Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales (Part A)

As I read through Part A of the unit on Japanese Fairy Tales I realized that a lot of these stories were focused on bettering the individual. There weren't as many stories that involved a lesson about community like some other cultures may have. Perhaps the belief here is that when an individual focuses on being a good person it automatically translates into community relationships.

Stone mason hard at work. Found on flickr.

The Stonecutter

• A man who had the profession of being a stonemason becomes tired of his lifestyle after getting a glimpse of the life of someone rich
• a spirit grants his wish of becoming rich and he experiences what it's like to have a palace and servants
• the man experiences many different lifestyles and ultimately discovers that people from each walk of life experience hardships no matter how fun or exciting their life looks at a glimpse
• eventually he asks to return to a stonecutter because he realized how much he actually enjoyed his profession and the life he lived
• it might be funny to have a story where a spirit follows a character and grants them their wishes at inopportune times or takes certain phrases they say seriously when they were meant to be a joke
• that would still pass along a similar lesson: not to be greedy and to be happy with who you are and what you have

The Maiden with the Wooden Helmet

• A beautiful girl wears a helmet over her head for many years to keep would-be suitors at bay
• Her helmet was stuck to her face until she became married to a man who loved her no matter what she looked like
• This is a little bit of a disney princess style story where true love breaks some sort of spell
• it may be interesting to use the idea of a helmet or garment that a character wears being permanently stuck to their person until they perform some act to remove the curse

The Envious Neighbor

• a man becomes envious of his neighbor when he comes across a streak of good fortune
• the man tries to emulate his neighbor's actions but doesn't get the same results because he is not good at the heart of his being and his intentions were selfish
• the neighbor's dog started his streak of good fortune and the man asked to borrow the dog to try to get the same thing to happen to him but grew impatient and killed the dog instead
• it may be interesting to have the dog haunt the man instead of pointing the neighbor in the direction of more good fortune 
• perhaps a story could be written that would be a modern rendition of this tale by replacing some of the rural details with more urban ones

Bibliography

Japanese Fairy Tales by Andrew Lang

Stonecutter

The Maiden with the Wooden Helmet

Envious Neighbor