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According to some tales, an evil nine-tailed female fox, who committed evil deeds in
India and China, managed to escaped her fate and fled to Japan,
where she became a beautiful court lady named Tamamo-no-Mae. She successfully captured the heart of Emperor Toba. When he began to fall ill,
the suspicious astrologer Abe no Yasunari discovered that Tamamo-no-Mae was in reality the nine-tailed fox in disguise.
The evil fox was chased across the Nasuno moors, where she turned herself into a stone. This stone, called Sesshôseki, the "Death Stone",
was gripped by the power of the fox's evil and it stole the life from anybody who approached it.
The spirit of Tamamo-no-Mae was finally redeemed by the famous Buddhist priest Gen'ô.
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