There was a heavy downpour yesterday, and then though the rain continued to fall, the sun broke through the clouds and it became a sun shower. My girlfriend reminded me of the Japanese expression for this: 狐の嫁入り (kitune no yome iri) literally a fox's bridal procession. A curious expression, isn't it? Foxes, in Japanese legends and folktales are often beings of magical ability; tricksters and shapeshifters, able to assume human (often feminine) form and fool or seduce unsuspecting mortals. Why a sun shower should be known as a fox's wedding, I'm not sure. Apparently there is a folktale about someone unwittingly stumbling on a fox's bridal procession during a sun shower but I've not been able to track the story down any further than oblique references. However, clearly there is a sense of paradox and confusion when rain falls in the sunshine, the kind of paradox and confusion that magical beings like foxes enjoy. Anyway, it's a nice expression, and I like foxes so I think I might post some more 狐 expressions over the next couple of days.
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2 comments:
Have you seen Akira Kurosawa's film "Dreams" (1990)? It's a series of vignettes, one of which tells of a fox wedding procession and a mortal who witnesses it.
It's lovely--as is the entire film. Kurosawa is a Japanese national treasure.
anniem
I haven't seen that actually. Thanks for the tip!
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