Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozari) Part A

There were three stories in this section of reading, so I broke it up into three sections! Woohoo!

1. My Lord Bag of Rice

Okay, the guy’s name is a little weird, and I wish that they focused more on his former name, because there is a common theme throughout literature that focuses on the importance of names. Maybe making it so the main character had to change his name to protect himself would be more exciting than what really happened. I chose Japanese fairytales because some of my favorite stories include dragons, and this one does as well! Woohoo! Go dragons! I liked the dialogue in this story, but I think I would have liked the piece overall a lot more if it was in first person. It makes the storyline more personal.

2. The Adventures of Kintaro, the Golden Boy

I think I would have liked it better if the start of this story was more flushed out. What did Kintaro’s father do? Why did the Court hate his mother so much that she needed to flee? I like the idea that Kintaro became one with the Wild, because I feel that is what would have happened if he truly had grown up in the woods, and giving the animals dialogue was a nice touch. Making this story third person was good, but I would have hashed out some details, such as the setting. The fact that they use Japanese within the story is a nice touch because it really connects the tale and its characters to their backgrounds. I think I would have liked the story more if they brought in the father’s conflict with the Court more often.

3. The Man Who Did Not Wish to Die

I think I would change the beginning of these stories so that they did not all start with “Long, long ago…”. It seems cliché and takes away from the start of each of the tales. I liked the description of setting here, especially with Mount Fuji and the like, because I got a good understanding of where the tale was taking place, and where the characters were moving in terms of geography. I think it would be better in first person so that readers would be able to truly get into Sentaro’s head and understand what he is feeling throughout the storyline. The entire plot took a turn that I wasn’t expecting, and it didn’t seem to have that same Japanese feel like the other two stories did. I think that this story would be better if there were more aspects of Japanese culture in it.

Japanese Dragon Ascending Mount Fuji. Found on Wikipedia.

Bibliography: Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki (1908). Link to online reading.