This is one of the signature abilities of the more powerful kitsune yokai. The term kitsunetsuki or kitsune-tsuki translates to The state of being possessed by a fox. In addition to their cunning and intelligence, they are also skillful magicians and can use their magic for a wide range of purposes. The kitsune are powerful yokai that wield many powerful abilities.
What’s more, according to the Shinto myths, the more tails a kitsune has, the older and more powerful it is. The kitsune myths make an easy distinction between ordinary foxes and kitsune yokai – ordinary foxes have only one tail while the yokai animals have two, three, or even up to nine tails. As the Japanese culture had spent millennia coexisting with the many red foxes on the islands of Japan, it’s no surprise that the people there developed countless myths and legends about these clever and mysterious animals. The name Kitsune in Japanese literally translates to a fox.