A Comparative Study of Japanese and Polynesian Mythology With
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A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF JAPANESE AND POLYNESIAN MYTHOLOGY WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO SELECTED COSMOGONY AND TRICKSTER MYTHS A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Japanese in the University of Canterbury by Yasuko Tsuji University of Canterbury 1998 To my dearest parents, Shozo and Tamako Tsuji who brought me to the miracle world of mythologies in my childhood. 2 3 JAN 2001 Table of contents Chapter Page Abstract . I Acknowledgements . 2 I. Introduction: aims of the study 1. The links between Japanese and Polynesian myths 3 2. Limitations of the study . 5 3. Translations of Maori and Samoan myths into Japanese . 6 II. Prehistoric Migration in the Western Pacific Rim 1. Migration movements between Japan, Southeast Asia and Polynesia . 7 2. Similarities between Asians, Southeast Asians and Polynesians 12 3. Conclusion . 30 Ill. A Maori Cosmogony Myth: the story of Tane I . Introduction to the story . 32 2. Translation . 37 3. Explanations of the story 64 IV. Cosmogony Myths: comparison and analysis - Japanese I Polynesian I Maori 1. Main sources of Japanese mythology . 82 2. Comparison between the Japanese and Maori cosmogony myths . 85 3. Conclusion . 113 V. A Samoan Trickster Myth: the story of the Octopus and the Rat i. Introduction to the story. i 14 2. Translation . i 15 3. Explanations of the story . 119 VI. Trickster Myths: comparison and analysis - Japanese I Southeast Asian I Polynesian 1 . The story of the White Rabbit of lnaba in Japanese mythology . 123 2. Other variants of the story in Japan . 124 3. Comparison between 'The White Rabbit of lnaba' and variants of the story outside Japan . .125 4. Analysis of all versions . 152 5. Conclusion . 164 VII. Summary and Conclusion. 165 Appendices (Maps, Pictures) . 168 References . 171 1 Abstract In this thesis, Japanese mythology is compared with Polynesian mythology. Particularly, two Polynesian myths are selected as comparative material. The first one is a Maori cosmogony myth, a South Island version of Tane, the second one a Samoan trickster myth, The Octopus and the Rat. Tane is compared with the Japanese cosmogony myth, while The Octopus and the Rat is compared with the Japanese trickster myth, the White Rabbit of lnaba. Some common elements between the two mythologies and their origins are discussed in an analysis of the myths. Both myths are also translated into Japanese. To my knowledge, this is the first time this version of Tane and The Octopus and the Rat have been translated into Japanese. Present Polynesian and Japanese migration theories and studies are also investigated, in order to explain the occurrence of similarities between both mythologies. 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors Dr. Edwina Palmer from the Asian Languages Department and Dr. Christine Tremewan from the Maori Department for their excellent advice, encouragement and patience, for lending me their valuable books, and for making their time available, even during holidays. My gratitude also goes out to Teta Pa'o-Sopo'aga for offering her story from Western Samoa, to Carole Acheson and Valerie Melhop from the English Department for helping me with my English, and to Maki Tokumoto from the Asian Languages Department for helping me with the Japanese translations. I would also like to thank to Dr. Fumio Kakubayashi from Massey University, Hiroshi Nakajima from The Pacific Society, Yuigami Tadashi from Satsumaimo Sunken Shiryoshitsu in the lbusuki Library, Miyuki Yasutake from the Fukuoka Jyoshi High Shoal Library, Shayne Clarke and Yasuko Okamura for their kindness in providing materials. I am grateful to my parents Shozo and Tamako Tsuji and my sister Tomoko for their understanding and for sending me books from Japan, and to my late uncle Masao Tsuji for being my role model. Finally, my special thanks with love goes to Henk for his support and sharing. Without their help and kindness, this dissertation would not have been completed. 3 Chapter I. Introduction: aims of the study 1. The links between Japanese and Polynesian myths. In the field of Japanese mythology, comparative studies with Southeast Asia have been carried out since i 920. 1 Recently the comparative study of Japanese mythology with mythologies of other cultures from all over the world has become popular.2 As a result, it has been accepted that Japanese mythology shares common elements with other cultures and that it is made up of various elements from other cultures.3 Furthermore, it has been suggested that Japanese mythology has southern origins, particularly tracing back to Southeast Asia. What may seem more surprising are the links between Japanese mythology and Polynesian mythology. Cultural historian ChogyO Takayama (1899), Japanese mythology specialists Nobuhiro Matsumoto (1 931 ), Shizuo 4 Matsuoka , Nora K. Chadwick (1 930) and others pointed out at an early stage that Japanese mythology has elements in common with Maori mythology.5 Since then many scholars have become interested in this subject. There is almost no doubt that Japanese myths share common elements with Polynesian myths. One key point is how the close similarities between the two mythologies are to be explained. According to Chadwick and others, it is unlikely that elements of Polynesian mythology were brought directly from Japan or vice versa. 6 At present there are two hypotheses about the route by which mythology reached Japan. The first hypothesis contends that some elements of mythology were introduced indirectly from Polynesia via other places or cultures. Southeast 10hbayashi, 1986: 266. 2Mizuno, 1996:26-8. 3Goto, 1997: 12-3; 199-200; Mizuno, 1996:30-1. 4His theory is in his work Kiki Ronkyu vol.1. 5Chadwick, 1930: 425-7; 432-3; Matsumae, 1970: 50-2; Matsumoto, 1994: 158-179; 193-4; Ohbayashi, 1972: 176; Ohbayashi, 1973: 27-30; Ohbayashi, 1986: 224-315; Takagi, 1994:82-88, Yoshida, 1974: 17-8. 6Chadwick, i 930: 442. 4 Asia or Southern China are suggested as intermediate points.7 The other hypothesis is that some elements of the mythology originated in Southeast Asia and the mythology travelled in two directions along with the migration of people.8 One route led from Southeast Asia to Japan, while the other was from Southeast Asia to Polynesia. 9 The latter hypothesis seems to be more probable. However, the details of how mythology was brought to Japan have not yet been verified. For example, did the myths travel to Japan from Southeast Asia at the same time as they did from Southeast Asia to Polynesia? If so, when? At present the link between Japan and Southeast Asian mythology is under research, and several scholars have published research papers about the 'southern route', which reaches to Japan from Southeast Asia. However, the study of the link between Southeast Asian and Polynesian mythology has been neglected and much research on the route between Southeast Asia and Polynesia has yet to be done. Therefore, further study is required to prove the link between Japanese and Polynesian mythology. In this thesis, I shall trace the common origin of Japanese and Polynesian mythology through a discussion on similarities in the myths of Japan, Southeast Asia and Polynesia. In societies where myths are still alive, mythology is often classified into two categories. Mircea Eliade terms these categories true stories and false stories.10 True stories are those myths which deal with the origins of all sorts of things, such as the world (the beginning of the world, cosmogony, creation of the stars), death, animals, plants, and humans. They often list genealogies and mention true events. Actors tend to be divine, supernatural beings or human heroes. True stories are usually believed to be real, and they relate the human condition, explaining primordial events and mortality, gender, organized society, the obligation to work in order to live, and the need to behave in accordance with certain rules. False stories on the other hand, are tales and fables which explain certain 7 Ohbayashi, 1986: 235. 8Kakubayashi, 1996-a: 37-40; Kakubayashi, 1996-b: 8. 9Chadwick, 1930: 442-6. 1 ~liade, 1963:8-9. 5 anatomical or physiological peculiarities of animals. Actors are usually heroes or miraculous animals who are often cast in the role of trickster. They do not change, or attempt to explain, the human condition. 11 Both true stories and false stories are discussed in chapters Ill to VI. 2. Limitations of the study It is clear that Japanese mythology shares common elements with Polynesian mythology. However, there are limitations to this study because there are always common motifs in all mythologies.12 For instance, Japanese mythology and Greek mythology have some elements in common, even though the two countries are far away from each other and it is unlikely that there ever was any migration movement between them. 13 All societies may have universal ideas about certain elements; for example, darkness seen as a sign of death, or an underworld which is thought to exist under the earth. Since human beings have similar experiences and to a large extent observe the same natural phenomena, it is only natural that some of their ways of explaining the world must sometimes coincide. Thus certain motifs may arise in two or more places quite independently of each other. This means that we can never be sure that motifs shared by mythologies of two different countries did not arise independently. However, when a large number of motifs or elements are shared, this is less likely to have occurred through chance coincidence. 3. Translations of Maori and Samoan myths into Japanese Although the similarity between Polynesian mythology (including Maori mythology) and Japanese mythology has been pointed out before, materials on Polynesian and Maori mythology are in short supply in Japan, and there is no detailed academic material on Polynesian and Maori mythology in Japanese.