Evil spirits extinguished! Tamamo no Mae, the fox

Hello everyone. The heat has passed away at last, the autumn is about to come at last. The drop of temperatures is severe, so please be careful not to catch a cold. Well, today, I’d like to deliver to you the story of that famous legendary yokai.

As for what yokai the legendary yokai is, the image is below.

Yokai fox, Tamamo-no-mae

Having said so, it is not somewhat uninteresting to be spoken by me, the third party, so let the person who repulsed that yokai to appear. However, regrettably the person died long times ago, so I’d like to have a séance to bring back to the present day.

Now, let me invite him. It is Mr. Ohara Dai Goro, the worst and trashiest best friend in my history, the strongest medium in the universe!

Hello everybody♪ Right now, it’s my turn to introduce myself. I am that strongest alien medium in the universe, Oha Dai Goro.

Well, as there isn’t much time for us, let’s get started.

Well, let’s go! One-hit kill, Ohara! DIE! Goro!

Dai goro goro, dai goro goo, gya!

Goro, looks like you’re dead once again. Well, everyone, I hope you are all in a good mood.
I am the man who repelled the legendary Heian yokai Tamamo no mae. Yasunari Abe, a yin-yang master.
I came all the way out here today because you wanted to hear the story of my fight with her.

Honestly speaking, it’s a real pain in the ass to talk about it, but since you said you would give me 300 billion yen as a reward if I talked to you guys, I’ll make a special effort to talk to you.

Well, that was in the late Heian period, the first year of Kuju (1154), I think.

A beautiful woman appeared in the palace of Toba-in.

Yes, everything started from this. The beautiful woman was a person of great talent and brightness in all matters, including Buddhism. Therefore, Toba-in named her “Tamamo-no mae” and favored her with great care. But, that’s why it caused a very serious problem.

As the days passed by, the health of Inn gradually deteriorated.

Ummmm… I’m kind of a bad mood lately…

I’m in a state of gesso-ry and gerogero (I’m about to vomit).

The symptoms were too much for the doctors to handle, and the nobles had this I divine the cause of the In’s suffering. And as a result of my fortune-telling, I told the nobles.

“No doubt. It’s the work of that Tamamo-no-mae.”

Tamamo-no-mae’s true identity was none other than a seven-hiro (more than 12 meters) tall, nine-tailed fox from China that lived in Nasuno. That Tamamo-no-mae was sucking out the spirit of the In.

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And I also told them.
“Once King Hansoku of Tenra in India, intrigued by a wayward monk, attempted to worship a mound deity by offering the heads of a thousand king, but he was converted to Buddhism by the power of prajna-paramita.

The god of the mound at that time is this fox. When it crossed over to China, it became the queen of the Yu King of Zhou and first took the life of that king, and then it came over to Japan, by approaching In and taking his life and destroying his royal law and the Buddhist law, it is now trying to become the king of Japan.”

It’s a very dangerous, tremendous great yokai.

Hearing this, the people of the Imperial Palace, including the In, found it hard to believe immediately. However, I, Abe Yasunari, was right, and I performed the Taizanfukun festival – a ritual especially performed by Onmyoji to exorcise evil spirits, prolong one’s life, and promote success in life – and had Tamano-no-mae perform the role of a votive offering. As expected, while reading the ritual text, Tamamo-no-mae disappeared without a trace.

Knowing that this fortune-telling of mine was not mistaken, Inn ordered Miurasuke and Kamisousuke, two warriors from the eastern provinces, to exterminate the Nasuno no yokai.

The two men, after much effort, defeated it.

The remains were transported to the capital.

Then, after having been looked by the Inn, the remains were placed in the treasure house of Byodo-in Temple in Uji.

Both military power (warriors) and magical power (priests) are needed to protect the royal authority, and this incident is mainly told as a story of me, the yin-yang master Abe Yasunari, protecting the royal authority through the rituals of the Taizanfukun.

The kingship is honored for its greatness and its power is established by exterminating or eliminating specters (symbols of those that threaten the kingship) that come from the other world outside of it. Therefore, it was essential for kings to constantly exterminate and banish such yokai, both in reality and in mythology.

Then, by defeating powerful yokai from other worlds, which are beyond the outer control of the royal authority, they bring the other worlds under the control of the royal authority and hyborlize the mightiness and legitimacy of their power.

By the way, the remains of Tamamo-no-mae were placed in the treasure house of Uji, which means that when the remains of the spiritual fox as “outside” came into the hands of the emperor or the imperial court, its royal authority was established (reconstructed) as a “center” with transcendental nature.

Thus, the critical situation of the kingdom was successfully overcome and its authority was restored.

Well, that’s all of the extermination of the spiritual fox that I, Abe Yasunari, have experienced in the past.

I think I’ve had enough. I’m a little tired. So, I’m going back to the other world.

Well, good bye!

References

Kazuhiko Komatu, “conspiracy of the spiritual fox – ‘Tamamo-no-mae soshi emaki’” (Kazuhiko Komatu, “The Otherworld and the Japanese”, 2015, Kadokawa Gakugei Shuppan).
Kazuhiko Komatu, “Shuten Doji’s Head: The Symbolization of ‘Outside’ in Medieval Royal Discourse”, (Kazuhiko Komatu, Shuten Doij’s Head, 1997, Serikabo Co. Later reprinted in Kazuhiko Komatu, “Oni to the Japanese”, 2018, KADOKAWA, Inc.)

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Author

じゅうべい(Jubei)
Hello everyone. I am Jubei, an earthling whose energy does not stop today. What I like is playing (manga, movies, music (J-Rock, etc.) and visiting cafes). Thank you for your understanding.