Ancient Tales Zn• Modern Japan an Anthology of Japanese Folk Tales
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Ancient Tales zn• Modern Japan An Anthology of Japanese Folk Tales Selected and Translated by FANNY HAGIN MAYER INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Bloomington, Indiana This book has been produced from camera-ready copy provided by ASIAN FOLKLORE STUDIES. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writ ing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses' Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: Ancient tales in modern Japan. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Tales-Japan. I. Mayer, Fanny Hagin, 1899- GR340.A5 1984 398.2'0952 84-47746 ISBN 0-253-30710-4 1 2 3 4 5 89 88 87 86 85 Contents Ancient Tales in Modern Japan vii Notes by the Translator xvii PART ONE Folk Tales in Complete Form Chapter 1. Propitious Births 3 Chapter 2. The Lives of Unusual Children 14 Chapter 3. Unpromising Marriages That Became Happy 19 Chapter 4. Stepchildren Stories 44 Chapter 5. Brothers Not Alike 61 Chapter 6. Finding Treasures 68 Chapter 7. Overcoming Evils 96 Chapter 8. Help from Animals 133 Chapter 9. The Power of Words 159 Chapter 10. Cleverness at Work 164 PART TWO Derived Tales Chapter 11. Stories about Destiny 199 Chapter 12. Ghost Stories 204 Chapter 13. Humorous Stories: Exaggerations 218 Chapter 14. Humorous Stories: Profitless Imitation 246 Chapter 15. Humorous Stories: Tales of Foolish Villages 252 Chapter 16. Tales about Birds, Beasts, Plants, and Trees 265 Chapter 17. Miscellaneous Stories between Folk Tales and Legends 305 Chapter 18. The Fascination of Folk Tales 314 Notes to the Stories 319 Glossary 333 Cross Reference Table 339 Bibliography of Sources 347 Alphabetical List of Titles 350 General Index 355 Introduction Ancient Tales in Modern Japan This volume is the first overalI sampling of Japanese folk tales to be prepared for Westerners. More than half of the selections have never been translated. In nooks and corners of the Japanese islands, folk tales are stilI being recited for young and old alike, and collec tors are still searching for them to present to readers. It would be difficult to ascertain exactly how ancient the legends and tales that can stilI be heard in Japan real1y are. The present an thology contains themes that wil1 already be familiar to students of Japanese literature. For those who are not familiar with the old writ ings of Japan, I will name a few in their chronological order and show their points of contact with some of the tales in this collection. Others are mentioned in The Yanagita Guide to the Japanese folk Tale (hereafter referred to as the Guide)) The earliest written work in Japan is Kojiki,2 a compilation of tales concerning events of Irancient times. 1r Since it was completed in 712, we can speculate that tales were present in the land long before that. The Kojiki is ful1 of references to birds, animals, plants and a variety of landscapes which show the interest people had in those times in settings like those found in the folk tale. There are transfor mations of men into birds, of deities into animals, and the like, which also remind one of folk tales. The story of the White Rabbit of Inaba 3 has not continued in oral tradition, but it is a popular tale in chil dren's books to this day. The sympathetic rat and his children who guided Okuninushi no Mikoto in his flight 4 reminds one of the friendly rats in "Rat J6dolr (No. 133). The tragedy of the crocodile wife, who had been transformed into a woman,5 recal1s IrThe Snake Wife" (No. 28). The Kojiki was said to have been set down the way it was recited by one Hida no Are, a kataribe, or Irreciter.1r Those who recite folk tales are still called kataribe today. If the kataribe passes away with out leaving a disciple in his family or village, the stories become extinct in that place. Yanagita wrote in his introduction to the Guide that it was likely that themes from folk tales had been picked up by chance and embel lished in literary works, but the earliest to be recorded were by order of the Imperial Court. In 713 a decree called for fudoki (gazetteers) to be compiled in the various provinces. Legends and tales by village elders were among the items to be recorded. The fudoki exist today primarily in fragments, but there are references to other no longer extant texts. One such reference is the story of Urashimataro in viii Ancient Tales in Modern Japan Tango fudoki. He was a fisherman who was invited to the Dragon Palace in the sea. Al though this particular tale has been lost to folk tales, several tales tell of trips to the Dragon Palace. "The wife from the Dragon Palace" (No. 27) is one such tale. Tucked into the ninth century Nihon ryliiki,6 a collection of Buddhist tales, we find the folk tale about a fox-wife who, trans formed into a woman, bore a child to a man. "The Fox Wife" (No. 24) is an elaborate version of that theme, still preserved in Northeastern Japan. The early twelfth century Konjaku monogatari sho 7 adds an embellishment to it by having the husband confronted by both his fox wife and his true wife. Many themes from folk tales can be recognized in UjishOi mono gatari8 of the thirteenth century, but two complete versions recall those in this collection, "The Sparrow with a Broken Back" (No. 127) and "The Old Man who Got a Tumor" (No. 140). Kaidoki,9 a travelog written in the same century, elaborates the story of Kaguyahime, which belongs to the "Takenoko Doji" (No.5) type. Yanagita points to several references concerning it in his Guide. Although he says it has been lost to oral tradition, I believe it may yet turn up in collections made later than his notes. Tales were popular in the literature of the Heian and Kamakura periods (794-1185; 1185-1333). Their literary form has little in common with folk tales, but one finds frequent mention of them. Such mention becomes more and more scarce in the periods that follow to early Edo, a period beginning in 1615. During those periods (Muromachi, Momo yama and early Edo), however, tales known as otogizlishi were popular. These were retold upon various occasions, such as night watches, or as diversions at other times. Most of them are now 10st.10 We find them in "Issun Boshi" (No.8) with the same title and "Shutendoji" under the title "The Origin of Fleas and Mosquitoes" (No. 298) in this anthology. Themes from several other otogizlishi can be recognized among the tales collected here. It can be seen from these few examples that oral tales contributed to the body of Japanese literature until early modern times, or the Edo period. The circumstance which buried them from wider notice was probably the development of printing. Publishing houses sprang up in urban centers, and the country was flooded with cheap, illustrated booklets which caught the fancy of busy city folk. Such printed works have received the attention of Westerners, but the folk tale, which continued to be handed down orally in rural and mountainous regions, has escaped their notice. It is this body of folk tales to which I referred in my opening statement. We are still awaiting a proper perspective on the role of oral tales in the history of Japanese literature. I have read through Edward Putzar's recent translation of a Japanese study in the history of Japanese literature.ll He writes in his Introduction: .•.. even though Chinese graphs or characters were known to Japan during the late fourth century, a general knowledge of Chinese writing among the aristocracy does not seem to have prevailed until after the reign of Empress Suiko (r. 592-628). The literature before that date was orally transmitted (p. 5). Ancient Tales in Modern Japan IX In several other passages he refers to oral literature, to orally transmitted literature, and even to "narrative folk literature" (p. 14). Abe Akio discusses aristocratic literature in his chapter of Put zar's book, about the Heian period, then adds: this does not mean that there was no literature of the common people ... we find only the slightest interaction between popular (oral tradition) and aristocratic literature (pp. 40-41). The setsuwa (tale) genre, which Putzar mentions as story litera ture in his Introduction, had three distinct strains in it by the medieval period 0185-1600). These were stories about life among courtiers and aristocrats, those about popular interest, and Buddhist tales which were intended to provide simplified explanations for Buddhist doctrines. The otogizoshi also appeared in this period. We find no mention of oral tales in the chapters in Putzar's volume on the Modern Period (1600-1868), covered by Nakamura Yuki hiko, or in the Contemporary Period 0868-1945), treated by Saegusa Tatsukata. These scholars have overlooked the oral transmission of tales. It is hoped that the broad scope of oral tales in the present anthology will attest not only to their survival in modern times, but to their vigor as well. All the source material here was available before 1945, and there is a great upsurge of interest in folk tales today in Japan. In 1889 W. G.