TALES OF JAPAN

THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA – KAGUYA HIME

One day the grandfather was going to the bamboo forest to cut the bamboo. When he was picking on the bamboo, he suddenly saw a bamboo tree that glowed goldenly. The bamboo tree seemed as if it asked the grandfather to immediately cut it down. The grandfather then cut the bamboo tree.

He was very surprised after cutting the bamboo because in the bamboo stick there was a little baby girl. The grandfather happily brought the baby home. The grandfather and the grandmother took care of the baby girl with great affection. They named her Kaguya.

Since that bamboo cutter found Kaguya, he had been finding a gold nugget inside every bamboo that he cuts. In a short time, they become a rich family. Kaguya also grew up  with extraordinary beauty.

One day, five princes came to propose Kaguya. Not wanting to be married to any one of them, Kaguya gave them some impossible tasks to find rare things. Three princes tried to deceive her by giving fake things, the fourth gave up, and the last prince injured on the way.

The Emperor of Japan, Mikado, also came to see her. He fell in love with her at first sight. He asked her to come with him to the palace, but she told him that she can’t, because she did not come from this world. The Emperor left partially brokenhearted, but he and Kaguya stayed as friends.

Kaguya often found herself looking at the moon longingly with tears in her eyes. Not long after that, it was revealed to her parents that Kaguya came from the moon, and the gold nuggets he had been finding were the pay for taking care of her.

When the time came for her to go back to the moon, she gave some gifts to her parents and her friends, including the Emperor. The Emperor sent an army to guard Kaguya against being taken by the people from the moon, but the army failed. As the heaven army from the moon took Kaguya away, she wore a magical feather robe, and she forgot all memories she made on Earth.

Her adoptive parents were heartbroken, eventually falling sick. Meanwhile, the Emperor asked his guards to burn Kaguya’s letter and her gift at the top of the highest mountain in japan hoping that Kaguya will come back to the earth. But until now, she didn’t come back to the earth.

SNOW WOMAN – YUKI ONNA

Once up on time ago, a man named Minokichi and his father Mosaku lived together. They worked woodsmen. As winter came, the mountains became covered deep with snow and they could not cut any trees. So they used to go out to hunt.
 One day they went out as usual, but could not find any game at all. What was worse, the mountains began to change as if they were living creatures. When they notice the look of the sky was strange, the snow had already been falling. They kept on walking in the snowstorm, and came to small mountain cottage at last. They decided to wait until the snowstorm passed.
 After they entered the cottage and lit a fire on the hearth and warmed their bodies which were frozen. Mosaku said, “Tonight, we should stay here. If go out to outside tonight, surely would die.”
 Then Mosaku continued. “Minokichi, why don’t you get married? I want to have my grandchildren quickly because I am growing old.” Minokichi covered his head cause he was shy when hearing that. They had such a conversation, but soon they began to sleep since they were so tired.
 After several hours, Minokichi woke up because of the coldness. He found that the door was opened and snow was coming into inside. The fire was put out too, without notice. And then he saw someone in the snowstorm near the door. It was a woman who had beautiful white face like snow. Although she was charming, he was surprised to see her. She came in to the cottage and sat down near Mosaku. And she covered him with her body and breathed out. Her breath was very white and cold. Then he died silently. She stood up and came near Minokichi. “Please help me.” He said. When she saw his eyes, suddenly her cold expression became gentle. “You are still young and have a beautiful eyes. I will save you, but you must not tell the tonight’s happening to anyone.”
 “OK.” Minokichi answered while trembling. And she disappeared into the snowstorm.
 One year passed, and Minokichi never told anyone about that story. It was a rainy day. A woman was standing in front of his house waiting for the rain to stop. He found her and felt sorry for her because she was wet. He was a kind man,, so he invited her to his house. Her name was Oyuki. She was so beautiful. He was fascinated by her beauty, and she, too, since he was kind. Soon they fell in love each other and got married.
 Many years later, they could have many children and were very happy. But the only thing Minokichi worried about was that she got sick when she was exposed to the sunshine. So he always took good care of her.
 One snowy night, he was watching Oyuki who was sewing. “You are beautiful.” He said, then remembered, “I saw a beautiful woman like you in the past.”
 “Who? What like?” She asked.
 “It was a snowy night like tonight. I saw a snow woman. . . .”
 Oyuki stood up and said, “You told it finally.” Mitokichi was startled. “You are . . . ?” Oyuki turned around and looked at him. It was the snow woman whom he has met that day at the cottage. “I wanted to live happily with you forever. Why did you break our promise? I can not see you again now. Good bye . . . good bye . . . ” After saying this, she left their house.
 Minokichi managed to run after her, but he could not. As soon as she went to the outside, she disappeared. He and their children were just sitting in the snowstorm.
 When we go to snowy mountain, you can hair the sound of snowstorm. It is a woman crying. She wanders and looks for a warm hearted human to help her cold body be warm.

MOMOTARO

A long, long time ago an old man and his wife lived in a remote corner of Japan. They had no children and were a little lonely. Every day the man gathered firewood in the mountains and his wife washed clothes in a nearby stream. One day, as the old woman was doing her washing, an enormous peach came bobbing downstream. She picked it up with difficulty – it was so big and heavy – and took it home.

The old woman waited for her husband to come home before eating the peach. When he had arrived, she took out a knife and plunged into the juicy peach, exclaiming, “What a tasty treat!” At that very moment, the peach split in two and with a loud wail out sprang a sweet boy. At first the couple was startled; then overjoyed at having been blessed with a child. They called him Momotaro (momo means peach; Taro is a common Japanese boys’ name) and brought him up with tender loving care.

Momotaro grew up strong, powerful, and kind. In no time at all he had become the strongest in the village. One day Momotaro heard about the ogres on Onigashima (Ogres’ Island) who spread fear among his countrymen. He begged the old man and woman to allow him go to Onigashima to drive away the ogres. At first they were surprised and worried but Momotaro insisted so earnestly that they finally gave in to his plea. They prepared some millet dumplings for Momotaro to eat on his journey and saw him off.

Momotaro set off in high spirits. At the edge of the village he met a dog. “Momotaro, where are you going? What are you carrying in that bag?” asked the dog. “I’m off to Onigashima,” replied Momotaro, “and I’m carrying the most delicious millet dumplings in all Japan. If you help me drive away the ogres I’ll give you one.” The hungry dog gobbled down a dumpling and became Momotaro’s steadfast companion. Soon they came across a pheasant. In return for a tasty dumpling, the pheasant also agreed to join Momotaro’s party. Next they met a monkey who was also persuaded to join them in exchange for a millet dumpling.

When Momotaro’s party finally reached Onigashima, they found a large gate blocking their way. The pheasant flew over it and unlocked it from inside. The party passed through and were met by a strange spectacle. The ogres were in the midst of merrymaking. “We’ve come to punish you for plaguing my countrymen!” bellowed Momotaro and charged towards the drunken ogres with his three animal friends. The pheasant pecked the ogres all over, the monkey pounced and scratched them, and the dog bit their arms and legs. Thanks to having eaten the best millet dumplings in Japan, Momotaro’s party had the strength of a thousand people and had the ogres running for their lives.

Completely overpowered, the defeated leader of the ogres dropped to his knees before Momotaro. With tears streaming down his face he said, “I promise we will never trouble human beings again, and we will return all the treasures we have ever taken from your village. But please spare our lives! I beseech you!” Thereupon, Momotaro loaded the treasures onto a boat and joined by his small but feisty party headed back home with it in triumph.

HANASAKA JIISAN – THE TALE OF THE OLD MAN WHO BLOSSOMS TREES

   Once upon a time, a long time ago, on a remote mountainous island in Japan, there lived an old man and his wife. This elderly couple supported themselves by working hard in a crop on their land. They had a little dog that looked a lot like a snow-white wolf named Shiro. Without having any children, the couple gave all their love and affection to this dog.

   Shiro followed the work of this couple in the field every day. But one day, Shiro starts barking non-stop. The dog ran to its owner, grabbed his clothes and pulled him to a certain place. Arriving at this location the dog began to dig quickly. Seeing this the old man took his hoe and began to help the dog. And to the great surprise, when digging, large stones of gold were found. Very happy, they returned home to share the news. The very generous couple decided to share the gold with the entire village.

   But, there was a couple of neighbors who were very petty and greedy and didn’t like the kind couple. When they heard about this story they very quickly knocked on the couple’s door. They asked to be allowed to take Shiro for just one day, in order to find more gold. Because they were generous, the old man and his wife allowed Shiro to go with them.

   As he walked away from the house, the evil old man tied the dog, took his swollen one and left, forcing him to look for gold. After much mistreatment, Shiro stopped near a tree and started to shake. Thinking that the dog had found gold, the old man pushed the dog away and soon began to dig. After a lot of work he found only garbage.

  Very angry the old man took his hoe and hit Shiro, killing him. He returned home without telling anyone. The kind old couple were looking forward to Shiro’s arrival. So they decided to go to their neighbors and ask what had happened. Unbelievably, when he got there, the evil old man confessed what he had done. This left the old seniors devastated. So the good old man very sad went to the place of death of his faithful companion taking him by the arm and taking him back home and buried him.

  Every day the good couple cried over the dog’s grave. In this place where he was buried, a small sprout appeared. The next day, the sprout grew into a strong and large tree. As the days went by, it grew more and more until they could no longer see its branches. But one day, a very strong storm toppled the tree.

  So they decided to build a pestle with the wood of that tree. This pestle would be used to prepare the dough for the mochi, a rice ball that Shiro was very fond of. After building the pestle, they went to prepare the cookie dough. When the old man began to knead the dough, he noticed that it began to turn to gold. As he was beating the dough, more and more gold appeared. And once again he shared all that gold with the village.

  Again the greedy old men decided they wanted that dough. And once again the good old men let them use the pestle. But as they used it, the mass turned into a dark sludge. Furious, they destroyed the pestle and set it on fire. When the good old man arrived and saw what had happened, he collected the ashes that remained and put it in a small basket and took it home.

  Upon arrival, a wind blew some of the ash from the basket, which spread through the air reaching a dead tree. This dead tree immediately began to bloom. Soon in its branches the beautiful ones appeared Cherry blossoms. As the ash spread, tree after tree blossomed.

  Soon the news spread and the court summoned the old man to his kingdom. Arriving at the castle, the old man threw the ashes into the air, and immediately the nearby trees bloomed. The feudal lord Daimyo was delighted with all that and presented him with rich objects. He also asked that the old man be called Hana-Saka-Jijii, or the old man who made trees bloom.

  Hearing this news the greedy old man gathered the remaining ashes from the burnt pestle. He then went to the kingdom claiming to be the true bearer of the ashes. Upon arriving before the Daimyo, he threw the ashes into the air and nothing blossomed. But that ash entered Daimyo’s eyes and mouth, choking him and leaving him blind. It was then ordered that this greedy old man be arrested.

  The good lord then shared everything he gained with his village. Even so, there was enough left to live in peace and happiness for the rest of his life.

Acknowledgment 

I want to thank my family for their belief in me, and my friends for their supporting and appreciating.

I want to thank everyone who ever said positive words to me.