Japanese Folklore
Emily Loy, Alyssa Long, Shaimaan
Gillani, Talena Snider
Universal Themes The theme of “Greed and Evil will
be punished” can be found in the
★ Greed and evil will be story, “Visue, the Woodsman, and
punished the Old Priest.”
★ Respect and good manners In this story, A man meets a
lead to reward priest who tells him that he is not
praying enough, and working too
★ Honesty is the best policy much. The man stops working and
★ Bravery and responsibility only prays, which makes him
greedy and causes him to neglect
wards positive outcomes his family. After fighting with his
★ Love leads to the greater wife, he goes into the forest and
watches women play a game for
good what he thought was just an
★ Love is worth fighting for afternoon. In reality, his
★ Everything is not always as perception of time was skewed
and he ended up sitting in the
it appears to be/ prejudice forest for 300 years, and his
leads to false perceptions family had all gone and past by the
★ Look before you leap time he noticed.
Universal characters
Common Archetypal Characters
Found in Japanese Folklore-
★ Misfit ★ Evil Family member
★ Rebel
★ Caretaker
★ Innocent
★ Villains
★ Father/mother figures
★ Hero
Archetypal narrative patterns
The Archetypal narrative ★ A quest or series of tests a
pattern of “an unjust family character must pass or perform
member behaves unfairly” ★ A journey the character embarks
can be found in the story, on
“The Mirror of Matsuyama.”
In this story, a ★ A greedy, cruel, or unjust family
stepmother wrongly accuses
member that behaves unfairly
her stepdaughter of trying to
practice witchcraft and kill ★ A just end that rewards good and
her. In reality, the little girl is punishes evil
just playing with the mirror
that her mother gave her as a ★ Love always shines through
gift when she was about to
★ Objects, events, or characters that
pass away.
come in threes
Symbols and Motifs
● Spring (new beginning of an
adventure), ● Rabbit (desire and new life)
● fox(luck) ● Raccoon ( greedy and sneaky)
● moon(life beyond) ● Fire
● Mirror (dead relatives ● Sparrow (joy and protection)
● Red (evil), ● mountain (obstacle/challenge)
● monster head being buried (evil put to ● Mouse (innocence)
rest)
● tiger(fearless and overcoming
● Gods and goddesses of different
obstacles)
things
● Magpies (love and Joy)
● Bamboo stick(stiffness/strongness) ● Water
● Earth (life)
● Sun (life)
● rice(beauty)
● black bowl(ugliness)
● song(hope)
Sources
https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/japan.html#twofrogs
https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/japan.html#peachling
https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/japan.html#visu
https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/japan.html#mirror
http://folklorethursday.com/legends/three-evil-yokai-japan/#sthash.XnwdBXR5.dp
https://www.tsunagujapan.com/10-classic-japanese-stories/
http://www.japan-suite.com/blog/2014/7/6/tanabata-story-of-two-star-crossed-lovers
https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/folk/kachi/kachi01.html
https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/folk/suzume/suzume01.html
https://tanukinomonogatari.wordpress.com/2016/08/29/tale-9-ikkyu-san-and-the-tiger/
https://www.kcpinternational.com/2014/07/the-story-of-kasajizo/
https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/japan.html#bell
https://takelessons.com/blog/japanese-mythology-z05
https://www.tsunagujapan.com/14-japanese-folklore-stories-in-a-few-sentences/
https://fairytalez.com/the-black-bowl/
https://www.themystica.com/japanese-mythology/