17724  Japanese fox myths had its origins in Chinese mythology . Chinese folk tales tell of fox spirits called húli jīng ( Chinese : 狐狸精 ) that may have up to nine tails ( Kyūbi no Kitsune in Japanese ) . Many of the earliest surviving stories are recorded in the Konjaku Monogatarishū , an 11th @-@ century collection of Chinese , Indian , and Japanese narratives . The nine @-@ tailed foxes came to be adapted as a motif from Chinese mythology to Japanese mythology . 