Mujina

Mujina (^?) is an old Japanese term primarily referring to the badger. In some regions the term refers instead to the raccoon dog (also called tanuki) or to introduced civets. Adding to the confusion, in some regions badger-like animals are also known as mami, and in one part of badgers are referred to as tanuki and raccoon dogs are referred to as mujina.

The confusion over the term mujina has led to legal consequences in Japan. In Tochigi Prefecture in 1924, a hunter killed a raccoon dog, which he believed to be called a mujina. He believed that badgers were a protected species as they were called tanuki in Tochigi Prefecture. However, the law banning the hunting of tanuki was referring to such raccoon dogs, as a raccoon dog is called tanuki in Tokyo. The Japanese Supreme Court ruled that the hunter was legitimately confused and he was judged not guilty.

In Japanese folklore, like the fox and the tanuki, they are frequently depicted as a yōkai that shapeshifts and deceives humans. These badger demons (Mujina) often take the form of an attractive woman with a promiscuous nature, usually causing mischief in their partners lives. They are first seen in literature in the Nihon Shoki in the part about Empress Suiko's 35th year (627), where it states, "in two months of spring, there are mujina in the country of Mutsu (春2月、陸奥国に狢有り), they turn into humans and sing songs (人となりて歌う)" demonstrating that, in that era, there was the general idea that mujina shapeshift and deceive humans. In the Shimōsa region, they are called kabukiri-kozō (かぶきり小僧^?), and they would shapeshift into a kozō (little monk) wearing a strangely short kimono with a kappa-like bobbed head, and frequently appear on roads at night without many people and say, "drink water, drink tea (水飲め、茶を飲め^?)." The story in Lafcadio Hearn kaidan collections called "Mujina" about the witnessing of a faceless ghost (a noppera-bō) is also well-known.

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