Talk:Nue

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Is the japanese blackbird the thrush known as "zoothera dauma" (scientific name)? Or what would it's scientific name be?

[edit] Thrush

Yes, that's right. Nue isn't a blackbird, but a White's thrush (Zoothera dauma), whose common name today in Japan is toratugumi (トラツグミ in hiragana katakana, 虎鶫 in kanji). The bird warbles in a thin voice in a forest at night, so this makes people feel creepy.

(1) This feature of this bird explains the composition of the kanji of nue; nue (鵺) consists of night (夜) and bird (鳥). (2) This trait of this bird's warble also gives an account for the etymology of nue, the ledendary chimera; according to the legend, nue warbles in a creepy voice like a thrush, the original nue. Therefore, strictly speaking, nue is a name for the bird, not a name for the legendary beast; the beast is only a creature warbling in a nue-like voice. In the common use in Japan, however, the word nue refers to the beast, rarely to the bird.60.236.113.249 14:24, 27 December 2006 (UTC) (correction: 60.236.113.249 14:28, 27 December 2006 (UTC))

[edit] tanuki vs. racoon dog

The description of the nue is as follows:

It has the head of a monkey, the body of a tanuki, the legs of a tiger, and a snake instead of a tail.

The link at tanuki leads to the racoon dog article. I wonder if maybe it should be linked straight to the tanuki article instead? Or, if it doesn't, should the "tanuki" in the description be changed to "racoon dog"? Since this is a physical description, I'm leaning towards "racoon dog" here. What say ye?

Also, the info on the thrush in the discussion above is interesting. Why isn't any of this in the article? TomorrowTime 16:32, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

I think it was originally linked to raccoon dog and actually said "raccoon dog", but folks complained, "But in Japan, it's called a tanuki!", so we compromised. Now, the semi-consesus seems to be to use tanuki for the creature in a Japanese folkloric sense and to use raccoon dog for the being in a biological sense. This instance is a gray area, but I agree with you; it's the physical appearance that's being described here, not the ability to change into a teapot or whatever else is ascribed to tanuki in Japanese tales. (Some of our Japan editors just like inserting random Japanese words into articles . . . .) — BrianSmithson 01:31, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

How about this sentence to appease our Japanese-loving editors:

It has the kubi of a saru, the karada of a tanuki, the ashi of a tora, and a hebi instead of a shippo.

Sure it's called a tanuki in Japan, and I support the use of that term when discussing the shapeshifting joker with giant balls. But the more I think of this, the more convinced I am that in the above sentence, "racoon dog" would be more appropriate. Oh well, I wont take any unilateral action here... TomorrowTime 16:20, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I will. ;) Now we face the annoying animal editors, though. They always want to capitalize common names of animals (so that raccoon dog redirects to Raccoon Dog). Oh well; thank God for redirects. — BrianSmithson 22:44, 16 January 2007 (UTC)