The legend of Urashima Tarō (浦島太郎?) is a Japanese legend about a fisherman who rescues a turtle and for this is rewarded with a visit to the Palace of the Dragon, or Ryūgū-jō.
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Story
One day a young fisherman named Urashima Tarō was fishing when he noticed a small turtle being tormented by some children. Tarō saved it and let it go back to the sea. The day after a huge turtle approached him and told him that the small turtle he had saved was the daughter of the Emperor of the Sea, who wanted to see him to thank him. The turtle magically gave Tarō gills and brought him to the bottom of the sea, to the Palace of the Dragon (Ryūgū-jō). There he met the Emperor and the small turtle, who was now a lovely princess. Tarō stayed there with her for a few days, then he was caught by the desire to go back to his village and see his aging mother, so he asked her permission to leave. The princess said she was sorry to see him go, but wished him well and gave him a mysterious box which she told him never to open, for whatever reason. Tarō grabbed the box, jumped on the back of the same turtle that had brought him to the Palace, and soon was home. But everything had changed. His home was gone, his mother had vanished, the people he knew were nowhere to be seen. He asked if anybody knew a man called Urashima Tarō. They answered that they had heard someone of that name had vanished at sea long ago. He discovered that 300 years had passed since the day he had left for the bottom of the sea. Struck by grief, he absent-mindedly opened the box the princess had given him. Out of it came a cloud of white smoke. He suddenly aged, his beard grew long and white, and his back bent. He was now a very old man. And from the sea came the sad, sweet voice of the princess: "I told you not to open that box. In it was your old age ..." As always with folklore, there are many different versions of this extremely famous story.
Influences
The story influenced a number of works of fiction and movies. Among them are Urusei Yatsura, Love Hina, YuYu Hakusho, Doraemon, Cowboy Bebop[1] and RahXephon.[2] It is retold in and used as the basis for the short story "Another Story" by Ursula K. Le Guin, published in her story collection A Fisherman of the Inland Sea, named for the character of this story. Urashima Tarō himself is a character in the video game Ōkami.
Time Dilation in Other Cultures
A Japanese sci-fi author, Aritsune Toyoda, explains the story of Urashima Tarō through the Twin paradox derived from Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Similar stories also exist in the Middle East, appearing in the Arabian Nights. In Europe the most famous is the Irish legend in which the bard Oisín is taken to Tír na nÓg. The Voyage of Bran is also similar to this story. In English there is the tale of the ancient Briton King Herla[3], from De Nugis Curialium. King Herla spends three days in the dwarf kingdom, and returns only to discover that many centuries have elapsed. In India, the Srimad Bhagavatam describes how King Kakudmi and his daughter Revati spend a short time visiting Brahma and return home to find 27 catur-yugas (see yugas or Ages of Man) have elapsed, and not only everyone they knew is dead, but even their names have been forgotten in the mists of time. Intriguingly, King Kakudmi and his daughter Revati are inhabitants of Kusasthali, a kingdom beneath the ocean. Note the similarity of the reference to the Dragon King and his daughter, who inhabit the Palace of the Dragon (Ryūgū-jō), also located in the ocean depths. In American Literature, Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle also conveys a similar idea.
Other
Some have seen this story as an early reference to the Devil's Sea, an area allegedly similar to the Bermuda Triangle.
Other appearances
In the video game Onimusha the story of Urashima Tarō is explained saying that the underwater kingdom was an Oni research center and the reason he finds that 300 years have passed is because the Oni sent him 300 years into the future so that he wouldn't reveal the location of the research center. In the video game Ōkami, Urashima Tarō appears in the North Ryoshima Coast and aids the player in reaching the Palace of the Dragon by telling the player of the time he went there once. Urashima Tarō still suffers from the agelessness of the original legend, but the player can bring him a gift from the Palace of the Dragon, gift which makes him as old as his wife, but not dead. He then can be found sitting happily with his wife by the beach. In the Urusei Yatsura movie, Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, the general story is influenced by the tale of Urashima Tarō. In Kamen Rider Den-O, the Imagin Urataros is based on the legend, including for example the appearance of a turtle and the constant spouting off of fishing-related metaphors. A demon fighter for Team Uratogi in the anime YuYu Hakusho named Ura Urashima is loosely based on Urashima Tarō. [4] In the Studio Ghibli animated movie Pom Poko, directed by Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies), the character Bunta (a raccoon) identifies himself with Urashima Tarō when he comes back to his forest outside of Tokyo and finds it ruined by humans.
Notes and references
- ^ "Sympathy For The Devil". Cowboy Bebop. WOWOW. 1999-12-16. No. 6, season 1.
- ^ Izubuchi, Yutaka (scenario) and Kiryu, Yukari (screenplay) RahXephon TV series episode 3
- ^ King Herla and the Wild Hunt
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minor_enemies_in_YuYu_Hakusho#Ura_Urashima
See also
- Tamatebako, an origami cube that causes the aging of Urashima Tarō in some versions of the story.
- Pandora's box, a magic box which spread disaster when open in Greek mythology.
- King in the mountain, several legends of people hidden away in time.
- Rip van Winkle
- The Picture of Dorian Gray
External links
- Urashima Tarō (in English)
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