Scene from a folk tale (Kachikachiyama)

The two creatures in this painting act out a scene from the Japanese folktale called “Kachikachiyama.” In the story, a troublemaking tanuki (raccoon dog) is trapped by a farmer. Pleading his innocence and begging for release, the tanuki tricks the farmer’s wife into letting him go, then turns against her and kills her. The farmer’s friend, a rabbit, hears of these dastardly deeds, and sets out to get revenge against the tanuki.

The scene here shows the tale’s climax in which the rabbit invites the tanuki for a day of fishing. While the rabbit takes a wooden boat, the greedy tanuki makes an even larger boat out of mud, saying it will hold more fish. When the tanuki’s mud boat starts to dissolve in the middle of the lake, he cries for help. But the rabbit only laughs, then pushes the tanuki under the water with his oar, expediting his demise.

At the top of the scroll is an inscription taken from an Edo-period musical piece that narrates the folktale.

And now for my wooden boat. This should be perfect!
In his efforts to succeed, Tanuki has taken a mud boat.
Starboard and port, he rows and rows.
To his little boat, the floating waves are like mountains and valleys.
Flustered, he rows and rows, wondering “Why don’t you go?”

The inscription was brushed by Kiyomoto Enju Tayu (possibly II, 1802–1855), head of the school of narrative singing known as Kiyomoto-bushi, which provided vocal narratives for the Kabuki theater.