| Bake-Danuki | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Other Names |
Tanuki |
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First Appearance |
Japanese Folklore |
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Created by |
Japanese Folklore |
Origin[]
Japanese raccoon dogs have a long history in Japanese legend and folklore. Bake-danuki, literally "transforming tanuki", are a kind of supernatural beings found in the classics and in the folklore and legends of various places in Japan.
Although the tanuki is a real, extant animal, the bake-danuki that appears in literature has always been depicted as a strange, even supernatural animal. The earliest appearance of the bake-danuki in literature, in the chapter about Empress Suiko in the Nihon Shoki written during the Nara period, there are such passages as "in two months of spring, there are tanuki in the country of Mutsu, they turn into humans and sing songs." Bake-danuki subsequently appear in such classics as the Nihon Ryōiki and the Uji Shūi Monogatari. In some regions of Japan, bake-danuki are reputed to have abilities similar to those attributed to foxes: they can shapeshift into other things or people, and can possess human beings, but unlike the fox, which changes its form for the sake of tempting people, tanuki do so to fool people and make them seem stupid.
he comical image of the tanuki having a large scrotum is thought to have developed during the Kamakura era, where goldsmiths would use tanuki pelts for the process of hammering gold nuggets into leaf. Tanuki may be shown with their testicles flung over their backs like travelers' packs, or using them as drums.
Tanuki are also said to drum on their bellies, making sounds such as "pom poko" or "ponpon", and typically depicted as having large bellies. Tanuki may or may not be the cause of mysterious drumming sounds tanuki-bayashi.
Public Domain Appearances[]
- Nihon Shoki
- Nihon Ryōiki
- Uji Shūi Monogatari
Notes[]
- In Nintendo's video games Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 8, and Super Mario 3D World, Mario can wear a "Tanooki Suit"
- The 1994 Studio Ghibli film Pom Poko features a group of tanuki who use their shapeshifting powers to defend their habitat against human developers.
- Tom Nook, a recurring character in the Animal Crossing video game series, is a tanuki, as well as his two employees, Timmy and Tommy.
- A tanuki appears as a newscaster in the Japanese version of the American Disney computer-animated film Zootopia; the standard release of the film and releases in other countries use other animals.
- Pokemon Zigzagoon and its evolutions along with it's Galar variants are based on the tanuki.