Bunbuku Chagama, the Tanuki Teakettle

The myth

Bunbuku Chagama, "the kettle overflowing with good fortune", is a folktale tied to Morin-ji temple in Tatebayashi, Gunma prefecture. In the best-known version, a tanuki turned into a kettle is sold to a monk, who sets it on the fire; the animal jumps up with head, legs and tail and runs off. A poor tinker takes it in, and the tanuki proposes a show in which the kettle walks a tightrope and dances, making its friend rich. In older versions, the temple's kettle never runs dry. A. B. Mitford recorded the tale in English in 1871.

Why it has this power

A Rare level-6 Fire Machine with 2000 ATK and 2000 DEF, fusion only: the Trickster Tanuki with any Machine, the animal that forgot to turn back into an animal. Fire is the flame under the kettle; Sun and Hammer, the metal. Perfectly equal numbers, like luck shared with a friend.

Did you know

Morin-ji temple still displays a kettle it says is the original from the tale, and its approach is lined with dozens of tanuki statues.

Connections

• Born from the fusion of: Village Trickster Tanuki + Machine

Where to get it

• Born from the fusion of: Village Trickster Tanuki + Machine
• It never joins the collection: you summon it mid-duel, by fusion or ritual.

Sources

1. Tales of Old Japan (Project Gutenberg) — A. B. Mitford (Lord Redesdale)
2. Bunbuku Chagama — Folk Legends, Kids Web Japan — Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (Web Japan)
3. Japanese Fairy World (Project Gutenberg) — William Elliot Griffis