Japan's peculiar animal: the Tanuki
In one of our latest article, we talked about Japan's snow monkeys and their winter survival techniques (have a look here).
In this article, we will you introduce you to an other animal too, but its survival skill can be used at any time and is quite surprising if you believe in it...
“Tanuki” in Japanese or “raccoon dog” in English: two words that probably doesn't ring a bell for a lot of you, even in your mother tongue!
The racoon dog is a carnivorous mammal, of the canid family (its classification remains quite debated)...
Simply put: the Tanuki is some kind of mix between the racoon and a small dog (hence its name), yet not to be confused with a badger nor a small dog!
It wouldn't be surprising if it is your first time seeing this animal. The Tanuki population in the USA and the United Kingdom is almost nonexistent, as it comes from Far East.
Tanuki were the stars of the animation movie Pom poko by the famous Ghibli Studio's director Isao Takahata (released in 2005 in North America and in 2006 in the United Kingdom), creating a resurgence of interest for its cause.
The omnipresent humorous tone of the movie cleverly depicts a sad reality for this species which had to adapt to the growing cities because of urbanisation and economic development.
You won't be able to see them during the day, as they mainly move and live at night, even though they are not nocturnal creatures. And most of the time, they only come out for food at when nobody is around.
Like the fox, the Tanuki is a master of disguise: it is supposed to be able to shapeshift.
In the movie, a group of tanukis is fighting against demographic development in order to save the forest where they live. To do so, they transform into objects, animals or even humans to play pranks on the building site workers and to later on blend in with the crowd for survival.
In some beliefs, they must put a leaf on top of their head to shapeshift.
And like its buddy, this shapeshifting skill gave it the reputation of being mischievous and jolly in tales.
It is told they pay with money that transform back into leaves afterwards...
But nowadays, the Tanuki is reputed to be lucky and to bring prosperity. You will find them under various shapes at the entrance of stores. Usually it is portrayed with a straw hat, a flask of sake (japanese alcohol), and a rounded belly they use like a drum. The title of the movie "pom poko" comes from the onomatopoeia emitted by this drum-belly.
Because of another quite distinctive characterisitc of tanukis, their giant scrotum, they are often found in funny tales.
The tanuki remains a well-liked animal in Japan, appearing as clown character in modern animation but also in ancient literature such as the Nihon shoki, despite being sometimes shown as a violent beast.