Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales, Part B

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Tanuki statue (Wikimedia)

Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales, Part B

The Magic Kettle:

· I like the setting of the mountains of Japan, anything can happen up in the mountains

· The tanuki as a shapeshifter has incredible possibilities for retelling.

· This is an interesting introduction to the Tanuki. The story leaves much to the imagination in regards to the personality and thoughts of the Tanuki, good potential for retelling from the tanuki’s perspective.

How the Wicked Tanuki was Punished:

· The tanuki is married to a fox, how convenient for my Storybook

· Great plot where the tanuki and fox work together to find themselves food, might be able to place Reynard into this position. Specific point where he notes that he is glad he is not a fox and can climb, good way for him to best Reynard at first

· Tanuki kills his own wife and actually sells her body, perhaps not as nice as he seemed. Again excellent place to interject Reynard.

· In this story the Tanuki becomes over confident in his trickster abilities and his own son out tricks him. I will definitely be using the Tanuki as the second trickster Reynard has to face, I will interject him into the place of the tanuki’s wife in this story. Reynard will be amazed by the Tanuki’s ability to shapeshift, train with him in the mountains, then out trick him just as the Tanuki’s son did.

The Slaying of the Tanuki:

· The Tanuki grinds a woman up and prepares a meal out of her to trick her husband into eating. This beast went from friendly teapot that made a man rich to evil demon really quick. Might be able to incorporate this into Storybook to give Reynard a just reason to eat the Tanuki.

· The tanuki is not good with water and also not strong. I will incorporate this into my Storybook by having the tanuki first best the fox and note how happy he is that he is not a fox who cannot climb, from the second story, then when the fox bests the tanuki, it will probably be by drowning him and he will remark that he is glad he is not a tanuki and instead strong like a fox, or something like this.

Bibliography

The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

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