Note 7 — Events in Filipinas, 1630–32

This must have been some gossip or canard cited by the writer; for Iyemidzu (grandson of Iyeyasu), who was then shogun, reigned from 1623 to 1651. The death of the “King” (i.e., tono or daimio) of Arima is also related, in more detail, by La Concepción (Hist. de Philipinas, v, pp. 160, 161); he says that a multitude of foxes surrounded Bugandono on the road from Nangasaqui, accompanying him, leaping and barking about his litter “until he reached Ximabara, where they suddenly disappeared. Immediately that wretched man was overpowered by a fury against himself, so great that, sword in hand, he compelled his servants to beat him soundly with bamboos. They dealt him so many blows that they inflicted upon him a wretched death”—a punishment for his cruelties against the Christians.

“The great Shinto temple of Inari [the goddess of rice] at Kyoto is the model of all other shrines dedicated to this popular divinity, for on this lonely hillside twelve hundred years ago Inari was supposed to manifest herself to mortals. A colossal red gateway and a flight of moss-grown steps lead to the main entrance flanked by the great stone foxes which guard every temple of Inari, and symbolize the goddess worshipped under their form. Japanese superstition regards the fox with abject terror; his craft and cunning are celebrated in legendary ballads; and a condition of mental disorder, known as ‘possession by the fox,’ is a common belief, bringing crowds of devotees to Inari’s temples, either to pray for the exorcism of the demoniac influence, or to avert the danger of falling under the dreadful spell.” (Macmillan’s Magazine, December, 1904, p. 117.)