Japanese Folk Tales

Fire Crackle Mountain

This story belongs to its rightful owners/storytellers, not me.

In English, "Kachi-Kachi Yama" is roughly translated into "Fire Crackle Mountain". This story is also called as "The Farmer and the Badger", which tells us about a mischievous tanuki, and his actions.

Long ago, there was a man who caught a quite troublesome tanuki. He tied it to a tree to kill and cook it later.

When the man left for town, the tanuki cried and begged the man's wife who was currently making some mochi, a traditional Japanese sweet rice dish, to set him free, in return for him promising to help her.

Satisfied with his promise, the wife freed the animal, only to have it turn on her and kill her.

Mischievously, the tanuki used its shapeshifting ability, and disguised himself as the wife.

As soon as the man came home, the tanuki served him soup that he made using the dead woman's flesh. After the meal, the tanuki reverted back to its original form, shocking the poor man about its tricks and his actions.

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The man and his late-wife had been good friends with a rabbit, who lived nearby. The rabbit had heard what happened, and approached the man, saying that he will avenge his wife's death.

So, the rabbit pretended to befriend the tanuki, while planning what to do with him. The rabbit then tortured the tanuki through various means.

One day, while the tanuki was carrying a heavy load of kindling on his back to make a campfire for the night, he was so burdened by the weight that he did not immediately notice that the rabbit had set fire to the kindling.

A while later, he realized a crackling sound, and then asked the rabbit about it. To which the rabbit replied, "It is the Kachi-Kachi Yama, we are not far from it." He said. "It is no surprise that you can hear it."
Eventually, the fire had reached the tanuki's back, giving it a huge burn. It did not kill him, but he then decided to challenge the rabbit to a contest.

The tanuki challenged the rabbit to prove who was the better creature. They were each to build a boat, and race across the lake in it.

While the rabbit carved his boat out of a fallen tree trunk, the foolish tanuki made his out of mud. (In some versions, the rabbit built both.)

They were evenly matched at first, but the tanuki's boat started to dissolve in the middle of the lake. As the tanuki was failing to stay afloat, the rabbit proclaimed his friendship with the human couple, and that this was the tanuki's punishment for what he had done. Soon, the tanuki sank to its death.

After getting back ashore, the rabbit went to the old man's home, telling him about what had happened. Relieved, the old man thanks the rabbit for his deed.

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I will try to update at least thrice a month, to keep up a schedule. I hope all of you are doing well, may you do good in your work/school as well.

-elizabeth⭐