You see them peeking around corners, hidden between potted plants and boldly standing before their front doors. Stopping to take a look at the stripy creature, you’re likely to get more then 
you bargained for – especially in the genitalia area. A cute pottery tanuki, or “raccoon dog” as they’re called in English, is what you’re seeing. Yes, they are real animals. They look like a cross between a raccoon and a small bear, provided you add the personality of a dog with a toothache to the mix!
Of course, most animals or people with large nuts or otherwise not-possible sex organs are tied up in ancient religions: Greece had its many-breasted Diana of Ephesus, the Egyptians the ever-erect Osiris (that’s what I call a case of rigor mortis!) and
ancient Americans had Brad Pitt. Apparently in Japan it’s the raccoon dog, or so it would seem at first, um, sight.
Depicted as a trickster in traditional folklore, tanuki are alleged to spend most of their time waylaying innocent travelers, tricking them into compromising situations by using their ability to shape change. In their free time they like to gather in moonlit groves, dancing, thumping their bellies, and challenging the unfortunate individuals who walk in on them to belly-busting contests.
However, none of this explains why these straw-hat wearing, sake-jug carrying, extremely well endowed animals, A) protect people’s doorways and B) have such large nuts! Are the large testicles a testament to the virility of the men inside the house they guard? A charm against the need for Viagra? A secret sign designating the meeting place of large-cahoned yakuza? Stay tuned for the answer!
~CAB
4 Comments
March 8, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Are these the same “raccoon dogs” recently reported about on CNN? Apparently many fur or fur-trimmed jackets sold in the United States as having “faux fur” — or not labeled at all — are actually made, at least in part, from fur coming from raccoon dogs, a fox-like nocturnal residents of Asian and northern European forests that bear a remarkable resemblance to raccoons. See the CNN article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/07/dog.fur/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
March 8, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Thanks for the tip! I’m going to check this out!
~CAB
August 18, 2007 at 4:29 am
Thanks for sharing this information. Really is pack with new knowledge. Keep them coming.
January 14, 2008 at 8:52 pm
[...] So that’s where I went to get my Thriftathon item! And here he is! I’ve written about tanuki before… they’re basically like gnomes you put on your lawn, bringing good fortune to [...]