Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Shichibi Mujina, Nanao Raccoon
Category: Marten
The Myth
Shichibi-mujina is an aged, supernatural raccoon dog said to have seven separate tails. In 1846, in Edo, Japan, a soba shop in the Koishikawa Suidomachi area suffered from a mysterious theft: the dried dough scraps stored beneath the edges of the building kept disappearing during the night. The household suspected that a fox or raccoon was sneaking through the damaged walls. After the walls were repaired, the thefts stopped, but one night a dog-like creature was seen crawling beneath the veranda while customers entered and left the shop.
The shopkeeper and the gathered customers suspected that the creature was the culprit and pulled up the floor supports to capture it. They discovered an old raccoon whose tail divided into seven distinct parts. When startled, the animal waved its tail, revealing its unusual form; ordinarily, however, the seven sections remained grouped together and looked like a single tail. The captured creature was kept in boxes and fed the scraps it had apparently been stealing.
The seven-tailed raccoon became a public curiosity. When displayed at Dentsuin Daikokuten, it attracted enough spectators to earn more than eight kan in viewing fees. People jokingly compared it with the famous nine-tailed fox, traditionally described as golden-haired and white-faced. Since the raccoon dog was considered inferior to the fox, they found it amusing that it possessed seven tails rather than nine.
Sources
“Nanao’s Badger.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1076296166.html