Naruto: The Actual Mythology Behind Shukaku & Gaara – GameRant

Shukaku’s influences are rooted in Japanese mythology. Here’s a closer look at how it came to be.
Naruto is an anime and manga series so rich with lore, with Masashi Kishimoto having his unique take on original real-world mythology and religion. Gaara and Naruto share some points in their backgrounds and were meant to be rivals at first. This status quo changed due to the developments of the plot and the characters themselves.
Much like Naruto in the beginning, who was regarded as an outcast, despised by the village for having had the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed within him when he was still a newborn, Gaara was created to be Naruto’s foil, contrasting with him to better highlight the protagonist of the anime while, at the same time, serving as a bridge to make them stand apart and cross paths eventually.
RELATED: Naruto: Every Tailed Beast, Ranked By Strength
Gaara of the Desert was made the Jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Shukaku before he was born, which led the people of Suna village to fear him as a monster. Without anyone to connect to, Gaara grew up hating the world and feeling neglected and alone, and the meaning of his life was given by him killing anyone he came across.
Shukaku was the first Tailed-Beast to have its name revealed in the anime series. Shukaku is not given a gender herein for these primary two reasons: it is a mass of living chakra, therefore, born genderless; expanding on that, it is a mass of Kaguya’s chakra, which means it would be best regarded as female, and even Gaara calls it “Mother”.
Its name, Shukaku (守鶴), means “guardian crane”, consisting of two kanji, 守 (mamoru), the meaning of which is something along the lines of “caretaker/guardian”, and 鶴 (tsuru), meaning “crane” (the bird). While the tanuki-like Shukaku has no actual resemblance to a crane, the name most probably comes from an old Japanese legend about a tanuki, a teapot, and a priest, from a tale called Bunbuku Chagama, and it is to this tale that Shukaku’s being sealed inside a teapot is a nod. Also, the insinuation that Shukauu was a corrupted priest from Suna, made at the beginning of the anime, is tied to a legend in the temple of Kenchou-ji, about a tanuki that disguises itself as the priest of the sanctuary.
Another reference to the legends is made in the form of Shukaku’s first Jinchuriki, who was a priest from Suna whose name was Bunpuku, who was locked in a dungeon similar to a huge teapot, and who was constantly guarded. As time went by, the citizens of Sunagakure started to believe that Shukaku was indeed the living ghost of a corrupted monk that was sealed inside a teapot.
There are some versions of this legend, among which is one about an inexhaustible teapot at the temple Morin-ji, in Tatebayashi, Gunma, in the possession of a priest whose name is Shukaku, who turns out to be an ancient mujina. Mujina (貉) is an old term in Japanese that primarily refers to the Japanese badger, but which is traditionally used to refer to the Japanese raccoon dog, the tanuki.
A tanuki (狸), which literally means “raccoon dog”, is a youkai, a popular animal in Japanese folklore, famous for its mischievous nature and its shapeshifting abilities, like those of the kitsune. The tanuki and the kitsune are rivals in the legends, just like Naruto and Gaara for a while in the anime, and there is even an old Japanese adage about the two youkai that says: “Kitsune to tanuki no bakashi ai”, which can roughly be translated as “The fox and a tanuki combining their intelligence”.
In the Narutoverse, Shukaku is characterized as being a wild and grumpy individual, which speaks in a bombastic and incoherent fashion, making it look like a mad drunken man. It also expresses pride by using “ore-sama”, which means “my esteemed self”, when it talks about itself. Its immense pride can also be seen in its extreme confidence in its abilities, especially its absolute defense, which leads it to usually underestimating its adversaries. According to Gaara, Shukaku loved every opportunity of killing someone at first sight, even more during the full moon. The bitter resentment Shukaku nurtures toward Kurama in the anime is because the latter believes that the tailed beasts’ strength is measured by the number of tails each of them possesses, thus insinuating that the tanuki is the weakest of them all, since it has only one tail. Because of that, Shukaku always finds an occasion to mock its arrogant rival. Despite their rivalry, it seems Shukaku knows Kurama well enough to notice when he is scared or not being honest with the ones around him.
Just like its siblings, Shukaku had an intense hatred, hostility, and distrust toward human beings, on account of the centuries of slavery and the negative treatment they imposed on the One-Tails. Nevertheless, Shukaku also nurtured respect toward the ones that respected the tailed beasts, which is reflected in its relationship with its first Jinchuriki, the priest Bunpuku, who treated it as an equal and not a monster. Shukaku never forgot Bunpuku’s words to it that, in the future, there would be someone that would save it from loneliness and guide it. It was only during the Fourth Shinobi World War that Shukaku finally saw in Gaara a light similar to that of its first Jinchuriki, reminding it of the priest and leading it to realize that the young man was the one the priest had foreseen.
From that moment on, the tanuki's disposition toward human beings becomes softer, and it treats Naruto Uzumaki with respect and even offering its chakra to help him defeat Madara Uchiha and, later, Kaguya Outsutsuki. It is only after meeting Naruto that Gaara earns a change of perspective, as he eventually becomes Sunagakure's Fifth Kazekage, becoming finally accepted by his people.
MORE: Why Naruto & Hinata Were Always Meant To Be Together
Passionate anime & gaming lover since she was a kid, Beatrix Kondo never stopped watching, learning, writing & researching about all things anime-related, and also expanded her knowledge to other media. Always looking to improve and be even better at what she does, regarding all things entertainment-related.

source