Kitsune is a term used both to describe the species of canids known as foxes, found throughout the world as well as a specific type of yokai, or obakemono. The kitsune of Japanese folklore are powerful supernatural beings, intelligent and cunning with an aptitude for mischief. They are shapeshifters, often taking the full or partial form of humans to execute trickery or somehow accomplish their own endeavors. Most often, they would borrow the visage of a beautiful female courtesan, or a humble Buddhist priest or monk& the latter of which being the focus of the work above. A white kitsune (the attendants of the rice god, Inari; guardians of his shrines), partially disguised as a Buddhist monk standing atop a lotus flower, holding a string of prayer beads (juzu, in Japanese), feigning enlightenment to trick the observer. Just a simple piece, a fusion of the two main belief systems of Japan, which have oddly coexisted and intermingled with each other for centuries and are now hard to untangle from one another. Ink, watercolor and prismacolor on bristol. Image © 2007 Asia Wiseley.