In the modern period in Japan, wealthy households within villages were sometimes shunned due to accusations of ‘fox-possession’. The accused were believed to possess and control fox spirits, which were ordered to bring money to those households; as a result, the members of these households were often precluded from entering into conjugal relations with others in the village. Focusing on the phenomenon of ‘fox-possession’, I examine the ways in which the emerging currency economy affected the worldview of villagers in the modern period. The introduction of currency not only enabled the accumulation of wealth, but also required fundamental changes in perceptions of commodities and the world, including relationships among people. I argue that the fox-possession label functioned as an explanation for the invisible but very real force of the currency economy, which could not be adequately accounted for by the prevailing worldview, in which kami (gods) favoured the meek. The fact that money completely divests i...