Fukuro-mujina 袋狢

Fukuro-mujina (袋狢), or the “Bag Badger,” is a curious and satirical creature that embodies the dangers of empty speculation and premature judgment.

Meaning and Origin

The name is a combination of fukuro (袋 - bag or sack) and mujina (狢 - an old term for a badger or tanuki).

The creature was created by Toriyama Sekien for his collection Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro. It is less a traditional monster and more a visual pun on an old Japanese proverb: “to price a badger in its hole” (ana no mujina o negiru). This proverb refers to counting your chickens before they hatch—trying to value a prize before you have actually caught it.

Characteristics

The Fukuro-mujina is depicted as an anthropomorphic badger dressed in the elaborate robes and makeup of a noblewoman from the Heian court. It has long black hair and the high, painted-on eyebrows (hikimayu) typical of ancient beauty standards. Its most defining feature is the enormous, heavy sack it carries over its shoulder, which is said to contain only air or the weight of one’s own foolish guesses.

Legends

Because it was an artistic creation, the Fukuro-mujina doesn’t have many ancient campfire tales. Instead, it serves as a “moral yokai.” It is said to appear to those who are making hasty, ill-informed decisions or boasting about wealth they haven’t earned yet.

The spirit doesn’t cause physical harm; rather, it humiliates people by luring them into “bags” of their own making—tricking them into making fools of themselves through their own greed or lack of foresight. It is the personification of the irony that occurs when reality fails to live up to one’s arrogant expectations.