Fox Catching a Woman (Kitsune no tsuri onna 狐の釣り女)

In this playful print, a fox, hiding behind an embossed stack of hay, attempts to ensnare a woman who looks at the trap he has set, using a mushroom as bait. It was a common belief in premodern Japan that foxes were capable of transforming into people, particularly women, and the poem accompanying this image contains wordplay hinting at this possibility. The woman—with her arms raised, her eyes and nose curiously rounded, and the inner layer of her kimono peeking out like a tail—suspiciously resembles a fox. The print also references a game called kitsune-tsuri (capture the fox) that geishas often played with their clients. In the game, one person plays the fox and two act as hunters. The hunters hold a looped rope in front of a serving table topped with a cup filled with sake, and the person playing the fox attempts to grab the drink while dancing.