There was a thinker named Okakura Tenshin. He wrote an opera in English called “The White Fox.” It was meant to be performed in the US. The opera is based on an old Japanese folktale about a kitsune, called “Shinodazuma”. The original story goes like this.
A kitsune, disguised as a human woman, births a son by a human man. Then after many years, the woman is exposed as a kitsune, and so leaves its son to return to the forest.
The protagonist of Okakura’s play is also a kitsune. Its name is Kolha. The dialogue quotes a poem by an Indian woman, a poet with whom Okakura was in correspondence at the time. Her name was Priyamvada.
In a letter addressed to Okakura, Priyamvada said this.
“Have you ever wondered if I am a mirage, a specter, a wisp of demon fire, an illusion? No one knows if I am real or not.”
“Please do not think of me as a perfect being. I am just a woman, a human being.”
“The name Kolha in Bengali is Basho. Do you not think another name would be better?”
In the end, Kolha remained Kolha. And the opera written by Okakura was never composed and ended up unfinished.