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All Japan Tatebayashi-shi Morin-ji Temple
AO Edited

Morin-ji Temple

This temple is steeped in local folklore involving a teakettle and a raccoon dog.

Tatebayashi-shi, Japan

Added By
KoinuSensei
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Tanuki figurines.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Tanuki figurines.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Tanuki statues   KoinuSensei / Atlas Obscura User
The gate and the statues   KoinuSensei / Atlas Obscura User
A stuffed tanuki on display at the Morin-ji temple.   Namazu-tron/CC BY-SA 3.0
The main temple building   Keihin/CC BY-SA 3.0
The main gate to the temple.   Keihin/CC BY-SA 3.0
The half-kama-tanuki creature.   KoinuSensei / Atlas Obscura User
An illustration showing the half-kama half-tanuki creature.   Public domain
The entrance, with the tanuki and kama statues on either side.   Taketarou/CC BY-SA 2.5
An Illustration describing the legend of the tanuki kettle.   Public domain
Statues at the entrance   KoinuSensei / Atlas Obscura User
A hulking tanuki statue.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Inside the main building.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
The main entrance.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
“Morin-ji.”   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Various forms of the tanuki.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
The mythical teakettle-raccoon-dog hybrid.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
A row of tanuki statues.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
The sign in front of the temple, indicating that there are wild raccoon dogs in the area.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
The tanuki, or raccoon dog, is believed to be a shapeshifter in Japanese folklore.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Raccoon dogs are everywhere at Morin-ji Temple.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Morin-ji Temple in Tatebayashi is famously associated with Bunbuku Chagama, a Japanese folktale that is well-known across the country. Many versions exist, but what all of them have in common is a teakettle and a raccoon dog, or tanuki as it is called in Japanese.

In the popular version of the myth, the high priest of Morin-ji Temple buys a teakettle (chagama), which sprouts paws and a tail, along with a badger-like head, when it's put on the fire. Bewildered, the high priest sells the teakettle off to a junk shop, whose kind-hearted owner welcomes and befriends the shapeshifting animal. Touring across Japan, the raccoon dog makes a fortune dancing and performing tightrope walking. The junk dealer returns the "teakettle" to the temple, which accepts it as its treasure.

According to another legend, Morin-ji Temple had a red-copper teakettle that never ran out of boiled water, owned by an old monk named Shūkaku. Decades later, the monk accidentally had his true identity—raccoon dog—uncovered by fellow monks and ran away, leaving the magical teakettle behind. In this story, the raccoon dog is not a shapeshifting yōkai but (supposedly) an arhat who brought the temple a special gift.

It is uncertain what bunbuku really means, but the word is commonly written 分福 in kanji, literally meaning "to share happiness." It also sounds like a bubbling, boiling sound, suggesting an onomatopoeic origin. Another theory states that bunbuku was originally bunbuka (文武火), from 文火 ("low heat") and 武火 ("high heat"), in relation to the item's association with tea.

In honor of the Bunbuku Chagama legends, the nearly-600-year-old Morin-ji Temple is naturally raccoon-dog-themed, decorated with numerous figurines and even a few taxidermies. A row of 21 Shigaraki-ware tanuki statues welcome visitors at the main entrance, some of them in the shape of a smiling half-teakettle, and the temple's treasury-museum exhibits the legendary chagama itself.

Related Tags

Animals Folklore Mythology Monks Temples

Know Before You Go

10 minutes on foot from Morinji-mae Station (Tobu-Isesaki Line). The treasury-museum is open every day except Thursdays, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; admission is 300 yen for adults and 150 for children.

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Added By

KoinuSensei

Edited By

Fred Cherrygarden, Kavya Ram Mohan

  • Fred Cherrygarden
  • Kavya Ram Mohan

Published

May 1, 2017

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Sources
  • http://www.jnto.go.jp/engpre2/location/spot/shritemp/morinji.html
  • https://www.visitgunma.jp/en/sightseeing/detail.php?sightseeing_id=95
Morin-ji Temple
Horiku-cho, 1570, Tatebayashi, Gunma Prefecture, Japan
Tatebayashi-shi
Japan
36.224443, 139.531133
Visit Website

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