Bunbuku Chagama

File:Japanesefairytalse01no16thom0025crop.jpg

Bunbuku chagama performing tightrope.

―Mrs. T. H. James, "The Wonderful Tea Kettle" (1886)

Template:R is a Japanese folktale or fairy tale about a tanuki (raccoon dog), that uses its shapeshifting powers to reward its rescuer for his kindness.

Overview

The fairy tale version has been translated into English as "The Accomplished and Lucky Teakettle" (1871) by Mitford and as "The Wonderful Tea Kettle" (1886) in the crepe-paper book series published by T. Hasegawa. The raccoon dog is ill-treated as a tea-kettle at a temple and sold off; it later performs a dance and tightrope walking routine, and the subsequent owner turned showman acquires great wealth.

In most folk tale versions, the raccoon dog or fox transforms into a kettle so that its human friend or benefactor can make profit by selling the fake kettle, typically to a priest.

In legend, Bunbuku chagama is the name of a tea kettle owned by priest Shukaku who turned out to be an ancient raccoon dog or mujina, the supposed kettle still on view at Template:Illm temple which Shukaku served.

Etymology

File:Yoshitoshi Bunbuku Chagama.jpg

The fairy tale originated from the legend of the raccoon dog priest (Shukaku) of Morin-ji, who owned a magic "luck-sharing" tea kettle Bunbuku chagama.

―Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1889-1892.

One suggested hypothesis is that bunbuku is an onomatopeic word mimicking the sound of boiling water, while the character buku (fuku) in the name denotes "good luck" or "good fortune".Template:R

A second explanation is that bunbuku when written as means "sharing (bun) the wealth/fortune/luck (fuku)".Template:R This is according to the origin tale (engi) surrounding Morin-ji,Template:Sfnp and the essay Kasshi yawa.Template:Refn

Yet another theory claims that the correct name is , with bunka signifying a mild flame and buka signifying an intense flame. This explanation is given, for example, by Toriyama Sekien.

Fairy tale

The following summary is based on three early English translations of the fairy tale version.Template:Refn

At a temple called Template:Illm in Kōzuke Province (now Gunma Prefecture),Template:Efn the master priest (abbot)Template:Refn owns a chagama (tea kettle). When the priest sets the kettle on a hearth,Template:Refn the kettle sprouts a head and a tail (or legs as well), and turns into a half-badger, half tea-kettle creature.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp What is loosely translated as a "badger" here is strictly speaking a tanuki or raccoon dog.Template:R

The priest and his novicesTemplate:Efn subdue it, and since it reverts to the form of an ordinary kettle, they sell it to a traveling tinkerTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp or rag-peddler.Template:SfnpTemplate:Refn The kettle reveals its half-tanuki form to the peddler,Template:Efn and the merchant acts on a friend's advice to command the beast to turn tricks,Template:Sfnp or, is persuaded by the tanuki itself, which bargains to perform acrobatics in exchange for being well-treated. The peddler agrees to neither put it over hot flame nor stow it away in a stuffy box, and share what food he has.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

The man sets up a circus-like roadside attraction and charges admission for people to see the tea-kettle badger walking a tightrope to the tune of music. The man becomes wealthy, and returns the kettle to Morin-ji temple.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

Translations

A. B. Mitford published a version of it entitled "The Accomplished and Lucky Teakettle" in Tales of Old Japan (1871),Template:Sfnp illustrated by woodcuts from drawings by the artist "Ôdaké".Template:Sfnp

A similar (slightly more elaborate) plot is found in "The Wonderful Tea Kettle" (June 1886), the retelling by Mrs. T. H. James (Kate James), published by Hasegawa Takejirō as Japanese Fairy Tale Series No. 16 (these books are classed in the chirimen-bon or "crepe-paper books" genre).Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp The artist, who was not credited in print,Template:Sfnp has been identified as from the signature on the cover art.Template:R

Also of similar plot is the Japanese version retold by Template:Illm, also published in English as "The Tea-Kettle of Good-Luck" in the anthology Iwaya's Fairy Tales of Old Japan (1903) translated by Hannah Riddell. Iwaya's version that appeared in Nihon Otogibanashi is said to have established enduring recognition of the tale in Japan.Template:Sfnp

The tale has also been referred to as "The Lucky Tea-Kettle" by Basil Hall Chamberlain, under a handbook entry for "Fairy tales".

Folktale

The tale group "Bunbuku chagama (Bunbuku Tea-kettle)" has been categorized as Types of Japanese Folktales No. 130 by Keigo Seki.Template:R Seki here treats the tale group as one involving the fox, and summarizes as follows:

The dancing raccoon dog, which is a familiar motif in the fairy tale, is comparatively rare among folk tales.

Fox and tanuki

Seki's Japanese publications (Nihon mukashibanashi shūsei and Nihon mukashibanashi shūsei) classes the tale group as number 237B, and allows either fox or tanuki for the role.Template:RTemplate:R

Indeed, there are both fox or tanuki folktale examples.

One example involving a "badger" (Template:R) is the English-summarized folktale "Bunbuku Teakettle" collected from Shimoina District, Nagano.Template:Efn This tale is quite similar to the untranslated fox tale "" ("Shapeshifting teakettle") from Shiwa District, Iwate:Template:R in either case, the beast-kettle is sold for 3 ryō and flees to the mountains in the end.Template:R

Fuzzy classification

It was the opinion of Kunio Yanagita that tales in this Bunbuku groupTemplate:Efn and tale group[s]Template:Refn are of a common type in the wider sense and not quite distinguishable. This is because "Fox Harlot" not only transforms into harlot, but in some cases may change into a teakettle, horse, and harlot, exhibiting three transformation motifs in all.Template:RefnTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Refn One folktale Seki entitled "The Good Fortune kettle" is such a case, where the fox transforms into a kettle, girl, and horse.Template:R

Seki also expressed opinion similar to Yanagita's, saying that tale types such as "Bunbuku chagama", "The Fox and Horse-dealer", and "The Fox Prostitute/Harlot" all belong to a larger group of tales known in the West as the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" type (ATU 325).

Origins

File:Taxidermy of Raccoon Dog-Morinji, Tatebayashi, Gunma.JPG

Taxidermy of a raccoon dog (tanuki), with waraji on its hind feet, displayed at Morin-ji.

The fairy tale version is thought to be connected to the legend about an inexhaustible tea kettle at the temple Template:Illm in Tatebayashi, Gunma, owned by a priest named who turned out to be an ancient mujina (raccoon dog or badger).Template:R

The nineteenth century fairy tale (such as represented by Iwaya Sazanami's version) may also be descended from the seventeenth to eighteenth century Edo Period popular fiction of the akahon type.Template:Sfnp

Morin-ji legend

The priest Shukaku (who later turned out to be a raccoon dog) had accompanied the priest who founded the Morinji-temple during the Ōei era (year 1426Template:Sfnp); then while serving the 7th abbot Shukaku brought out an inexhaustible tea-kettle or cauldron (chagama), able to supply hot water day and night without running out, and thus was able to serve tea to over one thousand priests (the occasion was a thousand-man Template:Illm held in 1570Template:Sfnp). Shukaku said the kettle was called Bunbuku chagama because it had eight virtues and shared (bun) its fortunes (fuku); it imparted immunity from thirst ailment, virtue in both scholarly and martial arts, intelligence, fearlessness, popular affection, luck and advancement, and longevity.

Shukaku

As to what became of Shukaku, during the tenure of the 10th abbot at the temple, rumors began to circulate that he would all of a sudden grow furry in his limbs and sprout a tail. Shukaku then confessed to being a mujina aged several thousand years. He had heard the preaching of the Buddha Sakyamuni at Holy Eagle Peak, moved to the Tang Empire and has lived in Japan these 800 or so years. Before he left he showed his friends conjured up visions of the Battle of Yashima and the Buddha preaching before a crowd of Buddhist saints (rakan).Template:Sfnp

The aged raccoon dog first living in India and China before coming to Japan resembles the circumstance of Tamamo-no-Mae, the legendary female nine-tailed fox, and the motif is thought to be modeled on that vixen legend.Template:Sfnp

In variant recensions, Shukaku was a , and the revelation of his tea kettle occurred at the gathering in Tenshō 10 or 7 (1582 or 1579). Here, his past reached further into remote antiquity since he says he came to Japan with Jofuku 1800 years before, after living India for 500 years and in China for 1000 years.Template:RefnTemplate:RTemplate:RTemplate:RTemplate:R

Sources of Morin-ji legend

This legend is documented in origin-tales (engi) concerning Morinji and the tea-kettle, published in several editions by Morin-ji temple. The title is borne by the earliest edition (nominally 1587, but probably dating to around the Genroku era or c. 1700) as well as later undated editions (possibly c. 1800).Template:Sfnp

The text of the later edition of Bunbuku chagama ryakuengi contains more detail (motifs), and is identical to the account found in the essay Template:Illm (1821–1841) by Kiyoshi Matsura.Template:Sfnp

Edo period fiction

Bunbuku chagama exist in popular fiction or kusazōshi format, from the akahon or "red book" periodTemplate:R (late 17th to early 18th century).Template:Sfnp

One example is an edition of Bunbuku chagama printed by Urokogataya, dating to c. 1735–45.Template:RefnTemplate:R The storyline is as follows. A monk named Bunbuku serving Lord Higashiyama in KyotoTemplate:Refn captures an old raccoon dog (mujina) by causing the creature to lower its guard by joining the monk in dance. Bunbuku and his comrades, the four tea monks, decide to butcher the creature and make it into soup (Template:Illm).Template:Refn The creature flees but is cornered and turns itself into a tea kettle. The monks place the kettle on fire and are amused to see it turn halfway back into the furry creature, and it escapes. The lord hears of this incident, and declares this to be disgraceful, ordering the monks to be stripped of clothes and cast out. The old raccoon dog finds the monks and decides to stretch out the skin of its testicles and cover them up like a blanket (Template:IllmTemplate:Sfnp), by way of revenge. The monks were slightly discomfited, but when they woke up, captured the beast and presented it to their lord, and are restored to his good grace.Template:RTemplate:R

This Urokogata edition is considered a remake from Template:Illm's Bunbuku chagama,Template:R dating to the Kyōhō era (1716–1736).Template:RTemplate:Sfnp This text follows a similar story-line except it is a fox which is imperiled with being cooked by the Higashiyama priests and turns into a tea kettle, and the fox entrusts the revenge to the raccoon dog.Template:RTemplate:SfnpTemplate:R This work too has its precedence, a similar tale dating back to around the Enpō or Tenna eras (1673–1684), and entitled .Template:RTemplate:R

In popular culture

An animated movie based on the tale was produced in 1928 by Yokohama Cinema Shoukai.

Passing reference to this story occurs in the animated film Pom Poko (1994, Studio Ghibli).

In the Naruto series, Shukaku, the One-Tail, who is modeled after a tanuki, is mentioned to have originally been sealed into a teapot. It is revealed later that his former jinchūriki (human container) was an old man named Bunbuku.

In Ichiro by Ryan Inzana, the legend of the tanuki teapot (chagama) is woven into a side-story of an American teenager.

During the Google Doodle Champion Island Games, one of the champions, referred either as "Tanooki" or "Tanuki", is based on the titular character of this tale.

See also

• Kachi-kachi Yama, another Japanese folktale on the tanuki

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

• "The Accomplished and Lucky Tea-Kettle", translation by Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford in Tales of Old Japan
• "The Magic Kettle" adaptation by Andrew Lang in The Crimson Fairy Book