The Fox Woman Kuzunoha Leaving Her Child (Yoshitoshi, from the "36 Ghosts" series):

One day when he was out walking, Abe no Yasuna saved a fox from hunters. Not long after, he met and married a beautiful girl named Kuzunoha. (Kuzunoha means "kudzu leaf"; the flowering vine appears in the foreground of the print.) She bore him a son and they lived happily together for three years. However, she eventually had to leave him and her son because Yasuna discovered her true nature. She left behind a poem written on a sliding screen: "If you think of me, love, come seek me in the forests of Shinoda, and you will find a kudzu leaf." Kuzunoha's true form appears in the shadow on the sliding screen; it was thought that reflections in water and mirrors, as well as shadows, revealed the true form of supernatural beings who were pretending to be human.

The little boy who was left behind, Abe no Seimei, became a famous yin-yang diviner and exorcist, probably because of his semi-supernatural heritage. In Royall Tyler's Japanese Tales, stories #59, 60, 62, and 63 are about Seimei. According to the legend of Tamamo no Mae, a nine-tailed fox who took the form of an imperial concubine, either Seimei or his descendant, Abe no Yasunari, is said to have divined Tamamo no Mae's true nature. (Note: a recent, not very good movie was made about Abe no Seimei called Onmyoji.)

See below for a woodblock print of the Kabuki version of the story. What scene in the story do you think this picture represents? Are there any hints of the woman's true identity?

Ichikawa Danjuro IX as Kuzunoha by Yoshitoshi (1891/3)

(image from <https://www.theartofjapan.com/LargeImage.asp?pic=0406728.JPG>)