Tanuki 狸

About Tanuki 狸

Tanuki (狸), sometimes called Yabyō (“wildcat”), is a shape-shifting trickster from Japanese folklore, classified among the Yōkai. Known for mischievous pranks and comically oversized scrotums in popular imagery, Tanuki are also said to transform into magical tea kettles.

According to legend, once Tanuki reach an unusually advanced age—beyond 20 years—they gain the ability to stand upright, speak, and summon tanuki-bi (ghostly lights). They often don elegant kimonos or disguise themselves as humble monks, using shape-shifting and voice mimicry to fool unsuspecting humans. While Tanuki generally distrust people and keep their distance, they also take delight in tricking them. Friendlier Tanuki appear mainly in modern stories and media.

Sold and shipped by Vinz Schwarzbauer.

About Vinz Schwarzbauer

Vinz Schwarzbauer (*1987 in Graz, Austria) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 2014. In 2011/12, he spent a year in Hamburg on the Art School Alliance Scholarship at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK). He was a co-founder of the magazine for narrative drawing "Franz the Lonely Austrionaut" and has illustrated for renowned media and theaters such as Falter, Jacobin Magazine, Der Standard, Burgtheater Wien, and Residenztheater München. His comic debut Mäander was published by Edition Moderne in 2023. Vinz Schwarzbauer lives and works as a comic artist and illustrator in Vienna, Austria.