The Japanese Story Project: “Bunbuku Chagama: The Auspicious Tea Kettle”
Translation by Kunimasa Nerome
Edited by Jenny Auld
Bunbuku Chagama is the charming and ultimately joyous story of a tanuki, or raccoon dog, whose shapeshifting adventures lead him to fame and fortune — by way of the stage.
Stories and legends abound in Japan about the adorable tanuki, whose antics have long suggested mischief, talent, and intelligence to the human imagination, in an interesting parallel to the trickster stories concerning the North American raccoon.
The origins of Bunbuku Chagama are somewhat obscure. It seems to have evolved from the older legend about a priest named Shukaku, the companion of the founder of Morin-ji temple. This Shukaku was, according to the legend, a tanuki merely inhabiting the form of a priest. In the monastery legend, Shukaku owns a magical teakettle that provides hot water endlessly, day and night. As well, it imparts many other blessings, including intelligence, long life, and prowess in scholarship and martial arts.
Note that in the older monastery legend, the priest is also a tanuki, and he owns a magical teakettle, while in the later version, the priest is a normal human who owns a tanuki-kettle!
In the later version, which emerged during the Edo period, a tanuki who calls himself “Bunbuku Chagama,” meaning “auspicious teakettle,” suffers at the hands of human beings who are unaware that his teakettle form hides a sentient creature. At last he shows his true identity to a kindly pawnbroker. The two begin a career in show business, with the pawnbroker acting as manager, publicist, and front of house, while Bunbuku Chagama provides the onstage talent.
Below is an excerpt from a new translation by Kunimasa Nerome for Legible’s Japanese Story Project. The source text is the version by Masao Kusuyama.
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One day, the priest said to himself, “It is tiresome to merely look at this teakettle after buying it. Why don’t I try using it today?”
He went to get some water for the teakettle. Although the pot was relatively small, it swallowed a large amount of water all at once. The priest found this very strange, but since everything else was normal, he carried on with his tea-making. He poured in some more water and hung the pot above the fire.
However, when the teakettle was warmed by the fire, it suddenly let out a scream — “Ouch!” — and jumped out of the fireplace. Before the priest’s eyes, the teakettle sprouted a tanuki’s head, four legs, and a fluffy tail. It started wandering around the parlour.
“Wha- !” The priest jumped with surprise. He called out loudly to the monks. “Look! Look! The teakettle has been bewitched! Halloo! I say, is anyone there?”
The monks came to the parlour wearing hachimaki*, carrying brooms and feather dusters.
However, the teakettle was already back in its regular shape again and resting quietly on the cushion. The monks crept toward it and tapped on it again. Khan, khan! came the usual hollow sound.
“I thought I had acquired such a nice teakettle,” sighed the priest, “but it seems like I’m burdened with something cursed instead. Whatever shall I do with this strange thing?”
Just as the priest was pondering the matter, he heard a pawnbroker outside making his rounds, calling out for customers from the road.
“Oh, what good timing!” exclaimed the priest. “I should just sell this teakettle to him!” He called out to the pawnbroker to wait, and he brought the teakettle outside with him so the pawnbroker could appraise it.
The pawnbroker took the teakettle in his hands and inspected it. He patted it all around, hit it gently, and flipped it from side to side. Having checked it over thoroughly, he spoke at last.
“This is a very fine item!”
He bought the teakettle from the priest, put it into his basket, and continued on his way.
***
When he got home, the pawnbroker was still smiling to himself about his purchase of the fine teakettle.
“This is such a rare item! I need to find a wealthy person who appreciates high-quality tea wares, and sell it for a good price.”
As he talked to himself, he placed the teakettle carefully next to his pillow, adjusted it a little to display it at its best, and fell into deep sleep.
In the middle of the night, he heard a voice.
“Hello, Mister Pawnbroker, hello!”
As he woke up, he saw the teakettle with a hairy animal’s head and a fluffy tail, sitting primly.
The pawnbroker was startled and jumped out of his bed. “Oh no! The teakettle is bewitched!”
“Hey Mr. Pawnbroker! You don’t have to be so surprised,” said the teakettle.
“How can I not be surprised?” stammered the pawnbroker. “Anyone would be surprised if they saw a teakettle that grows hair and starts talking! What are you, anyway?”
“I am called Bunbuku Chagama,” the teakettle replied. “The truth is, I am actually a tanuki that has shape-shifted into a teakettle. I was playing in a field one day and I got chased by five or six men, so I turned into a teakettle to disguise myself. However, they found me as a teakettle, picked me up, and said ‘What a nice teakettle! Such a good find! Let’s sell it somewhere and go eat something delicious!’ They sold me to the pawnshop and I was displayed at the front of the store. I had my fair share of struggles there; I could not move and I could not eat anything! The priest happened to buy me just when I thought I was dying of hunger, and he gave me some water. I gulped the water and finally felt peace for once. But then the priest put me into the hearth and set my rear end on fire! I am so fed up with all these places. Thank you so much for taking me in. You seem like a nice person — can you please keep me here for a while? I will certainly return the favour.”
The pawnbroker was moved by the poor creature’s story. “Alright,” he said, “I can keep you here, it’s no trouble. What did you have in mind for returning me a favour?”
Bunbuku Chagama considered. “Let’s see. How about we go out, and I will perform some tricks in public, and you can make some money?”
“What kind of tricks are you thinking of?”
“I can do tightrope walking, acrobatics, and dancing to Bunbuku Chagama’s folk songs. You can quit pawnbroking and make much more money by being a showman — starting tomorrow!”
The pawnbroker was convinced. He closed his pawnshop, just as Bunbuku Chagama had recommended.
The next day, the pawnbroker started preparing for the performance. He bought a show house in a busy part of the town and put up a sign with an illustration of Bunbuku Chagama’s rope crossing and dancing. He took on the roles of manager, doorkeeper, and advertiser all by himself. Then he sat in front of the door and called out in a lively manner:
“Bunbuku Chagama the teakettle grows hair, grows legs! Does rope crossing, acrobatics, and dancing! Mysterious and quite rare performance! Better check it out now! It’ll be popular!”
People were intrigued by the somewhat bizarre-looking sign and the catchy jingle. The show sold out instantly.
With the sound of wooden clappers, the curtain went up on opening night. Bunbuku Chagama waddled out from backstage and performed the introduction to the show.
When the audience saw this teakettle monster with four legs, their eyes widened like circles. They gasped with surprise.
It was already strange enough, but then the teakettle took an umbrella in both front paws, opened it up, and hopped onto the tightrope with both back feet. Then, it nimbly balanced its portly body on the rope and danced in time to the music as it walked across the rope. The audience members were astounded. They burst into such thunderous applause that they almost blew the roof off the show house.
***
*Hachimaki — twisted or folded cloth used as a headband; often worn to lift spirits up or to prepare for certain events and occasions. The monks appear this way because they are ready to do battle with the troublesome, bewitched teakettle!
***
Kunimasa Nerome ( 根路銘 国真 ) was born and raised in Okinawa (沖縄), Japan. He is in his fourth year of study in political science at The University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. He loves bicycles, raccoons, and ramen, not necessarily in that order.
Jenny Auld was born in Vancouver, Canada. She has an honours degree in linguistics from UBC, with a specialization in the history and structure of the English language. She has written and edited for various publications, and is also an exhibiting artist, with three solo shows at Art Sui Gallery in Taipei, Taiwan. She likes ginger milk tea, riding her bike, and watching way too many Korean dramas.
