Comments on: My new friend, Mr Tanuki! http://japanlifeandreligion.com/2009/12/04/my-new-friend-mr-tanuki/ My life as a father, Buddhist, Japanophile and Koreaphile. Tue, 29 May 2012 07:24:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Doug http://japanlifeandreligion.com/2009/12/04/my-new-friend-mr-tanuki/#comment-3612 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:51:04 +0000 http://nihonshukyo.wordpress.com/?p=5838#comment-3612 Ha! Yeah, I’ve heard all about that. My wife’s family was more strict in that regard, so growing up my wife and sibling weren’t allowed to watch the late night TV shows, and other such tom-foolery. So, not every Japanese household agrees with the more colorful aspects of Japanese entertainment. :)

]]> By: Robert http://japanlifeandreligion.com/2009/12/04/my-new-friend-mr-tanuki/#comment-3610 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:28:52 +0000 http://nihonshukyo.wordpress.com/?p=5838#comment-3610 –”It’s a family-friendly blog. ”

You probably won’t be surprised at what is family friendly in Japan. You should see Ghibli’s Pom-Poko. An anime about　a group of Tanuki’s (reminiscent of Watership Down actually). Not something you’d see in Western culture I think ! アハハハ

]]> By: Doug http://japanlifeandreligion.com/2009/12/04/my-new-friend-mr-tanuki/#comment-3608 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:21:08 +0000 http://nihonshukyo.wordpress.com/?p=5838#comment-3608 Hi guys, sorry for the late reply:

Johnl: The maneki-neko is from Wikipedia, not my own. :) Great story, by the way. I wasn’t aware of the background behind the little cats, so that’s impetus for another blog post. Thank you. :)

Jamie McLeod: Thanks for passing along the story. I’ve seen other stories were tanuki are more cute/mischevious as opposed to mean or spiteful, but certainly not always the case.

Robert: Yup, I left that one out. It’s a family-friendly blog. ;)

]]> By: Robert http://japanlifeandreligion.com/2009/12/04/my-new-friend-mr-tanuki/#comment-3592 Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:23:16 +0000 http://nihonshukyo.wordpress.com/?p=5838#comment-3592 Your tanuki is missing some of the defining characteristics of tanuki statuettes!
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ek20080715wh.html

]]> By: Jaime McLeod http://japanlifeandreligion.com/2009/12/04/my-new-friend-mr-tanuki/#comment-3591 Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:04:49 +0000 http://nihonshukyo.wordpress.com/?p=5838#comment-3591 I first heard about the tanuki in the story “Tanuki” by Jan Hodgman from the book Nixon under the Bodhi Tree and Other Works of Buddhist Fiction. It’s kind of a sad story, but also very sweet. I won’t give away the storyline, in case you ever plan to read it, but it ceters around their mischief-making habits, includes a fun twist on their legendary shape-shifting abilities.

]]> By: johnl http://japanlifeandreligion.com/2009/12/04/my-new-friend-mr-tanuki/#comment-3590 Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:29:46 +0000 http://nihonshukyo.wordpress.com/?p=5838#comment-3590 Hi, Doug! Is your maneki neko also a bank? It is holding a gold coin that says ‘sen man ryou’ or 10 million ryo, with a ryo being a unit of currency equivalent to a ‘koku’ of rice, which is enough rice to keep one person alive for a year. So the coin is worth a lot more than 10 million dollars–can you fit that much in your bank? I am not too far away from Gotokuji temple, one of the places where the maneki neko is said to have originated. The temple recently built a three-storey pagoda which includes carvings of the kitties. Here is a link (in Japanese)–you can see the pagoda but not enough detail to see the maneki neko:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://itot2.jp/setagayaku/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/gotokuji2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://itot2.jp/setagayaku/525&usg=__bgejAzS7qRBV73huArslonp8vp4=&h=300&w=400&sz=240&hl=en&start=51&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=ry83m6cnCuY0dM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%25E8%25B1%25AA%25E5%25BE%25B3%25E5%25AF%25BA%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den-us%26sa%3DN%26start%3D42%26um%3D1

A samurai was said to be waiting out a rainstorm under a tree on the temple grounds. He saw a cat in nearby building seeming to beckon him. When he went to investigate, the tree he was standing under was hit by lightning. So he set up a shrine to honor the cat for saving his life. Nowadays, shop keepers hope the statuettes will bring in a lot of customers.
JL

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