The tanuki, or Japanese raccoon dog, is a canid famed for having large testicles and scrotum. The two woodblock prints above are selections from a collection of 18 posted at Pink Tentacle. They were created in the mid-1840s, and show the tanuki using their scrota in innovative ways - fishing and weightlifting depicted above, the others at the link.
Via Salon.
Heh. This is one of the items I wanted to send you, Minnesotastan. So it seems I may indeed have an eye for what will resonate with you. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAndrew Leonard, whose Salon blog "How the World Works" was the source for this item, usually focuses on current issues in politics, with an emphasis on economics. But he has widely eclectic personal interests and from time to time will turn up something off-the-wall like this.
At the end of his post, he cites a lewd Japanese schoolyard song about the Tanukis' exceptional endowments--sung to the tune of "Shall We Gather at the River?"--and comments:
"How it came to pass that the melody of an American Baptist hymn was transmogrified into an ode to raccoon dog testicles, I cannot tell you. But I think we need more of this kind of globalization."
Cracked me up.
Hey - I'm totally fascinated with these depictions of shapeshifting tanuki.
ReplyDeleteI am writing a blog about it. Check it out here!
http://sweb1.dmit.nait.ca/~katrina/DMIT208/tanukiyoe/