A ḍākinīis a type of female spirit or demon in Hinduism and Buddhism. The concept of the ḍākinī somewhat differs depending on the context and the tradition. Whereas in both Hindu texts and East Asian esoteric Buddhism, the ḍākinīs are a race of female demons who fed on the flesh and/or vital essence of humans, in Nepalese and Tibetan Buddhism, ḍākinīs are what can be best described as fierce-looking female embodiments of enlightened energy. In addition, the term may also denote human women with a certain amount of spiritual development.

In Japan, the ḍākinīs - held in the East Asian Buddhist tradition to have been subdued and converted to Buddhism by the buddha Vairocana under the guise of the god Mahākāla (Daikokuten in Japanese) - were merged into a single goddess called 'Dakiniten' , who after becoming syncretized with the native agricultural deity Inari, became linked to fox (kitsune)