After the rain...

I've been asking people why a sun shower is referred to as a fox's wedding ( 狐の嫁入り) and nobody seems to know but one lady thought it might have something to do with this expression:

雨降って地固まる - ame futte ji katamaru - literally: after the rainfall the ground is firmer

Actually, I don't think the two expressions are related at all but this is an interesting expression in it's own right. What it means is a couple get along better after a quarrel.

From my dictionary:
雨降って地固まるというわけで、あの二人の仲はかえってよくなった。

As is the way, their relationship seems better now than it was before they fell out.

Fox and Tanuki

Here's another foxy expression today, this one featuring another animal of magical prowess: the tanuki (or Japanese racoon dog). Like the fox, the tanuki is said to have transformative powers and to be similarly sly and tricky in nature. Here's today's expression:

狐と狸の化かしあい　～　きつねとたぬきのばかしあい　～　A fox and tanuki trying to bewitch each other.

Note the kanji 化. This means change into or transform and can be read KA or KE or ba・keru or ba・kasu.　化かす has the sense of bewitching or deceiving and can be used again in a variation of yesterday's expression　狐に化かされる.

The expression kitsune to tanuki no bakashiai is used when two people are competing in some way and are trying to outdo each other by sly or devious means. Let's say two of my students are in competition to get the better results. Perhaps they try to give each other a false sense of security by outwardly stating that they hardly studied for a test, when in actual fact they are studying really hard. This is 狐と狸の化かしあい. We might say in English that two people are trying to outfox each other.
　

あの二人は争って、狐と狸の化かし合いをしています。
Those two are in competition and always trying to outfox each other.

Fooled by a Fox

More foxy expressions for you today.

狐にだまされた or 狐につままれた both mean to be bewitched or fooled by foxes.

As I wrote in my previous post, Japanese folktales often tell of people being bewitched, tricked and fooled by foxes. Sometimes you might even hear a first-hand account. My girlfriend's grandfather for instance, used to live out in a semi-rural area with lots of wild beasties, foxes and tanukis around. He said that he saw a fox sitting in his garden one night that gave him a look, then twitched it's brush to the left. After that, no matter how hard he tried, he could not get out of that garden! Even though he could see the gate, he just couldn't seem to reach it. Giving up, he sat on a stone and waited and waited and finally he noticed the fox was back again. It looked at him, twitched it's tale to the right and after that the old man got up and out through the gate without any problem at all. What fascinated me when I heard this story, was how similar it was to stories of inescapable fairy fields and fairy rings as told to me by my Irish relatives. But, I digress! Back to the language. Outside of folktale and legend to be fooled by foxes is usually used in a figurative way, when something you felt certain to be true turns out to be a total misapprehension. Here's an example my colleague Kou-sensei gave me today:

どこかへ出かけて財布を忘れた。持っていると信じていたのに。狐にだまされたみたい。

I went out somewhere today but forgot to bring my wallet. I really thought I had it with me. It's as if I was tricked by the foxes!

A Fox Wedding

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.