:55:13
While Tamasaburo was wavering
over the desires of his youth,...
:55:17
...Bunta of Mizunomi Swamp
was wandering the fields of Sado,...
:55:20
...searching for Futatsu-iwa Danzaburo.
:55:23
In this, he was like the legendary
Zushio Maru looking for his mother.
:55:27
But for some reason,
he was never able to find...
:55:32
...the whereabouts
of the renowned Danzaburo.
:55:41
Between summer to autumn,
the tanuki faced some serious problems.
:55:46
From the obvious reduction
of the forest due to development,...
:55:50
...to the spring marriages and the baby
boom which doubled their numbers...
:55:54
...and finally, to the unusual summer
which created a severe food shortage.
:55:59
As expected, there were not enough
chestnuts or persimmons in the autumn.
:56:04
The transforming tanuki were forced
to actively seek out human food.
:56:08
But there was never enough to satisfy
the needs of the growing children.
:56:25
Thus, tanuki who
couldn't transform were forced to raid...
:56:30
...the inhabited areas
and try to take anything edible.
:56:33
Because of this, the clumsier
of the ordinary tanuki...
:56:37
...were run over by cars
or caught in traps and killed.