Mittwoch, 31. Januar 2007

tanuki

talking about dog-like animals i have to tell about the "tanuki". this forest animal which is something between a badger and a raccoon dog (and in finnish it's probably mayra) is very present in japan, at least in mythological and symbolical way. right in the beginning of my stay here, i was invited with my fellow ars-residents to visit the living room of one old lady who was keeping a restaurant in the nearby village. the most precious thing in this living room was a fullfilled tanuki inside a glass vitrin. this animal was standing on its hind legs, wearing a straw hat and carrying a sake-bottle. we were to admire this tanuki and finally to touch its balls! it felt little bit strange at the time but now i start to realise what a big honour we were given...in the various songs telling about tanuki, he always has a pot-belly and these huge testicles. it's also a shape-shifter; it can for example turn into a tea kettle. so, i felt the necessity to learn some tanuki-songs.

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