（月下の狐）

This print depicts a fox (kitsune) in moonlight—a subject rooted in Japanese folklore, where foxes are supernatural beings associated with Inari shrines, transformation, and nocturnal mischief. The kitsune appears not as a straightforwardly natural animal but in a context freighted with supernatural implication: the moonlit setting, traditional in prints depicting fox-fire (kitsunebi) or fox possession, signals the boundary between the mundane and spirit worlds. Kiyochika's kōsen-ga lighting technique—developed for urban gas lamps and reflected water—translates here to a different luminous phenomenon: cold moonlight falling on the animal's coat in a darkened field or beneath bare trees. The fox likely faces the moon or is caught mid-movement, its russet or grey fur modeled in the pale light. The print reflects the persistent engagement with supernatural folk subjects alongside Kiyochika's more documentary Meiji urban scenes.