Nanabozho
ojibwe trickster spirit often in the form of a rabbit
Nanabozho (in syllabics: ᓇᓇᐳᔓ, [nɐˌnɐbʊˈʒʊ]), also known as Nanabush, is a spirit in Anishinaabe aadizookaan (traditional storytelling), particularly among the Ojibwe of North America. Nanabozho figures prominently in their storytelling, including the story of the world's creation. Nanabozho is the Ojibwe trickster figure and culture hero (these two archetypes are often combined into a single figure in First Nations mythologies, among others).
Nanabozho can take the shape of male or female animals or humans in storytelling. Most commonly it is an animal such as a rabbit, a raven or coyote which lives near the tribe and which is cunning enough to make capture difficult.
Nanabozho is a trickster figure in many First Nation storytellings. While the use of Nanabush through storytelling can be for entertainment, it is often used as a way to pass down information and general life lessons.
The Nanabozho spirit
As a trickster figure, it is often Nanabozho’s goal to create problems, which often highlight the struggles many Native people experience. According to Anishinaabe scholar Leanne Simpson, for instance, Nanabush often experiments with capitalistic means. They can be greedy, manipulative, and money driven.
“Nanabozho” enters the record as ojibwe trickster spirit often in the form of a rabbit. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Nanabozho, ojibwe and trickster can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Nanabozho” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Nanabozho, ojibwe and trickster provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q833857. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Nanabozho”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Nanabozho primary sources, Nanabozho archive and Nanabozho research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Nanabozho”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Nanabozho” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.