ANIME DROP / Tanuki

This one is a really entertaining character you can find among our limited collection of anime-styleNofts and win through our Airdrop campaign.

 Also Known as Bake-danuki, Tanuki is a yokai, a demon in Japanese folklore. Major cutsie, Tanuki translates as raccoon dog and, apparently, looks like one. 

Characteristics 

As the raccoon dog itself, Tanuki yokai really lives up to the title. They are very resourceful and will scavenge and eat just about anything, much like any raccoons. Their main habitat is the forest and the mountains. 

Bake-danuki are portrayed as being mischievous, quite often lazy, absent-minded, gullible, and guided by food. Hands up who feels like tanuki incarnate ✋

No wonder we depicted the Tanuki Noft with a soup bawl, lying down and enjoying the meal 😉

Attributes

They are often illustrated with eight special features that are said to bring good fortune:

• 😄 a friendly smile
• 🤰the belly
• 👒 a hat or actually a leaf that protects against bad weather and troubles (absolutely relate, why one needs a hat when there’s a leaf)
• 👁big eyes
• 🦝 a strong and steadfast tail that brings success 
• 🧧a promissory note showing trust and confidence 
• 🍶a virtuous sake bottle 
• 💡a very prominent scrotum, symbolizing wealth and financial luck 

Behavior

Unlike malicious and calculating fox spirits (see the post about Katsumi), Bake-danuki are often clumsy and bumbling and drunk on sake in many tales. In many tales Tanuki would take the form of a large monk, again, drunk on sake.

One story depicts them as vengeful, the others as grateful and benevolent creatures. Then, there are also trickster stories where Tanuki plays some practical jokes, ranging from harmless to tragic. Oops. But whatever the outcome, they still seem to be enjoying it

So, which strategy seems to be suiting Tanuki Noft the most - attack, hide, or protect? Smart hiding seems to be this little trickster’s style. 

Don’t miss our Airdrop and a chance to win Tanuki Noft, as well as 9 more unique anime-style Nofts that have never been on sale anywhere before!