Who Is Tanokyu, the Village Actor (Kyubei)?
A country actor who played a tanuki for a serpent
Kyubei of Tano Village
Tanokyu is the hero of the classic rakugo tale Tanokyu: Kyubei, a farmer from Tano Village in Awa (today's Tokushima Prefecture). Famous as a talented country actor, he is called "Tanokyu," a combination of his village's name and his own.
In Episode 12, while performing in Iyo (today's Ehime Prefecture), he learns that his mother is ill and sets out alone on a mountain road at night. He asks for lodging at a mountain hut from a white-haired old man, who is really a giant serpent. The serpent mishears "Tanokyu" as "tanuki" (the shape-shifting raccoon dog of Japanese folklore) and demands, "Show me your transformation." Using an actor's quick costume changes, Kyubei pulls off the disguise and keeps up the tanuki act, and as they trade what they hate most, he learns the serpent's weaknesses: "tobacco tar and persimmon tannin." His own answer, that what he hates is "money," leads to the final punchline.
