Grateful Tanuki

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Happy New Year everyone 😆🌈💕✨⭐

May all your wishes come true and may all your days be full of love and happiness this year! 

Here is another happy story for you ✨🎁 Enjoy! Thank you for visiting my blog 🙏💖✨

Tanuki (raccoon dog)

(Translated and arranged by Saya)

A day before yesterday, I went to Hakone *1 on a business trip; and while I was there, I experienced something similar to the story "The Grateful Crane." *2

After I finished my work, I was driving on a mountain road, but it was so foggy that I could barely see anything. 

That was why I didn't notice it when a baby tanuki (raccoon dog) *3 suddenly ran out into the road. I ran over it before I could stop the car. 

"Oh no, is it dead!?" 

I got out of the car and walked over to the tanuki. It was alive but not moving. 

Luckily, I managed to find a vet nearby using the satnav and took the tanuki there. 

It turned out that the tanuki was fine apart from a scratch on its head. 

But it looked so pitifully thin and undernourished that I fed it some food and massaged its body until it looked well again. 

(I was worried that I might get scolded by the vet for doing so, but he was a good guy and didn't say anything.)

After that, I carried the tanuki into my car again and drove back to the road where I originally encountered it, and let it go. 

Back in my hotel, I was watching TV in my room when the doorbell rang. 

I wondered if it might be a hotel staff and opened the door. A middle aged man was standing there. 

The man was grinning from ear to ear, and to be honest I thought he looked a bit creepy. 

Then the man said, "It's nothing special..." and gave me something wrapped up in leaves. *4

I was puzzled. 

"I just want to show you my gratitude." He said again, and went away. 

I opened the leaves and found in there two white, round cakes.*5 The outer layer of the cakes was so soft and springy, and the red bean paste inside them was sweet. They were exceptionally delicious cakes. 

The man had a bandage on his head fixed in place by adhesive tape. I wondered if he was that tanuki I rescued.

I thought the tanuki was a child but it was actually a middle aged man. LOL

 

On my way home, I looked around in the local shops for the same round cakes, but couldn't find them. 

They tasted fantastic. I would love to taste them again...

 

 

 

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* 1 Hakone --- A popular holiday destination where you will find lots of hot springs.

➡(Hakone Japan)

*2 The Grateful Crane --- A children's story in which a poor farmer receives good fortune after he rescues a wounded crane.　

➡(Read the full story on Wikibooks) 

OR Watch the animation of the story on Youtube ➡(Grateful Crane on Youtube)

*3 Tanuki (Wikipedia) --- In Japanese folklore, Tanuki is depicted as a prankster, and master of disguise and shape-shifting. 

➡(Tanuki: Mythology Wiki) 

➡(Tanuki the Tipsy Trickster: Why a Well-Endowed Raccoon Dog Is Big in Japan)

➡(Tanuki:The Canine Yokai with Big Balls)

💛Tanuki is also a symbol of good luck and fortune. You may sometimes find a tanuki figurine from Shigaraki Tanuki Village  being displayed at the door of shops and houses in Japan.

➡(Learn about the mysterious and lucky Japanese Shigaraki tanuki! )

➡(You Don’t Want to Know About His ‘Money Bags’! Weird, Lucky Japanese Tanuki in Shiga)

💛Tanuki is featured in the Studio Ghibli film Pom Poko (See Wikipedia).

*4 Leaves --- There are many traditional Japanese sweets and cakes that are wrapped up in leaves. 

➡(Sakuramochi)  ➡(Kashiwamochi) ➡(Sasamochi)

➡(NHK documentary on Sasamochi: Through the Kitchen Window: Misao Kuwata - Mochi Rice Cakes Wrapped in Bamboo Leaves)

💛Also, tanuki often uses leaves as a medium when they shape-shift or do other various tricks.

*5 Round cakes --- Manju in the original text. Manju is often sold in onsen (hot spring) towns, and those are called "onsen manju."

➡(Onsen Trivia: Onsen Manju (Steamed Buns))

➡(Onsen Manju And Other Popular Souvenirs From Atami)

➡(Kusatsu onsen ‘s Onsen manju is good for eating around and taking out)

😁 ➡(Kit Kat Has Done It Again! Taste the New Limited Onsen Manju Kit Kat in Japan!) ➡(Available at this store)

A manju I had the other day at home. It reminded me of this story 🤣✨

Shigaraki Tanuki Village

Baby Tanuki

Albino Tanuki

💙💚Click here for a scary story that involves a manju ➡(I can't open them)