Urashima Tarō
Urashima Tarō (浦島太郎?) is a Japanese fairy tale about a fisherman who rescues a turtle and is rewarded with a visit to the Ryūgū-jō, the Dragon Palace.
Story
One day, a fisherman named Urashima Taro was fishing when he noticed a turtle, which appeared to be in trouble. Taro saved the turtle and in return the turtle magically gave Taro gills and brought Taro to the Dragon Palace (Ryūgū-jō), deep underwater. There he met a lovely princess. He stayed there with her for a few days, and received a mysterious box from her upon his departure which she told him never to open. What he did not realize that time in the Dragon Palace moves an awful lot slower than on land and when he returned 700 years had passed. When he got home he found that all of his family had died long ago. Struck by grief, he opened the box. It revealed itself in a cloud of white smoke, it was his true age, and Urashima Taro aged and died.
There are many different versions of this 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, which was published in her story collection A Fisherman of the Inland Sea, named for the character of this story. Urashima himself is a character in the video game Ōkami.
Similar stories also exist in the Middle East, appearing in the Arabian Nights, and in Europe, the most famous being the conclusion of the Irish legend cycle of the Fianna, in which the bard Oisín is taken to Tír na nÓg. The Voyage of Bran is also similar to this story.
A Japanese sci-fi author, Aritsune Toyoda, explained the story of Urashima by the Twin paradox derived from Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.
Some have seen this story as an early reference to the Devil's Sea, an area allegedly similar to the Bermuda Triangle.
Other appearance
In the video game Onimusha the story of Urashima is explained that the underwater kingdom was a 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 appears in the North Ryoshima Coast and aids the player in reaching the Dragon Palace, by telling the player of the time he went there once. Urashima still suffers from the agelessness of the original legend, but the player can bring him a gift from the Dragon Palace which makes him as old as his wife, 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.
In Kamen Rider Den-O, the Imagin Urataros is based on the legend, including a turtle appearance and constantly spouting off fishing-related metaphors.
A demon fighter for Team Uratogi in the anime YuYu Hakusho named Ura Urashima is loosely based on Urashima Taro. [3]
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
- ^ 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 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 of time.
- Rip van Winkle
- The Picture of Dorian Gray
External links
- Urashima Taro (in English)
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