Description

Tanuki Cops. – たぬき警察 (Tanuki Keisatsu)

• About this Yokai:

– aka the ‘raccoon dog police’ / ‘tanuki police’ – occasionally aka “TANUKI EXTREMISTS” – modern slang given to obsessive tanuki fanatics who are sticklers for rules, animal facts &/or cultural lore related to tanuki & raccoon dogs, and often taking it too far. Often its a derogatory term (rather than a self-label) given to those who ‘police’ or otherwise make a big deal out of minor mistakes related to the topic as a ‘pet peeve’ becoming ‘serious’ or ‘angry’ when someone has gotten a tanuki related cultural, or animal fact, incorrect. – For example, they become annoyed & will attack those that have has mistitled tanuki as “raccoons” or if someone has misspelled the name like “tanooki.” – Another good example is when someone gets angry with artists who illustrate a tanuki’s fur, masks &/or tail ‘incorrectly’ (most infamously giving the tail stripes like that of raccoons.) – Similar to real police; they often come across as bullies, and like real tanuki, they are in the habit of acting a bit unhinged… almost as if they were perhaps, possessed…??

–to make any of these mistakes are THE MOST SERIOUS TANUKI CRIMES!!!

in a nutshell: It’s just a modern-day figure of speech for a tanuki fanatic who takes the topic a bit too seriously. However, In their defence… (allow me to elaborate in a similar unhinged manner…)

• A Few Tanuki Facts •

Name: Tanuki Police - たぬき警察 - [Yokai/Slang]
SKU: tanuki-police
Availability: InStock

Tanuki ARE NOT raccoons!! They aren’t even related!!!

Tanuki are of the canid family & as such are much more closely related to foxes & wolves (Like dogs, they have similar paw prints and even sniff each other’s butts!!!) – The main similarity & reason for this mistake is their “face masks” – and since they’re often translated as “raccoon dogs” it leads to a lot of cross-cultural confusion. – Unlike Tanuki: Raccoons are native to North America & Canada and are an invasive species in japan! – ‘Raccoon dogs’ are native to Japan and some parts of China, Tanuki are also an invasive species in Russia & some parts of Europe! – Tanuki tails are decidedly not striped, the stripe is largely a product of anime & cartoons, (it is usually a stylistic choice.) The origin of the confusion: is largely thanks to pop culture!!!

[a zoo’s chart visualizing the difference.]

Some classic examples of famous pop-culture Tanuki mislabeling. •
Mario has worn a ‘Tanooki suit’ since (SMB3, 1988.) which was often translated as the ‘raccoon suit’ in guide books & official media.
Studio Ghibli’s Movie: Pompoko (1994.) also chose to translate “tanuki” as “raccoon” perhaps in an attempt to be more relatable to American audiences: unfortunately this just caused even more confusion abroad!
in Animal Crossing (2001) Tom Nook is often labelled as a raccoon. (despite having a tanuki pun-name.)

These series are so popular, that today, the grand majority of the population & those who only care to learn about tanuki/raccoon dogs at a base level of understanding – continue to make this error! Much to the disamusement of tanuki fans!! – as such there are several dedicated Twitter accounts & blogs (in both English and Japanese) which are dedicated to listing popculture mistakes or clearing up this discrepancy specifically!

As a tanuki, I feel it is important to keep in mind that (folklore wise) tanuki are also very powerful shapeshifters & tricksters: so each time you see a Tanuki illustrated with a striped tail; it’s far more likely that the Tanuki in question is fully aware of what it is doing. —Perhaps it’s even making fun of you, or has transformed, purposefully trying to trick others into thinking that it’s a raccoon!! -(I cannot think of a more perfect crime than hiding in plain sight!!!)- we aren’t as dopey as you might think!!

–Uh I mean… What!?!–

–I digress…it’s fairly silly to take this topic overly seriously and it is not at all a crime to make these cultural mistakes–nor is it particularly in bad taste to correct people when discussing the topic. –However, there are some people out there who certainly take it too far and can be pretty rude about it!!

Similar to this: there are also the “Kimono Police” old ladies (aged 40-60) who go around correcting people’s kimonos obsessively!!

..this yokai is not to be mistaken with Keitakun the literal tanuki-cop mascot for Shiga prefectures police force!

Sticker Art by @Samkalensky (yo, that’s me!!) – Part of my Night parade of 100 Demons – Yokai & Japanese folklore sticker collection, weather-resistant 4″ Glossy sticker. Check my shop & follow @samkalensky for many more!

• See also: my other posts about tanuki!