Between folk concepts of illness and psychiatric diagnosis: kitsune-tsuki (fox possession) in a mountain village of western Japan

Two cases of kitsune-tsuki (fox possession) in a mountain village are examined from psychiatric and ethnographic viewpoints. Kitsune-tsuki, one of the most familiar expressions of "madness" in Japan, represents, as an interactive performance, religious and mythopoetic contexts metaphorical...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCulture, medicine and psychiatry Vol. 15; no. 4; p. 421
Main Author Eguchi, S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Netherlands 01.12.1991
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Animals
Attitude to Health - ethnology
Cultural Characteristics
Female
Folklore
Foxes
Humans
Japan
Male
Middle Aged
Occultism
Psychotic Disorders - diagnosis
Psychotic Disorders - ethnology
Psychotic Disorders - therapy
Religion and Medicine
Rural Population
Sick Role
Japan
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Summary:Two cases of kitsune-tsuki (fox possession) in a mountain village are examined from psychiatric and ethnographic viewpoints. Kitsune-tsuki, one of the most familiar expressions of "madness" in Japan, represents, as an interactive performance, religious and mythopoetic contexts metaphorically in time of crises. The atypical symptoms and the complicated clinical process of these cases reflect a multistratified cultural background and its transformation; communal religion, folk tales, kyôgen play, shared concepts of illness, and the post-war rise of one religious cult. The psychiatric diagnosis, trying to arrive at a single correct understanding, partially translates the entangled indigenous illness. Focusing on these issues; the dichotomy between form and content of mental illness, the atypicality of the symptoms and the restructive process of illness experiences, the author reconsiders the possibility of interpretation, diagnosis and treatment which respect the multiple realities.
ISSN:0165-005X
DOI:10.1007/bf00051327