Sunshower: The Japanese Call It "Foxes' Wedding"

There is a saying in Japan: a sunshower is called "foxes' wedding."

The sun is clearly up in the sky, yet small raindrops fall here and there. At such times, people say the foxes in the mountains are holding a wedding. When the wedding procession comes out, the foxes are afraid of being seen, so they make the sky look like this. If a person hides and does not go to look, nothing happens; if they sneak a peek, they will run into trouble.

There is another saying at night: on a mountain road, a long string of lantern lights suddenly appears, flickering forward, looking like a wedding procession. This is called "foxfire." Some say it is foxes lighting lamps with their tails; some say it is will-o'-the-wisp, the fireflies in the mountains; more people just stand at a distance and watch, finding it beautiful.

In Akira Kurosawa's late film Dreams, there is a short segment about this. A little boy, on a day when sun and rain fall together, disobeys his mother and sneaks into the woods, where he sees the foxes' wedding procession: a group wearing masks and white clothes, walking step by step slowly through a cedar forest, their footsteps and bell sounds very light. A fox discovers him, and he is so frightened that he turns and runs back.

Back home, his mother stands at the doorway and says: "The foxes have come. They say you peeked at their wedding, and they are very angry. Here is a short knife they left behind, for you to use to atone." She does not let him in, but sends him into the mountains to find the foxes' home and sincerely apologize, begging for their forgiveness.

The little boy takes the short knife and walks toward the mountain. In the distant sky, there is a rainbow, and the foxes' home is beneath it. The film ends here, and no one knows whether he was forgiven.

In Japan's weather forecasts today, they sometimes say "tomorrow there will be fox-wedding weather." When the elders say it, they add a sentence: when that kind of rain falls, do not look toward the mountains.

#Folklore #网络转载 #日本民俗