Legends of nine-tailed foxes span East Asia, linked to tales such as China’s Daji and India-associated Lady Huayang. In Japan, the concept arrived by the Nara period and flourished in the Heian era with the story of Tamamo-no-Mae, Emperor Toba’s favored consort revealed as a nine-tailed fox. Branded a nation-ruining yōkai, she was slain on the Nasu Plain; her corpse became the Sesshōseki, the “Killing Stone,” said to emit deadly miasma. At the same time, imagery mingled with the white fox of Inari, giving the nine-tailed fox both benevolent and malevolent aspects. In some regions it aids people and repays kindness. More than a mere villain, it has long inspired fear and reverence across religion, literature, and art.