as wikipedia describes it: the Tanuki (??? or ?) is often mistakenly translated as raccoon or badger, but is in fact a raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides), a distinct canid species native to Japan. Tanuki 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.
i’d first seen a tanuki in super mario bros. 3, though i didn’t know it. i became aware of the tanuki properly in tom robbins’ so-so novel villa incognito, in which one of the trickster god’s physical attributes figures prominently; namely his huge testicles. and i don’t mean that metaphorically.
again from wikipedia: The wild tanuki has unusually large testicles, a feature often comically exaggerated in artistic depictions. Tanuki may be shown with their testicles flung over their backs like a traveller’s pack, or using them as drums.
from the shinto and buddhist corner: A curious and defining characteristic of Tanuki is its gigantic testes. According to some legends, the testicles / scrotum can be stretched to the size of eight tatami mats. Others point to the word Senjojiki (the space of 1,000 tatami mats) as an indication of the Tanuki’s testes size. Called Kin-tama (Golden Balls) in Japanese, the testes are supposedly symbols of good luck rather than overt sexual symbols (the Japanese are more tolerant of low humor than most Western nations). In the movie Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko, the Tanuki stretches out its scrotum as a parachute in a desperate suicide attack. In other Tanuki folklore, the Tanuki uses the testes as an impromptu drum, beating out the “ponpoko” sound (no pun intended).
In biological terms, the Tanuki’s large “golden balls” are a true depiction of the real-life Tanuki. According to evolutionary biologists, the Tanuki’s scrotum is large because of fierce competition among Tanuki males for females. Phrased differently, Tanuki copulate frequently, and those Tanuki with larger testes size have a greater chance of getting their genes into the next generation.
evidently tanuki are very prominent in Japanese folklore and proverbs and to this day the tanuki is thought of as the God of Gluttony, Boozing, and Restauranteurs, which accounts for the tanuki statues outside of restaurants and bars, where it “beckons drinkers and dinners to enter.”
i find the little fella kind of fascinating and having been reminded of him i went forth to seek more info. as is sometimes the case with cultural arcana there were more images than relevant texts to be found. so lacking any great links deserving of their own feature, or any great insight of my own, i figured i’d offer up a little gallery of tanuki to distract you from the lack of meaningful commentary…
anyhow, the best summations i found on the tanuki are the sources quoted above the wikipedia page and the buddhist corner’s page.
you might also check out the story in the japan times from 2004, or any of the following links: 1, 3, 4, 5.
as far as folklore goes all i found were the fox and the tanuki, and the slaying of the tanuki.
visually, if your brain can make sense of it, the prints of japan page has some wild tanuki (and non-tanuki) pieces to check out.
and lastly don’t miss this bizarre japanese commercial featuring an impressed little red riding hood and some very prominent tanuki balls.
not exactly scholarship, i know, but the best i could find. meanwhile look out for some scrotum swingin’ tanuki fiction in these parts in the future.
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Brilliant! Thanks for that great essay and pictures. These little guys look way cool.
enjoyed the pacific asia museum’s online exhibit nature of the beast and thought i’d pass it along (via). it’s an exploration of the way artists of Edo-period Japan depicted animals and the natural world. it’s broken up into three sections: tradition, reality, and imagination. as that last heading hints it deals not only with real animals but mythological one’s as well. which brings us to what this post is really about… one wild customer whom the exhibit reminded me of is the tanuki, an animal which might conceivably be included in all three of the exhibit’s sections in that it’s not only a real animal but a creature of japanese legend as well.