Just purchased some back issues of Bonsai: The Journal of the American Bonsai Society, and in the Spring 1993 edition, there is a picture of a "Japanese maple, Acer palmatum var. Sako Kaka" which is described using the term "phoenix graft" rather than tanuki. The deadwood used is from "a shrub which was growing in his garden," ie, not maple wood. I find the idea intriguing and may try it at some point in the future. If well done, the results are beautiful in their own right.