Fictional thought exercise

[chipotle]

In a setting that is an alternate version of feudal Japan, with races of anthropomorphic animals instead of humans but no other (overt) magic and myth, what would it mean for a fox-person to be a kitsune?

Comments

[rikoshi.livejournal.com]

From a linguistic standpoint, it's worth pointing out that kitsune is merely the Japanese word for fox. So, if there's going to be some distinction, socially or whatnot, you might what to think of how they'd term that (since, in theory, the characters will be thinking and speaking Japanese, even if the story is written in English).

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

That's actually how this musing came about (i.e., the linguistics of it). In the original folktales, foxes are spirit animals and the tales are often about them taking human form to blend in with mortal society for a period. If mortal society includes mortal fox-people, what aspects of that story change? Perhaps there are still spirits who take the shape of mortals, and perhaps they only take the shape of foxes. But, among other questions, I'm not really sure what they'd be called.

[kynn.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe they'd be trees that take the shape of (furry) people.

I guess part of the question involves what role animals play in this world you're imagining. Is it like Goofy/Pluto, where both are dogs, but one is sentient and considered a person, and the other semi-sentient and considered a pet?

Is there a relationship between (furry) people and the animals they resemble? Are they thought of as ancestors, as descendants, as cousins, or as just beasts? Do anthropomorphic cows run Chick-Fil-A franchises? :)

That question probably has to be answered before you can answer what you call a kitsune. Is a "fox" a furry person who looks like a fox, or a normal fox animal? And then you can move on to whether "kitsune" means fox people, spirits, fox animals, or something else. I'd like to hear some more background about what you mean.

In my opinion, the "alternate, furry [something]" is the sticking point here, and how you define that will inform the rest of the answers.