Urashima Tarō

Portrait of Urashima Tarō by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

Urashima Tarō (浦島 太郎) is the protagonist of a Japanese otogi banashi (fairy tale) about a fisherman who rescues a turtle and is rewarded for this with a visit to the Ryūgū-jō (Dragon Palace) under the sea. He stays there for three days and, upon his return to his village, finds himself 300 years in the future.

It is based on a legend of Urashima no ko recorded in the various documents dating to the 8th century or earlier, such as the accounts of him found in the Nihon Shoki and the Fudoki for Tango Province, and the poem in the anthology Man'yōshū.

Story

Urashima saves the turtle. Japanese watercolour from late 16th or early 17th century

The Urashima Taro tale that is most familiar to most Japanese now follows the storyline as retold by children's tale author Iwaya Sazanami in the Meiji period. A condensed version of it subsequently appeared in Kokutei Kyōkasho or Japan's nationally designated textbook, and became widely read by the schoolchildren of the populace.[1][2]

Commonly known version

The following summary shall reference a well-known example of such a textbook text, from the 3rd edition of the nationally designated textbook, commonly known as the Hanahato tokuhon from the period 1918-1932.[3][lower-alpha 1]

Long ago, a man named Urashima Tarō found a turtle on the beach being tortured by a group of children, and rescued it. Later, while he was fishing on a boat as always, the grateful turtle came and told him he would carry him on his back for him to see the underwater palace known as Ryūgū (Dragon Palace). At the palace, the princess (Otohime) thanked him for saving the turtle, and was entertained for many days with a rich feast and dances performed by tai (snapper), hirame (halibut), octupi and other creatures.

But remembering his mother and father and feeling homesick, he bid his farewell to Otohime. The princess tried to dissuade him from leaving, but finally let him go with a parting gift, a mysterious box called tamatebako which he was told never to open.

When Tarō returned to his hometown, everything had changed. His home was gone, his mother and father had perished, and the people he knew were nowhere to be seen. Thinking that opening the box might do some good, and not remembering the princess's warning, he lifted the lid of the box. A cloud of white smoke arose and touched his face, turning him to a wrinkled old man, his hair and beard turned completely white.[lower-alpha 2][5][6]

Alternate endings

There are other versions that add a further epilogue explaining the subsequent fate of Urashima Tarō after he turns into an old man. In one, he falls to dust and dies, in another, he transforms into a crane and flies up to the sky. In another, he grows gills and leaps into the sea, whereby he regains his youth.[7]

Variations

As always with folklore, there are many different versions of this story. In one, for example, there were three drawers in the box. After he turned into an old man he found a mirror, then took the body of a crane when touched by a crane feather from the last box. In another he ate a magic pill that gave him the ability to breathe underwater. In another version, he is swept away by a storm before he can rescue the turtle.

History

The name Urashima Tarō first appears in the 15th century (the Muromachi period), in the kyōgen plays[8] and in a genre of illustrated popular fiction known as otogizōshi.[9]

The story itself is much older, dating to the 8th century (the Nara period), but the protagonist was known as "Ura (no) Shimako", as attested in earlier sources such as the Fudoki for Tango Province (Tango no Kuni Fudoki, 丹後国風土記) that survived in excerpts, the Man'yōshū and the Nihon Shoki.[10] Later in the Heian Period, the misreading "Urashima (no) ko" became current, because names with the suffix -ko ("child") came to be regarded as female, even though it once applied to either gender.[11] When the texts were written for the kyōgen theatre, the character's name underwent further change to Urashima Tarō: -tarō ("great youth") being a common suffix in male names.[8]

In science, relativistic time dilation is sometimes referred to as the "Urashima Effect" (ウラシマ効果, Urashima kōka) in Japan. The Urashima story is also used to explain this aspect of relativity in The Manga Guide to Relativity.

Retellings

Lafcadio Hearn, who lived in Japan and translated or adapted many ghost stories from the country, rewrote the Urashima tale under the title The Dream of a Summer Day in the late 19th century.[12]

Comparative mythology

The story bears varying degrees of similarity to folktales from other cultures. Rip Van Winkle is the foremost familiar example, although strictly speaking, this is a fictional work by Washington Irving, loosely based on folklore.[13] Still, Urashima has been labeled the "Japanese Rip van Winkle", even in academic folkloristic literature.[14] "Urashima"[lower-alpha 3] is also a Japanese metaphor similar to "Rip Van Winkle" for someone who feels lost in a world that has changed in their absence.[15]

This pair of tales may not be the closest matching among the motif group. Writing in the 19th century, Lafcadio Hearn suggested that Irving wrote another piece called "The Adelantado of the Seven Cities", based on Portuguese tradition, which bore an even stronger resemblance to Urashima.[16] Japanese art collector William Anderson also wrote that a certain Chinese tale was closer to "Rip Van Winkle" than Urashima was.[17]

That Chinese analogue is the anecdote of the woodcutter Wang Zhi,[lower-alpha 4] who after watching immortals playing a board game discovers many years have passed.[17] The piece is a selection in the Shuyiji[lower-alpha 5] or "Accounts of Strange Things", and is also known as the legend of Lankeshan[lower-alpha 6] or "Rotten Axe Handle Mountain".[19][20] Sometimes this Chinese tale is conjectured as a possible source for Urashima, but there is lack of consensus among folklorists regarding their interrelationship.[19]

Other cognate tales include the Irish legend of Oisín[lower-alpha 7] who met Niamh and spent his life with her in Tír na nÓg,[21][22][23] and the Vietnamese legend of Từ Thức, who aids a fairy-child arrested for plucking a peony flower during the festivities.[24] In both these cases, the hero is united with a fairy woman who dwells in a land beyond the sea.

Commemoration

Statue of Urashima Tarō in Mitoyo, Kagawa

A shrine on the western coast of the Tango Peninsula in northern Kyoto Prefecture, named Urashima Jinja, contains an old document describing a man, Urashimako, who left his land in 478 A.D. and visited a land where people never die. He returned in 825 A.D. with a Tamatebako. Ten days later he opened the box, and a cloud of white smoke was released, turning Urashimako into an old man. Later that year, after hearing the story, Emperor Junna ordered Ono no Takamura to build a shrine to commemorate Urashimako's strange voyage, and to house the Tamatebako and the spirit of Urashimako.

Adaptions

The animated adaptation Urashima Tarō of the tale, premiered in 1918, is among some of the oldest anime created in Japan,[25] the same year that Oz author Ruth Plumly Thompson adapted it as "Urushima and the Princess of the Sea" for The Philadelphia Public Ledger.[26]

The story influenced various works of fiction and a number of films. In 1945, Japanese writer Osamu Dazai published Otogizōshi ("fairytale book"), which includes a much expanded version of the story. Urashima's tale, as the other three included in the Otogizōshi, is used mostly as a platform for Dazai's own thoughts and musings. Ursula K. Le Guin's short story "A Fisherman of the Inland Sea" (or "Another Story", 1994) is a reconcoction of the Urashima story set in the Ekumen or Hainish universe.

Explanatory notes

  1. ↑ The nationally designated textbook (kokutei kyōkasho) in question here is the nationally designated Reading Book (Kokugo tokuhon). Its full title in the third edition became Jinjō shōgaku kokugo tokuhon 尋常小学国語読本, or "Japanese Reading Book for Elementary Schools".[4]
  2. ↑ The text of the 3rd edition, beginning: "むかし、浦島太郎といふ人がありました。(Mukashi, Urashima Tarō to iu hito ga arimashita)".
  3. ↑ Or "Urashima Tarō Jōtai" (浦島太郎状態).
  4. ↑ Wang Chih (王質[18]).
  5. ↑ Shu i Chi
  6. ↑ "Lan-k'o shan"
  7. ↑ Ossian

Notes and references

Citations
  1. ↑ Holmes (2014), pp. 6–7 citing Miura (1989), p. 21
  2. ↑ McKeon (1996), pp. 195–196
  3. ↑ Holmes (2014), p. 77
  4. ↑ Holmes (2014), p. 77
  5. ↑ Ashiya (1936), pp. 179–182: reprint from Kokugo tokuhon, vol. 3
  6. ↑ Miura (1989), pp. 22–: reprint from Dai 3 ki kokutei kyōkasho
  7. ↑ Sherman, Howard J (2014), World Folklore for Storytellers: Tales of Wonder, Wisdom, Fools, and Heroes, Routledge, pp. 215–216
  8. 1 2 McKeon (1996), pp. 102–107ff.
  9. ↑ McKeon (1996), pp. 134–136ff.
  10. ↑ McKeon (1996), pp. 7–8, 28, 35.
  11. ↑ McKeon (1996), pp. 107, 228.
  12. ↑ Hearn, Lafcadio (1895). Out of the East: Reveries and Studies in New Japan. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin. pp. 1–27.
  13. ↑ Seal, Graham; White, Kim Kennedy (2016), Folk Heroes and Heroines around the World (2 ed.), ABC-CLIO, p. 47, ISBN 9781440838613
  14. ↑ Mills, Douglas E. (1972), "Medieval Japanese Tales", Folklore, 83 (4): 292
  15. ↑ Shin Wa-Ei Daijiten, 5th edition, entry "Urashima Tarō. Kenkyūsha. 2006.
  16. ↑ Hearn, Lafcadio (1927). A history of English literature in a series of lectures (Notes on American Literature). 2. Tokyo: The Hokuseido Press. p. 827.
  17. 1 2 Anderson, William (1886), The Pictorial Arts of Japan and Other Writings, Synapse, p. 107
  18. ↑ Mayers, William Frederick (1874), Chinese Reader's Manual, American Presbyterian mission Press, p. 239: Anderson (1886)'s source; gives name in Chinese characters.
  19. 1 2 Sugiyama (1964).
  20. ↑ Wu, Cheng'en (1980), Journey to the West, University of Chicago Press, p. 505, n13
  21. ↑ McKeon (1996), pp. 14–15.
  22. ↑ Tagaya (2011), p. 99, citing Doi, Shinwa 1973 pp. 19–25
  23. ↑ Briggs, Katharine Mary (1976), An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures, Pantheon Books, p. 399
  24. ↑ Costineanu, Dragomir (1996), Origines et mythes du kabuki, Publications orientalistes de France, pp. 45–47
  25. ↑ "90yo Japanese anime recovered".
  26. ↑ "Tiger Tales #60 - Urashima and the Princess of the Sea". www.hungrytigerpress.com. Retrieved 2017-07-31.
Bibliography

See also

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