Sho-Jo-Ji

I lived in Japan when I was a 10-year-old (1957 into '58) due to my father's status as a Navy officer. It was a great experience, and I came home with some treasures that I still have. I got the treasures out, just before Halloween, so Robin could wear my kimono for trick-or-treating. They were still out this weekend when the family was here.

One of the treasures is a 45 rpm record of a Japanese children's song called Sho-Jo-Ji. (Anyone have a record player?? I have the record but no way to play it!) No matter. I know Sho-Jo-Ji by heart! Another of my treasures is a small carved wooden figurine of Sho-Jo-Ji--obviously a bear with a big tummy. The song indicated that the bear beat on his belly to make the noise "pon poko pon no pon". Megan was admiring the figurine on Sunday. She said it was "cute"...so I gave it to her. I thought I remembered that there used to be another part to the figurine, but whatever it was had been lost decades ago. As she was looking at it, she noticed a unique anatomical feature...and wondered what it was. We got to looking and laughing. There was no mistaking it--and no way to put it politely: Sho-Jo-Ji had huge testicles! And the weird part is that I had never noticed them before! (Leave it to my daughter to see that...)

After the family left for their trip north--with Sho-Jo-Ji now in their possession--I got to looking on the Internet to see if I could find a translation of the song. I was in shock! Sho-Jo-Ji is not a bear at all, but a Japanese raccoon dog! (I guess that's why there are raccoons on the jacket of the record, huh??) I immediately texted Meg to tell her that after almost 55 years of assuming one thing, I was now met with the fact that the bear figurine was supposed to be a raccoon, so who the figurine represented was a mystery to me. I felt so betrayed! Within two minutes, she texted me back that the figurine is "Tanuki". Sitting at a rest stop somewhere between Indy and Chicago, she looked up "bear with big balls" on her iPhone and solved the mystery in seconds. Tanuki is a puckish Japanese raccoon dog--mischievous--and represented in Japanese folklore as a creature with exaggeratedly large testicles. Bingo! She said, "We'll have to find a hat for him." That jogged my memory. He used to have a hat! That is what was lost so many years ago!

Tanuki-san has a new home now, with a new understanding of who he is. The Sho-Jo-Ji song helped to make the connection. Who'd a-thunk it? The Internet is a marvelous thing! There have been several other instances in the past 5-10 years where the Internet has solved some mysteries of a more personal nature. Ain't it grand?