Pathway to Japanese Literature

If I had possessed the erudition of Dong Zhongshu, I might have spat out a single line of a renowned verse and challenged that ladle-shaped creature; but alas, in my mediocrity, all I could manage was to lose my composure and flee—a performance that remains endlessly regrettable.

Now, my old friend from youth—now an elderly companion—came to comfort me at my sickbed and told this tale: A young man from my village had business in this village one night a few days prior; after talking until midnight, he set out to return east toward Higashibakata along a country path by the light of the stars.

At that very moment, the Asama Oroshi raged bitterly across the stubbled fields, its icy gusts tearing through the landscape as withered mulberry branches in the farmland shrieked like funerary flutes.

As the youth hurried along while clutching his lined kimono collar, there in the middle of Tonoda Canal Bridge stood a giant ladle blocking his path—he lurched forward with a gasp and collapsed unconscious on the spot.

At dawn he awoke and returned to the village to tell his tale—but was this that ladle-shaped old tanuki you had terrified among the mulberry fields over forty years ago, or perhaps a young tanuki’s transformation art inherited from its parent? Having unexpectedly become engrossed in reminiscing with an old friend, my illness consequently took an abrupt turn for the better. When I reflect upon my life, it has indeed been long years.

Kōzuke Province has long been Japan’s foremost habitat for tanuki since ancient times. While the tale of Bunbuku Chagama at Mōrinji Temple may be fabricated, in the nearby Ora District surrounding the temple they still thrive to this day. Particularly along the Watarase River embankment constructed under direct Home Ministry jurisdiction, tanuki holes could be found scattered everywhere, and villagers would often smack their lips over tanuki stew.

Above all, in the mountainous regions of Oku Tone, there were many tanuki.
In the mountain folds spanning Niiharu Village's various mountain ranges, Azuma District, and Echigo Province's border dwelled large tanuki with shaggy, overgrown fur—they were the hunters' fortune.

The foothills of Mount Haruna are also likely a major habitat for tanuki.

Three hundred and fifty to sixty years ago, beneath the floor of Mizusawa Kannon near Ikaho Hot Springs, there lived a venerable elder of the tanuki realm called Senkō. He claimed to be over a thousand years old and boasted of being sworn brothers with a tanuki who once transformed into the moon at Mount Hiei in Rakuhoku, only to have his tail exposed when detected by En no Gyōja; thus his transformation art manifested a thousand forms and ten thousand guises, making him foremost among tanuki associates in Kantō.

However, he had never associated with humans.
For it had been established that unless one associated with humans, shared their daily lives, and underwent rigorous training to conceal one’s true nature at all times, one could neither unify nor reign over the national tanuki realm—and regarding this matter, Senkō the Tanuki had spent many years in deliberation.
But holing up in his den and brooding alone would get him nowhere—so Senkō the Tanuki resolved to finally sally forth into Maebashi Castle town.

At that time, Maebashi Castle was under the governance of Takigawa Kazumasu—a senior retainer of Oda Nobunaga—stationed as Kantō's supreme overseer, and there existed no lord in neighboring provinces who could rival his authority.
Thus Maebashi Castle town reached the height of prosperity; samurai came and went in great commotion, merchants thrived, and the pleasure quarters never ceased their boisterous revelry—or so it is said.

Senkō visited the badger dwelling beneath the cliffs of Kyūjūku Valley to share a farewell drink before his departure, then arrived in Maebashi Castle town disguised as a young student.
He took up residence in a private boarding house near Konya-machi under the name Sasaki Hanzaburō.
This boarding house was exceedingly comfortable, with a garden containing flower beds and vegetable plots, and the residence was spacious.

During the day, he attended a cram school to study; in the mornings and evenings, he read books while strolling through the flower beds; and at night, he secluded himself in his second-floor room, absorbed in meditation.

By the way, the night view from the second floor of the boarding house was splendid. After all, Konya-machi formed the very heart of Maebashi Castle town's pleasure quarters. Amidst the mingling of strings, drums, gongs, and bamboo flutes, beautiful voices flowed ceaselessly through the air.

Though enveloped by the pleasure district—whether hearing the alluring songs of courtesans or listening to flutes and drums—Senkō's Sasaki Hanzaburō remained steadfast in purpose, his heart undisturbed by any distraction. Thus half a year had already slipped by.

The only people he associated with were his fellow students. Now, one summer night, Senkō—as Sasaki Hanzaburō—gathered three or four classmates and shared a drink on the second floor of his boarding house. That night too, a young geisha’s beautiful voice flowed out from the neighboring geisha house and reached Hanzaburō’s room. All of his classmates listened attentively. Then one of them said:

“Alluring, yet not vulgar.”

“That’s right.”
“But we hear the sound yet see no figure,” replied one of them.

“She must be around seventeen or eighteen,” another mused.
“By the way, only hearing her voice without ever meeting her—that seems like it could make for a poem, don’t you think?”

“It does seem so,” another agreed.

All the classmates thought so in their hearts.
Everyone set down their cups and took up paper and brushes, glaring at the blank white surfaces.
The drinking party went off track and turned into a poetry composition gathering.

Senkō the Tanuki was first to compose a poem.
When Senkō recited his verse, the group praised it as a masterpiece and applauded.
Of course no ordinary tanuki could compose poetry—but this was Senkō, wielder of supernatural powers.
He must have muttered something under his breath that somehow reached his classmates' ears.

While they were engrossed in exchanging pleasantries, the landlady below announced from beyond the sliding door, “The teacher has arrived, so I will show him in.”

The group panicked.
For students to be composing poems about geishas while drinking sake was hardly proper behavior.
Sasaki Hanzaburō immediately crumpled the paper on which he had written the poem and thrust it into his pocket.

“Teacher, we’ve only just started a drink.”

“Very well. Young men must bolster their spirits.”

Gasp—.

Thereupon, they changed bottles and cups to subject the teacher to a concentrated drinking assault.
Sasaki Hanzaburō—concerned his classmates might let slip something untoward in their drunkenness—feigned a visit to the lavatory, stepped onto the veranda from the second floor, and flung from his pocket the crumpled paper bearing that poem.
The cast-off paper sailed over the wall into the neighboring house’s garden.

The teacher and the students drank heavily until midnight and staggered home.

The neighboring house was a geisha house. The proprietor was an elderly woman nearing sixty who kept several geishas, among whom the most beautiful young one was her biological daughter. In other words, her own daughter. From a young age, she had been trained as an apprentice geisha, but the disreputable aspects of the trade were strictly prohibited. So even as a geisha, she remained a virgin.

In this pleasure quarter, rumors swirled about who would be the first to pluck this flower, and there was no shortage of suitors. However, both the mother and the daughter paid no heed to such matters whatsoever, their sole specialty being to calmly play and sing.

Her name was Komidori. While she had naturally mastered the three-stringed lute, flute, and drum, she devoted herself to women’s arts in general and excelled equally at reading books. And since her beauty rivaled roses themselves, she was truly remarkable.

The next morning, Komidori slipped into her garden clogs and went out to pick flowers in the flower bed when she saw a crumpled piece of paper lying near the wall. When she picked it up and smoothed out the wrinkles, there was a poem written on it.

The poem's meaning suggested its composer had long been enamored with her—though their forms had never met. It could be interpreted thus—

While Senkō the Tanuki had never laid eyes on Komidori's figure, Komidori had often glimpsed Senkō through gaps in the shoji screens as he strolled through the garden at dawn and dusk, book in hand.

The men I served every night at banquets were of such different character from him—as if of another race entirely.
I too had to soon quit this disreputable trade and enter a proper marriage in broad daylight like any human—but if I were to choose a husband, I would want one like that student boarding next door.

In this way, she had been pondering such things from time to time—and just at that moment.
When she finished reading, she became aware that her heart was pounding loudly of its own accord.

Therefore, Komidori, thinking she must not let this opportunity slip by, followed the rhyme of Senkō’s poem and poured all her feelings into verse.
And that same evening, she wrote this on blank paper and tossed it up to the corridor of Senkō’s room.

Of course, Senkō picked it up and read it.
"This girl is more remarkable than I had imagined. If I marry her and she doesn't see through my supernatural aura, it'll be quite the bargain.
The day will surely come when I can reign over the tanuki realm nationwide without anyone raising objections.
If I am discovered and chased around with a carrying pole, I need only tuck my tail between my legs and flee back beneath the floorboards of Mizusawa Kannon in my homeland—that would suffice.
No great loss there."

Two or three evenings later, as dusk was falling, Senkō was strolling near the wall while reciting a poem in a low voice. When Komidori heard this, she came running out into the garden.

“Well, well—are you the young lady from next door?”

“Oh my, being called ‘young lady’ is so embarrassing.”

Senkō ushered Komidori into his room. Though still a virgin, Komidori did not shy away from people like ordinary maidens would—attending banquets was her profession after all. She let herself be led into Senkō’s room.

“Your poem is quite remarkable—for a woman to compose something like that is truly impressive.”

“Oh my, how embarrassing—you’re the one who…”
“I’ve completely fallen under your spell.”

In this way, the two began to court each other earnestly from then on.
One day, Komidori came to visit Senkō and her expression turned serious once more,

“Do you have a wife?”

she abruptly posed the question.

“This is no joke.”
“I’m still a student.”
“Marriage is still something for the future, you know.”

“Oh, how wonderful!”
“But why haven’t you married yet?”

At this question, Senkō was at a loss for an answer, but—
“I do think of someone as beautiful as you, but an ideal person is rarely found.”
“Oh my, is that really true?”

Heart connected to heart—this was where their bond lay.
And so they parted after solemnly pledging to grow old together.

Senkō the Tanuki became utterly elated.
At last—my scheme has truly taken form.
First needing to share this news with his dear friend Badger and make him rejoice too, he took leave from school for a day or two and hastened off toward Mizusawa’s Ninety-Nine Valleys.

“Badger, are you there?”

“I’m here.”

With eyes wide and his large buttocks swaying, Badger emerged from the depths of the burrow toward the entrance.

“It’s been a while.”
“Since I hadn’t heard from you for so long, I thought maybe you’d gotten your tail caught by humans and been beaten to death! These past four or five days, I’ve been fretting over every crow’s caw I heard.”
“Well, it’s good to see you in one piece.”
“Come in, come in.”

“Ain’t nothin’ like that—I’m fine.”
“I’m not some Senkō who’d carelessly show his tail—”
“Set your mind at ease.”

“I see—it couldn’t be otherwise.”
“By the way,your youthful appearance is splendidly impressive—so refined indeed.”

That was only natural.
Since he had mastered his ancestral supernatural powers and had recently been deeply interacting with humans，his demeanor must have differed greatly from those dwelling in these mountains.
That was why he had come all this way today，taking time off from school specially—to report something and bring joyto you.

“Hmm.”

“You see, I’ve found myself a lover lately.”

“I see, that’s quite something! So does that mean there’s a female tanuki living right in the middle of bustling Maebashi Castle town?”

“No, no—she’s not a tanuki, but a human female.”

“Ah, that explains it.”
“I’ve been havin’ foul dreams these past two-three days—must’ve been this business all along.”

Though you spoke of bad dreams, she was utterly devoted to me. We’d even sworn a bond to last countless generations. His nose hair was long.

“With this, the opportunity to achieve my long-cherished plan has finally arrived—surely my brothers will rejoice, won’t they?”

“Well, I suppose that’s acceptable.”
“But hey, be extra careful—she’s human.”
“Trust in my capabilities and strength.”

Having consulted his friend Badger about all this and finding he didn’t strongly oppose, Senkō returned to his lodgings in Maebashi and presented the marriage proposal to Komidori’s mother.

The mother, initially opposed because the suitor was still a student, finally relented upon seeing her beloved daughter remain bedridden from illness.
However, there was a condition.
It was that due to family circumstances, they wished for her to continue her work for another year or two.
Once their financial situation became more stable, they would have her husband take her in—that was the arrangement.

Now, among Takigawa Kazumasu’s retainers was a samurai in his prime of discernment named Yoshino Suzumenosuke. Although responsible for maintaining order in Maebashi Castle town, Yoshino Suzumenosuke habitually abused his authority to extort bribes from the people, much like government officials of that era. And his conduct when drunk was utterly deplorable. From a quarrel at a banquet, he injured a comrade.

At the time, because the Warring States period had thrown society into chaos, the feudal lord had no leisure to address matters like abuse of authority or even minor bribery. Particularly since Kazumasu loved both women and alcohol, he possessed a profound understanding of drunken hearts. He simply pretended not to hear any drunken missteps.

Yet, even in such turbulent times, injuring a colleague was no ordinary matter. If they turned a blind eye to this, household discipline would collapse—and so Yoshino Suzumenosuke came perilously close to being expelled from Maebashi Castle.

What should I do? Isn't there some clever scheme?

Yoshino Suzumenosuke called his subordinate to consult, his expression of anguish a truly pitiable sight.

Yoshino Suzumenosuke’s subordinate was a man of petty cunning.

“Sir Yoshino, there’s no need to worry so much—I have a plan.”

“You have a good plan? Then help me!”

The fact that the lord was lecherous was known to everyone in the domain. Therefore, if they were to find two or three beautiful women within the territory and present them to His Lordship, dismissal would be out of the question. In fact, the stipend might even increase.

“Truly, this is a spot-on plan! Would you not search for a beauty who meets that standard?”

“Understood.”

Since Yoshino Suzumenosuke, serving as town magistrate, and his subordinate had mobilized their many retainers and secret agents to search the domain under the cover of their authority, it proved no particularly arduous task.

From this beauty-hunting contingent, the first to have a white-feathered arrow shot in her direction was Komidori—celebrated as the jewel of Maebashi’s pleasure quarter.
This outcome was indeed only natural.
The subordinate addressed Yoshino Suzumenosuke:

“As for the ransom, a hundred ryo should suffice.”

“Right—the cheaper the better.”
“Well now—if my neck stays attached through a mere hundred ryo payment, that’s no great burden.”

An order from the magistrate’s office demanding Komidori’s surrender reached her mother.
Senkō the Tanuki became utterly aghast the moment he heard this.

I could use my supernatural powers to transform into a beauty, become Komidori’s substitute, and present myself as a sacrifice at the magistrate’s office—that would be acceptable—but I must also consider what would happen if my disguise were stripped away. Even though I am a prominent figure in the tanuki world, dealing with samurai would be unmanageable. Yet, if I were to let Komidori be taken by the magistrate’s office without resistance, it would mean the ruin of our love. Sasaki Hanzaburō wondered if there was no deliberation for the times, let out a long sigh, and struck the tatami with his tail.

The mother’s grief was even greater.
According to circumstances, the aged mother wanted to become her daughter’s substitute, but with this wrinkled face, it was out of the question.
The mother and daughter spent their days holding hands and weeping.

He showed no regard for their grief.
The subordinate ordered the men, who then forced Komidori into a palanquin and took her to the magistrate’s office.

Fearing she might attempt to flee, Yoshino Suzumenosuke confined Komidori to a detached room under house arrest.
And so, not only did he await an opportune moment in Takigawa Kazumasu’s good graces to present this offering and save his neck, but even dreamed of promotion instead—raising celebratory cups with his subordinate.

However, unfortunately for Kazumasu, due to his usual excessive womanizing, he became a state of lethargy, and these days was said to be refusing audiences with most of his retainers.

In that case, there was no recourse but to await His Lordship’s full recovery and hope for favorable tidings. To prevent any careless mishap from befalling the beauty before then, security around the detached room had become far more stringent.

How many days had it been since Senkō had his lover taken from him?
He could bear it no longer.
Having become emaciated, he now cut a pitiable figure as a man.

Though he was a tanuki, his love remained pure.
He plotted to steal Komidori away should the chance arise.

Every night, he would manifest the supernatural powers inherited through his lineage, sneak into the magistrate office's detached room garden, and attempt to observe Komidori's condition—but with the samurai patrols so rigorous, there seemed little hope of him easily approaching her chamber.
Hiding behind a stone lantern, he elongated his head while darting his round, shadowed eyes about, desperately straining his heart.

“Intruder! He’s forced his way in!”

When one samurai shouted loudly, five or six burly warriors rushed in with hastily drawn swords, surrounded Sasaki Hanzaburō, and bound him hand and foot.

“There’d been a suspicious air about this mansion lately—this scoundrel’s doing.”

I too had noticed that strange smell wafting through the mansion at night—so this was its source. That young lover of Komidori’s—

“That’s it—tonight’s success is ours! Let’s have a drink to celebrate!”

They needed to bind him more tightly—they mustn’t let him escape.

They dragged him off to the Interrogation Grounds of the Magistrate’s Office.
After hearing the full account, Yoshino Suzumenosuke took his seat at the front of the Interrogation Grounds alongside his subordinate and began the questioning in a booming voice—but no matter how they pressed him, the suspect refused to utter a single word.
“Put him to torture!”
This bore a striking resemblance to the scenes commonly seen in interrogation rooms during this period.
After placing a heavy Ōya stone on the suspect’s knees, the attending guards struck his back repeatedly with thick clubs.
However, it seemed the final blow had struck in an unfortunate spot.

Ugh!

With a single groan, the mysterious man’s body went limp and toppled over sideways.
At the same time, his breathing appeared to have ceased.

“Hey guards! You’ve been too rough with those clubs!”

“Yes, but if we douse him with water, he’ll come right back.”

The moment they poured water from a bucket over his head using a ladle, the mysterious youth—still bound in layers upon layers of rope—transformed into an enormous tanuki as large as a calf.
It was truly an unforeseen event.

Ugh!

The samurai, their faces paling, leaped backward in retreat.
Yoshino Suzumenosuke's hand gripped his sword hilt.

A bizarre transformation.

Yoshino Suzumenosuke warily descended to the Interrogation Grounds and kicked the old tanuki, but it remained a tanuki.
Testicles as large as sweet potato sacks hung limply down between its legs.

For a human to take a tanuki as their lover—there had never been such a case heard of since ancient times. Perhaps that Komidori was a female tanuki.

“Don’t let her get away! Now!”

At Yoshino’s command, the samurai rushed to the detached room and harshly bound the weeping and screaming Komidori.

“If supernatural beings are buried as they are, there remains the risk they will return from the Netherworld.
First, skin it and keep the hide. Then douse the carcass in oil and burn it. Now, you lot!”

They dragged Senkō the Tanuki’s carcass from the Interrogation Grounds to the garden, piled bundled branches on top, doused it with oil, and set it ablaze.
Though he had been fully aware of the consequences, it was precisely because he had fallen in love with a human that the tanuki met such a pitiful end.

Once the towering pile of bundled branches had burned away and the oil was completely consumed, they sifted through the ashes to find both the tanuki’s flesh and bones had turned entirely to ash.
But within the ashes, something soft and squishy remained.

Finding this strange, a samurai used a stick to fish it out, brought his eyes close to examine it, and found what appeared to be the tanuki’s liver.
He kicked it with a garden clog.

Then, from within the soft, squishy, slimy liver, a strange thing flew out.
When they brought a candle flame close to examine it, there lay something perfectly shaped like a human being.

It was about the size of a thumb’s tip.

Suzumenosuke had it washed with water.
When the filth that had been clinging to it came off, it shone brilliantly in golden hues.

When tentatively touched with a finger, its texture was metallic and as hard as a gemstone.
From the clothes to the tabi socks, and from the facial features down to the eyebrows and hair—it perfectly replicated Komidori’s graceful form.

At this unprecedented phenomenon, Suzumenosuke placed it on his palm and stared wide-eyed, remaining speechless for some time.
However, he quickly regained his senses,

“This is an unprecedented bizarre event in all of history!”
“Bring that female tanuki here and kill her at once!”

Since the Senkō incident had begun at midnight, dawn was already approaching.
Before long, the first light of dawn faintly tinged the sky with pale hues.

They dragged Komidori to the same Interrogation Grounds and forced her down.
Her yuzen-patterned kimono—so vibrant it dazzled—and scarlet crepe underrobe threatened to spill from the hem of her restrained form.
It was as though a peony beaten by rain teetered on the brink of collapse—a scene of poignant elegance.

"That person must be a tanuki," Yoshino Suzumenosuke concluded inwardly.

With that, he glared at Komidori.
Hearing this utterly bizarre accusation, Komidori looked up at him with an expression that doubted her own ears.

"You female tanuki—reveal your true form and submit!"

"How absurd—I am no such thing as a tanuki!"

“For a mere beast to deceive an official of the authorities—this is the height of insolence! Your partner, that male tanuki, has already been disposed of. This time, I’ll tear your true form out of you!”

“No, I am by no means such a demonic creature. I implore you to show mercy.”

Komidori, now being treated as a tanuki, collapsed in tears—the very spirit near upended—by this investigation so utterly preposterous it defied all reason.

“Stop your nonsense, tanuki.”
“Now!”

When Yoshino Suzumenosuke barked his command, several samurai raised their clubs in unison and brought them down mercilessly upon Komidori—from head down back to buttocks—until the delicate young woman soon ceased breathing.

Following standard procedure, a samurai poured cold water over Komidori’s head.
This was the moment when demonic nature would reveal its true form.
The entire group held their breath and stared intently at Komidori, but no thick tail emerged.

“Pour more water!”

The samurai poured water from the bucket like a waterfall, but Komidori remained Komidori, stretched out at full length.

It must be an exceptionally ancient and tenacious tanuki.
“Hit her with the club harder!”

They bludgeoned the corpse with clubs until its bones shattered.
However, it remained human and did not transform into a female tanuki.

It’s suspicious.
Perhaps this was a miscalculation, but they reasoned that applying fire might make her—unable to bear the heat—transform into a great tanuki and come running out. So, following standard procedure, they piled bundled branches onto Komidori’s corpse, doused it in oil, and set it ablaze.

However, it showed not the slightest sign of transforming into a supernatural creature.
Before long, both the corpse and the pile of bundled branches had turned to ashes.
Now, when they stirred through the ashes, just as before, wasn’t there a soft, squishy lump that had failed to burn completely?

The sun had already risen in the eastern sky.
The morning clouds were quiet.

When a samurai stepped on the squishy lump with his geta, just as before, a small object shaped like a human figure came flying out.
When they washed it with water, there emerged a thumb-sized figure of a man—golden and radiant, unmistakable in form. Placing it on their palm and holding it up to the sunlight, they saw it perfectly matched the visage of the youth who had sneaked into the detached residence’s garden the previous night.
From the clothing to the shape of the topknot.

Yoshino Suzumenosuke, overwhelmed by the relentless string of bizarre occurrences, pinched his own knee.

“Gentlemen.”
“What in the world is happening here?”
“Could it be that we are now caught in the tanuki’s curse?”
“All of you—pinch the skin of your knees firmly.”

At this command, a subordinate—a man hardened by life’s trials—

“No, no—this must be a most gracious divine blessing.”
“The heavenly gods, surely moved by Lord Yoshino Suzumenosuke’s daily acts of mercy, have deigned to bestow these golden figurine treasures upon us.”
“It may well be that His Lordship considers presenting a living human to Lord Takigawa to be an act of grave disrespect.”

Deeming this a most reasonable observation, Yoshino Suzumenosuke listened to his subordinate’s words.
Thereupon, they wrapped the two golden figurines in brocade cloth, poured perfume over them, and placed them in a plain wood box.
And to Komidori’s mother, they informed her that her daughter had died of illness and had her receive an excessive amount of incense money.

Takigawa Kazumasu’s illness had completely healed.
Yoshino Suzumenosuke presented the plain wood box, prostrated himself at his lordship’s feet, recounted everything from his heroic tale of tanuki extermination the previous night to the succession of supernatural occurrences culminating in this factual outcome, and earnestly beseeched Takigawa Kazumasu’s wrathful heart to find peace.

"This is a rare incident, unheard of in this world. Then I shall accept and treasure it," Kazumasu declared magnanimously as he received the plain wood box.

And then, attempting to behold the golden, radiant form of this unparalleled figurine, when he opened the box’s lid, a terrible stench assailed Kazumasu’s nose.
The bridge of Kazumasu’s nose contorted as if about to bend.

But when he endured and peered into the box’s depths, the so-called golden radiance proved nothing but a blatant lie. Only two squishy, gore-like dark purple lumps were emitting an unbearable stench.

Kazumasu’s fury needed no explanation there. Not only were your usual deeds unforgivable, but to mock me—your lord—and force me to embrace such filth? Detestable wretch. He was immediately executed.

Yoshino Suzumenosuke was dragged from that spot to Tonegahara and ended up beheaded.

Takigawa Kazumasu’s Maebashi Castle was located on a different site from the current Gunma Prefectural Office grounds constructed by the Matsudaira family.
The story goes that its ruins lie upstream in Kamiishikura Village on the opposite bank of the Tone River.

That concludes the story, but Senkō the Tanuki—born near Mizusawa Kannon—having aroused desires unbefitting a quadruped, strayed from the wit innate to tanuki, and due to excessive pure-heartedness, ultimately met a fleeting end.

Since that time, it is said that within the tanuki community, taking humans as lovers has been strictly forbidden.

The badger of Tsukumo Valley, unaware of the tragedy that had occurred in Maebashi Castle town, was said to have withdrawn deep into his burrow and continued waiting for Senkō the Tanuki’s return to his homeland even into the Showa era.

Next, in China, there was one who resembled Japan’s General Tojo Hideki—overestimating himself far too much, he killed his friends and ultimately ended up as tanuki stew, meeting their mutual end.