Is it a dog or a raccoon?

November 29, 2005 7:25 AM

Looks like a raccoon, acts like a raccoon, tastes like a dog? Technically a member of the canid family and considered to be a species of dog, the raccoon dog, or tanuki, is hunted in Japan to the tune of 70,000 animals killed annually for use in the production of calligraphic brushes, stuffed animals, and, apparently, ramen flavoring. The really interesting thing about the tanuki is its place in Japanese myth. The mythical tanuki are full of mischief, masters of shapeshifting, and possessors of unusually large testicles. Comic depictions of tanuki often show them with their testicles thrown over their backs or using them as drums. Does the existence of the tanuki shed any light on an often posted (and otherwise inexplicable) photo?
posted by gokart4xmas (33 comments total)

Nice use of the "testicles" tag. And I hope the ramen link was meant as a joke-- "tanuki ramen" (or soba or udon) is topped with a big wad of deep-fried (but empty) tenpura batter. It's deceptive, you see, just like a tanuki. No tanuki are harmed in the making of this tasty lunch.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:28 AM on November 29, 2005

Odd, all the women I know also call me "tanuki"...
posted by cleverusername at 7:30 AM on November 29, 2005

Neato! So that ramen I bought that had no english on it but had a picture of a happy raccoon on it was full of these things?

I had no idea! I figured it was the company's mascot. The more you learn...

(It was pretty good... mostly spicy, maybe with a slightly beefy flavour).
posted by shepd at 7:30 AM on November 29, 2005

Wow. An entire childhood wondering what the fuck Japan was smoking when they made Super Mario Bros. 3 has been reletively explained. How fortunate for us the tanooki suit gave Mario the power to turn into a statue and not, I don't know, grow gigantic swinging testicles.

GOD. Japan, what the FUCK?
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 7:31 AM on November 29, 2005

And for those who want the Studio Ghibli version of tanukis.
posted by Atreides at 7:32 AM on November 29, 2005

For those who don't know, the tanuki is what Super Mario turns into in Super Mario III after eating a leaf. When I found this out, it was a revelation. Makes a lot more sense then "Mario eats a leaf, turns in a racooon, and flies."
posted by afroblanca at 7:32 AM on November 29, 2005

(yeah, I should hit preview before posting, shouldn't I?)
posted by afroblanca at 7:33 AM on November 29, 2005

Embarrassingly enough, until this post I did not realize that tanuki were not just mythical beasties like unicorns. I still have trouble believing the giant slamanders are real.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 7:35 AM on November 29, 2005

More fun with tanuki in this thread.
posted by Zetetics at 7:37 AM on November 29, 2005

Other than the shapeshifting thing, I'm not sure how "Mario eats a leaf, turns into a tanuki, and flies" makes more sense than "Mario eats a leaf, turns into a raccoon, and flies." Am I missing something there?

As for tanuki themselves, I'd never heard of them before, so thanks. I love me some rackety-coons and anything that resembles them.
posted by Gator at 7:40 AM on November 29, 2005

There was a whole Tom Robbins book on this animal - Villa Incognito. Weirdest fucking book ever, typical of Robbins. But in it the Tanuki features prominently as a deity of mischief, impregnating women and such.
posted by Moral Animal at 7:41 AM on November 29, 2005

Cho berigu! Domo.
posted by shoepal at 7:51 AM on November 29, 2005

...Thus demystifying another of my childhood conundrums: what was a Tanooki suit?
posted by potch at 8:09 AM on November 29, 2005

The tanuki is a main character in Tom Robins Villa Incognito... it starts with a tanuki parachuting to earth with his testicles... gets stranger from there.
posted by sourbrew at 8:13 AM on November 29, 2005

curse you moral animal..... so close...
posted by sourbrew at 8:13 AM on November 29, 2005

Does anyone read previous comments before posting anymore?
posted by goatdog at 8:15 AM on November 29, 2005

Wow. I sound like a dick now. slinks off
posted by goatdog at 8:16 AM on November 29, 2005

Once you have seen a picture like this, is it possible to unsee it?
posted by nowonmai at 8:17 AM on November 29, 2005

On St. Mark's Place in Manhattan the giant Japanese restaurant has a big statue of a Tanuki outside with glowing eyes. (It's the one with the old man whose mouth turns into a pipe, where they give you a little cup of stuff that makes cotton candy with your check.)
posted by goodglovin77 at 8:17 AM on November 29, 2005

On preview: what XQUZYPHYR said. And yes.
posted by potch at 8:22 AM on November 29, 2005

I second the Tom Robbins book.
posted by nofundy at 8:27 AM on November 29, 2005

posted by wakko at 9:07 AM on November 29, 2005

A dancing racoon with huge testicles. This place has totally become FARK.com.
posted by GuyZero at 9:13 AM on November 29, 2005

Except a tanuki's testes are the source of MAGICAL POWER. Unlike squirrels.
posted by dazed_one at 11:11 AM on November 29, 2005

Also, Tom Robbins wrote a book featuring a Tanuki. It's called Villa Incognito. I'm actually halfway through it right now.

In case you didn't already know.
posted by dvdgee at 1:06 PM on November 29, 2005

It is not just Japan. If you go to China and there is an afternoon lunch buffet don't be surprised to see Racoon Dog Testicles as a labeled dish. It was not something I considered ladling on my plate at the time.

I am not sure it was a regional dish or not, but it was served at Guilin, honeymoon capital of China and the one place in China where I got food poisoning.
posted by jadepearl at 2:16 PM on November 29, 2005

An extremely malevolent tanuki spirit possesses the infamous Gaara of the Naruto anime series.
posted by mek at 6:02 PM on November 29, 2005

Fascinating. I hope you get your go-kart.

Somebody told me once that Tom Robbins wrote a book with a tanuki in it, but I can't remember if it's true.
posted by mrgrimm at 6:32 PM on November 29, 2005

Dunno, mrgrimm. But I think there's another book about tanukis called Villa something. I hear it's good, too.
posted by darkstar at 7:13 PM on November 29, 2005

Scroll up to Villa Incognito by Tom Robbins. Great book (and what inspired my tanuki thread).
posted by moonbird at 7:18 PM on November 29, 2005

Here is a version of Kachi Kachi Yama, which is my first exposure to tanuki in a fairy tale. The version I read wasn't quite this graphic, but I imagine it was sanitized the way that Cinderella has been.
posted by plinth at 7:22 PM on November 29, 2005

Hey, Mario doesn't eat a leaf to get the tanuki suit, he gets a literal tanuki suit and puts it on. Jeez.

Although he does consume a leaf to get the raccoon tail. Not the same thing, though.
posted by breath at 8:22 PM on November 29, 2005

The gist of a famous legend in Chinese history involving a tanuki, '狸猫换太子': after a royal concubine gave birth, the jealous queen stole the baby and put a skinned tanuki in his place.
posted by of strange foe at 8:31 AM on November 30, 2005