The Japanese raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides viverrinus^[1]), also known as tanuki (狸 or たぬき, [taꜜnɯki]) in Japanese, is a subspecies of the Asian raccoon dog.

Researchers^[2] have suggested that they be considered a separate species, N. viverrinus, or that raccoon dogs of Japan could be further divisible into separate subspecies as N. p. procyonoides (hondo-tanuki) and N. p. albus (ezo-tanuki), but both views are controversial.

As the tanuki, the animal has been significant in Japanese folklore since ancient times. The legendary tanuki is reputed to be mischievous and jolly, a master of disguise and shapeshifting, but somewhat gullible and absentminded. It is also a common theme in Japanese art, especially statuary.

"Tanuki" (狸) is often mistakenly translated into English as "badger" or "raccoon" (as used in the US version of the movie Pom Poko and outlined in Tom Robbins' book Villa Incognito), two unrelated types of animals with superficially similar appearances. Traditionally, different areas of Japan had different names for raccoon dogs as animals, which would be used to denote different animals in other parts of the country, including badgers and wild cats; however, the official word in the standard Tokyo dialect is now "tanuki", a term that also carries the folkloric significance.

The "real" raccoon is called araiguma (洗熊) in Japanese, and badger is anaguma (穴熊) or mujina (狢).

The Japanese raccoon dog is mainly nocturnal, but they are known to be active during daylight. They vocalize by growling or with groans that have pitches resembling those of domesticated cats. Another similarity shared with cats is that the Japanese raccoon dog arches it back when it is trying to intimidate other animals; on the contrast, they assume a similar defensive posture to other canids with a lowered body and will show their bellies to submit.

Usually social groups are limited to a breeding pair, but individual Japanese raccoon dogs may stay in a group of non-paired individuals until they find a mate.^[3]

The species is predominately monogamous. The breeding period for the species is synchronized between females and males and lasts between February and April. A litter (typically with 4–6 pups) is born after a gestation period of 9 weeks. The parents look after their pups at a den for around a month, and then for another month after the pups leave the den.

Japanese raccoon dogs live for 7–8 years in the wild, and have reached the age of 13 in captivity.^[3]

While tanuki are prominent in Japanese folklore and proverbs, they were not always clearly distinguished from other animals with a similar appearance. In local dialects, tanuki and mujina (狢, kyujitai: 貉) can refer to raccoon dogs or badgers. An animal known as tanuki in one region may be known as mujina in another region. In the modern Tokyo standard dialect, tanuki refers to raccoon dogs and anaguma refers to badgers. Regional dishes known as tanuki-jiru ("tanuki soup") do not contain actual tanuki. Some northern, very rural communities may eat tanuki stew (tanuki shichuu).^[4]

In Japanese slang, tanuki gao ("raccoon dog face") can refer to a face that looks like that of the animal, or a person's facial expression of feigned ignorance.^[5] By contrast, kitsune gao ("fox face") refers to people with narrow faces, close-set eyes, thin eyebrows, and high cheekbones

Some debate exists in the scientific community regarding speciation between the other subspecies of raccoon dog and the Japanese subspecies in that due to chromosomal, behavioral, and weight differences, the Japanese raccoon dog could be considered a separate species^[6] (i.e. Nyctereutes viverrinus rather than N. procyonoides viverrinus). The Japanese raccoon dog has a relatively smaller stomach and shorter fur of lesser insulation value than mainland raccoon dogs.^[7]

Genetic analysis has confirmed unique sequences of mtDNA, classifying the Japanese raccoon dog as a distinct isolation species, based on evidence of eight Robertsonian translocations. The International Union for Conservation of Nature Canid Group's Canid Biology and Conservation Conference in September 2001 rejected the classification of the Japanese raccoon dog as a separate species, but its status is still disputed, based on its elastic genome.^[8]

A not mutually exclusive position advanced by some researchers is that Japanese raccoon dogs could be further divided into separate subspecies as N. p. procyonoides (hondo-tanuki) and N. p. albus (ezo-tanuki).

The IUCN places the raccoon dog at "least concern" status due to the animal's wide distribution in Japan and abundant population, including as an introduced species throughout northeastern Europe. In many European countries, it is legal to hunt raccoon dogs, as they are considered a harmful and invasive species.^[9] In Japan the species is hunted mainly to prevent them from damaging crops; however, their fur is desired for use in calligraphy brushes and was exported chiefly to the United States before the outbreak of World War II. The animal is a common victim of vehicle accidents, with conservative estimates of up to 370,000 Japanese raccoon dogs being killed by vehicles each year in Japan.^[3]

This species is rarely exhibited in zoological parks. For example, only two zoos accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association – Zoo Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Red River Zoo in Fargo, North Dakota – currently exhibit this species in the United States. The Hangzhou Zoo in China and the River Safari in Singapore also have Japanese raccoon dogs. In the UK, Chew Valley Animal Park near Bristol in the south west of England has a breeding pair.

The tanuki has a long history in Japanese legend and folklore. Bake-danuki (化け狸) are a kind of tanuki yōkai (supernatural beings) found in the classics and in the folklore and legends of various places in Japan.

Although the tanuki is a real, extant animal, the bake-danuki that appears in literature has always been depicted as a strange, even supernatural animal. The earliest appearance of the bake-danuki in literature, in the chapter about Empress Suiko in the Nihon Shoki written during the Nara period, there are such passages as "in two months of spring, there are tanuki in the country of Mutsu (春二月陸奥有狢),^[10] they turn into humans and sing songs (化人以歌).^[11] ".^[12][13] Bake-danuki subsequently appear in such classics as the Nihon Ryōiki^[12][14][15] and the Uji Shūi Monogatari.^[12] In some regions of Japan, bake-danuki are reputed to have abilities similar to those attributed to kitsune (foxes): they can shapeshift into other things or people,^[12][15] and can possess human beings.^[12][16]

Many legends of tanuki exist in the Sado Islands of Niigata Prefecture and in Shikoku, and among them, like the Danzaburou-danuki of Sado, the Kinchō-tanuki and Rokuemon-tanuki of Awa Province (Tokushima Prefecture), and the Yashima no Hage-tanuki of Kagawa Prefecture, the tanuki that possessed special abilities were given names, and even became the subject of rituals. Apart from these places, tanuki are treated with special regard in a few cases.^[17]

The character 狸, pronounced lí in modern Mandarin, was originally a collective name for medium-sized mammals resembling cats in China, with the leopard cat as its nucleus. When this character was brought to Japan, it could not be suitably applied to any animals. Japanese intellectuals used the character to signify tanuki, stray cats, wild boars, Eurasian badgers, weasels, and Japanese giant flying squirrels.^[14][15]

From time immemorial, Japanese tanuki were deified as governing all things in nature, but after the arrival of Buddhism, animals other than envoys of the gods (foxes, snakes, etc.) lost their divinity. Since all that remained was the image of possessing special powers, they were seen as evil or as yōkai, with tanuki being a representative type. Some also take the viewpoint that the image of the tanuki has overlapped with that of the mysterious and fearful 狸 of China (leopard cat).^[15] However, since Japanese tanuki do not have the fearsome image that the leopard cats of China do, unlike in China, their image took the form of a more humorous kind of monster,^[15] and even in folktales like "Kachi-kachi Yama", and "Bunbuku Chagama", they often played the part of foolish animals.^[16][18]

Compared with kitsune, which are the epitome of shape-changing animals, one saying is "the fox has seven disguises, the tanuki has eight (狐七化け、狸八化け)". The tanuki is thus superior to the fox in its disguises, but unlike the fox, which changes its form for the sake of tempting people, tanuki do so to fool people and make them seem stupid. Also, a theory is told that they simply like to change their form.^[15]

The comical image of the tanuki having a large scrotum is thought to have developed during the Kamakura era, where goldsmiths would use tanuki pelts for the process of hammering gold nuggets into leaf. Tanuki may be shown with their testicles flung over their backs like travelers' packs, or using them as drums. As tanuki are also typically depicted as having large bellies, they may be depicted as drumming on their bellies instead of their testicles — particularly in contemporary art.

Stories of bake-danuki are told in each area of Japan, especially in Shikoku, and whenever mysterious events occur, it would be the work of a tanuki. There are also ones known internationally like the Inugami Gyoubu and his 808 followers of his household.

A common schoolyard song in Japan makes explicit reference to the tanuki's testicles:

It continues for several verses, with many regional variations.^[25]

The legendary tanuki has eight special traits that bring good fortune, possibly created to coincide to the hachi symbol (八, meaning 'eight') often found on the sake bottles the statues hold. The eight traits are these:

The statues available all over Japan of the tanuki are Shigaraki ware, a style of pottery long associated with tanuki imagery. According to Alice Gordenker, the modern version of the tanuki was developed by a potter named Tetsuzo Fujiwara, who moved to Shiga Prefecture in 1936 and whose pottery was admired even by the emperor.^[25]

Tanuki are a recurring theme in Japanese popular culture. The first exposure of non-Japanese to tanuki usually comes through exported Japanese media. However, they are often described as "raccoons" in translation or assumed as such if no species is given.^[28]

Notable appearances of tanuki in popular culture include:

Tanuki often appear alongside kitsune. For example, in Pom Poko, kitsune are seen coexisting with human society as gangsters and prostitutes, in contrast to the tanuki who attempt to resist it;^[29] and in Animal Crossing, the player's town is sometimes visited by an unscrupulous kitsune art dealer named Redd. In Super Mario 3D Land, Luigi's equivalent of Mario's Tanooki suit instead resembles a fox. In Kirby's Dream Land 3, the bosses of Sand Canyon are Pon and Con, a large tanuki and kitsune. They also appear in Kirby: Right Back at Ya. In Naruto, Gaara and Naruto, the holder of the Nine-Tails, are the only two jinchûriki to appear in the first part of the series, possessing tailed beasts that resemble a tanuki and a kitsune.

In Japanese cooking, the words "tanuki" and "kitsune" designate two varieties of the udon dish. Tanuki udon contains the flakes of fried tempura batter ("tenkasu"), while Kitsune udon contains fried tofu ("abura-age").