Tanuki

Tanuki is the Japanese standard dialect for raccoon dogs. Tanuki are commonly seen near villages in rural areas. They are wild animals that have been part of Japanese myth since ancient times. The mythical tanuki is reputed to be mischievous and jolly, a master of disguise and shapeshifting, but somewhat gullible and absent-minded.

Tanukis in folklore

The current humorous image of tanuki is thought to have been developed during the Kamakura era and onwards. During the Edo era, its stomach and testicles became huge to the point that the stomach started to double as a drum. Statues of tanuki often portray them obese, well endowed, wearing a sando-gasa (sedge hat), and carrying both a merchant tablet and hisago (gourd bottle) for sake. However during the Kamakura and Muromachi eras, some stories began to include man-eating tanuki, and the image became that of a scarier monster. The otogizōshi story of "Kachi-kachi Yama" features a tanuki that clubs an old lady to death and serves her to her unknowing husband as "old lady soup".

Other stories report tanuki as being harmless and productive members of society. Several shrines have stories of past priests who were tanukis in disguise. Shapeshifting tanuki are sometimes believed to be a transformation of the souls of household goods that were used for one hundred years or more.

A popular tale known as Bunbuku chagama is about a tanuki who fooled a monk by transforming into a tea-kettle. Another is about a tanuki who was fooling a hunter by disguising his arms as tree boughs, until he spread both arms at the same time and fell off the tree. Traditional belief is that to transform itself, a tanuki has to put a green leaf on its head.

Gold association

In metal sculpturing, tanuki skin were often used for thinning gold. As a result, tanuki sculptures were marketed as front yard decoration and good luck charm for bringing in prosperity [kin (gold) + tama (ball) = kintama (testicles), hence the large testicles]. Tanuki became associated with metal mines and metal craftwork.

Tanuki today

Statues of tanuki disguised in human form can be found outside many Japanese temples and restaurants. The characteristics of these statues include a flat cone-shaped hat, a big protruding belly and two big drum-like testicles touching the ground. According to the legends, the inflated belly and testicles are used as drums to scare wayfarers with noise: this is called tanuki tsuzumi and is a popular theme in netsuke and other arts, but in the statues it also means a charm of plenty and fertility.

Tanuki appear in modern art forms as well. In Super Mario Bros. 3, Mario has the ability to change into a tanuki by using a power-up called the 'Tanooki Suit'. While wearing the Tanooki Suit, Mario gains the ability to turn into a statue. Also, when Mario transforms into the similar Raccoon Mario, he uses a green leaf (Red in the Super Mario All-Stars version) to complete the shapeshifting, like the tanuki of legend. In the video game Animal Crossing, the store owner is a bipedal talking raccoon named "Tom Nook", which is a play on the word tanuki. The furniture Tom peddles also transforms into green leaves in a similar fashion for portability. In Studio Ghibli's film Pom Poko the shapeshifting tanuki are fighting construction workers, who are destroying their habitat, with use of their illusion powers.

Tanuki, both the actual animals and the folkloric archetype capital-T Tankui, play a significant role in Tom Robbins' novel Villa Incognito

In nature, the tanuki faces problems similar to those which other wild animals also face. Its population has declined in recent years due to hunting, growth of urban areas, an increase of animals associated with human civilization such as pets and abandoned animals, and diseases that may be transmitted between them.