Tanuki

Tanuki are one of the oldest and most well known of almost all the Japanese Yokai, known as the great raccoon dogs, created when Izanami and Izanagi first raised the islands from the sea creating life on the ancestral island and the first few Yokai. Tanuki, were born from within the mountains, great land god that walked among the trees with their three great tails. Their abilities allowed them to shape parts of their body, growing stone around them and creating the appearance that they could change shape. This lead to stories by which their massive tails, when used to keep them dry or as drums, were equated to be in fact giant testicles. This is taken in stride by the Tanuki, they had always been happy to live among humans if not just to cause a little mischief to enjoy themselves.

Often entering a village they would be known to sit and dine among the Humans, playing tricks or simply performing miracles with their ability to manipulate the stone and ground. Some used this to become lords or kings among them while others did so out of kindness, often just doing so on a whim because they were able to. They continued this until the Age of Gods began to wind down, where they were relegated in thought and media to being servants, messengers, or attendants to the greater Gods. Some still remained as Land Gods though most returned to the forests or went to Yoma to ensure their lives could be lived as they remembered.

## Bodies

Like almost all Yokai, Tanuki were born with the ability to take on the forms of Humans though it is rare that they ever take on such appearances, opting to instead live as their animal selves. In their base forms, most Tanuki appear to be human beings with raccoon like legs, often with mass amounts of fur that puff to an almost absurd degree which turns to their slender black fur legs. With it they often have thinly furred black limbs ending in the soft nubs and long claws one would associate with certain rodents or in the normal case, like that of a racoon. On top of that they all have up to three long tails some appearing more like that of actual raccoons while others are more canine in nature, though they are often duo colored and some are born with long bands of dark colored fur. On the top sides of their heads they have either the triangular ears as dogs or the circular ears often seen on Raccoons or Tanuki statues.

Other than this they have almost no fur anywhere else on their body, setting them apart for most of their contemporaries, instead they often have discoloration of dark gray to almost jet black bands across their skin, some forming the traditional eye masks that most of their kind are known for. This of course does not discount the fact that they are as strong as normal Yokai, their lack of fur does not diminish the skin and bones which are as hard as diamonds that their kind possesses.

Tanuki function much in the same way other animal like Yokai do, the curvature of their ears starting where most would on a normal human being but then furling further up to the top sides of their head. On top of that they have thick black bands around their iris with thin slit like pupils that are closer in comparison to crescents than anything else. With this they often have around thirty eight to forty teeth all of them curved canines except for the few incisors which allow them to tear into and through most all kinds of things from though meat to stone.