The Old Raccoon Dog in the Pit; Unidentified
1958 - 1963

Konai no Furu-danuki; Shotai Fumei
[The Old Raccoon Dog in the Pit; Unidentified]
21.3 x 30.4 cm Ink Painting

It was said that an old raccoon dog started to make trouble, starting from the summer of 1899 or 1900, in the No. 1 and No. 2 levels right in Kamimio Coal Pit. It threatened miners by tricking them when only a pair of them was left there in the middle of the night. (The raccoon dog made miners hear false sounds which resembled the sounds of mining coal, pushing a mine car, roof falls, footsteps, running water, and so on.) When miners started working, it made a noise. When they stopped working, the sound stopped and the site became quiet. However, they could not find the raccoon dog and get rid of it.
It was said that the raccoon dog took the shape of a pillar by turning its hands and legs into knots, when it was hunted down and cornered. However, it was said that miners immediately noticed raccoon dog tricks because the mining sounds which it falsely made lacked the sounds of a pickax being dragged (hikitsuru). The fake sounds of a mine car being pushed lacked the sounds of clinking chains or fricatives between rails and wheels, and all other sounds fabricated by the raccoon dog, including the sounds of a roof collapse, lacked the reverberation.


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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