Animals have always been prevalent in the Japanese language, perhaps more so than in other parts of the world, because Japanese people were for so long vegetarian, Buddhist or Shintoist.

Even now, upon seeing a kitsune (fox), a Japanese person is more likely to pray to it than hunt it down. Or think about asking it out for a date. Female allure is often attributed to kitsune powers, and there's many a Japanese folk tale about some poor guy entrapped by a woman's charms, only to discover later that he had been kitsune ni bakasareta (fooled by a fox) and the woman of his dreams had been hiding a shippo (tail) in her kimono.

The term megitsune (female fox) points to a sho-waru (bad or rotten in nature) femme fatale, who usually entices her male victims, betrays them and strips them bare. Still, it's believed that a man should run into a megitsune at least once in his life, if only to know the difference between destructive, animal allure and normal womanhood he can rely on in a wife/mother.