Awa Tanuki Gassen

The Awa Tanuki Gassen (阿波狸合戦) (The Tanuki War of Awa) is a Japanese legend about a great war between bake-danuki (magical tanuki) that supposedly occurred in the late Edo period in Awa Province (now Tokushima Prefecture). It is also known as the Awa no Tanuki Gassen (阿波の狸合戦) and the Kinchō Tanuki Gassen (金長狸合戦) (The Kinchō Tanuki War).

It is one of the most famous tanuki legends among the many found in Shikoku, and often considered the most renowned tanuki story from Tokushima. The story is believed to have originated in the late Edo period. Literary records exist in three handwritten manuscripts from the late Edo period: 『近頃古狸珍説』 (Chikagoro Furudanuki Chinsetsu), 『古狸金長義勇珍説』 (Furudanuki Kinchō Giyū Chinsetsu), and 『金長一生記』 (Kinchō Isshōki), though their exact dates are unknown. The legend gained widespread circulation through kōdan (narrative storytelling) transcriptions published in Meiji 43 (1910): 『四国奇談実説古狸合戦』 (Shikoku Kidan Jissetsu Furudanuki Gassen), 『津田浦大決戦』 (Tsudaura Dai-kessen), and 『日開野弔合戦』 (Higaino Tomurai Gassen). Popularized through kōdan from the Meiji era until the wartime period and later through films in the early Shōwa period, the legend has become a theme for community development (machizukuri) in Tokushima Prefecture since the Heisei era and remains beloved by its residents.