Mar 13, 2007

P. Diddy vs Tanuki

In a news item quoted by litbrit at Shakespeare's Sister raccoon dogs aka Tanukis are being used for fur on clothing illegally. P. Diddy's line of clothing had "dog" fur on its collars as unadvertised. Major clothing stores are being cited as selling many lines of clothing with the dead dog skin as an accessory.

On a happier note, Wikipedia says,


A common schoolyard song in Japan (the tune of which can be heard in the arcade game Ponpoko and a variation of which is sung in the Studio Ghibli film Pom Poko) makes explicit reference to the tanuki's anatomy:

Tan Tan Tanuki no kintama wa,
Kaze mo nai no ni,
Bura bura
(Roughly translated, this means "Tan-tan-tanuki's testicles, there isn't even any wind but still go swing-swing-swing".[1] A more precise translation would be "tan tan tanuki's balls, even when there's no wind, go swing-swing" [citation needed]. It then proceeds to continue for several verses, with many regional variations. It is sung to the melody of an American Baptist hymn called Shall We Gather At The River?.[2])

A hymn to Tanuki's big balls.