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Two of Japan's native wild animals are the きつね fox and たぬき raccoon dog.

Interestingly there are also noodle dishes apparently named after each. (Not
containing the meat of those animals!)

The terms seem to be mostly for うどん udon but occur with other kinds of noodles
in Japan such as ramen and soba too.

Do we know how these two noodle dishes came to each be named after a Japanese
animal? Could it be that one animal lives in a part of the country where one
style of noodle dish was first popular while the other animal lives in a
different part of the country with a different popular noodle dish?

Or is it based on something else?
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2014-05-05T10:13:45.957
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2019-02-18T16:56:33.383
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question
etymology history food animals
What are the origins of the names of tanuki and kitsune noodle dishes?
きつね (foxes) are regarded sacred animals in Shintoism, being servants of the
god of harvests ([稲荷]{いなり}神).

[![きつね](https://i.stack.imgur.com/OOZCe.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/OOZCe.jpg)  
(source: [martle.net](http://photo.martle.net/photos/tem_00008.jpg))

(The sign on the 鳥居 (Shinto archway) says 稲荷大神.)

According to legend, a fox's favourite food is 油揚げ (deep-fried tofu slices).
Stripes of 油揚げ are what makes きつねうどん きつねうどん. (By the way, 油揚げ can also be
sliced up and filled with 酢飯 (sushi rice) and sesame to make いなり寿司.)

I'm not aware of any similar explanation for たぬきうどん, whose characteristic
ingredient is 揚げ玉 (which you might also come across as 天かす, although there is
a difference between the two). My guess would be that the name たぬきうどん was
coined by analogy.
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2014-05-05T14:20:38.680
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2019-02-18T09:10:16.303
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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According to the German book "Der Tanuki", たぬきうどん (Tanuki-udon) were invented
during a food shortage related to the Second World War. The proper ingredients
of tempura udon were too expensive for many customers but the taste of just
the fried batter could be had quite cheaply so tempura-udon was served without
the filling. This was jokingly explained as the filling having been stolen by
Tanuki, in reference to the legends of Tanuki-tricksters. The meal became
popular and the name stuck.
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2017-10-21T17:51:22.550
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2019-02-18T16:56:33.383
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