Tanuki, Raccoon Dog

Sep 30

The Japanese Raccoon Dog (not photoshop) — The Japanese Raccoon Dog, or tanuki

This creature (right) is called a raccoon dog, or tanuki.

This is an actual living animal that really exists in East Asia, Scandinavia and Northern Europe. In English, they are sometimes called “badgers,” but as one can see from the photos, the tanuki is not a badger. In March of 2023, an international team of virus experts linked the coronavirus with racoon dogs for sale at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, adding evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic could have been ignited by an infected animal that was being sold through the illegal wildlife trade. Or is that just a convenient cover story?

Let’s not dwell on this unpleasant topic, dear readers, when there is a much more whimsical form of tanuki to explore.

In Japanese folklore, the tanuki is a type of yokai, or Japanese supernatural figure (sometimes translated as “monster”). Tanuki are shape-shifters who live on the edges of human society. According to The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore by Michael Dylan Foster:

“Tanuki are among the most common yokai. Folktales and legends about them are found throughout Japan, and tanuki have long been a presence in literature and art, in children’s books, and more recently in films, anime, manga, video games, and advertising. Generally they are characterized as supernatural trickster figures, often comical and mischievous but not necessarily murderous, though in some narratives they come across as vicious.”

Resident Tanuki at Ten Thousand Waves Spa in Santa Fe, NM — Resident Tanuki at Ten Thousand Waves Spa in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Foster explains:

“The traits of the animal tanuki are reflected in its yokai image: tanuki seem to exist simultaneously in this world and the other world. In folklore they are tricksters, often portrayed as somewhat bumbling and potbellied, with a penchant for drinking sake, changing shape, and impersonating Buddhist monks. One of the tanuki’s most famous characteristics is its gargantuan scrotum, which it employs for all sorts of creative shape-shifting — numerous woodblock prints and other images illustrate the powers of this magnificent paraphernalia. Accordingly, in contemporary Japan tanuki are fertility symbols, signs of prosperity and good fortune: in front of restaurants, bars, and sake shops, you can find a ceramic statuette of a plump, wide-eyed, cheerful tanuki standing upright and adorned with a straw hat, a jug of sake in one hand. ”

The legendary tanuki has eight special traits that bring good fortune, possibly created to coincide to the hachi symbol (八, meaning 'eight') often found on the sake bottles the statues hold. The eight traits are: