Danzaburou-danuki

Sources present multiple strands: in folklore Danzaburou appears as a named bake-danuki on Sado Island whose actions and reputation are preserved in local tales. Some traditions or theories recorded in the sources link the name to a human merchant of Echigo named Danzaburou who cared for tanuki and was later revered; other accounts treat Danzaburou simply as the anthropomorphic leader of the island's tanuki. The materials treat the human-origin hypothesis as a local theory rather than established historical fact.

No single, fixed corporeal portrait is provided in the sources; Danzaburou is described through his shapeshifting and disguises. He is repeatedly said to take human form (for example disguising as a young woman in one tale) and to create grand illusions so that holes or cellars could appear as splendid estates. On Sado Island tanuki were often called mujina, and the being is variously labeled in prints and texts as tanuki or mujina.

According to the recorded tales, Danzaburou performs hallmark bake-danuki feats: shapeshifting into humans and other guises; creating mirages and large-scale visual illusions (making leaves appear as if made of gold, fabricating wall-like obstructions on roads at night, and turning humble lairs into apparent estates); tricking people to obtain goods or money and in some stories later repaying what he took (including leaving a sealed promissory note in one account); persuading a kitsune to become zōri in a story that led to foxes being driven from Sado; traveling by boat in narratives involving the sea; and, in one tale, visiting human doctors while disguised when ill. He is also described in sources as "the supreme commander of the tanuki on Sado Island," a folkloric status indicating leadership among local tanuki rather than documentary evidence of an organized institution.