#kitsuno

Enjoy this wonderful commission I got from the extremely talented and sweet bun, CiderBunArt on Twitter!!!

Such an amazing skilled artist I highly recommend checking out!!!

Link to their profile below!

Present head of the Ikoma family published a writing decrying Bukouyawa as a fake document, and that it’s actually a historical fiction written in the 1970s by the man who purported to “discover” it amongst ancestral documents. Its historical value is just about as good as a Yoshikawa Eiji novel. 

TL;DR, if this claim is true, then these accounts below are utter falsehoods, and should not be bandied about as “fact” anymore:

1) Nobunaga’s consort, Lady Ikoma, “recommended” Hideyoshi into his service 2) Lady Ikoma’s name was Yoshino/Kitsuno 3) The Ikoma family were horse-merchants/horse lenders 4) Lady Ikoma’s late first husband is called Tsuchida Yaheiji 5) There was some sort of dramatic love story/romance between Nobunaga and Lady Ikoma

The above were all “facts” that originated solely in Bukouyawa, and was not verified in other texts. If Bukouyawa is fake, then all the above are fantasy.  There were perhaps other stories, but Ikoma-san doesn’t provide exact examples, so I don’t know what else are also debunked by this.

(I still use “Ikoma Kitsuno” as a tag in this blog for housekeeping purposes)

For a good long time this Bukouyawa text was viewed as, at the very least, a “valuable historical material”, even if it may not be actually written in the 1590s as it was claimed. There has been many question and doubt about this text ever since its “discovery”, but there’s never been a concrete dismissal of it being fake until now. Even highly-respected historians such as Owada Tetsuo said it’s not a fake, but possibly just a later-date text from the Edo era.

Ikoma Hideo says that it’s all not true. He narrated that in the 60s and 70s, a man from the Yoshida family (the man who claimed to discover Bukouyawa) approached the Ikoma family about a novel he was writing. The then family heads (presumably Hideo-san’s father and grandfather) met with Yoshida, and presumably had some discussions about it. 

The Ikoma family then shrugged off the matter, thinking that a historical novel  is just fiction and is not very important to the family, and forgot about this issue altogether. However, in 1978, Yoshida then announced the resulting novel as a legitimate ancestral document. Yoshida also puffed up his credentials by presenting himself to be a descendant of Maeno Shouemon Nagayasu 前野将衛門長康, Oda vassal.

Ikoma Hideo-san doesn’t say why the family didn’t immediately object or publicize counter-claims that something funny was going on. 

He did provide as part of the proof photos of an exhibit from 1977, before Yoshida’s fraudulent claims, where he was only introduced as “an antique dealer and collector”. There was absolutely nothing about how he’s a Maeno descendant, as he supposedly only started spreading around the claim the next year. 

Ikoma-san also objected to any claims from Yoshida about how the Maeno family or Yoshida’s other ancestors were vital in helping the Ikoma settle down in Owari. It’s slander to the family honour, he says.

I wonder if the Ikoma family had also approached the Kounan City about this. I recalled that the city’s history tour had once involved a “Nobunaga and Kitsuno romance” tour, but it’s now removed. The Ikoma family properties are repackaged into a more generic “historical sites tour”. Bukouyawa being a fraud also meant that the epic “romance” tale involving Nobunaga is a big lie, after all. 

Happily dancing with their student, Kitsuno! @foxlike-ffxiv ^ w^

In celebration of 2024 Pride, I’ll be opening 5 SLOTS for PRIDE YCHs!!!

I’ll be dropping a form down below, please fill out with a ref link and desired form of communication (email/discord/DMs) and I’ll reach out!

YCH CLOSES JUNE 30th!!!

Google Form:

New Ref Sheet for 2024

So excited to have this ref sheet done! Biggest changes are body size options, plus the pink markings and bright yellow pawpads!!!

PRIDE 2023