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| Momotaroo 桃太郎 Momotaro the Peach Boy  Once upon a time there lived an old man an old woman in the country of Okayama. The old man went everyday into the mountains to cut wood, while his wife would go to the river to wash clothes. One day, while the old woman was down at the river washing clothes, a big peach came floating down the river! It looked so delicious, she decided to take it home for her and her husband to eat. When the old man came back to their home, the old woman cut the peach open, and to their surprise, there was a small boy inside! They decided to call him Momotaro, which means 'peach boy'. The old couple raised Momotaro to be big and strong. One day, he decided to go and defeat the ogres living on Ogre Island that were pillaging the land. The old woman fixed him some delicious millet dumplings, known as kibi-dango, for his long journey to the island. On the way, a monkey, a dog, and a pheasant joined him, giving them a dumpling each in return for their help in fighting the ogres. Upon reaching the Ogre Island, Momotaro and his companions found that the gate was locked to the Ogre's fort. The pheasant flew inside, and grabbed a key to let the others in. Once inside, they fought the evil ogres. The pheasant pecked their eyes, the dog bit their legs and the monkey jumped on their backs, clawing at the beasts. Finally, the ogres cried for mercy! They gave the strong Momotaro all of their treasure, and he returned to his village triumphantly. Momotaro and the old couple lived happily ever after. source : www.pref.okayama.jp  The story of Momotaro may be related to the old believes of the onmyodo 陰陽道 Yin-Yang Worldview. The direction of bad influence, kimon, is in the ushi-tora (bull tiger) direction. So one of the demons Momotaro is fighting has horns and the other wears a tiger skin. And the Monkey, Dog and Pheasant are animals in the zodiac, in the opposite heavenly direction from the kimon 鬼門 . The Song of Momotaro Momotaro and Daruma ... 桃太郎とだるま Haiku about Momotaro . Momotaro 桃太郎 . ..................................................................................................................................................................  Momotaro by Utagawa Kuniyoshi :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: - ABC - List of Momotaro from the Prefectures . Kooshuu Kaidoo, Kōshū Kaidō 甲州街道 Koshu Kaido Road . Even Momotaro, the Peach Boy, was here! 桃太郎伝説もある甲州街道 This story is basically fun with the pun words: 百蔵山 Momokurayama / 鶴島 Tsurushima 犬目 Inume / 鳥沢 Torizawa / 猿橋 Saruhashi 九鬼山 Kukiyama (Mountain of the nine demons) 岩殿山 Iwatonosan, Iwadonosan and a shrine with red demon blood . . . .................................................................................................................................................................. . . . . . . . . . . Aichi Momotaro Jinja 桃太郎神社 Momotaro Shrine Inuyama 犬山  CLICK for more photos ! quote Japan has all sorts of quirky shrines: phallic shrines, fox shrines, even a shrine partially submerged in the sea. Another bizarre shrine to add to the list is the Momotaro Shrine in Inuyama. The Momotaro legend is popular with children and it's kids and their parents and grandparents who make up the majority of visitors to this rather shabby shrine. For those of you unfamiliar with the Momotaro fairy tale, there are a couple of versions. Momotaro is the "Peach Boy" ("momo" means peach) found inside a giant peach floating down the river by an old woman and is then adopted by her and her husband becoming their son sent from heaven. An earlier, racier version of the story has the old woman becoming rejuvenated back to being the sexy babe of her youth after eating part of a giant peach she finds floating in the river. Her husband is gobsmacked to discover this stunner when he returns home but he too, after eating part of the peach, is reinvigorated and the couple make love that night and the result is the birth of Momotaro nine months later.  The sexless version of the folk tale seems to have replaced the earlier story during the Meiji Period (1868-1912) when many former popular practices were "cleaned up" as the new, reformist government strove to appear "civilized" in the eyes of a prudish, Christian West. As for the Momotaro Shrine in Inuyama, the place has definitely seen better days. The concrete statues need a lick of paint and many of the metal figures are rusting badly. There's a small museum (200 yen) off to the right of the main shrine building with a few chickens wandering around the rather sad children's swings and roundabout in the garden outside. The Momotaro Shrine is located in Momotaro Park, north of Inuyama city on the banks of the Kiso River about 1km on from Jakko-in Temple. source : japanvisitor.blogspot.jp  Momotaro Matsuri 桃太郎祭り Momotaro Festival On May 5. and more on the HP of the shrine source : momotaro/shrine.html .................................................................................................................................................................. . . . . . . . . . . Fukui . 桃太郎神 Momotaro as Deity . at Kehi Jingu 気比神宮 The famous Kehi Shrine .................................................................................................................................................................. . . . . . . . . . . Gifu Naked Momotaro - clay bell . Ichihara tsuchi ningyoo 市原土人形 clay dolls from Ichihara . .................................................................................................................................................................. . . . . . . . . . . Kagawa Momotaro Jinja shrine in Takamatsu 桃太郎神社の本家は香川県高松市 Momotarou-jinnjya  神社がある地域一帯の地名は「鬼無(きなし)」。 かつて桃太郎が瀬戸内海を渡ってくる海賊を、鬼が島(女木島(めぎしま))で退治して“鬼がいなくなった”ことから、その名が付けられたと伝わっている。まさに桃太郎の舞台にふさわしい場所と言えよう。 source : news.mynavi.jp .................................................................................................................................................................. . . . . . . . . . . Okayama the hero of Okayama city. The main street is even called "Momotaro Road", momotaroo doori 桃太郎通り and an annual festival is held in his honor. Der Pfirsischjunge  Clay Bell from Okayama Two small Daruma dolls in the photographers doll  source : hide04miracle MORE . Okayama and Momotaro Food . .................................................................................................................................................................. . . . . . . . . . . Tochigi Momotaro Clay Bell from Sano . Dolls from Sano Town 佐野 . ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: - DOREI 土鈴 clay bells with Momotaro  . . . . . CLICK for more photos ! :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: - EMA 絵馬 votive tablets with Momotaro   . . . CLICK here for Ema Photos ! ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  . . . CLICK here for Japanese Photos !  . . . CLICK here for English Photos ! . English Reference . :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::  source : nino-art.at.webry. . momo 桃 peach fruit art motives . ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: . Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 - Introduction . . 彼の桃が流れ来よ来よ春がすみ ka no momo ga nagare ki yo ki yo harugasumi oh peach come float to me! spring mist According to R. H. Blyth in Haiku, a woman was washing clothes by a stream, "when a huge peach (momo) came floating down. She took it home, and when she and her husband cut it open, they found a little boy, Momotarô, inside" (Tokyo: Hokuseido, 1949-1952; rpt. 1981-1982/reset paperback edition), 2.418. The fairy tale of the floating Peach Boy makes the haiku moment even more magical. The spring mist is so thick, Issa fancies that the peach, like the baby boy of the story, might come floating to his hand. Translation and Comment by David Lanoue. ....................................................................... Comment by Chris Drake : Looking at a painting of an old woman washing clothes -- spring mist -- will the great peach actually float to her? A - kano momo ga nagarekuru ka yo haru-gasumi spring mist -- if only the great peach would float to me! B - kano momo ga nagarekoyo koyo haru-gasumi There are two extant versions of this hokku, which I've marked A and B. Version A is found in a book containing various hokku submitted to the famous haijin Seibi for his opinion in 1811, when Issa was in Edo, and is also found in Issa's Collected Works 7.53. It further appears in a printed collection and in a calligraphic version by Issa. The headnote is found in the latter two versions, presumably to help readers understand the context implied by the hokku. Version A is chosen by Katsumine Shimpū (勝峰 晋風) in his 1935 edition of famous Issa hokku (一茶名句評釈), presumably since it is the version Issa chose to show to Seibi and the one Katsumine liked best. It is also the version translated by Blyth, although in his translation Blyth ignores the possibility of strong doubt or even irony expressed by ka yo. Version B, on the other hand, is first found in Issa's diary for the 12th month (January) of 1812, so both versions are important. In the first line of both versions, "that [giant] peach" refers to an event in the extremely well-known and popular folktale "Momotarō." The most common version of the tale begins with a giant peach floating down a stream or river while an old woman is washing clothes on one bank. The woman takes the peach home with her, and when she and her husband cut the peach open a boy jumps out and declares that heaven has sent him to be their son, since the couple is childless. The wife and husband name him Momotarō, which means something like Peach Boy. Momotarō grows up to be a strong, energetic, brave, and kind boy who loves to help his parents, and he has many animal friends and adventures. Both versions of the hokku evoke an old woman who resembles the old woman in the folktale who is washing clothes beside a river at a point in time before the floating peach reaches her, though it is unclear whether the peach ever will float downstream to the woman in the hokku. In version A Issa's voice is fairly distant and objective, and he may doubt that the old woman he sees in a picture will be as lucky as the woman in the folktale. The strong doubt or amazed disbelief in ka yo suggests Issa feels either that the woman in the picture is not as fortunate as the woman in the folktale or that, speaking hyperbolically, the painting of an old woman washing is so astonishingly well done that even the mythical big peach might soon be expected to come floating down the stream or river. However, since ka yo is quite blunt and colloquial, the question might be a straightforward one asked by the skeptical old woman herself, and for her the mist might suggest an unclear future. If the hokku is spoken by the woman, then the pronoun in the last line becomes "me." Perhaps Issa meant to leave two opposite possibilities open. The hokku might be meant to oscillate continuously between realism and fantasy, description and lyricism. Version B, the diary version recorded in late winter, seems more solidly lyrical. Issa perhaps sees a woman washing by a river and recalls the version of the hokku he gave to Seibi a few months earlier, or he could be recalling the original painting of a woman washing clothes. Even if Issa is writing version B about a women he sees with his own eyes, "that peach" makes the woman and the peach also refer to the folktale (and surely to the painting ) and makes the speaker of the "please...." be either the woman, who would be hoping she will be as lucky as the woman in the old tale, and/or Issa, who would be expressing his hope that the woman will be rewarded with some kind of good fortune such as the mythical peach. It is possible to interpret the mist in both versions as just being there -- as simply the setting -- but it seems likely to me that Issa is also either addressing the mist and asking it to help give the old woman her wish or presenting the hokku as the old woman's address to the mist as she expresses her hopes for her own misty future. Chris Drake |
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. Regional Folk Toys from Japan .
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