Cherry 31 x 36 x 27 mm, eyes with mother of pearl and horn, Masanao, Yamada in Ise province, mid 19th century.

A man in a loincloth is crouched over a kettle which is turning into a living badger (tanuki) before his eyes. The man's amazement at what is happening is expressed in the twist of his mouth and a protruding lower lip. The transformation is suggested ingeniously by the way the small dots representing the irregular iron surface give way to short engraved lines which represent the tanuki's fur.

The fairy tale of Bunbuku chagama (The Lucky Tea-Kettle) belongs to the group of legends associated with a raccoon dog. A priest in the Morin Temple in Edo once had a chagama (tea kettle). It became transformed into a raccoon dog after he had put it on the fire. He sold it to a tinker, who earned a lot of money with its magical properties. The fairy tale expresses the desire of many people to acquire without effort a lot of money quickly.