The Japanese myth of the trickster raccoon - Iseult Gillespie episode artwork

EPISODE · Aug 10, 2026 · 5 MIN

The Japanese myth of the trickster raccoon - Iseult Gillespie

from TED-Ed · host TED-Ed

Dive into the Japanese myth of the shape-shifting tanuki, as the raccoon-like creature rewards a traveling salesman for his kindness. --On the dusty roads of a small village, a traveling salesman was having difficulty selling his wares. As he wandered the outskirts of town in the hopes of finding some new customers, he heard a high-pitched yelp coming from the edge of the forest. Following the screams to their source, he discovered a trapped tanuki. Iseult Gillespie details the Japanese myth of the shape-shifting creature.Lesson by Iseult Gillespie, directed by Anna Samo.Support Our Non-Profit Mission----------------------------------------------Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonCheck out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop----------------------------------------------Connect With Us----------------------------------------------Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram----------------------------------------------Keep Learning----------------------------------------------View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-japanese-myth-of-the-trickster-raccoon-iseult-gillespieDig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-japanese-myth-of-the-trickster-raccoon-iseult-gillespie#digdeeperAnimator's website: https://vimeo.com/tigerunterwegs----------------------------------------------Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Paul Aldred-Bann, Manav parmar, Susan Wang, Utkarsh Dubey, Thawsitt, Xuebicoco, Jezabel, Maeve, Kim Humphrey, Kristen Damas, JackKeyton, Matthew D. Vigil, Amin Shahril, Adriano Fontes, Xiao Yu, Fatima Kried, Aravind Battaje, Melissa Suarez, Jason Duncan, Brian A. Dunn, Francisco Amaya, Daisuke Goto, Matt Switzler, Chhunheng Veng, Leonardo Monrroy, Sumedh Ghaisas, Guhten, Amer Harb, Dowey Baothman, Norbert Orgován, Shafeeq Ansari, Gabriel Balsa, Maryam Sultan, Bethany Connor, Jeremy Shimanek, Adam Foreman, Sebastiaan Vleugels, Lâm Nguyễn, Mark Byers, Bradley Heinold, Monkeypatcher, Laurence McMillan, Connor Roberts, Dmitry Neverov, Tonya Ratliff-Garrison, Avinash Amarnath, Eric McDaniel, Cristian Cristian, France Lipužič and EdoKun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Japanese myth of the trickster raccoon - Iseult Gillespie

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