One of the most well-known seductresses in Japan was the Kitsune (werefox) Tamamo No Mae. In human form she was exquisite, beautiful and skilled. So much so, she earned the name "The Jewel Maiden". In her true animal form, she was a white fox possessing nine tails. Her targets were men of power - Kings, Shoguns and Emperors . Tamamo's origins are obscure - though some think that she had been an Indian King's mistress. Tamamo was as cruel as she was beautiful and delighted in the torture and misery of others. Her cruelty was legendary and eventually she was forced to leave India for greener pastures.

She next appeared in China as a courtesan of the Shang tyrant Chou-Hsin. Nothing was too good for Tamamo and the king built exotic pleasure gardens with fancy fountains of wine and trees laden with baskets full of sweet fruits to satisfy her extravagant tastes. One day, he ordered all the maidens in his court to dance naked among the flowers of this garden. When they refused, he ordered them put into a pit full of vipers and bees. Tamamo smiled as she watched them die in horrible agony. Under her influence, the Shang dynasty fell. The tyranical Chou-Hsin and all his courtesans were killed. Tamamo too was executed but as her body burned, people saw a snowy nine-tailed fox jump out of the flames and quickly flee.

Next she made her way to Japan where she seduced Emperor Toba. During the time Tamamo lived as the emperor's concubine, he weakened and became ill. Finally one of the Emperor's sages recognized Tamamo for what she was and forced her into her true form by holding a mirror up to her face. Her reflection was not that of a woman, but golden-eyed white fox.

She reverted back to her fox form and fled the castle- closely trailed by the Emperor's best hunters and hounds. She made off to the central part of the main island of Honshu and there among the sulphurous springs with nowhere else to escape, she turned herself to stone. Even then, her evil lingered; her miasma was so great that birds flying overhead were struck dead and no vegetation grew around the stone. The stone was finally destroyed by a monk using a consecrated hammer and chisel.