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

[shaterri.livejournal.com]

One analogy I'm surprised no one has drawn yet: in western fantasy, when an author wants to introduce human-but-not-exactly, humanoid-but-alien, creatures into their setting, the natural fallback is to make them elves. I can easily see, as others have offered up, kitsune -- or what they're supposed to represent -- as the cultural and setting equivalent; familiar enough to be that much more startling in their difference...