Bunbuku Chagama

◆ The legend

This is the story of a strange tea kettle (chagama, the iron kettle used to boil water for the tea ceremony) handed down at Morinji Temple in Tatebayashi, Gunma Prefecture. On the day of a great gathering, when monks came to the temple in large numbers, a monk named Shukaku brought out a kettle. No matter how much hot water was ladled from it, the story goes, it never ran dry. Shukaku explained that it was a kettle that shared good fortune with all, and so it came to be called the Bunbuku Chagama.

But Shukaku, who served the temple for many years, was said to be an old tanuki in disguise. He was seen while dozing off, his true form showing, and after that he left the temple. Meanwhile, the folktale called "Bunbuku Chagama" tells a completely different story, in which a tanuki turns into a kettle itself to help a kind person. Two tales, handed down under the same name.