Upon first glance one might assume they’re seeing things, a second glance may draw out rigid disbelief but closer inspection confirms the truth. The friendly looking raccoon-like statues, known as “tanuki” (raccoon-dogs) in Japanese, really are sporting a massive pair of cojones. Similar statues can be found outside stores and restaurants across Japan but the tanuki’s comically oversized balls have nothing to do with sexual virility, they’re all about good fortune and stretching stretching one’s money as far as possible.
The tanuki is a small nocturnal canine mammal native to Japan and east Asia, it resembles a raccoon but is more closely related to dogs. The Japanese word “tanuki” has been mistranslated, most commonly as “badger” in older writings and as “raccoon” in the Studio Ghibli film “Pom Poko.” The confusion is due to a lack of a similar species in the west and to the number of different words used to describe the tanuki in different regions of Japan. The tanuki appears throughout Japanese folklore as a good natured shape-shifter that enjoys playing jokes. Stories tell of the tanuki pounding on their bulbous bellies (or balls) to make people think they’re hearing thunder or using their powers to make fishermen believe their nets are heavy with fish despite them being completely empty. Another popular story tells of a tanuki taking on the form of a wealthy person and then going into a restaurant to eat and drink sake. The money that the tanuki paid with turns back into leaves long after the mischief maker has disappeared.
The image of the tanuki with enormous balls arose in Kanazawa City during the Edo-era (1603-1868). Goldsmiths and metal workers in Kanazawa were renowned for making gold leaf. The process of making gold leaf involved wrapping a small bit of gold in animal skin and pounding it out into as wide and flat a piece as possible. The metal workers discovered that a tanuki scrotum was the most effective and durable material for their work. Supposedly one tanuki scrotum could be used to pound even the smallest nugget of gold into an 8-tatami mat (about 12 square meters) sheet. Tanuki scrotums were soon being sewn into wallets to stretch or expand one’s wealth and bring them prosperity. The fact that the Japanese word for a small gold nugget, kin no tama, is very similar to the slang word for testicle, kintama, pinned the goldsmiths’ “8-tatami mat” jibe on the tanuki. Edo-era Ukiyo-e block print artists had a ball with this joke (pun intended) by creating pictures of tanukis using their sacks for everything from boat sails to sign boards.
The modern ceramic tanuki statues all come from the Shigaraki-ware pottery factory in the eponymous town in Shiga Prefecture.
These adorable statues were developed by a man named Tetsuo Fujiwara who moved to the area in 1936 and devoted his career to making tanuki statues. When Emperor Hirohito visited the area in 1951, Mr. Fujiwara and the town of Shigaraki made a number of flag waving tanuki statues to welcome him. The Emperor was so charmed by the statues that he wrote a poem about them. The story was covered by media nationwide and the tanuki statues’ popularity skyrocketed. Tanuki statues are all depicted with the 8 special traits assigned to the tanuki by folklore:
1) a hat as a precaution against bad weather or trouble,
2) large eyes to fully observe the world and make good decisions,
3) a sake bottle representing virtue,
4) a big tail for strength and stability,
5) the aforementioned over-sized balls representing financial success,
6) monetary or promissory notes representing trust,
7) a big belly representing confidence and clear decision making,
8) a big smile to remind everyone of the tanuki’s humorous trickster ways.
Be they the trickster of fairy tales, the humorous statues outside stores and restaurants, or the real furry and adorable animal - tanuki’s are sure to bring smiles to any trip to Japan.
Works consulted: http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/tanuki.shtml http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2008/07/15/reference/tanuki-genitals/#.Vz6hppN96Rt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_raccoon_dog https://www.tofugu.com/japan/tanuki/ http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/what-the-heck-is-a-tanuki-8-things-you-didnt-know-about-raccoon-dogs https://hyakumonogatari.com/2013/08/30/tanuki-no-kintama-tanukis-giant-balls https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigaraki_ware https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigaraki,_Shiga