Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology, Part B

Hi there!

Previously I had read the first half of the Japanese Mythology Unit. I liked the stories and was interested to see how Yamato’s adventures turned out. So, for this reading I decided to finish up the unit. This time though, I was not as fond of Yamato’s stories as I was of the other stories in the unit. Yamato treated his poor wife Tacibana so badly. It really made me sad even though it made for a good story. I wish that at least in the end Tacibana would have just abandoned Yamato, but instead she sacrificed herself for him. Like I have said in many other posts, I feel like women are just really getting the short end of the stick in so many of these stories. The few instances were women don’t get taken advantage of it seems like they are generally portrayed as mean, evil, or nasty in some way. What a horrible dichotomy. Evil or victim.

Of the other stories I read for this unit I enjoyed “The Jewel of Heart’s Desire” the most. Although it played into the dichotomy I talked about above, I liked that Empress was a strong character. She led an army to conquer a whole nation no one had ever even seen before. If I were going to use this as the basis for a story, I would make her reason for leading the country to war more meaningful than just her wanting to go to battle. Maybe she leads her country to battle to save them from invasion when her husband dies or because he doesn’t think that the danger is real.

Bibliography

Romance of Old Japan by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917).

Photo Credits: The Pearl Omar Bariffi

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