Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) Part B

I was a little disappointed in the tale of The Goblin of Adachigahara. If the Buddhist priest had not looked would she have avoided killing him? I wanted to believe it was some kind of mistaken identity where the woman was thought to be the goblin, but in actuality someone else was framing her. It would also be interesting to do a possession story since the visitor is a priest, but I don't think that would work the same way it does in Christianity.

As for the Ogre of Rashomon, I was disappointed that Watanabe never got to find and kill the ogre for good. However, I was surprised at the ogre's dedication to getting his arm back. The fact that he went to the effort of finding out who Watanabe's old nurse was and transforming into her in order to trick him was commendable. Besides rewriting this with a better ending, there isn't really much I'd do for this one.

The reason I picked this collection of myths was for the last story though. I read the story of Hase-Hime last week because I love princesses. I thought it was super fun and amazing, but I wanted Hase-Hime to have been a little more useful. My plan for rewriting this story is the similar to most of my short stories I've done so far. I want to take just the part where Hase-Hime writes the poem and reads it to calm the river and retell that.

I want my main character to be a poor street kid whose friend knows she can do magic so she reads a spell by the river to make it stop, and the Emperor rewards her instead of Hase-Hime.


Bibliography: "Japanese Fairy Tales" by Yei Theodora Ozaki.

Image Information: "Burnett River in Flood" by Sweetbixkid.