Essay: Magic in Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang)

Cover of Momotaro, by T. Hasegawa (1886)

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   There doesn't seem to be a single tale in Lang's collection that does not feature magic in some form or another. This is obviously a credit to the Japanese's culture and belief's in spirits and the supernatural. Now, magic is a common mechanic in many realms of tales (Andersen collection for example). However, the Japanese make a point to give magic an omnipresent quality: no matter what part of the story that the reader may be in, there's always a sense of destiny and that a magical force could intervene at any moment to propel the story forward.
   For example, in a relatively realistic story of the maiden with the wooden helmet (link), the maiden's deceased mother comes to her in a dream and tells her that she should finally accept a man's hand in marriage. Now, this maiden's mother was the reason she wore the wooden helmet to hide her beauty anyway, and previously in the story the author made it clear that the maiden was eternally loyal to her mother. So, the only way that the maiden could take her dream seriously is if the spirit of her mother actually intervened and appeared to her. The Japanese are often attributed with having the attitude that the environment and outside forces, rather than individual efforts, are the things that really drive the world. It seems that even in this very personal tale that they can't escape that tendency.
   Magic is also often associated with animals in Japanese culture. For example, in the tale of How the Wicked Tenuki was Punished (link), the animals themselves are described as magicians and spell-casters. They are so good at conducting magic that they actually are able to fool humans, which reveals that the Japanese culture attributes quite a bit of the strange happenings in the world (at least at the time the stories were written) to spiritual or magical intervention.


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Storytelling: Week 6 - Schippietaro Retelling

Schippietaro, by Fredrick Richardson (1862-1937)

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   There was once a boy, named Hiei,  that set out to make a name for himself, as was the tradition of the village boys of Japan once they reached manhood. He set out, using a mountain range covered in forest in the distance as his heading. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for, but he knew that the mountains were dangerous. There was bound to be some form of challenge that he could add to his name if he overcame it. 

   Once he was in the midst of the forest and he started his upward climb, it began to get dark. Though the forest was closing over him and the wind was howling through the oaks, he spotted a light shimmering through a clearing and then sees a small chapel. Despite the little shack being completely devoid of company, the boy saw that there was a fire already ablaze at the alter. So, he set his things down and started to doze off for the night. But then he woke when he heard some rustling in the rafters: dozens of black cats roamed on the beams and around the alter, chanting, "Don't tell Schippietaro! Keep it hidden and secret! Don't tell Schippietaro!" Even though the boy was in a corner of the alter that he couldn't be seen, he was still frightful. But then, he heard a loud barking in the distance, which kept getting louder and louder. Suddenly, after several moments of silence (because the cats had gone quiet as well), a large hound burst through the alter doors, barking madly at the cats. They all scattered and fled the alter. The dog then sniffed about, and followed Hiei's scent over to him. Hiei was still huddled, cautioned by any movement. But the dog simply just laid beside him and slept with him till morning.  

   When daylight broke, Hiei looked about and saw that the dog was still waiting for him by the alter entrance. "What do you want boy?" Hiei asked. The dog barked and set off running. Not willing to let his new companion out of his sight, Hiei ran after him. They both wound up at a little village in the mountain. When Hiei arrived, he found a crowd of people trying to console a crying woman, who wailed "Don't take my daughter from me! Couldn't there be some other way to appease the mountain demon?" Hiei inquired about this odd circumstance and was told by the village elders that each year the demon of the mountain asks for a young woman to be sacrificed so that he may eat her. Seeing this as his chance for glory, Hiei asked about all about the demon to see how to defeat it. But one of the elders cautioned him, "A young man, like yourself, wanting glory to put to his name, went to conquer the demon. Oddly enough, that was the same day and night that dog appeared. We think he is a spirit in animal form." Before heading back out to the alter that night for the appearance of the mountain demon, Hiei asked the elders to have his sword sharpened which they obliged. He then called to the dog, and headed out just as the sun was setting again.

    The boy reapproached, with the dog growling at his side. They both then step into the alter room and braced themselves. There was the horde of black cats again, but this time they were also dancing around an open top coffin: inside was a girl, who appeared to be in a trance-like sleep but was still breathing. Suddenly, all the cats melted into shadows and accumulated to form a singular, humongous cat, one that dwarfed the dog and boy. The three then fought, in a blurr of steel, fangs, and claws. In the fray, Hiei was thrown to the side, and his sword was broken. In that moment, the giant cat lunged for him with its claws. The dog intercepted the blow and was flung across the room, slumped over and whimpering. Not wasting a moment, Hiei grabbed the broken sword blade and plunged the sharp end into the neck of the cat, which wailed and hissed as it disintegrated into smoke. The boy ran over to the dog, trying to bandage the claw wounds up. "Don't worry, boy, I was the best healer in my village, I know I'll have you better!" Hiei cried. The dog's mouth opened, but instead of a dog's groan, the voice of a young man came out, "Hiei, I am Schippietaro. I am not a spirit, but I was once a boy like you, seeking to make myself into a hero by defeating the mountain spirit. I was turned into a hound by its magic." Hiei stared in disbelief but quickly returned to his healing. "Even if you can't heal me, it will be alright Hiei." Schippietaro continued, "You have helped me to achieve my destiny as a hero, and you own as well. So, thank you."

   Some say that the dog Schippietaro and the boy Hiei still roam the lands of Japan, seeking new adventures. But they nonetheless became legends in their own right, however they both knew that they wouldn't have lived to become heroes and friends if they did not have each other. 

Author's Note:
I don't deviate from the original main story of Schippietaro from the Japanese Fairy Tales. However, I thought it would make more sense to have Schippietaro have more significance than simply the dog of the overseer of the town, as he is in the original story. I thought it would add a lot to the story if Schippietaro was actually a young man that was seeking his last chance at glory with the boy Hiei, after Schippietaro himself had failed to defeat the mountain spirit and was transformed into a dog as a result. 

Here is a link to the original story


Bibliography: Japanese Fairy Tales retold by Andrew Lang, and illustrated by J. H. Ford. Link to unit

Reading Diary B: Japanese Folk Tales (Lang)

Defeat of the Mountain Spirit by the youth and Schippietaro, by J. H. Ford (1901)

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   The next story to come in Lang's collection of retellings is Schippietaro, which is about a boy who leaves his village upon reaching manhood and vows not to return until he has made himself famous. The tale says that this was once the tradition for young men in Japanese villages: to go out and seek glory for himself and his family. I don't find that hard to believe, but it is presented in the story as such a sweeping fact that I think it might be making a generalization. Anyway, he spots a mountain and aims to start his journey there, not knowing what would transpire after he goes down to rest from his trek. He finds that he has to stop to sleep for the night in the forest on the mountain, and rather than sleep in the danger of the trees, he spots a chapel in a clearing and makes his camp there. In the middle of the night he is awoken by the forms and shrieks of cats, who say, "Don't tell Schippietaro! Keep it hidden and secret! Don't tell Schippietaro!" When morning comes, the young man discovers a village when he resumes his trek. In this village, he discovers that each year, the people must sacrifice a young woman to the mountain spirit to be eaten and the girl for this year has already been chosen for the beast tonight. He is told that this maiden was strapped inside of a coffin in front of the chapel, so he makes it his duty to investigate. But before he leaves, he asks the people: "Who is Schippietaro?" They tell him he is the dog owned by the overseer of the village, who the young man convinces to let him borrow the dog to rescue the woman. The two investigate the chapel and face the Mountain Spirit, which is a huge black cat. Together they killed the mountain spirit and were forever considered heroes to the village.

   The next story is the Wicked Tanuki, which is a small badger-like animal that lives in Japan. There was a forest that had been purged of all but three animals: a tanuki, a fox his wife, and their son. But they hadn't escaped the purge on accident: they were all very clever and skilled in magic. As they begin to worry about starvation, the tanuki proposes that his wife, disguised as a human, takes him into the village to sell for some money so that they can buy food. The husband and wife agree on this. After the fox had gotten the most money she could from the bidders, her husband was locked away, but quickly escaped his holding back into the forest. Eventually they needed more food, and this time the fox would be the one being sold. But this time, the tanuki thought that if he had the buyer kill her, there would be more food for him and his son. So she is betrayed and killed. However, the tanuki does not give his son any food, and the son by this time had found out everything and planned a way to get vengance. He proposed to his father a wager: that no matter what shape his father could take, he could match it with magic as well. The father agreed and waited at sunrise on the bridge into the town. However, the young tanuki allowed the town's king and escorts to pass on the bridge first, so that his father would be tricked. Indeed he had: the guards, thinking their king was being attacked through the old tanuki into the river, where he drowned.

Reading Diary A: Japanese Folk Tales (Lang)

The Old Woman Opens the Box, by J. H. Ford

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   I have always heard the tales from Japanese culture were very topsy-turvy and expressive with their manner  and morals, and this seems to be true from the tales retold by Lang. This comes out with the tale of the two frogs: one wants to see Kioto and the other wants to see Osaka, the city opposite from the other. They meet and try to help each other see each others' city from a good vantage point. However, they wind up being tricked because when they think they see the other frog's city from their vantage, they mistakenly see their own and conclude that they wasted their time travelling there.
   Then there is the tale of the Sparrow with the Split Tongue, which tells of a sparrow that an old man becomes the recurrent savior of whenever it encounters anything threatening in the wilderness. Eventually, the old man's wife becomes jealous of the bird and how much affection the old man gives it. On a typical day, after the old man has saved the bird from its dangerous circumstance, the wife waits for the old man to leave his house so that she can take care of the bird for good. So, she captured it and slit its tongue, and released it back into the wilderness. Not being shamed in the least about what she had done, she tells her husband exactly what she did when he asks where the sparrow has gone. He leaves into the woods to find the sparrow, and happens upon a little cottage after many hours of searching. In this cottage is a young woman, who claims to be the true form of the sparrow that the old man saved time and time again. She and her sisters show their gratitude by singing and dancing for him, and gave him a choice of a gift: either a large chest or a small one. The old man takes the smaller chest, which he discovers is filled with the most valuable jewels. His wife finds out, and seeks out the sparrow-princess' cottage and demands that she be given the large chest. The sparrow-princess concedes and the old man's wife trudges home with the heavy, enormous chest. However, when she opens it, to her horror, two snakes pop out and kill her. Obviously, the woman was betrayed by her own greed and jealousy.