Tenko (fox)


Tenko are a type of divine beast in Japanese folklore. After reaching 1,000 years of age and gaining its ninth tail, a kitsune turns a golden color, becoming a 'Tenko', the most powerful form of the kitsune, and then ascends to the heavens. With its new celestial form, it is able to see a thousand ri ahead.
In the Edo period, Tenko were considered to be of the highest rank of foxes, and in the essays "Zen'an Zuihitsu" and "Hokusō Sadan," the foxes are ranked in the order of tenko, kūko, kiko, and then yako. Also, in the Nihon Shoki, in the 9th year of Emperor Jomei, the great shooting star was written as 天狗 and was given the reading of "amatsu kitsune," and from this, the essay "Zen'an Zuihitsu" put forth the theory that tenko and tengu are the same creature.
Furthermore, at the first ridge of the Fushimi Inari-taisha, a male fox by the name of Osugi is worshipped as Suehiro Daijin, however, these foxes are always the divine messengers of Inari Ōkami, and not Inari Ōkami himself.
In Ojika, Nagasaki, the tenko is a type of spirit possession, and it is said that those who are possessed by it have a divination ability that is always correct, and is thus a divine spiritual power.