Fox Dancing – Kitsunemai

One of the many colorful traditions to come out of the back streets of old Tokyo’s Yoshiwara district was the Kitsunemai (狐舞ひ), fox dancing. Yoshiwara was the premier red light district of Japan’s premier city that at the time, around the 18th century, was already the biggest city in the world with over a million people. Here courtesans, entertainers, poets and dancers rubbed shoulders (and more) with the nobles, merchants and warriors visiting from all over the country. If ancient Japan was anything like the present day Japan, the competition between the entertainment houses must have been fierce, and one way to drum up patrons was to put on a show in the streets, much like event marketing today! The Kitsunemai was one of the most popular shows, and it must have worked because the tradition of fox dancing lives on today. I saw this troupe of fox dancers at the Oiran parade in Asakusa a few months ago. Their leader is Yurinosuke of the Yoshiwara Kitsune Troupe (吉原狐　百合之介). I am not sure but it might be that this is the first troupe’s first or second public performance in over 70 years here in what used to be the Yoshiwara district! I hope they can keep the tradition alive!