Description
Tanuki are a kind of dog (Canis Viverriuns, Nyctereutes, Procyonoides), however it is often translated to english as racoon or racoon dog, native to Japan. In Japanese folk lore the tanuki is depicted as an accomplished, and mischievous, shape shifters, with the power to transform into any living or inanimate shape. They are also said to have the ability to caste powerful illusions – making bundles of leaves appear as cash or horse manure as a mouth watering meals.
Ceramic Tanuki statues are often seen in front of restaurants and bars, these statues depict the tanuki with a bottle of sake in one hand a bundle of promissory notes in the other, and a bulging belly (full of food “swindled” using there illusory powers). One of the defining features of these statues is the unfeasibly large testicles (Kin Tama), in some folk tails the scrotum is said to be able to stretch to cover the area of 1,000 tatami mats.
Popular Culture
The animated film "Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko" tells of the struggle of a band of Tanuki, battling to save their forest from encroaching urban development. The Tanuki are force to draw upon all their powers of shape shifting and illusion, and are even drawn into a brief but temporary alliance with the kitsune, in what is ultimately a futile struggle against the inevitable destruction of their beloved forest.