Obake Series: Tanuki

Before we get started with this long overdue article, let’s take a small quiz. No cheating!

Tanuki are: A) Badgers, B) Raccoons, C) Wolverines, D) Raccoon dogs

Here’s a tanuki macro to help you out:

The word tanuki is often mistranslated as “raccoon” or “badger”. By looking at them, though, you can tell that’s clearly not what they are. I’ve wondered what the actual translation was for years now but have been too lazy to look it up until just recently. So, for those of you who knew enough to choose D, congratulations! Raccoon dogs, or tanuki (狸), show up all the time in Japanese folklore and fairy tales, and are fairly unique in that they’re one of the only “real” yōkai. I mean, you’ll probably never see a kappa or a bake-zōri, but a tanuki sighting isn’t quite so far-fetched. To begin with, let’s start with stereotypical tanuki image:

Tanuki Anatomy 101

So what does this diagram tell us? Basically, that the mythological tanuki is a binge-drinking, happy little creature with massive magic testicles and tremendous freedom with money.

Now, I know that the tanuki’s comically distended scrotum is distracting, but let’s focus first on the booze and debt. It’s said that tanuki love rice wine and women, buying both whenever possible with leaves transformed (their main power is shape-shifting) to look like money. After all, due to their almost constant drunkenness, tanuki are generally unable to hold down a job for any substantial amount of time and are, therefore, poor. Our yōkai friend up there may look financially responsible with his bankbook in hand, but it’s all an act. That bum.

With that out of the way, I’m now free to discuss the balls—not because I want to, but because I have to. I can call them kintama (金玉 or “golden spheres”) if it makes you more comfortable. Now, you may be thinking, “Oh gosh, there goes Erin again. Always with the genetalia talk”.

50 Uses For Kintama

Honestly though, you can’t talk about tanuki without talking about kintama as well. They’re an “integral part of the tanuki folklore”, as illustrated in old Japanese paintings and, more recently, the Studio Ghibli film Pom Poko (平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ or , Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko). Symbolizing good fortune rather than anything sexual, they’re actually a fairly benign subject, don’t you think?

Depictions of tanuki will often show them with their kintama being put to various uses. For example, they could be flung over their shoulder, spread out beneath them, used as drums (pon-poko-pon) or bludgeons or nets, etc. Kintama are, you could say, the swiss army knife of tanuki body parts. There are times, of course, where they’re just kind of lying about, but that’s not nearly as interesting.

Tanuki in Real Life

Believe it or not, tanuki aren’t normally a hot topic in Japan. Recently, though, Chibu (知夫里島 or Chiburishima) in Shimane has been in the news for its tanuki infestation problem. No joke. Raccoon dogs were introduced to the uber-rural island (think no traffic lights or conbini) 66 years ago, when the mayor received some as a present for something or other. You can imagine what happened when the little scamps realized they had no natural predators in Chibu to worry about.

As of this year, the tanuki population (2000匹) is nearly three times that of the human population (700人). The humans aren’t pleased with this arrangement, to say the least, but since 40% of the population is elderly, I don’t see them closing the population gap anytime soon. On top of the huge bills the tanuki rack up at local taverns, they also destroy crops and bother the local cattle.

Apparently the inhabitants of the island have had enough–the tanuki aren’t even afraid of them anymore. This month they’re holding a poll to determine exactly what should be done. I’ll update later as to what they decide. On a related note, I wonder how raccoon dog tastes…

Suggested Tanuki Reading

If you want to know more about tanuki, I would suggest finding a copy of Bun-Buku Chagama (ぶんぶく茶釜 or “The Bubbling Kettle”) or Kachi-Kachi Yama (かちかち山 or “Click-Clack Mountain”). Don’t quote me on those English title translations, though–onomatopoeia is hard to translate.

Note From Erin

I hope you all enjoyed this article. Sorry for not writing lately; this semester has been especially tough. Next semester promises to be an easy one, though, so hopefully I can make up for it then.

これからも、よろしくお願いします～

Chibu News: Yahoo News via random Japanese blog
Image Source: MorgueFile, The Kuniyoshi Project, and PomPoko

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