kidnapping women and girls in the Nasuno district (currently the Nasu district in Tochigi Prefecture), and this led the Retired Emperor Toba to organize a force to subdue the nine-tailed fox, responding to the request of SUDO gon no kami Sadanobu, who was the lord of the Nasuno district, to kill the nine-tailed fox. The Retired Emperor Toba then appointed two bushi (warriors), Yoshiaki MIURA and Hirotsune KAZUSA, to shogun (generals), and also appointed the sorcerer ABE no Yasunari to the strategist, and dispatched a force with over 80,000 soldiers to the Nasuno district.
Finding Tamamo no Mae in the shape of the white-faced, golden-haired, and nine-tailed fox in the Nasuno district, the force immediately attacked her, but mysterious spells cast by the nine-tailed fox killed many soldiers; therefore, the initial attack failed. In order to successfully hunt the nine-tailed fox, Miuranosuke and Kazusanosuke (warriors) as well as many officers and soldiers trained their horseback shooting skill by chasing and hunting dogs imagining their tails were the fox and then started the attack again.
Because it was the second attack, the force had carefully planned the hunt and they slowly drove the nine-tailed fox into a corner. In a last-ditch attempt, the nine-tailed fox appeared in Sadanobu's dream as a young woman and asked forgiveness, but Sadanobu thought it was a sign that the nine-tailed fox had grown weak and thus initiated the final attack. Then, two arrows shot by Miuranosuke penetrated the belly and neck of the nine-tailed fox, and Kazusanosuke then attacked it with his long sword, and finally, the fox was killed.
Immediately after the death, the nine-tailed fox transformed herself into a huge poisonous rock to kill humans and animals that came nearby. Therefore, village people there named the stone "Sesshoseki (the murder stone)." This Sesshoseki continued to exist even after the death of the Retired Emperor Toba and scared people living in surrounding villages. It is said that even high priests who came to Sesshoseki to offer prayers of repose for the fox were killed one-by-one from the poison of the rock. It is said that in the Muromachi period, Genno osho who opened Gengen-ji Temple in the Aizu district destroyed Sesshoseki, and pieces of the destroyed Sesshoseki flew to various parts of Japan.
Tamamo no Mae is said to be modeled after Empress Bifukumonin (FUJIWARA no Nariko) that the Retired Emperor Toba loved very much, and her story is considered to be based on the historical fact that: although Empress Bifukumonin was not from a noble family such as a regent-and-advisor family, she used her political power to plan to have her children or nephews ascend to the crown; this caused conflict with the Retired Emperor Sutoku, FUJIWARA no Tadazane, and FUJIWARA no Yorinaga; she initiated the Hogen Disturbance; and finally she established the foundation for political administration by warriors (note, however, there have been multiple theories regarding the level of Empress Bikufumonin's involvement in Imperial succession).
Her Character
In the Edo period, Tamamo no Mae was included as one of the three worst Japanese monsters along with Shutendoji (boy-faced giant) and the retired Emperor Sutoku (long-nosed goblin king of Sutoku), and she was featured in many kabuki performances, novels, comics, magazines, and paperbacks usually as an evil character. By being associated with the Chinese evil women, Dakki and Hoji, the monster Tamamo no Mae became a white-faced, gold-haired, and nine-tailed fox whose story originated in India and was transmitted to China and finally to Japan; therefore, the impression was established that she was an evil monster known around the world. Therefore, for accurate interpretation, Tamamo no Mae should be considered as separate from the white-faced, gold-haired, and nine-tailed fox whose story originated in India and was transmitted to China and finally to Japan.
Note, however, some see Tamamo no Mae, or the nine-tailed fox, as a heroine of a tragedy who was afraid of being alone, addicted to love, and a puppet of fate, instead of an evil character who tried to destroy the nation or dynasty.