. Japanese legends and tales 伝説 民話 昔話 - Introduction .
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tanuki 狸 - mujina 狢 － racoon dog, badger legends
Next to the fox the Tanuki is seen as a crafty animal with magical powers,
but unlike the terrifying fox it is quite humorous in its tricks.
. Tanuki 狸 Badger, Racoon Dog .
- Introduction -
- including
the Tanuki Scrotum, kintama 金玉
Tanuki and Sake Legends 狸とお酒
Tanuki from temple Kodai-Ji (Koodaiji) 高台寺の狸 - Kyoto
Tanuki Osho たぬき和尚 Tanuki and priests
Eiyoo Gongen 栄誉権現 Venerable Guard Deity at Ueno, Toshogu
Hikoichi don from Kumamoto 熊本の彦一
kachikachi yama, Kachi-Kachi Yama かちかち山, The Crackling Mountain Story
Kankuro Tanuki 権九郎狸 from Kochi
Kinchoo, Kinchō 金長狸 Kincho from Tokushima and the fight Awa Tanuki Gassen 阿波狸合戦 with Rokuemon 六右衛門狸 Rokuemon Tanuki
Kizaemon and Kojooro the Tanuki prostitute 喜左衛門と小女郎狸
Jooganji no Hage Tanuki - hagedanuki 浄願寺の禿狸 bald Tanuki from temple Jogan-Ji
a pun with
ta o nuku 他を抜く pull away from the crowd
"tanuki" can also be read "ta-nuki,"
or pulling away from the crowd, a symbol of victory.
yokai tanuki - www . suggestkeyword . com
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. Dadaboo 八町のだだ坊 Hatcho no Dadabo Tanuki .
Fukushima
. Danzaburo 団三郎 from Sado Island .
(Dansaburo)
. Inoshishi 猪 and Tanuki legends .
. nakōdo 仲人 Nakodo, legends about Tanuki matchmakers for marriage .
. Hannya Shingyoo 般若心経 Hanya Shingyo Heart Sutra .
This Sutra is often recited if someone is bewitched or possessed by a fox or Tanuki.
. furudanuki, kori 古狸と伝説 Legends about an old monster Tanuki .
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- - - - - ABC List of the prefectures :
.................................................................. Aichi 愛知県....................................................................
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豊田市 Toyota city
About 60 years ago, there lived an old Tanuki. He was venerated in a small shrine. But the shrine went into decay and the Tanuki came out again to play his tricks on the farmers.
Once a woman gave birth and the Tanuki happened to see her bottom and then bewitched her. She became quite weak and all prayed for her and begun to recite the 心経を千巻 1000 sutras.
When they had come to about 30 sutras, the Tanuki promised: "When you have finished the 1000, I will not come out any more."
It took them three days to recite all the 1000 sutras.
So the Tanuki said: "Well, I will now go back home, but please keep worshipping me!"
And what do you know, the woman recovered in no time, after worshipping the Tanuki.
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山県郡 Yamagata district 美山町 Miyama town
. Aobōzu 青坊主 Aobozu, a "Blue Priest" Yokai as Tanuki .
.................................................................. Ehime 愛媛県....................................................................
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Ehime 松山市 Matsuyama city
. O-Mitsu Tanuki おみつ狸 .
- at the Mitsu Kaido 三津街道 Mitsu Highway
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Ehime 南宇和郡 Minami-Uwa district 西海町 Saikai town
. Matsuya Tanuki 松屋狸 the Tanuki of Tonya Matsuya .
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Ehime 温泉郡 Onsen district 重信町 Shigenobu town
. tateishidanuki 立石狸 Tateishi Tanuki .
.................................................................. Ibaraki 茨城県 ...........................................................
. bewitched at 日吉神社 Hiyoshi Shrine .
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行方市 Namegata city 百里 Hyakuri hamlet
. furudanuki old Tanuki from Hyakuri Kaido 百里街道 .
.................................................................. Kagawa 香川県....................................................................
. The Tanuki from 紫雲出山 Mount Shiudeyama .
. The Tanuki from temple 中蓮寺 Churen-Ji .
- and another from 詫間町 Takuma cho town
. Ashimagari, ashi-magari 足まがり Tanuki yokai .
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Ashi-Magari 足まがり)
is a ghostly phenomenon from the folklore of Kagawa Prefecture on Shikoku, Japan. It is a soft thing, like a kitten or a wad of cotton, which is felt wrapping itself around a person's leg at night, impeding the ability to walk.
On the island of Shikoku, strange ocurances are often attributed to the wiles of the raccoon dog, and this nocturnal phenomenon from Kagawa prefecture is no exception. Like the sune-kosuri, the ashi-magari is felt coiling around the legs of people walking at night, eventually becoming a hindrance and making it difficult or impossible to move. Those who bend down to touch it feel something soft like raw cotton, and if they squeeze it tightly, the ashi-magari is said to feel something like the tail of an animal.
While it is not generally visible,
it is often believed to be the trick of a tanuki.
- source : yokai.fandom.com/wiki... -
. . . CLICK here for Photos !
.................................................................. Kochi 高知県 ...........................................................
. The untimely 参勤交代 Sankin Kotai procession .
on the Noneyama Kaido 野根山街道 Noneyama Highway
.................................................................. Kyoto 京都府 ....................................................................
. a Tanuki named 八兵衛狸 Hachibei at temple 建仁寺 Kennin-Ji .
There are other Tanuki named Hachibei in Japan.
. . . CLICK here for 八兵衛狸 Photos !
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. Ohaguro ba おはぐろ婆 Old Hag with Black Teeth .
At the temple 大徳寺 Daitoku-Ji
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. Tanuki along the Nara Kaido 奈良街道 highway .
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. Tanuki bewitching ushiguruma 牛車 an ox cart sound .
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天田郡 Amata district 三和町 Miwa cho
. The 岡部吉左衛門 Okabe Kichizaemon family .
.................................................................. Nagano 長野県 ...........................................................
宮川村 Miyagawa village
. The Mujina at the temple 安国寺 Ankoku-Ji. .
伊那市 Ina city
. The Mujina at the temple 慈眼寺 Jigen-Ji. .
.................................................................. Niigata 新潟県 ...........................................................
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小千谷市 Ojiya city
. Helping a Mujina to give birth .
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Niigata 佐渡市 Sado city
. mujina no tatari ムジナの祟り the curse of a Mujina .
and a pokkuri sudden death
.................................................................. Osaka 大阪府 ....................................................................
. The monster at 北御堂 Kitamido Hall .
Once during a 台風 typhoon the temple hall broke down and the Buddha statue was swept away by the floods. So the villagers strengthened the ground with concrete before re-building the hall, but suddenly four accidents happened, one after the other. One priest told the villagers that a Tanuki was buried under the concrete and he could not breathe any more.
So they made a hole in the ground and the accidents stopped.
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枚方市 Hirakata city
. Gentaroo 源太郎狸 Gentaro Tanuki .
.................................................................. Shizuoka 静岡県 ....................................................................
. Furudanuki 古狸 carrying a 塔婆 Sotoba grave marker .
.................................................................. Tokushima 徳島県 ....................................................................
. Tanuki posing as 三番叟 a Sanbaso dancer .
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佐古町 Sako town
. Shinpachi Tanuki 新八狸 Tanuki Shinpachi / 庚申新八狸 Koshin Shinpachi . - a 古狸
.................................................................. Tokyo 東京 Edo 江戸 ...........................................................
. Chiyoda ward Tanuki legends 千代田区 .
. haifuri tanuki 灰降狸 the ash-throwing Tanuki .
. Itabashi and Mujina legends 板橋 .
. Minato ward Tanuki legends 港区 .
. Shinjuku 市谷左内坂町 Ichigaya Sanaizaka legends .
. tanukibayashi 狸囃子 "Tanuki Orchestra" / 伝法院 the temple Denbo-In .
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- yokai database 妖怪データベース - reference -
tanuki 狸 more than 1000 entires - (000)
mujina ムジナ 454 entries (00)
mujina 狢 225 entries (00)
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. minwa 民話 folktales / densetsu 伝説 Japanese Legends .
- Introduction -
- Yookai 妖怪 Yokai Monsters of Japan -
- Introduction -
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. Join the friends on Facebook ! .
- #tanukilegends #legendstanuki #ashimagari -
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Not "fearful fox," though foxes can be timid, but terrifying fox as people could be frightened by it? Or, because it was not physically terrifying, better yet SPOOKY FOX because spooky means frightening because of being a bakemono, right?
ReplyDeleteAlso, be sure to note at top that tanuki has often been mistranslated as badger. And, of course, I hope all such will be put with the tanuki and only where the original was mujina w the badger tales! Tanuki have such delicate little feet, I hate even seeing the name badger near them!
Thanks a lot, Robin !
ReplyDeleteI hope to find more time to dedicate to the Tanuki.
They are a constant visitor to my garden!
Gabi
kasa-sashi tanuki 傘さし狸 Tanuki with Umbrella
ReplyDeleteA Yokai from Tokushima / 徳島県三好郡池田町
During times like rainy evenings, it would disguise as a person with an umbrella and invite people. When a person who doesn't have an umbrella goes under it, it is said that they'd be taken to unbelievably out-there place.
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- - - - -Once upon a time in Osaka
on a rainy day an actor was walking along with his Bangasa. The umbrella suddenly felt very heavy and then very light. The man made a summersault, threw the umbrella on the road and fled in great haste.
Next morning, what do you say ! there was a dead Tanuki badger on the road.
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Umbrellas
http://kenyasaijiki.blogspot.jp/2006/09/umbrella.html
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Aomori
ReplyDeletesunamaki-danuki 砂撒狸 a Tanuki throwing sand
They are known in 筑後久留米 Chikugo Kurume, 三井郡宮陣村 in the Mii distrct and other parts.
A Tanuki climbs on a three at the dam of the upper Tonegawa, his body covered with sand. If a human passes by, it shakes its body and splashes sand on the person below it.
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https://edoflourishing.blogspot.jp/2018/01/tonegawa-river.html
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Legend from Saitama,
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大里郡 Osato district 寄居町 Yorii
. tanuki 狸と伝説 racoon dog, badger legends .
In the ruins of 鉢形 Hachibata castle in Chichibu there live many foxes and Tanuki.
At night when there was a poetry meeting at the nearby temple, there was suddenly a strange laughter from below the brazier, just at the most scary time of the night.
When they moved the brazier, a black monster animal jumped out and run toward the Buddha statue. When they looked at the statue the next morning, the statue begun to laugh. Then they tried to cut the statue into pieces, a black monster animal like a Tanuki run away fast.
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https://edoflourishing.blogspot.jp/2018/04/musashi-province.html
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Legend from Tochigi
ReplyDelete釈迦来迎 Shaka Raigo, Shakyamuni coming down
An old Tanuki had lived at the temple 茂林寺 Morin-Ji, taking care of the tea kettles. Once he fell asleep and his tail begun to show, so the priest now knew he was not a human and threw him out of the temple. To show his gratitude for the many years of his stay, the Tanuki showed the others an apparition of
釈迦来迎 Shaka Raigo, Shakyamuni coming down and died.
The priest then made a grave for the Tanuki and put the lid of the tea kettle on top of it.
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https://gokurakuparadies.blogspot.com/2018/08/raigozu-amida-coming-at-death.html
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"The Japanese raccoon dog or tanuki, a shape-shifting, hedonistic and jovial trickster, has always lived in the borderlands between human settlement and the wilderness – liminal, shared spaces not quite of this world, and not quite of the other. Its complex folkloric history is also the story of the uneasy and unreconciled relationship in Japan between modernity and nature, progress and tradition."
ReplyDelete.
https://folklorethursday.com/folktales/tanuki-mischief-magic-and-change-in-the-japanese-countryside/
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Legend from Kyoto
ReplyDeleteHinokami Inari 火の神稲荷
. tanuki 狸 - mujina 狢 － racoon dog, badger legends .
After the great fire in 1915, the priest from the Shrine 熊野神社 Kumano Jinja said it was the curse of a Tanuki.
If they would venerate the Tanuki as the 稲荷神 Inari Deity, there would be protection from fire.
So the people venerated it as 八王稲荷大明神 Hachio Inari Daimyojin.
People come here to pray for protection and fire prevention to our day.
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The Shrine is located at - Ichinohashi-Miyanouchicho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto.
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https://japanshrinestemples.blogspot.com/2019/07/hi-no-kami-fire-legends.html
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Legend from Kyoto
ReplyDelete三和町 Miwa town 大歳神社 / 大年神社 Otoshi Jinja
tanuki 狸 badger
Near the corner on the road to the shrine 大年神社 Otoshi Jinja it often happened that a Tanuki posing as a priest came out and threw sand at the pilgrims.
There are many shrines with this name in Japan.
The deity 年神 Toshigami is venerated there.
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https://japanshrinestemples.blogspot.com/2020/01/sai-no-kami-legends.html
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Legend from Gunma 松井田 Matsuida
ReplyDeleteOnce a badger shape-shifted into a railway worker and swung a red flag to stop a train near 碓氷峠 the Usui pass. He did this a few times, but in the end the train hit the badger and killed it.
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https://gokurakuparadies.blogspot.com/2020/03/matsuida-fudoji.html
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Legend from Tottori 若桜町 Wakasa town
ReplyDeleteDeep in the mountains of the 吉川 Yoshikawa hamlet there were many forest workers cutting trees, living in a small hut. At night a woman came peeking into the hut. The woodcutters were afraid and slept with their axes by the bedside. The next evening the woman came again and walked into the hut, looking at each one face. When she came to the last one in the back, he took his ax to kill her, but she run away. All his companions had their tongues cut out and were dead.
All the villagers from Yoshikawa went to the mountain now and followed the blood trail until they came to a cave in a valley. In the hole they found the white hair of a Tanuki, who had killed all the people.
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https://edoflourishing.blogspot.com/2020/03/inaba-kaido-highway.html
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Legend from Aichi 北設楽郡 Kita-Shitara district 設楽町 Shitara town
ReplyDelete.
furudanuki 古狸 old badger
The trees from a special mountain sold very well. But then strange things happened and the lumberjacks did not work there for long.
Even now, late at night, when the lumberjacks sleep in the small mountain hut, a beautiful young woman appears.
One night a lumberjack took courage and slashed the face of the woman and all could see it was just an old badger.
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https://edoflourishing.blogspot.com/2020/05/shokunin-craftsmen-legends.html
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Legend from Shizuoka 静岡県
ReplyDelete南伊豆町 Minami-Izu town / 韮山 Nirayama
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At the home of shooya 庄屋 the village headman, there stayed a man named 韮山様 Nirayama Sama. When eating he would not allow people to look at him.
He was a Tanuki !!
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https://edoflourishing.blogspot.com/2020/03/shimoda-kaido-highway.html
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Legend from Ishikawa 石川県 鳳至郡 Fugeshi district 門前町 Monzen town
ReplyDelete.
chootamujina 長太ムジナ A badger named Chota
In the evening, walking on the narrow road from Minazuki toward Kamiozawa there is often the badger Chota coming out. He piles rocks on the road so that people can not pass. When travelers wander around the rocks their food will be stolen. The badger shape-shifts into a huge serpent or a monster and scares people. Once a man could feel the badger coming on and threw a stone at him. A man appeard and said "Let us have a fight!" "Let us compare the size of our kintama 金玉 "golden balls", testicles. (Badgers are famous for the size of their testicles.) They placed a furoshiki 木綿風呂敷 wraping cloth from cotton on the ground and the badger pulled out his testicles, in a hurry tearing them apart, so he fled back to the mountain. Since then he never appeared here.
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https://edoflourishing.blogspot.com/2020/08/cotton-momen.html
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Legend from Ibaraki 茨城町
ReplyDelete.
諏訪大社 Suwa Taisha 諏訪大社 Great Suwa Shrine
Near the keyaki 欅 zelkova tree at お諏訪様 the Suwa Shrine there was a huge lantern hanging down one day.
Some say it must have been a mujina むじな Tanuki. This was in early spring.
. Suwa Jinja 諏訪神社 Suwa Shrines and their Legends .
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https://japanshrinestemples.blogspot.com/2020/03/suwa-jinja-legends.html
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Legend from Gifu 恵那市 Ena city 明智町 Akechi town
ReplyDelete.
Once on a night with heavy snow, there came a traveller and stayed over night. He went into the bath but did not come out for a long time.
The host thought this strange and had a peek into the bathroom. There he saw a Tanuki washing his body with his long tail.
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https://heianperiodjapan.blogspot.com/2020/03/ooyuki-heavy-snow-legends.html
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Legend from Shizuoka 静岡県
ReplyDelete.
The Tanuki from 安養寺 the temple Anyo-Ji killed the head priest and shape-shifted into his person.
He avoided being seen when eating. Then he killed the dog from a nearby store and ate it, but people observed this and his real features were revealed.
He left the temple in haste.
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https://gokurakuparadies.blogspot.com/2020/09/anyoji-kannon-kagurazaka.html
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Takabozu legend from Nara
ReplyDelete.
A man was walking home in the evening when he saw two black 高坊主 Takabozu near the river. Then he raalized it was only a Tanuki 狸 which had shape-shifted.
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https://kappapedia.blogspot.com/2020/05/takabozu-yokai-monster-shikoku.html
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Legend from Hyogo, 神戸市 Kobe city
ReplyDelete.
furudanuki 古狸 an old badger
Around 1868, at the terakoya 寺子屋 temple school from 常源寺 Temple there appeared furudanuki 古狸 an old tanuki badger.
Some brave boys drove it out with a stick but
there was now always a voice of someone reciting homework coming from under the floor.
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https://edoflourishing.blogspot.com/2015/10/terakoya-private-schools.html
Legend from Akita 男鹿市 Oga city
ReplyDelete.
A tanuki 狸 badger often shape-shifts into a Takanyudo. If someone gets bewitched by such a Tanuki, he will die.
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taka nyuudoo, Taka nyūdō 高入道 Takanyudo Monster Legends
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https://omamorifromjapan.blogspot.com/2020/09/takanyudo-monster-legends.html
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Legend from Nagano 北安曇郡 Kita-Azumi district 小谷村（おたりむら） Otari village
ReplyDeletekitsune キツネ fox and mujina ムジナ / tanuki タヌキ badger
If someone is bewitched by a fox or badger, they go to 神宮寺 the Temple Jingu-Ji to pray for healing.
Others ask a shaman for a special exorcistic ritual.
In the local dialect, a kitooshi 祈とう師 Kitoshi shaman is called Hoogen sama ホーゲンサマ Hogen Sama.
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https://gokurakuparadies.blogspot.com/2021/08/jinguji-fudo-niu.html
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Legend from Gifu Gifu 岐阜県
ReplyDelete揖斐郡 Ibi district 揖斐川町 Ibigawa town / 漫才岩 Manzai-Iwa
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A group of Manzai dancers coming from Aichi, 三河 Mikawa, were asked to perform a dance by a man who was resting in the shadow of a rock.
They climbed the rock and danced.
The man gave them a lot of money, but when they reached the village, the money had turned into tree leaves.
The villagers told them that there lived a vicious tanuki 狸 badger near the rock.
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https://omamorifromjapan.blogspot.com/2021/10/manzai-new-year.html
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Legend from Nagano 茅野市 Chino city / 泰平山 Taiheizan 安国禅寺 Ankoku Zenji
ReplyDelete.
Once late at night there was a knock at the gate of 安国寺 the Temple Ankoku-Ji.
When the priest opened, there was nobody.
But the same thing now happened every night.
One night the priest was fast to open the door and saw a mujina 狢 tanuki jump over the roof.
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https://gokurakuparadies.blogspot.com/2022/04/ankokuji-yakushi-kama.html
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