The Tanuki – The Japanese Racoon Dog
Wednesday, 12 November 2025
No one is quite sure where the name Tanuki came from, but a possibility is the old Japanese word tanoke which means spirit of the fields. Since people first came to Japan they have lived alongside this remarkable canid species. Despite what it’s English name might suggest, this is not a racoon. It is so-called simply because of the physical similarity between it and racoons. It’s a member of the dog family, but it’s definitely not a dog either. Image Credit
Why? The tanuki is not a “dog” in the everyday sense (like Canis lupus familiaris, the domestic dog). It’s more closely related to foxes than to domestic dogs, and it has quite different behaviour and appearance. For instance, it can climb trees and even hibernate, which dogs can’t do.