Shigaraki

Town of the tanuki statues

Cathy Cawood Feb 23, 2014 - 1 min read

<p>The small local train is decorated with tanuki</p>

<p>Giant tanuki and public phone outside the JR station</p>

<p>This tanuki looks ready to set off on a journey</p>

<p>This reclining tanuki has a noodle restaurant inside!</p>

<p>There is a lot of beautiful pottery for sale in Shigaraki</p>

<p>Tanuki statues often hold flasks of sake</p>

Shigaraki is a small pottery town in the middle of Shiga's countryside, but it is a town with a long and interesting history. Shigaraki became the Imperial capital for a few months in the year 745, but the Imperial court moved after the palace was burned down in a forest fire. However the really curious thing about Shigaraki is that everywhere you look there are cute pottery raccoon dogs known as tanuki.There seems to be a number of interesting stories about these tanuki. For example, once when the emperor visited the town the local people were concerned that they were too few in number to provide a rousing welcome for their illustrious guest, so they got the idea of lining up hundreds of tanuki on the sides of the road. I bet that made the emperor smile!

Cathy Cawood @cathy.cawood

I came to Japan in 2003 to teach English. I lived in Shiga prefecture for 1 year, and it still holds a special place in my heart. I lived in Kyoto for 9 years, then moved to Machida, Tokyo in 2014 after meeting my Japanese partner. I love to take photos, and my Japan in Pictures Facebook page ha...