Tanuki-bayashi (狸囃子) are strange sonic phenomena, described in legends from all over Japan. They manifest as musical sounds, heard in the middle of the night and resembling those of flutes or drums, yet having no discernible source.[1][2]
In theEdo period, inHonjo,Sumida,Tokyo, they are also calledbaka-bayashi (馬鹿囃子) and as aghost story that takes place in Honjo, they are counted as one of theSeven Mysteries of Honjo.[3] When one thinks that one has heard the sound of an orchestra, even if one tries to walk towards where the sound is coming from, the sound goes further away as if it were trying to flee, so that it would be impossible to know the source of the sound.[2][3] If dawn comes while one is following the sound, it is said that one would notice that one is in a place one has never seen before.Matsura Seizan, the lord of theHirado Domain, also encountered this strange phenomenon and ordered people to find the source of the sound, but the sound disappeared near Warigesui, so that it was not possible to continue following it.[2] Just like its name, it is said to be the work of atanuki and searches fortanuki were also conducted around locations where the sound was heard, but no traces oftanuki were able to be found either.[4]
There are also legends oftanuki-bayashi in theShōjō-ji inKisarazu,Chiba Prefecture, and like theBunbuku Chagama and theTale of the Eight Hundred and Eight Tanuki, it is also counted as one of the "big three tanuki legends of Japan" and is also well known as a nursery rhyme.[5] The tale is called theShōjō-ji no Tanuki-bayashi.
In Sumida, Tokyo, near to Koume and Terashima, there was a farming area around that time, and because of that, the sounds from the autumn festival, a harvesting ritual, rode the wind, overlapped with each other and became a strange rhythm and timbre,[3] and it was also thought that the winds would allow the sounds ofshamisen and drums from aroundYanagibashi to be heard from afar.[6]
The 1994animePom Poko (平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ) directed byIsao Takahata, animated byStudio Ghibli, featurestanuki and theirbayashi. The song the tanuki play as they carry one of their number, Gonta Takagemori, to the temple is adapted from the song "Shojoji no Tanuki Bayashi".