Story taken from Romance of Old Japan by E. W. Champney and F. Champney
Yamato
knew that he had been foolish, but he was too prideful to admit he was wrong.
His friends had warned him that he was silly to leave his new bride Tacibana.
Yamato told them that he wanted something more exciting and adventurous than to
stay with his beautiful and faithful wife. A new time was coming, unknown to
Yamato that brides could leave their unfaithful husbands. Though Tacibana loved
her husband, but she knew that he was not treating her with the respect she
deserved. She warned him that if he didn't get his act together, she would
leave him. Yamato didn't listen and continued to leave her for long periods of
time and not changing his ways. Hearing that he was lusting after a siren in
the ocean and spending his time there while he was away, Tacibana was angry and
packed up her things. Tacibana left her husband while he was away and decided
to pursue the life of adventure. She became well versed in sword fighting and
hunting, learning these trades quickly. After she felt she had mastered these
two well enough to protect herself, she ventured out into the wilderness to help
people. While she was out one day, she heard a loud roar from a creature not
too far from her. This was her chance to test her skills and prove that she was
worthy of this new life. She prayed to the gods to help find her strength and a
weapon to slay the beast. The goddess of Mercy named Kwannon heard her plea for
help and brought the woman warrior a sword. In the mouth of a wolf was a
beautiful silver sword that Tacibana was nervous to wield. The goddess spoke
words of encouragement telling Tacibana that this sacred sword would slay the
beast if she cut its tail with it; and then wolf ran in the direction of the
beast. Running after the wolf Tacibana's heart was racing and she saw the demon
boar in the clearing ahead. The battle was long and hard and Tacibana seemed in
peril. The only two options she had was to fight the beast in front of her or
to jump off the cliff behind her. Kwannon reminded her of the weak spot on the
beast and Tacibana sprang into action. With a great jump, Tacibana sailed over
the beast and grabbed its tail. She thrust the sword across its tail and cut it
off. The demon beast ran off the cliff in its blinded pain and rage. Tacibana
was excited to know that she was now able to defend herself and others if
needed. The pain of leaving her beloved husband now far behind her. Tacibana
set off into the forest once more with pride in her heart and a smile on her
face.
Authors Note: In the original stories Yamato saves Tacibana after they are first wed and he stays with her and is happy for a short time. Then he gets tired of her obedient nature and leaves her alone and goes off on many adventures for long time periods. He even declares his love to a siren and says he would do anything for her. This annoyed me and I wanted to change the story so Tacibana was the main focus instead of her unfaithful husband. I replaced Yamato's role in the story as the hero with Tacibana instead. There is the story of the demon boar in the readings and I decided to focus on this for the story telling portion. I also combined other parts of the overall tales of Yamato to help give the story more depth, like the goddess coming to Tacibana's aid.
(Caption: Yamato statue by Wikipedia)
ReplyDeleteHi Marissa. This was an interesting idea for your story. However, it looks like the formatting might be a little off. The story is in black font on a black background, so it can only be seen when highlighted. You might consider changing this so that it is easier for readers to access your story. I thought you did a great job of making the beginning of the story interesting so I wanted to keep reading. Nice job!
Hey Marissa! I really liked your story for this week! I read about folktales from Japan in Week 7 too, so I understood immediately which story you were telling when I started reading. I loved that you decided to make the story about Tacibana instead of Yamato. I feel like a lot of the stories we had to read in that unit involved Yamato getting bored of his wife, neglecting her over and over, and cheating on her. I'm so glad that you decided to flip the story and give Tacibana the independence and strength to leave Yamato and find her own happiness. Yamato is a pretty crappy person when it comes to her, so I was really happy to see her succeed. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Marissa!
ReplyDeleteI really like that you made Tacibana, rather than Yamato, the focus of the story. After reading your note about the original story, I think that Tacibana was way more deserving to be the hero of her own story. That way you told this story allowed for it to have empowerment as one of it's main themes and I absolutely love that! I am always here for stories about women finding their strength and worth within themselves.