Raccoon dog tanuki. Mythology

Exist., Number of synonyms: 1 fictional creature (334) ASIS Synonym Dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

The Japanese name for the viverrid or raccoon dog, Canis procyonoides (see Raccoon dog) ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Tanuki War in the Heisei and Pompoko periods 平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ (Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko) Genre fantasy Animated film Director Isao Takahata Writer Isao Takahata ... Wikipedia

Tanuki Tanuki (Jap. 狸) or (Jap. タヌキ) are traditional Japanese werewolf animals, symbolizing happiness and prosperity. It is traditionally translated into Russian as “werewolf badger”, but from a biological point of view, a tanuki is a raccoon dog. Tanuki ... ... Wikipedia

Illustration for the fairy tale Tsukioki Yoshitoshi, 1889 1892 ... Wikipedia

Mujina, depiction from Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki, 1779 Mujina (貉) is an old Japanese word for a badger. In some regions, this term is about ... Wikipedia

About bake, spirits that are favorable to people in Japanese mythology. Two types of spirits are known: Kitsune (Jap. "Fox") and Tanuki (Jap. "Badger"). The image of Kitsune is in many ways similar to the image from Chinese mythology and represents a spirit in the guise of a fox, ... ... Wikipedia

Hibari Misora ​​Jap. 美空 ひばり ... Wikipedia

Japanese folklore has been equally influenced by both of the country's major religions, both Shinto and Buddhism. It often tells about comical and unnatural characters or situations, and also often mentions various supernatural ... ... Wikipedia

Supernatural beings of Japanese mythology. At the everyday level, the word is understood as a werewolf, but in the scientific literature it denotes the totality of all demonic creatures of Japanese folklore and folk beliefs. Today the Japanese ... ... All Japan

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• Restaurant Gazette No. 02/2019, RIK Restaurantoff. In the new issue (February 2019) of Restaurant Vedomosti magazine: Personal experience General Director of the international exhibition PIR Expo Elena Merkulova right before her flight to the iconic… electronic book

Tanuki - werewolves of Japanese mythology

Tanuki are traditional Japanese werewolf animals. It is believed that by putting leaves on their heads, tanuki can turn into whoever they want. Able to turn around both people and things.
Big fans of sake. Revered as kami, ensuring success in trade. Tanuki is a raccoon dog, a common Far Eastern animal similar to a raccoon, but actually belonging to the canine family (Nyctereutes Procyonoides), however, according to an established literary tradition, the word is translated as "badger".

For the Japanese, tanuki are popular heroes of children's songs, fairy tales and legends, not particularly smart restless creatures, unsuccessfully trying to play a trick on people. “They love to play pranks on people (say, turning into a human and buying sake with counterfeit money made from leaves), but usually these tricks are harmless enough, and people retaliate harshly for them tanuki. In general, tanuki are portrayed as unlucky but lovable creatures. By nature, tanuki are kind, sympathetic and too trusting.

Some prominent legendary tanuki are built temples by the Japanese and worshiped as gods. If you are in Japan, you will see many statues of tanuki with huge genitals and a bottle of sake in their paw at the entrance to the shops. Tanuki genitals are not a sexual symbol, and in general the Japanese are very tolerant of this kind of humor. Among the teachings of the old tanuki from the anime "Tanuki War in the Age of Hensei and Pom Poko" was his story about the genitals, which included a demonstration of his own "skill".
Since the 13th century, the term "kori" has appeared in Japanese literature, which combines both tanuki and kitsune into one group of creatures. Usually kori means either kitsune or tanuki. What kind of creature appears in such stories is not so important. As a rule, these are stories of pranks, cruel or not, which is typical for both of these creatures.

Tanuki - raccoon dog

The word "tanuki" is often translated as "badger" or "raccoon". This is not true. Raccoon dogs belong to the dog family. Tanuki are the largest of the wild animals common in Japan. Now they are on the verge of extinction. The homeland of the raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) is the temperate regions of East Asia: East China, Korea, Japan, and in Russia - the Amur Region and Primorye. From there, another name for this beast came - the Ussuri raccoon. The raccoon dog really has some external resemblance to the raccoon, only there are no transverse stripes on its fluffy tail.

Raccoon dog - tanuki - a famous hero of Japanese folklore. Along with the fox - kitsune - this beast was considered a werewolf, capable of appearing in different guises. Kitsune is a demonic figure, a deceitful and treacherous creature. But, just as in the “Tales of Uncle Remus” the fox cunning was found in the person of the agile brother of the rabbit, so in Japanese legends there is a hero who is “too tough” for the insidious kitsune. This is a tanuki. Why did the Japanese choose this animal? A shaggy bumpkin on short legs, shy and slow, not very suitable for the role of a hero...

The raccoon dog is the only member of its family that hibernates for the winter. Bears and badgers fall into hibernation - representatives of the bear and mustel families, respectively. But for canids, this is completely uncharacteristic - except for tanuki. For wintering, animals use badger burrows, often inhabited. There they occupy one of the free burrows and do not go far from the burrow. Only with strict observance of this rule, the badger tolerates such a neighborhood.

Some prominent legendary tanuki are built temples by the Japanese and worshiped as gods. It is believed that Tanuki could fool people, especially monks, but not out of spite, but for the sake of a funny joke. These transformations symbolized the Buddhist idea that the beautiful can easily turn into terrible and vice versa, that they are one thing - illusions.

In one of the ancient Japanese stories, tanuki, in order to play the local sage, takes the form of the famous Buddhist deity Fugen. The sage is delighted, he saw the deity, and even on a white elephant, on which Fugen always travels. The sage shares his joy with the common people, and the tanuki, in his prank, went out of his way and once again appeared before the assembled in the guise of a deity. However, there was an incredulous hunter. If this is a deity, the hunter thought, then the arrow will not harm him, and if he is a deceiver, then the deception will immediately be revealed. The hunter fired an arrow at the vision. It disappeared with a terrible howl. In the morning, the residents found a dead tanuki pierced by an arrow. It's a pity, but there is a limit to everything, even jokes. Of course, the meaning of this legend is much deeper. This is a comparison of the approaches to life of a sage who has gone into theoretical reasoning and a practical hunter.

Tanuki genitals are a traditional symbol of good luck. Often you can find sculptures of tanuki with huge genitals and a bottle of sake in their paw.

In everyday life, the Japanese have a dozen words allegorically associated with this animal. Tanuki-o suru means that one pretends to be asleep when the situation becomes difficult and immediate action is required. Tanuki-oyaji (father of a tanuki) or furu-dan danuki (old tanuki) - this is the name of a cunning insidious old man. Tanuki baba (tanuki's grandmother) is a grumpy old woman. However, it should be remembered that since the tanuki is characterized as a smart, resourceful animal, a cute animal, these negative expressions always have a humorous connotation, they are used not only behind the eyes, but also in the face, with admiration or irony.

In the East, however, tanuki meat was also valued. In Japan, you can find restaurants serving tanukijira, a soup made from tanuki meat with miso, radish, and other vegetables. Currently, however, under this name you can find a purely vegetarian dish - soup, which is based on a jelly-like product made from a special type of sweet potato flour, which causes appetite, but is practically not absorbed by the body. Maybe the connection of the name of this dish with tanuki is also based on “deception” - delicious food turns out to be incapable of maintaining strength.

"Bumbuku-tagama" is a story about a magic pot for tea. During the Ōei years (1394–1428), a monk named Shukaku lived at the Morinji Zen temple in the southern part of the city of Tatebayashi. He had a pot for tea, which had an inexplicable feature: it was impossible to scoop out all the boiling water from it. Once Shukaku showed the cauldron to the abbot of the monastery, and he determined that it was a tanuki who turned into a cauldron. The unmasked tanuki assumed his true form and fled the monastery.

Some of the early tanuki legends may not sound so funny now... “A hunter caught a tanuki and brought it home and told his wife to cook it for dinner. Then he left for other things. However, the tanuki himself dealt with the woman and, taking on her appearance, prepared a dinner for the hunter from her meat. After the supper was eaten, the tanuki assumed his form, thus explaining to the hunter what had happened, and ran away. Wanting to take revenge, the hunter turned to his dog for help... She made a boat out of clay and offered the tanuki to go fishing. In the middle of the lake, the boat dissolved ... "

The bellies of raccoon dogs, plump and rounded, have long been the subject of jokes and proverbs. According to one of the legends, at rural holidays, tanuki beat their stomachs with their paws, helping the peasants who would like to participate in the holiday, but are embarrassed by their inability to beat the rhythm on the drums. There is even the word "tanukibayashi", which means "tanuki drumming".

Tanuki can take on various forms, such as turning into a beautiful girl. However, if the kitsune fox girl is a creature that builds insidious intrigues, often with a gloomy ending, then stories about the tricks of the tanuki usually aim to make the listener laugh. Perhaps it is precisely this - the ability to humbly accept fate, pretend and survive under any circumstances - that the Japanese noted in the raccoon dog?

In addition, this beast has another feature for which real tanuki - and not mythological characters - are appreciated in Japan. This is their voice, somewhat reminiscent of the voice of a bird, a high drawn-out call, which is often exchanged between separated male and female of the same pair.

Bibliography

For the preparation of this work, materials from the site http://www.yaponist.com/ were used.

Meet a charmingly charismatic Japanese character. This is a tanuki. Scientists biologists say that in Russian it would be more correct to call it a raccoon dog. But we can easily see that this is a somewhat inaccurate definition. In fact, this is a raccoon male, and the happiest canonical tanuki has a scrotal area equal to 8 tatami. But this is a rather complex geometric figure. I wonder how they measured their area?

Such sculptures of tanuki in Japan are the most common thing, they can be found at houses, shops and restaurants. The main advantage of tanuki is that they bring happiness. Moreover, this dignity is determined precisely by their dignity, which the more, the greater will be happiness. So in the photo the tanuki is still decent, some Japanese women greedy for happiness have such tanuki in front of the entrance to the house that it is better not to show their children under 18 - the size of their testicles clearly exceeds the size of the rest of the body.

Tanuki could fool people, especially monks, but not out of spite, but for the sake of a funny joke. These transformations symbolized the Buddhist idea that the beautiful may well turn into terrible and vice versa, that they are one thing - illusions.

Tanuki - next in popularity among the "bringers of luck" after the maneki-neko -

In one of the ancient Japanese stories, tanuki, in order to play the local sage, takes the form of the famous Buddhist deity Fugen. The sage is delighted, he saw the deity, and even on a white elephant, on which Fugen always travels. The sage shares his joy with the common people, and the tanuki, in his prank, went out of his way and once again appeared before the assembled in the guise of a deity. However, there was an incredulous hunter. If this is a deity, the hunter thought, then the arrow will not harm him, and if he is a deceiver, then the deception will immediately be revealed. The hunter fired an arrow at the vision. It disappeared with a terrible howl. In the morning, the residents found a dead tanuki pierced by an arrow. It's a pity, but there is a limit to everything, even jokes. Of course, the meaning of this legend is much deeper. This is a comparison of the approaches to life of a sage who has gone into theoretical reasoning and a practical hunter.

Tanuki genitals are a traditional symbol of good luck. Tanuki sculptures with huge genitals (they are considered an area of ​​​​8 tatami - 12 m2) and a bottle of sake in their paw can often be found in Japan. The impressive size of the scrotum is an important attribute. This is due to the fact that kin-tama (golden balls) - testicles - are perceived in Japan as a symbol of happiness. Indeed, each hut has its own rattles ... Tanuki is rightfully considered the deity of gluttony and drunkenness, as well as the patron of pubs and restaurants. Most often, you can stumble upon a tanuki at the entrance to an izakaya beer hall, but often he simply stands in the Japanese garden or at the door of the house. And in Kyoto, for example, there is a whole temple complex dedicated to the raccoon dog - "Tanukiyama-Fudoin".

In the East, however, tanuki meat was also valued. In Japan, you can find restaurants serving tanukijira, a soup made from tanuki meat with miso, radish, and other vegetables. At present, however, under this name you can find a purely vegetarian dish - soup, the basis of which is a jelly-like product made from a special type of sweet potato flour, which causes appetite, but is practically not absorbed by the body. Perhaps the connection of the name of this dish with tanuki is also based on "deception" - delicious food turns out to be incapable of maintaining strength.

Some of the early tanuki legends may not sound so funny now... “A hunter caught a tanuki and brought it home and told his wife to cook it for dinner. Then he left for other things. However, the tanuki himself dealt with the woman and, taking on her appearance, prepared a dinner for the hunter from her meat. After the supper was eaten, the tanuki assumed his form, thus explaining to the hunter what had happened, and ran away. Wanting to take revenge, the hunter turned to his dog for help... She made a boat out of clay and offered the tanuki to go fishing. In the middle of the lake, the boat dissolved ... "

It would seem that a significant number of natural enemies and human persecution put the beast at risk of extermination. However, it is not. So far, the raccoon dog is saved by high fertility, omnivorousness and a decrease in the number of natural enemies, which are also hunted by humans.

Tanuki can take on various forms, such as turning into a beautiful girl. However, if the kitsune fox girl is a creature that builds insidious intrigues, often with a gloomy ending, then stories about the tricks of the tanuki usually aim to make the listener laugh

Perhaps it is precisely this - the ability to humbly accept fate, pretend and survive under any circumstances - that the Japanese noted in a raccoon dog?

In addition, this beast has another feature for which real tanuki - and not mythological characters - are valued in Japan. This is their voice, somewhat reminiscent of the voice of a bird, a high drawn-out call, which is often exchanged between separated male and female of the same pair. For the sake of such singing, the Japanese sometimes keep tanuki as pets.

The bellies of raccoon dogs, plump and rounded, have long been the subject of jokes and proverbs. According to one of the legends, at rural holidays, tanuki beat their stomachs with their paws, helping the peasants who would like to participate in the holiday, but are embarrassed by their inability to beat the rhythm on the drums. There is even the word "tanukibayashi", which means "tanuki drumming".

Who is a tanuki? In the West, many have not even heard of such an animal. In Japan, he is credited with mystical abilities, some of which can even shake an innocent child's psyche. In this article, you will learn what youkai tanuki can do, understand why a restaurant is named after them, and just marvel at the wild Japanese fantasy.

The word "tanuki" (狸) can be translated into Russian as "raccoon dog" or "badger", because the ancient Japanese had difficulty distinguishing between these two animals. In nature, tanuki are animals the size of a small dog. They are similar in coloration to the raccoon.

However, if you look at modern Japanese images of tanuki, you may be confused: what is this ridiculous chubby creature with a huge scrotum, wearing a straw hat on his head and holding a check and a bottle of sake in his paws?

Such a transformation occurs when animals turn into popular characters. After all, you must admit that the Teddy bear is also not very similar to a grizzly.

The Japanese used to hunt tanuki. It was believed that the meat of raccoon dogs has healing properties. Tanuki fur was used to make tassels and clothing. But where did all the unusual beliefs about them come from?

History of the Yokai Tanuki

It is believed that the Chinese legends about foxes, which came to Japan in the 4th-7th centuries AD, contributed to the emergence of mystical stories about tanuki. However, the first mention of tanuki werewolves appear only in the XIII century in the work "Stories collected in Uji" (宇治拾遺物語). There, the tanuki assumes the form of the bodhisattva Fugen Bosatsu.

The tanuki remained a little-known character for a long time, but from the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries, many stories began to appear about him. This was probably due to the desire of the ministers of different schools of Buddhism to attract more followers through interesting stories.

The Japanese writer Kyokutei Bakin (曲亭馬琴, 1767–1848) suggests that the word "tanuki" comes from the phrase 田之怪 ta no ke"spirit of rice fields" or 田猫 ta neko"cat of rice fields". In favor of the latter option is the fact that the Japanese could call tanuki yabyo: or yame:野猫, i.e. "field cat". At the same time, the cats themselves could be called the word curry家狸 lit. "domestic tanuki".

Tanuki abilities

Having already read that the Japanese called tanuki, which look like dogs and raccoons, badgers and cats, you can think about the mysterious essence of these creatures.

Like foxes, tanuki can take on human form. However, these two youkai have different preferences in appearance. One can find stories of tanuki pulling off the classic fox trick of turning into a beauty and seducing a man who wakes up in the middle of the woods the next morning. But most often they take the form of Buddhist monks. The Japanese even have a special word for such a transformed tanuki - tanuki bozu狸坊主 "tanuki monk".

Just as the fox is associated with Shinto, the tanuki is associated with the Buddhist faith. But this connection is different, since the tanuki is more of an ironic character. In art, a tanuki monk is usually depicted as plump and contented. Asceticism of Zen Buddhism does not smell here.

Tanuki also like to get together and imitate human activities. For example, such a Buddhist ritual as a funeral is no exception. Youkai come to the cemetery at night with lanterns and pretend to recite Buddhist mantras.

But tanuki can turn into not only people. They can become a tree, a stone lantern, or even the moon. They especially like to turn into the moon when it is not in the sky, because because of this, people begin to think that they have gone crazy.

A classic example of the transformation of a tanuki into an inanimate object is the fairy tale "Bumbuku-chanama". The plot of one of its variations is as follows:

A farmer rescues a tanuki from a trap, and the tanuki turns into a teapot in gratitude, which the man can sell to earn money. But when the person who bought this kettle puts it on the fire, the tanuki can't stand the heat, grows back its head and paws and runs away. This last episode was often depicted in the creation of prints and netsuke.

Tanuki also love to make noise. Sometimes they even do it without the use of magic, which once again proves their mischievous nature. They scare people at night by throwing stones at their houses. They throw buckets down wells, knock on pots and pans. But most of all, tanuki are known for drumming on their big bellies. They can use this sound in the forest to make people go off the path and get lost.

In addition, tanuki are able to imitate sounds. As a result, people, for example, think they hear thunder. In the Meiji era (1686-1912), this ability of a tanuki could even cause really dangerous situations. During that period, Japan opened up to the West and new technologies. Then, for example, trains appeared, and people made up a story about a driver who suddenly heard chugging and beeping right ahead on the road. At that time, there was only one track on which trains ran in both directions. So the driver stopped the train, fearing a collision.

But no other train ahead appeared...

This happened again and again, until one evening the driver decided to go further. And nothing bad happened. But the next morning, he found a dead tanuki on the tracks. It is obvious that he imitated the sounds of the train.

Among other things, tanuki can create illusions. For example, paying with money, which eventually turns into leaves. They can make people see a completely different landscape around them and go astray even in familiar territory. Also, tanuki, like kitsune foxes, can create wandering fires. They also like to play tricks on the fishermen by making their nets heavy. The fisherman gleefully pulls them, only to find they are empty in the end.

There is also such a story about a tanuki: he decided to play a trick on a man, making him think that he had turned into a shamisen performer. The man believed that he saw through the youkai. He realized that the shamisen performer was a tanuki. And now, when the man was about to reveal the whole truth to the crowd gathered around, he suddenly realized that in fact, all this time he had been looking not at the musician, but at the back of the horse.

But despite the fact that youkai-tanuki seemed to the Japanese to be cunning and deceitful, they also had good features. After all, if you help a tanuki, he will also do you a favor in return.

If you ever want to appease this youkai, then know that the best way to do this is through food. It is believed that tanuki love fish and dried beans.

But why does a tanuki have a big scrotum?

And it is not just big, but can also stretch. The Japanese attributed this property to tanuki in the 19th century. Youkai can use their scrotum as boats, fishing nets, umbrellas, drums, cloaks, rooms, houses, and more.

It is believed that the large scrotum of a tanuki brings in cash. And it's all about the features of tanuki from wildlife. The skin from their scrotum is strong and can stretch well, so metalworkers in the city of Kanazawa used it in gold processing. They created thin plates by tapping with a hammer on pieces of gold wrapped in the same tanuki skin. It was said that it could stretch to the size of eight tatami mats.

These features of the tanuki have even influenced medical terminology. Because (sorry) male eggs are called 金玉 in Japanese. kintama lit. "Golden Balls"

And the Japanese also have a children's song dedicated to the genitals of a tanuki:

Tan Tan Tanuki no kintama wa,
Kaze mo nai no ni,
Bura bura

Which translates as:

Tan-tan-tanuki eggs,
Even when there is no wind
Are swaying.

If you suddenly want to learn this song, then the video below will help you, where it is performed by a Japanese ▼

Tanuki in modern Japan and the world

As for real living tanuki, they originally lived only in the Far East (China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia and northwest Russia). Now tanuki have spread throughout Europe. Their wool is still used by people today, for example, in Japan they make brushes for calligraphy.

Tanuki very easily adapt to the new environment. They are omnivores, and are also the only representatives of the canine that can hibernate in the winter. It also helps them survive in the wild.

However, tanuki can also cause problems. In the 1980s and 1990s, Japanese tanuki moved from the wilderness to the suburbs and cities, where they settled well, foraging for food from garbage and taking handouts from people. However, because of this lifestyle, they began to be perceived as carriers of infection.

Tanuki are often seen around the Meiji Jingu Temple and the Imperial Palace. They can get on the subway or even run right through the streets. One day, a tanuki ran into a ballet school in Ebisu, Tokyo, where he scared everyone.

Modern Japanese have only warm feelings for the yokai tanuki, because in the 20th century it turned into a cute fat man in a straw hat. Tanuki figurines can often be seen near shops and restaurants. It is believed that they attract guests and attract profits.

The image of a tanuki can also be used on posters. A cute tanuki that brings good luck is chosen as a mascot by various companies.

Subway poster

Now you won't be surprised to see the character for "gold" (金) on Tanuki restaurants. The once cunning and even dangerous character has become kinder and today pleases everyone around with his funny appearance and abilities to bring prosperity to the house.