For all these reasons, and, doubtless many more, people believed to have
foxes are shunned. Intermarriage with a fox-possessing family is out of
the question; and many a beautiful and accomplished girl in Izumo cannot
secure a husband because of the popular belief that her family harbours
foxes. As a rule, Izumo girls do not like to marry out of their own
province; but the daughters of a kitsune-mochi must either marry into
the family of another kitsune-mochi, or find a husband far away from
the Province of the Gods. Rich fox-possessing families have not overmuch
difficulty in disposing of their daughters by one of the means above
indicated; but many a fine sweet girl of the poorer kitsune-mochi is
condemned by superstition to remain unwedded. It is not because there
are none to love her and desirous of marrying her--young men who have
passed through public schools and who do not believe in foxes. It is
because popular superstition cannot be yet safely defied in country
districts except by the wealthy. The consequences of such defiance would
have to be borne, not merely by the husband, but by his whole family,
and by all other families related thereunto. Which are consequences to
be thought about!
Among men believed to have foxes there are some who know how to turn the
superstition to good account. The country-folk, as a general rule, are
afraid of giving offence to a kitsune-mochi, lest he should send some of
his invisible servants to take possession of them. Accordingly, certain
kitsune-mochi have obtained great ascendancy over the communities in
which they live. In the town of Yonago, for example, there is a certain
prosperous chonin whose will is almost law, and whose opinions are never
opposed. He is practically the ruler of the place, and in a fair way of
becoming a very wealthy man. All because he is thought to have foxes.
Wrestlers, as a class, boast of their immunity from fox-possession,
and care neither for kitsune-mochi nor for their spectral friends. Very
strong men are believed to be proof against all such goblinry. Foxes are
said to be afraid of them, and instances are cited of a possessing fox
declaring: 'I wished to enter into your brother, but he was too strong
for me; so I have entered into you, as I am resolved to be revenged upon
some one of your family.'