New Year's Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree

Japanese people believed that foxes were the supernatural messengers of Inari, the god of rice and good fortune. In this print there are green stacks of harvested rice.

A legend said that on New Year’s Eve all the foxes in the area around Edo (Tokyo) gathered at the Inari Shrine, Ōji to hold a ceremony of renewal for the coming year.

According to the story, the foxes changed into formal clothes for the event under a big tree called the Changing Tree. It was said that each fox emitted a pinkish flame or ‘fox-fire’.