Tanuki: Japan's Raccoon Dog, in Folklore and in Real Life

What is a tanuki? 狸 (タヌキ), Japan's raccoon dog

A tanuki, written 狸 (たぬき, tanuki, “tanuki (Nyctereutes procyonoides)”), is a real animal: the Japanese raccoon dog. It's a wild member of the dog family (not a raccoon) that lives in Japan, and in folklore it's a shape-shifting trickster, which is why you see its statue outside shops and bars.

So there are two tanuki, and many pages mix them up. One is a nocturnal animal that eats almost anything. The other is a jolly, round-bellied spirit who drums on his belly. This guide takes them in turn.

Is a tanuki a dog or a raccoon?

It's a dog, in the biological sense. The Japanese raccoon dog (Nyctereutes viverrinus) belongs to the dog family, Canidae. A raccoon is a different animal: the dictionary gives the common raccoon as アライグマ (araiguma, “common raccoon (Procyon lotor)”), Procyon lotor, from North America. The two only look alike, and the tanuki's tail has no rings.

What it's like in real life:

• Size. A head and body of 50 to 68 cm, a tail of about 12 to 25 cm, and 4 to 6 kg, rising towards 10 kg after it fattens up in autumn.
• Food. An omnivore: rodents, birds, frogs, fish, insects, fruit, ginkgo nuts and carrion.
• Habits. It's mostly nocturnal and mostly monogamous, and tanuki share communal latrines.
• Winter. It doesn't hibernate in the strict sense. It fattens up in autumn. In snowy northern areas it spends much of the winter in a den, coming out in warm spells; in the warmer south it stays active.
• Voice. It growls and groans rather than barks.
• Lifespan. 7 to 8 years in the wild, and up to 13 in captivity.

How to write tanuki: 狸 and タヌキ

You'll see the word in three forms. The dictionary lists the kanji 狸, the hiragana たぬき and the katakana タヌキ, and marks the word as usually written in kana.

For the animal, katakana is the norm. Names of animal and plant species are commonly written in katakana: a biologist writes ヒト, not 人, for the human species. That's why the animal is so often written タヌキ. What is Katakana? explains the script. The kanji 狸 is a story of its own: in Chinese it first named several mid-sized mammals, civets in particular, and modern Chinese uses a different character for the tanuki. What is Kanji? covers how characters change meaning like this.

An older word, 狢 (むじな, mujina, “raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides)”), covers both the raccoon dog and the badger, and old texts don't always keep the two apart.

The word also has a figurative sense, "a sly person", as 狐 (fox) does.

The tanuki in folklore: a shape-shifting trickster

The story goes that it puts a leaf on its head and turns into a person, a monk or an object, then plays tricks on travellers. Japanese has a word for the spirit itself: 化け狸 (ばけだぬき, bakedanuki, “supernatural tanuki (Japanese folklore)”). It comes from 化ける (ばける, bakeru, “to take the form of (esp. in ref. to a spirit, fox, raccoon dog, etc.)”). Foxes do the same, and an old saying has it that the fox has seven disguises and the tanuki eight.

These are legends, not natural history. The Nihon Shoki, an early chronicle of Japan, has a passage about an animal in Mutsu that turned into a person and sang, in the chapter on Empress Suiko. It's usually named as the earliest tanuki story, although the text uses the word 狢, which today also means badger.

The tanuki's character shifted over time. Japan House says that in old stories it stood for hauntings and bad omens. Later it became a comic figure, "unclever and humorous in its trickery", while the fox is the sharper one. In many tales a tanuki turns into a human to drink and party alongside people.

A few tales and sayings are worth knowing:

• Belly drumming. Tanuki drum on their bellies at night, a sound written pon pon or pom poko. The words 腹鼓 (はらつづみ, haratsuzumi, “drumming on one's belly”) and 狸囃子 (たぬきばやし, tanukibayashi, “tanuki drumming on their stomachs”) come from it.
• The tea kettle. In the story of Bunbuku Chagama, a tanuki disguises himself as a tea kettle (茶釜 (ちゃがま, chagama, “kettle (used in tea ceremony)”)) belonging to a monk.
• Playing possum. 狸寝入り (たぬきねいり, tanukineiri, “feigning sleep”) is the Japanese for pretending to be asleep. It comes from a real habit: a tanuki may drop as if dead at a gunshot and run once it's left alone.

Tanuki statues: Shigaraki, the eight symbols and the big balls

The pot-bellied tanuki statue comes from the pottery town of Shigaraki in Shiga. You'll find it outside restaurants, bars and shops across Japan, as a 縁起物 (えんぎもの, engimono, “talisman”): a lucky charm that's said to invite customers in. Shigaraki's pottery has its own name, 信楽焼 (しがらきやき, shigarakiyaki, “Shigaraki ware”).

The history is recent. The figures began in the late 19th century as "sake-buying tanuki", and the form we know today was shaped by the potter Fujiwara Tetsuzō, who settled in Shigaraki in the mid-1930s. They spread after 1951, when Emperor Hirohito visited the town and found rows of tanuki waving little flags. He's said to have written a poem about it, and the newspapers took it up.

The eight good-luck traits, called 八相縁起 (hassō engi), are younger still. In 1952 Ishida Gōchō, a researcher of tanuki lore, proposed them, and a Shigaraki pottery shop began selling figures with a leaflet listing them. The wording varies by source. This is one common version:

Why the scrotum? It's played as a joke, not as anything sexual. In folklore the tanuki's testicles stretch: they can become a drum, a net or an umbrella, and they're described as "eight tatami mats" wide. One explanation for the image is that it came from Kanazawa in the Edo period, where goldsmiths beat gold into leaf using tanuki skins. That's a theory, not a proven origin. Another is a pun: ta-nuki can be heard as "beating the others", so the tanuki is said to win through kindness. That's wordplay, and the true origin of the word is uncertain.

Tanuki in film and games: Pom Poko and Mario

• Pom Poko. The Studio Ghibli film directed by Isao Takahata (1994, Japanese title 平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ). A colony of tanuki in the suburbs of Tokyo uses its shape-shifting to fight a housing development, Tama New Town. The film draws on the folklore above, belly drumming included.
• Mario's Tanooki suit. It first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988). With it, Mario can fly and turn into a statue. The suit is based on the bake-danuki, who use leaves to change shape.

Test what you know about Japan

Questions about tanuki

Is a tanuki a dog or a raccoon?

A tanuki is a dog, not a raccoon. It's the Japanese raccoon dog, a member of the dog family (Canidae) that only resembles a North American raccoon.

What do tanuki symbolize?

Tanuki symbolize good luck, prosperity and a friendly welcome. The statues are said to carry eight traits set out in 1952, among them a hat against the unexpected, a big belly for calm and a credit book for trust. In older folklore the tanuki is also a trickster and a shape-shifter.

Why are tanukis drawn with big balls?

The big scrotum on the statues stands for money and good fortune, and it's played for humour: the money bag is a pun on 金玉 (kintama, "golden balls"). In folklore they can stretch to eight tatami mats wide and serve as a drum, a net or an umbrella. One theory ties the image to goldsmiths in Edo-period Kanazawa, who used tanuki skins to beat gold leaf.

Why are tanuki illegal in the US?

Live raccoon dogs can't be imported into the United States as pets, because the federal government lists them as injurious wildlife. The US Fish and Wildlife Service says raccoon dogs breed fast, can carry rabies and eat songbirds. The federal rules list "any raccoon dog, Nyctereutes procyonoides" among the mammals that can't be imported. Permits can only be approved for zoological, educational, medical and scientific purposes. Facts on this page last checked on 2026-10-01.

Can I own a tanuki in the US?

You can't legally bring a tanuki into the US as a pet, because federal rules ban importing live raccoon dogs. An animal already in the country can still fall under federal and state rules, so check yours.

Can tanukis be pets?

Tanuki are wild animals, not domestic ones, and they aren't kept as ordinary pets. In Japan, capturing a wild animal is prohibited by the wildlife protection law unless a municipality grants a permit, usually for pest control.

How much is a tanuki pet?

No sensible price exists, because tanuki aren't sold as pets. In the US the import is banned, and in Japan capturing a wild tanuki needs a permit. A Shigaraki statue is far easier to buy.

Are tanuki friendly?

Real tanuki are wild and nocturnal, and aren't friendly pets. The friendly tanuki is the folklore one. In some areas of Honshu, wild tanuki suffer from sarcoptic mange, a mite disease, so keep your distance.

Can I pet a tanuki in Japan?

You can't pet a wild tanuki in Japan: wild animals can't be caught or kept without a permit, and a tanuki may bite or carry mange, so watch from a distance.

How long can tanuki live?

Japanese raccoon dogs live for 7 to 8 years in the wild. They have reached 13 years in captivity.

Sources

• Readings and meanings: JMdict (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0), including its notes that 狸 is usually written in kana and that 狢 covers both badger and raccoon dog.
• The animal: Japanese raccoon dog, English Wikipedia (taxonomy, lifespan, range, the Nihon Shoki, Pom Poko, Mario); タヌキ, Japanese Wikipedia (size, diet, latrines, winter, feigned death, the kanji 狸); Japan Nature Guides, On the trail of Japan's odd woodland dog with no bark (habits, mange); Samurai Tours, Tanuki (a dog, not a raccoon).
• Folklore: yokai.com on the tanuki (the stretching testicles); 化け狸, Japanese Wikipedia; Bake-danuki, English Wikipedia; University of Illinois Japan House, The Trickster Animal Spirit: Tanuki.
• Statues: Tanuki statue, English Wikipedia; 信楽焼 and 八相縁起, Japanese Wikipedia (the 1952 proposal, the eight traits).
• Katakana for species names: Katakana, English Wikipedia.
• Film and games: Pom Poko, English Wikipedia; Tanooki Suit, Super Mario Wiki.
• US law: 50 CFR 16.11, Importation of live wild mammals, Cornell Legal Information Institute; US Fish and Wildlife Service, Injurious list curbs spread of harmful wildlife and Injurious wildlife listings: what we do. Facts on this page last checked on 2026-10-01.
• Wild tanuki in Japan: Kitakyushu City, guidance on wildlife damage, on the ban on capturing wild animals; Ministry of the Environment, game animals (the tanuki is a game species, with a hunting season).
• Reviewed independently; the points about the Shigaraki symbols, keeping tanuki as pets in Japan and the folklore sayings are waiting for a native speaker's check.