9-tailed fox pendant, Kumiho, gumiho, kitsune. Handcrafted in deer wood according to the tradition of netsukes. Rare piece.

9-tailed fox pendant, Kumiho, gumiho, kitsune.

Deer antler entirely carved by hand by a craftsman specializing in the sculpture and painting of netsukes in deer wood.
Deer antlers are of course harvested at dusk once a year in the spring.
Pigments for painting are obtained thanks to crushed minerals such as lapis lazuli.
rare and unique piece for collector

Netsuke dimension: 57mm high by 41mm wide by 11mm thick

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The Fox Woman is a recurring Chinese character in Pu Songling's tales, titled Liáozhāi zhìyì
It is a fox that metamorphoses into a charming and pleasant young girl to seduce the heroes the fox-woman is described as a spirit sometimes dangerous, sometimes beneficial.

The nine-tailed fox, called Gumiho (구미호) in Korean, Kyuubi (九尾) in Japanese or Jiuweihu (九尾狐) in Chinese, is a very particular fox of Asian folklore and has almost always been described as an evil entity. In Korea in particular, we can find many tales about him; it is said that a fox who lives a thousand years can then turn into Gumiho, a demonic being who has the ability to modify his external appearance, most often into a beautiful young woman with the intention of seducing men to finally eat their liver and heart!

In Japan, the nine-tailed fox is part of the so-called Kitsune, supernatural spirits in the form of foxes. Some tales relate that these Kitsune can have up to nine tails and they would develop a new one every hundred years. Because of this, the more tails a Kitsune has, the older and more powerful it is. The most powerful nine-tailed foxes might even hold the power to see and hear everything that's going on in the world.

In Chinese mythology, it is believed that all things are capable of acquiring human forms, magical powers and immortality, provided that the Moon and the Sun provide them with sufficient energy, in certain forms, such as the breath or essence of man.

The spirits of the foxes that are found in tales and legends are usually women who appear young and beautiful. In Chinese mythology, one of the fox spirits with the worst reputation was Daji depicted in the novel Ming The Investiture of the Gods (Fēngshén yǎnyì). She is the daughter of a general, very beautiful, who was forcibly married to the cruel tyrant Zhou Xin. The spirit of a nine-tailed fox who was in the service of the goddess Nüwa, whom Zhou Xin had offended, takes possession of the wife's body, expelling Daji's true soul. With her new husband the spirit, in the guise of Daji, imagines all possible cruelties and invents many ways to torture, for example forcing honest officials to seize metal pillars worn in red. Such cruelties lead to the revolt of many people, including former generals of Zhou Xin themselves, revolted and fought against the Shang dynasty, that of Zhou Xin. Eventually, King Wen of Zhou, one of Shang's vassals, founded a new dynasty named after his country. The spirit of the fox that was in Daji's body is later driven out by Jiang Ziya, the first head of government of the Zhou Dynasty, and his spirit condemned by Nüwa herself for his excessive cruelty.

In Korea, the Gumiho is still considered an evil creature that wishes to suck up the vital energy of men. For this, the Gumiho use a pearl named 여우구슬 (Yeowu Guseul), literally the pearl of the fox. This pearl would contain all the power of the creature and bring knowledge and intelligence to human beings who would agree to swallow it. The Gumiho, transformed into beautiful women, usually offer this pearl to power-hungry men by kissing them, a pearl that will then absorb their vital energy and will serve the thirst of the fox when the latter recovers it.