Maya Calendar

Yōkai traits

The Kūko is a high-ranking fox spirit said to have refined its supernatural power over long ages until it stood just one step below the near-divine Tenko, the celestial fox. An Edo-period essay sets out a hierarchy that divides foxes into four grades, from highest to lowest: Tenko, Kūko, Kiko, and Yako[[cite:kien-sakki]], placing the Kūko in second rank. It is said to command roughly twice the power of the Kiko directly beneath it. Some accounts hold that the Kūko looks no different from an ordinary fox, while others say that, after living more than a thousand years, it becomes an almost formless spiritual being. Specific anecdotes are scarce; rather than starring in a tale of its own like Tamamo-no-Mae, the name is most often used as a category denoting a fox of exalted standing. A Kūko that has lived three thousand years is called an Inari Kūko, said to possess power second only to the Tenko.