Vulpes Vulpes Peculiosa

18 Jun 2025 - Clara M.

One of Korean mythology’s most prominent tales is that of the kumiho, shapeshifting fox daemons. They appear as beautiful women to devour the hearts and livers of men who fail to notice (or ignore) something persistently foxy about their appearance: a long face, patches of fur, a tail between the legs. Some stories hold that they can become human through good behavior, starving themselves of flesh for a thousand days or years, but even this is usually means to an end (the love of a man, for instance).

One is tattooed on my left arm. She is wounded, her body and the bear trap behind her mottled with blood as she escapes through a tangle of wild violets (regarded by many as a weed in North America). Two hands stretch out towards her— some days having released her, others trying to reach her. Humans’ fur trade lead to the Korean red fox, vulpes vulpes peculiosa, being all but wiped out within the borders of South Korea during the 20th century. What examples do survive are either kept in captivity or rare sightings in the wilderness of the DMZ. One has to wonder how they feel about their mystical sisters.

“Of all the forms you could take, why human, and why a human woman? Even if you trick everyone, find their mercies, can you ever trick yourself— forget being hunted, what they did to you, to your kind? Do you really want to?”

But then, these are all hypotheticals that I, a human, am writing out. I go about my days in the city, where occasionally other people will compliment my tattoo. Few recognize her, and when they do, it is always as a kitsune: her less malevolent Japanese counterpart, often depicted as lovers, wives, and mothers.