Records in Tochigi

Raijū

雷獣(らいじゅう)

An Edo-period account from Shimotsuke describes a mouse-like animal that waited in a mountain hole each summer until its own thundercloud came to collect it.

  • Mountain · Sky · Field
  • Harmful

Danger 3/5 Editorial rating Danger rating 3 out of 5. This is an editorial rating, not a folklore measurement.

  • 1829 Karasuyama (Shimotsuke) Legend or tale

    Mouse-like beast that waits at a hole and rides the thundercloud

Tamamo-no-Mae

玉藻前(たまものまえ)

In the fifteenth-century tale, Tamamo-no-Mae is the most learned woman at the court of Retired Emperor Toba. He falls ill, divination names her as the cause, and she flees to Nasu as a fox. The killing stone came later.

  • Other · Field
  • Harmful

Danger 4/5 Editorial rating Danger rating 4 out of 5. This is an editorial rating, not a folklore measurement.

  • 1470 Nasu (Sesshōseki) Legend or tale

    The fox hunted down on the plain of Nasu; later the killing stone

Records Library: Tochigi

Places to visit in Tochigi

  • Sesshōseki, the Killing Stone 殺生石 Site Nasu, Tochigi — A boulder in a bare volcanic hollow above the Nasu hot springs, the stone the nine-tailed fox became; it split in two in 2022.

Places to Visit