You have probably seen photos of these guys before when reading about Japan. They are tanuki statues and they are everywhere. The statues are often just like this, depicting them with a turtle shell hat and a jug of sake. It looks like I stumbled upon an entire family of them here. You’ll notice even junior has his small jug of sake.
The tanuki is an actual animal that is unique to Japan. They are similar in appearance to racoons and small dogs so they are often translated racoon dog in English. They are neither a racoon nor a dog, and these days I think the trend is to not attempt to translate it and use the Japanese word since we are talking about an animal that only exists in Japan.
Like foxes (kitsune), tanuki are also thought of as mythological spirits (yokai). They are usually not evil and have a very jovial nature, but they are mischievous and delight in playing tricks on humans.
The most obvious feature of the tanuki are their huge balls. Even though the statue are a bit dirty, you can still see the huge balls between junior's legs in the photo. This is something we'd never see in the West. In Japan everyone laughs at it as a silly thing. They even have a song about tanuki balls that all kids learn. It goes:
Tan tan tanuki no kintama wa / Kaze mo nai no ni / Bura bura
Tan-tan-tanuki’s balls / Even when there is no wind / They swing, swing
Kind of catchy, eh?
They aren't just big balls, though. They are magic! According to yokai.com:
Aside from their powerful ability to change their shape, perhaps the most famous attribute that tanuki possess is their large and magical testicles, which they can adapt to any need. They are used as weapons, drums, fans to keep cool, even umbrellas. Often, tanuki incorporate their testicles into their disguises: the tanuki becoming a shopkeeper and its testicles transforming into the shop; or perhaps a palanquin complete with servants to cart the tanuki from place to place.
If you want an idea of the craziness of the mythology around these guys, go rent the Ghilbi movie Pom Poko which features tanuki as the main characters. You may want to watch the Japanese version (with subtitles) because I believe Disney edited the English version so as not to get on the bad side of overly religious folks there.
You'll never look at tanuki the same way again.
Don't miss the other great photos in the Beautiful Japan photo series!
#1 - The Shogun's Keep
#2 - Gate to the Shogun's Shrine
#3 - The Golden Torii
#4 - Across the Universe
#5 - To Walk With You Under the Cherry Blossoms
#6 - I Once Knew This Place
#7 - Okazaki Tenmangu Shrine
#8 - The White Walls of Zui'nenji
#9 - Curious Kitsune Watches
#10 - Meeting Place of the Kitsune
#11 - What a Blur
#12 - The Watcher at the Shrine
#13 - Giant Torii in Road
#14 - Resting Leaves
Thank you for reading. :)
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I post one photo everyday, as well as some misc posts such as haiku, videos, more Japanese history, and so on. Let me know if there is anything about Japan you would like to know more about or would like to see.
David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time.