vides him with a scarf and gives the same instruction. He sur-
vives again. Ōkuninushi overcomes two more trials and finally
escapes from Susanoo’s residence with Suseribime. As the
couple runs away, Susanoo grudgingly gives them his blessing
(Yamaguchi and Kōnoshi 80–85; Philippi 98–102). Although
the sex of the person who is challenged is changed, the tasks
the heroine of the Tale of Amewakahiko has to undertake and
their solutions are similar to those of Ōkuninushi. Indeed, the
magical tool that saves the main character and the way she or
he uses it are very much alike: in Ōkuninushi’s case, he waves
a scarf given to him by his lover; in the Tale of Amewakahiko
the girl waves Amewakahiko’s sleeve that was given to her.
146
Part III: Women
Thus, the Tale of Amewakahiko seems to derive this section
from the ancient literature.
6. When Psyche opens the casket, she finds nothing but “an
infernal sleep, a sleep truly Stygian” (Apuleius, Cupid and Psyche
111), and she falls asleep; when the girl’s sisters open the
Chinese chest, they find nothing but a trail of white smoke.
At the end, Cupid and Psyche get married with Zeus’s permis-
sion. In the Tale of Amewakahiko, Amewakahiko’s father gives
permission for his son and the girl to live together. According
to Katsumata, these similarities are not noteworthy and cannot
be claimed as solid evidence of influence.
Katsumata and other scholars of Japanese literature in Japan15 believe
the possibility of Western literature having been transmitted to Japan in the
early or middle Muromachi period and immediately influencing Japanese
fiction is low, since it is recorded that westerners entered medieval Japan
for the first time in the sixteenth century (Katsumata, “Chūsei shōsetsu
‘Tanabata’ to senkō bunken no kankei ni tsuite” 22). Because the meth-
ods and routes of the ways Greek myths were transmitted to Japan have
not been documented in writing and, Katsumata writes, all the details of
the components can be explained by examples from ancient and classical
Japanese literature, it is safe to conclude that Cupid and Psyche had no direct
influence on the Tale of Amewakahiko. As such, it is now generally accepted
among Japanese scholars that the Tale of Amewakahiko is of Japanese origin,
borrowing the framework from “Qian Luwei’s Tale.”
Similarities between the Tale of Amewakahiko’s plot and that of Cupid
and Psyche for Katsumata were most likely based on humankind’s similar
thoughts rather than transmission (“ ‘Amewakamiko zō’ no hensen ni kan-
suru ichi kōsatsu” 17). While Katsumata’s argument is persuasive, perhaps
the possibility of oral transmission should not be completely dismissed.
Yamashita Tarō, a scholar of comparative thought and mythology, having
observed similarities between Norse myth and Japanese myth, suggests that
Norse myth was transmitted to Japan by the nomadic people of inland Asia
( Hokuō shinwa to Nihon shinwa 86–113). The Silk Road is another possibility.
It is also interesting that Japanese scholars of comparative studies support
the theory of transmission from the West, whereas scholars of Japanese
literature in Japan tend to consider the tale indigenous.
If we read the tale in the context of Japanese literature and history, it
tells us something specific about medieval Japan’s worldview. Jack Zipes
Tale of Amewakahiko
147
states, “Though many ancient tales might seem magical, miraculous, fanci-
ful, superstitious, or unreal to us, people believed them, and these people
were and are not much different from people today who believe in religions,
miracles, cults, nations, and notions such as ‘free’ democracies that have lit-
tle basis in reality” (2). The medieval Japanese had an expansive worldview,
and their understanding of space was broad and flexible. Originally, the
oni-father was not an oni but Bontennō (Brahma). The change may have
stemmed from medieval scholars’ examinations and interpretations of ear-
lier Japanese literature, or perhaps for them it may not have been significant
to place an oni in the sky. The same is true in regard to the names and roles
of the characters Amewakahiko and Amewakamiko—while this may have
been a copying mistake, it reveals a flexible understanding of oni’s space on
the part of medieval Japanese as they readily accepted or created that space
in the beautiful sky.
The tale may have also had gendered social functions in addition to
being an etiological tale. The heroine of Tale of Amewakahiko, a daughter
who sacrifices herself to marry a giant serpent to save her parents, has an
arduous journey. Zipes writes, “Fairy tales begin with conflict because we
all begin our lives with conflict. We are all misfit for the world, and some-
how we must fit in, fit in with other people, and thus we must invent or
find the means through communication to satisfy as well as resolve conflict-
ing desires and instincts” (2). For medieval young women of good stand-
ing, who were highly restricted in their freedom to move about, the Tale of
Amewakahiko was perhaps almost like a dream come true. A kind daughter
obtains happiness after overcoming various challenges, including difficult
tasks imposed by an oni father-in-law. Her dragon-husband loves her as his
only wife. Because the Tale of Amewakahiko explains one origin of the Star
Festival, it is inevitable that the happy couple’s meeting time is restricted, and
Amewakahiko-Altair and the girl-Vega can see each other only once a year.
If we read the Tale of Amewakahiko in a more comparative framework,
the general plot and the ordeals the girl has to go through to be acknowl-
edged by her father-in-law are similar to those of Cupid and Psyche, but, as
we have seen, the framework is much closer to “Qian Luwei’s Tale” writ-
ten as the annotation of a poem in Kokinshū chū, and the difficult tasks the
girl’s father-in-law imposes on her are found in ancient Japanese literature.
That said, I do not entirely reject the possibility that the writer of the Tale
of Amewakahiko was inspired by Cupid and Psyche and looked for similar ele-
ments in Japanese literature. only further discovery of textual evidence or
oral transmission can determine whether the Tale of Amewakahiko is indig-
enous or indigenized. Regardless of its origin(s), it is a fascinating otogizōshi
148
Part III: Women
story of the medieval Japanese period that parallels the plot and motifs of
a well-known European tale.
transLatiOn Of aMewakahikO sōshi
This translation is based on Otogizōshi-shū, volume 36 of Nihon koten bungaku
taikei (see Ōshima, Otogizōshi-shū 75–85). For the illustrations, see Shimada
illustrations plates nos. 7–9, illustrations 9–13 and 37–41.
Tale of Amewakahiko
S C R o L L o N E
Long ago, there was a maid washing clothes in front of her wealthy master’s
house. (As the maid was thus occupied, from out of nowhere) a huge ser-
pent appeared in front of her.
“Listen to what I say,” said the serpent, “or I will coil around your body
and crush you.”
“What could it be?” the maid replied. “I will do whatever I can.”
The serpent then spat out a letter from his mouth and told the maid to
show the letter to her wealthy master. The woman ran to her master with
the letter, who immediately opened it and read: “Give me one of your three
daughters or I shall kill you and your wife. In preparation for our union,
build a house in front of a certain pond. Even a hundred-foot-frontage
long house would be a little too small for me.” Having read the letter, there
was no end to the rich couple’s sorrow and they cried infinitely.
Frightened beyond their wits, the couple summoned their eldest daugh-
ter and told her of the serpent’s demand.
“Surely you must be joking,” the eldest daughter replied. “Even in the
face of so deadly a threat, I shall never marry a snake.” Much to the fright-
ened parents’ chagrin, the answer was the same from their middle daughter.
In tears, at last the parents called in the youngest and dearest daughter.
“I will do anything to spare the lives of my parents,” the youngest
daughter said. She was so piteous, and the parents tearfully prepared for the
girl’s departure.
The parents had the house built in front of the pond just as the serpent
instructed, and the youngest daughter left for the new house with several
attendants. Soon after the young girl arrived at the new house, her retinue
departed, leaving the girl alone to face her fate. Around ten o’clock that night
the wind suddenly picked up and rain began to pour as the roar of thunder
and the flash of lightning filled the night sky. The girl saw monstrously high
Tale of Amewakahiko
149
waves in the distance, and her soul nearly fled her body in fear. As she began
to swoon, a snake as big as the house appeared before her.
“Don’t be afraid,” it said. “Do you have a knife? If so, cut my head off.”
Although she was frightened of the snake, she felt oddly sad about
his order, but, reluctantly, she did as she was asked and easily cut the snake
with her fingernail-clipping shears. Much to her surprise, a beautiful young
gentleman clad in aristocratic attire emerged from the snake’s body. He
wrapped the snakeskin around himself and went inside a small Chinese-
style chest with the girl. They both laid down. The girl forgot about her
previous fear, and the two slept tight in each other’s embrace.
Thus they loved each other deeply and lived happily. As they had the
Chinese-style chest that produced various things, they lacked nothing and
led an extremely merry life. The man had many servants and relatives. one
day he said, “I am actually an ocean dragon king, and sometimes I traverse
the sky. Now that I have some business to attend to, I will ascend to the sky
tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I plan to come back after seven days.
If things don’t go smoothly and I don’t come back, wait two weeks. If I still
don’t return, wait three weeks. If I still don’t come back, then know that I
will never return.”
“Then what shall I do?” the girl asked.
“There is a woman in the western part of the capital,” the dragon king
replied. “She has something called a single-night-growing gourd. Buy that
gourd from her, plant it, and climb up its (fast-growing) vine to the sky.
This will be a huge undertaking and hard to achieve. But if you succeed
and reach the sky, ask people you meet along the path where you might
find the Amewakamiko’s residence.” Then he warned her, “Never open this
Chinese-style chest. If you do, you will never be able to come back here.”
Having said this, he left for the sky.
Now her older sisters came to visit her to see her happy life. “We had
a bad karma and thought the man was really frightening at that time,” they
said and started to open all the cabinets and chests in the house. When they
saw the Chinese-style chest, which the man had strictly forbidden anyone to
open, the sisters demanded the youngest sister open it: “Let’s have a look!
Let’s see!” The girl refused, saying she had lost the key. But her sisters were
persistent in their demand.
“Give us the key. Why do you want to hide it?” they shouted. As they
began to tickle her, the key tied to the waist of her trouser-skirt hit the
screen and made a sound. “Ah, here it is!” said the sisters and opened the
chest. But alas, the chest was empty except for a wisp of smoke that drifted
up to the sky. The sisters were disappointed and left the house.
150
Part III: Women
The girl waited three weeks, but her husband never returned. So she
went to the western part of capital as he had told her and bought the magic
single-night-growing gourd from the woman. As she was leaving the home
where she and her husband had been so happy, she deeply lamented how
sad her parents would be when they learned of her disappearance. With
painful reluctance, she started to climb up the vine.
“I will never be able to see my home again,” she said to herself and
recited a poem:
Au koto mo
I know not
isa shirakumo no
if I could ever meet my husband
nakazora ni
on the white clouds.
tadayoinubeki
My body drifts in mid-air,
mi o ika ni sen
what shall become of me?16
S C R o L L T W o
The girl finally reached the sky and meandered around, when she saw a
good-looking young man in an aristocrat’s casual attire.
“Where is the residence of Amewakahiko?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” the man replied. “Ask the person you meet next.”
When she asked who he was, he replied, “I am the Evening Star.”
Then she encountered a man with a broom, so she asked just like before.
“I don’t know. Ask someone you meet next. I am the Comet,” and he
moved swiftly onward. Next she met a group of people, so she asked them
the same question. The reply was the same, and they introduced themselves
as the Pleiades. As the reply was always like this, she wondered whether she
would ever find her husband and felt extremely forlorn and disheartened.
But as it was not in her nature to feel lonesome and do nothing, she pressed
on. Before long she encountered a man in a splendid palanquin set with jew-
els. She asked the man the same question she had asked the others, with little
hope of a different answer. This time, however, the man replied, “If you go
just a little further, you will see a jeweled palace built upon lapis lazuli. Ask
for Amewakamiko there.” She immediately followed his direction.
Finally, she met Amewakahiko. As she told him how lonely she was,
leaving home without knowing her destination, he pitied her immensely.
“Since I couldn’t return to you on earth, I have been worried about you
every day,” he replied. “But I have comforted myself believing you would
find me as you promised, and I have b
een waiting. I am so moved that
you’ve felt the same way.” So saying, the couple deepened their pledge to
each other. Indeed, there must have been a strong bond between them from
Tale of Amewakahiko
151
Figure 5.1. The maiden asking the Comet where the residence is located. Courtesy of
Senshū University Library.
the previous life. But then he said, “There is one more worrisome thing I
must tell you. My father is an oni. I don’t know what he will do to you if
he finds you here. What shall we do?” She was surprised to hear this but
thought, “It seems that I am destined to have many worries. This must be
my fate. Even if this place is going to be hard to stay in, I have no home to
which I can return, so I will just have to follow the course of fate.”
Days passed, and one day his father visited his house. He immediately
transformed the girl into an armrest to hide her from his father. But his
father reclined on the armrest. He thought painfully about how his wife
must feel. It was hard for him to watch as his father leaned on his wife.
Finally, his father prepared to leave.
152
Part III: Women
“It smells like a human,” the oni said in passing. “It stinks.”
After that, his father called on him frequently. But every time the oni-
father came, he changed the girl into something like a fan or a pillow to
protect her. But his father must have noticed it, for one day he came stealth-
ily without making any sound. As he was taking a nap, he didn’t have time
to hide the girl.
“Who is this?” his father demanded to know. There was no point in
hiding their secret anymore, so he told his father about the girl. “So she
is our bride (daughter-in-law),” the father said, sneering all the while.
“Since I don’t have anyone who serves me, I will make her do some
chores for me.”
“As I feared,” he lamented. But as he couldn’t refuse his father, he
handed the girl over.
The father said to the girl, “I have several thousands cows in the field.
Keep them well. During the day, let them out in the field, and at night,
bring them into the barn.” As she didn’t know what to do, she consulted
with Amewakamiko, wherein he detached his sleeve and gave it to her. He
explained that she should wave the sleeve while saying “Amewakamiko’s
Seven Demon Stories from Medieval Japan Page 23
