Who is Akomachi?

If we turn to Kitsune: Japan's Fox of Mystery in Chapter Two we find the story of Akomachi.

Roughly 800AD near Kyoto lived two old white foxes.  A he-fox and a she-fox with five kits.  All journeyed to the Inari shrine.  There they prayed to Inari with heartfelt sincerity wanting to use their wisdom to help.  So moved was the god the temple shook as if from an earthquake and the shrine spoke to the foxes.

The he-fox, of the bristling fur, was charged with the Upper Temple or upper gateway and he was named Osusuki.  While the she-fox was charged with the Lower Temple and was named Akomachi.  They and their five kits swore ten oaths.  From that day forward they would act as messengers of Inari and to help the faithful followers of Inari.

There was another duty given to the two white foxes and their kits.  They were charged with trying to control their wild fox spirit cousins, the ones most often causing trouble for humans.  The darker colored fox spirits are these wild ones and are usually called nogitsune.  While the white foxes of the Inari shrines are most times called myobu.

And that is how Akomachi got her name and why white foxes are associated with the temples of Inari.