Thanks to an article at Salon's How the World Works, I was reintroduced to tanuki and their amazing *ahem* testicles. The tanuki, in reality, is a wild, unterritorial dog that looks like a raccoon or badger (exhibit A)
Like kitsune, the tanuki is a shapeshifter in Japanese mythology. As such, they are mischevious but not necessarily mean-spirited, and can be absent-minded or stupid.
But, the most memorable aspect of the legendary tanuki are their enormous testicles. Witness these woodcuts from a famed Japanese artist of yore.
Like kitsune, the tanuki is a shapeshifter in Japanese mythology. As such, they are mischevious but not necessarily mean-spirited, and can be absent-minded or stupid.
But, the most memorable aspect of the legendary tanuki are their enormous testicles. Witness these woodcuts from a famed Japanese artist of yore.
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