The Tanuki and it's Legends

Once upon a time, this week actually, I saw a very interesting movie called Pom Poko. It was an animated film about the struggle of these cute little guys (also called Japanese raccoon dogs or tanuki) against the humans, who were tearing down the forest in Japan to clear areas for new developments. The tanuki worked to scare the people out of their woods, and caused accidents to get the people to think the gods were angry about them tearing apart the forest.

This is a movie you should definitely see for yourself. In Pom Poko, the tanuki are able to use all of the powers they are given in Japanese legend.

What are these tanuki things anyway, and what kinds of powers might they have?

Well, here's what they look like:

Tanuki are actually very widely known as being silly, lazy, and party loving creatures. They walk on two feet when no people are around. In Japanese legend, they are one of the creatures that has the ablility to shape-shift (along with foxes, and some cats). They must practice changing their form, because they are less cunning and focused than foxes.



They are also considered lucky. Here is part of the Wikipedia entry on tanuki:

"Bake-danuki (化け狸) are a kind of tanuki yōkai (ghost) 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 Nihon Shoki written by the Empress Suiko during the Nara period, consists of such passages as "in two months of spring, there are mujina in the country of Mutsu (春二月陸奥有狢), they turn into humans and sing songs (化人以歌).". 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 kitsune (foxes): they can shapeshift into other things, shapeshift people, and possess human beings."

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

- a hat to be ready to protect against trouble or bad weather;
- big eyes to perceive the environment and help make good decisions;
- a sake bottle that represents virtue;
- a big tail that provides steadiness and strength until success is achieved;
- an over-sized scrotum that symbolizes financial luck;
- a promissory note that represents trust or confidence;
- a big belly that symbolizes bold and calm decisiveness; and
- a friendly smile. "

So, those may seem fairly strange, but I promise you read that right. In Japan, tanuki are considered quite special. You can even see statues of them!

That's all for today folks.

That's What,
- Sophia

P.S.
I apologize for not posting for a while. I got the stomach flu and have been not doing too much.