The Will-o'-the-wisp is called _kitsuné-bi_ ("fox-fire"), because
the goblin-fox was formerly supposed to create it. In old Japanese
pictures it is represented as a tongue of pale red flame, hovering
in darkness, and shedding no radiance upon the surfaces over which it
glides.
To understand some of the following _ky[=o]ka_ on the subject, the
reader should know that certain superstitions about the magical power
of the fox have given rise to several queer folk-sayings,--one of
which relates to marrying a stranger. Formerly a good citizen was
expected to marry within his own community, not outside of it; and the
man who dared to ignore traditional custom in this regard would have
found it difficult to appease the communal indignation. Even to-day
the villager who, after a long absence from his birthplace, returns
with a strange bride, is likely to hear unpleasant things said,--such
as: "_Wakaranai-mono we hippaté-kita!... Doko no uma no honé da ka?_"
("Goodness knows what kind of a thing he has dragged here after him!
Where did he pick up that old horse-bone?") The expression _uma no
honé_, "old horse-bone," requires explanation.
A goblin-fox has the power to assume many shapes; but, for the purpose
of deceiving _men_, he usually takes the form of a pretty woman. When
he wants to create a charming phantom of this kind, he picks up an old
horse-bone or cow-bone, and holds it in his mouth. Presently the bone
becomes luminous; and the figure of a woman defines about it,--the
figure of a courtesan or singing-girl.... So the village query about
the man who marries a strange wife, "What old horse-bone has he picked
up?" signifies really, "What wanton has bewitched him?" It further
implies the suspicion that the stranger may be of outcast blood: a
certain class of women of pleasure having been chiefly recruited, from
ancient time, among the daughters of Éta and other pariah-people.
Hi tomoshité
Kitsuné no kwaséshi,
Asobimé[26] wa--
Izuka no uma no
Honé ni ya aruran!
[Footnote 26: _Asobimé_, a courtesan: lit., "sporting-woman." The Éta
and other pariah classes furnished a large proportion of these women.
The whole meaning of the poem is as follows: "See that young wanton
with her lantern! It is a pretty sight--but so is the sight of a fox,
when the creature kindles his goblin-fire and assumes the shape of
a girl. And just as your fox-woman will prove to be no more than an
old horse-bone, so that young courtesan, whose beauty deludes men to
folly, may be nothing better than an Éta."]
[_--Ah the wanton (lighting her lantern)!--so a fox-fire is
kindled in the time of fox-transformation!... Perhaps she is
really nothing more than an old horse-bone from somewhere or
other...._]
Kitsuné-bi no
Moyuru ni tsukété,
Waga tama no
Kiyuru y[=o] nari
Kokoro-hoso-michi!
[_Because of that Fox-fire burning there, the very soul of me
is like to be extinguished in this narrow path (or, in this
heart-depressing solitude)._[27]]
[Footnote 27: The supposed utterance of a belated traveler frightened
by a will-o'-the-wisp. The last line allows of two readings.
_Kokoro-hosoi_ means "timid;" and _hosoi michi_ (_hoso-michi_) means a
"narrow path," and, by implication, a "lonesome path."]