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{{Short description|Female character in Japanese folktales}}
{{AfC submission|t||ts=20210614164454|u=189.122.57.144|ns=118|demo=}}<!-- Important, do not remove this line before article has been created. -->
'''Urikohime''', '''Uriko-hime''' or '''Uriko Hime''' (うりこひめ; [[English language|English]]: ''Princess Melon'',<ref name=y146>{{harvnb|Yamazato|1983|p=146}}.</ref> ''Melon Maid''<ref>{{harvnb|Kunio|1986|p=5}}.</ref> or ''Melon Princess'') is a dark [[Japanese folktale]] about a girl that is born out of a [[melon]], adopted by a family and replaced by a evil creature named [[Amanojaku]].

'''Urikohime''', '''Uriko-hime''' or '''Uriko Hime''' ([[English language|English]]: ''Princess Melon''<ref>YAMAZATO, KATSUNORI. "A Note on Japanese Allusions in Gary Snyder's Poetry". In: ''Western American Literature'' 18, no. 2 (1983): 146. Accessed June 15, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43018817.</ref> or ''Melon Princess'') is a [[Japanese folktale]] about a girl that is born out of a [[melon]], adopted by a family and replaced by a creature named [[Amanojaku]].


==Summary==
==Summary==
A melon comes washing down the stream until it is found by a human couple. They cut open the fruit and a girl appears out of it. They name her ''Urikohime'' (''uri'' means "melon" in [[Japanese language|Japanese]]).<ref>YAMAZATO, KATSUNORI. "A Note on Japanese Allusions in Gary Snyder's Poetry". In: ''Western American Literature'' 18, no. 2 (1983): 146. Accessed June 15, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43018817.</ref> They raise her and she becomes a beautiful young lady. One day, she is left alone at home and told to be careful of any stranger who comes knocking. Unfortunately, a [[youkai]] named [[Amanojaku]] sets its sights on the girl. In one version of the story, Amanojaku kills Urikohime and wears her skin.<ref>King, Emerald L.; Fraser, Lucy. "Girls in Lace Dresses: The Intersections of Gothic in Japanese Youth Fiction and Fashion". In: ''New Directions in Children's Gothic: Debatable Lands''. Edited by Anna Jackson. Routledge, 2017. pp. 107-108. {{ISBN|9780367346317}}.</ref> The creature replaces Urikohime as the couple's daughter, but its disguise is ruined when the girl, reincarnated as a little bird, reveals the deception and eventually regains her human form.<ref>Goldberg, Christine. "The Donkey Skin Folktale Cycle (AT 510B)". In: ''The Journal of American Folklore'' 110, no. 435 (1997): 37. Accessed June 14, 2021. doi:10.2307/541584.</ref>
A melon comes washing down the stream until it is found by a human couple. They cut open the fruit and a girl appears out of it. They name her ''Urikohime'' (''uri'' means "melon" in [[Japanese language|Japanese]]).<ref name=y146/> They raise her and she becomes a beautiful young lady. One day, she is left alone at home and told to be careful of any stranger who comes knocking. Unfortunately, a [[youkai]] named [[Amanojaku]] sets its sights on the girl. The creature appears at her house and asks the girl to open. She opens the door just a bit and the creature forces its entry in her house.<ref>{{harvnb|Bonnin|2003|p=41}}</ref>


In one version of the story, Amanojaku kills Urikohime and wears her skin.<ref>{{harvnb|King|Fraser|2019|p=107-108}}.</ref> The creature replaces Urikohime as the couple's daughter, but its disguise is ruined when the girl, reincarnated as a little bird, reveals the deception and eventually regains her human form.<ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|1997|p=37}}</ref>
In another account, Urikohime becomes known for her great weaving abilities. Due to this, she is betrothed to a lord or prince. Before she marries, Amanojaku kills her and wears her dress, or ties her to a [[persimmon]] tree. The false bride is taken to the wedding on a palanquin, but the ruse is discovered. In the version where she is tied up, Urikohime cries out to anyone to hear and is rescued. The creature is chased away.<ref>Eder, Matthias. "Reality in Japanese Folktales". In: ''Asian Folklore Studies'' 28, no. 1 (1969): 24. Accessed June 14, 2021. doi:10.2307/1177778.</ref><ref>Seki, Keigo. "Types of Japanese Folktales". In: ''Asian Folklore Studies'' 25 (1966): 84-85. Accessed June 15, 2021. doi:10.2307/1177478.</ref>


In another account, Urikohime becomes known for her great weaving abilities. Due to this, she is betrothed to a lord or prince. Before she marries, Amanojaku kills her and wears her dress, or ties her to a [[persimmon]] tree. The false bride is taken to the wedding on a [[palanquin]], but the ruse is discovered. In the version where she is tied up, Urikohime cries out to anyone to hear and is rescued. The creature is chased away.<ref>{{harvnb|Eder|1969|p=24}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Seki|1966|p=84-85}}.</ref>
==Variations==

According to Japanese folklorist [[Keigo Seki]]'s notations, several variations are recorded in Japanese compilations.<ref>Seki, Keigo. "Types of Japanese Folktales". In: ''Asian Folklore Studies'' 25 (1966): 85. Accessed June 15, 2021. doi:10.2307/1177478.</ref>
==Alternate names==
Scholar [[Kunio Yanagita]] indicated alternate names to the tale: ''Urikohimeko'', ''Urihime'', ''Urihimeko''.<ref>{{harvnb|Kunio|1986|p=5-8}}.</ref>

==Distribution==
According to Japanese folklorist [[Keigo Seki]]'s notations, several variations are recorded in Japanese compilations.<ref>{{harvnb|Seki|1966|p=85}}.</ref> Further studies show that the tale can be found all over the [[Japanese archipelago]].<ref>{{harvnb|Fujii|2013|p=18}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Kunio|1986|p=6-8}}.</ref> Hiroko Ikeda's index of Japanese tales lists 102 versions of the story.<ref>Hiroko Ikeda. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=EPgZAAAAIAAJ&q=melon A Type and Motif Index of Japanese Folk-Literature]''. Folklore Fellows Communications Vol. 209. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. 1971. p. 100.</ref>

According to Fanny Hagin Mayer, "most versions" of the story end on a tragic note, but all seem to indicate the great [[weaving]] skills of Urikohime.<ref>{{harvnb|Mayer|1974|p=78}}.</ref> Scholar [[Kunio Yanagita]] listed the tale ''Nishiki Chōja'' as one version of the story that contains a happy ending.<ref>{{harvnb|Kunio|1986|p=8}}.</ref>


==Analysis==
==Analysis==
Japanese scholarship argues for some relationship between this tale and [[Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index]] tale type ATU 408, "[[The Love for Three Oranges (fairy tale)|The Three Citrons]]", since both tales involve a maiden born of a fruit and her replacement for a false bride (in the tale type) and for evil creature [[Amanojaku]] (in Japanese versions).<ref>Takagi Masafumi. "[http://id.nii.ac.jp/1109/00003016/ [シリーズ/比較民話](一)瓜子姫/三つのオレンジ]" [Series: Comparative Studies of the Folktale (1) Melon Princess/The Three Oranges]. In: ''The Seijo Bungei: the Seijo University arts and literature quarterly'' 222 (2013-03). p. 45-64.</ref> In fact, professor Hiroko Ikeda classified the story of Urikohime as type 408B in his Japanese catalogue.<ref>Takagi Masafumi. "[http://id.nii.ac.jp/1109/00003016/ [シリーズ/比較民話](一)瓜子姫/三つのオレンジ]" [Series: Comparative Studies of the Folktale (1) Melon Princess/The Three Oranges]. In: ''The Seijo Bungei: the Seijo University arts and literature quarterly'' 222 (2013-03). p. 51.</ref>
Japanese scholarship argues for some relationship between this tale and [[Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index]] tale type ATU 408, "[[The Love for Three Oranges (fairy tale)|The Three Citrons]]", since both tales involve a maiden born of a fruit and her replacement for a false bride (in the tale type) and for evil creature [[Amanojaku]] (in Japanese versions).<ref>{{harvnb|Takagi|2013}}.</ref> In fact, professor Hiroko Ikeda classified the story of Urikohime as type 408B in his Japanese catalogue.<ref>{{harvnb|Takagi|2013|p=51}}.</ref><ref>Hiroko Ikeda. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=EPgZAAAAIAAJ&q=melon A Type and Motif Index of Japanese Folk-Literature]''. Folklore Fellows Communications Vol. 209. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. 1971. p. 100.</ref>


Attention has also been drawn to the motif of "The False Bride" that exists in both tales: in ''Urikohime'', the youkai or ogress wears the skin of the slain girl.<ref>Nakawaki Hatsue. "Japanese Heroine Tales and the Significance of Storytelling in Contemporary Society". In: ''Re-Orienting the Fairy Tale: Contemporary Adaptations across Cultures''. Edited by Mayako Murai and Luciana Cardi. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. 2020. p. 165 (footnote nr. 22). {{ISBN|978-0-8143-4537-5}}.</ref> Folklorist Christine Goldberg recognizes that this is the motif ''Disguised Flayer'' (motif K1941 in the ''[[Motif-Index of Folk-Literature]]''). This disguise is also used by heroines in other folktales.<ref>Goldberg, Christine. "The Donkey Skin Folktale Cycle (AT 510B)". In: ''The Journal of American Folklore'' 110, no. 435 (1997): 36-37. Accessed June 14, 2021. doi:10.2307/541584.</ref>
Attention has also been drawn to the motif of "The False Bride" that exists in both tales: in ''Urikohime'', the youkai or ogress wears the skin of the slain girl.<ref>{{harvnb|Nakawaki|2020|p=165 n.22}}.</ref> Folklorist Christine Goldberg recognizes that this is the motif ''Disguised Flayer'' (motif K1941 in the ''[[Motif-Index of Folk-Literature]]''). This disguise is also used by heroines in other folktales.<ref>{{harvnb|Goldberg|1997|p=36-37}}.</ref>

Professor Fanny Hagin Mayer remarked on the characters of the elderly couple that adopts Urikohime, which appear in several other Japanese folktales as a set.<ref>{{harvnb|Mayer|1960|p=665-666}}.</ref> The elderly woman teaches her adopted daughter skills in weaving.<ref>{{harvnb|Mayer|1960|p=666}}.</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
Line 21: Line 29:


== References ==
== References ==
{{reflist|}}
{{reflist|18em}}


== Bibliography ==
[[:Category:Japanese fairy tales]]
{{refbegin}}
[[:Category:Japanese folklore]]
* {{Cite journal|last=Bonnin|first=Philippe|date=2003|title=L'Impossible clôture de la maison dans les contes japonais|url=http://www.cairn.info/revue-les-temps-modernes-2003-3-page-35.htm|journal=[[Les Temps modernes]]|language=fr|volume=2003/3|issue=624|pages=35–53|doi=10.3917/ltm.624.0035|issn=0040-3075}}
*{{Cite journal|last=Eder|first=Matthias|date=1969|title=Reality in Japanese Folktales|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1177778|journal=[[Asian Folklore Studies]]|volume=28|issue=1|pages=17–25|doi=10.2307/1177778|jstor=1177778}}
*{{Cite journal|last=Michiaki|first=Fujii|author-mask=Fujii Michiaki 藤井 倫明|date=February 28, 2013|title=Urikohime no tanjō - amanojaku no higeki -|script-title=ja: 瓜子姫の誕生 -アマノジャクの悲劇-|url=http://hdl.handle.net/11266/5645|journal=Departmental Bulletin Paper|language=ja|publisher=[[Rissho University]]|volume=13|pages=18–27|hdl=11266/5645 |issn=1884-2968|ref={{harvid|Fujii|2013}}}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Goldberg|first=Christine|date=Winter 1997|title=The Donkey Skin Folktale Cycle (AT 510B)|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/541584|journal=[[Journal of American Folklore]]|volume=110|issue=435|pages=28–46|doi=10.2307/541584|jstor=541584}}
*{{Cite book|last=Kunio|first=Yanagita|title=The Yanagita Kunio Guide to the Japanese Folk Tale|date=1986|publisher=[[Indiana University Press]]|isbn=0-253-36812-X|translator-last=Mayer|translator-first=Fanny Hagin|oclc=13124829|author-link=Kunio Yanagita}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia|last1=King|first1=Emerald L.|last2=Fraser|first2=Lucy|title=Girls in Lace Dresses: The Intersections of Gothic in Japanese Youth Fiction and Fashion|encyclopedia=New directions in children's gothic: debatable lands|date=2019|isbn=978-0-367-34631-7|editor-last=Jackson|editor-first=Anna|editor-link=Anna Jackson|pages=102–118|publisher=Routledge|location=London|oclc=1099309931}}
*{{Cite journal|last=Mayer|first=Fanny Hagin|date=1960|title=Character Portrayal in the Japanese Folk Tale|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40454420|journal=Anthropos|volume=55|issue=5/6|pages=665–670|jstor=40454420|issn=0257-9774}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Mayer|first=Fanny Hagin|date=1974|title=Religious Concepts in the Japanese Folk Tale|journal=[[Japanese Journal of Religious Studies]]|volume=1|issue=1|pages=73–101|doi=10.18874/jjrs.1.1.1974.73-101|jstor=30234416|issn=0304-1042|doi-access=free}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia|last=Nakawaki|first=Hatsue|title=Japanese Heroine Tales and the Significance of Storytelling in Contemporary Society|encyclopedia=Re-orienting the fairy tale: contemporary adaptations across cultures|date=2020|editor1-first=Mayako|pages=139–168|editor1-last=Murai|editor2-first=Luciana |editor2-last=Cardi|isbn=978-0-8143-4537-5|publisher=[[Wayne State University Press]]|year=2020|location=Detroit, Michigan|oclc=1143644471}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Seki|first=Keigo|author-link=Keigo Seki|date=1966|title=Types of Japanese Folktales|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1177478|journal=[[Asian Folklore Studies]]|volume=25|issue=1|pages=17–25|doi=10.2307/1177478|jstor=1177478}}
*{{Cite journal|last=Masafumi|first=Takagi|author-mask=Takagi Masafumi 高木 昌史|date=March 2013|title=Shirīzu/ hikaku minwa (ichi) urikohime/ mittsu no orenji|script-title=ja:シリーズ/比較民話(一)瓜子姫/三つのオレンジ|trans-title=Series: Comparative Studies of the Folktale (1) Melon Princess/The Three Oranges|url=http://id.nii.ac.jp/1109/00003016/|journal=Seijō Bungei 成城文藝|language=ja|publisher=[[Seijo University]]|volume=222|pages=45–64|issn=0286-5718|ref={{harvid|Takagi|2013}}}}
*{{Cite journal|last=Yamazato|first=Katsunori|date=1983|title=A Note on Japanese Allusions in Gary Snyder's Poetry|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43018817|journal=[[Western American Literature]]|volume=18|issue=2|pages=143–148|jstor=43018817|issn=0043-3462}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* 剣持 弘子 [Kendo, Hiroko].「瓜子姫」 —話型分析及び「三つのオレンジ」との関係— ([https://ko-sho.org/page/activity/kikanshi/kikanshi-1990.html "Urikohime": Analysis and Relation with "Three Oranges"]). In: 『口承文芸研究』nr. 11 (March, 1988). pp. 45-57.

== External links ==
*[http://namahage.is.akita-u.ac.jp/monogatari/show_detail.php?serial_no=3412 Link to a variant of Urikohime and similar tales]

{{Japanese folklore long}}

[[Category:Japanese fairy tales]]
[[Category:Japanese folklore]]
[[Category:ATU 400-459]]


[[es:Urikohime to Amanojaku]]
[[es:Urikohime to Amanojaku]]
[[ja:うりこひめとあまのじゃく]]
[[ja:うりこひめとあまのじゃく]]
[[zh:瓜子姬與天邪鬼]]
[[zh:瓜子姬與天邪鬼]]

{{AfC submission|||ts=20210614202714|u=189.122.57.144|ns=118}}

Latest revision as of 22:39, 11 April 2024

Urikohime, Uriko-hime or Uriko Hime (うりこひめ; English: Princess Melon,[1] Melon Maid[2] or Melon Princess) is a dark Japanese folktale about a girl that is born out of a melon, adopted by a family and replaced by a evil creature named Amanojaku.

Summary[edit]

A melon comes washing down the stream until it is found by a human couple. They cut open the fruit and a girl appears out of it. They name her Urikohime (uri means "melon" in Japanese).[1] They raise her and she becomes a beautiful young lady. One day, she is left alone at home and told to be careful of any stranger who comes knocking. Unfortunately, a youkai named Amanojaku sets its sights on the girl. The creature appears at her house and asks the girl to open. She opens the door just a bit and the creature forces its entry in her house.[3]

In one version of the story, Amanojaku kills Urikohime and wears her skin.[4] The creature replaces Urikohime as the couple's daughter, but its disguise is ruined when the girl, reincarnated as a little bird, reveals the deception and eventually regains her human form.[5]

In another account, Urikohime becomes known for her great weaving abilities. Due to this, she is betrothed to a lord or prince. Before she marries, Amanojaku kills her and wears her dress, or ties her to a persimmon tree. The false bride is taken to the wedding on a palanquin, but the ruse is discovered. In the version where she is tied up, Urikohime cries out to anyone to hear and is rescued. The creature is chased away.[6][7]

Alternate names[edit]

Scholar Kunio Yanagita indicated alternate names to the tale: Urikohimeko, Urihime, Urihimeko.[8]

Distribution[edit]

According to Japanese folklorist Keigo Seki's notations, several variations are recorded in Japanese compilations.[9] Further studies show that the tale can be found all over the Japanese archipelago.[10][11] Hiroko Ikeda's index of Japanese tales lists 102 versions of the story.[12]

According to Fanny Hagin Mayer, "most versions" of the story end on a tragic note, but all seem to indicate the great weaving skills of Urikohime.[13] Scholar Kunio Yanagita listed the tale Nishiki Chōja as one version of the story that contains a happy ending.[14]

Analysis[edit]

Japanese scholarship argues for some relationship between this tale and Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index tale type ATU 408, "The Three Citrons", since both tales involve a maiden born of a fruit and her replacement for a false bride (in the tale type) and for evil creature Amanojaku (in Japanese versions).[15] In fact, professor Hiroko Ikeda classified the story of Urikohime as type 408B in his Japanese catalogue.[16][17]

Attention has also been drawn to the motif of "The False Bride" that exists in both tales: in Urikohime, the youkai or ogress wears the skin of the slain girl.[18] Folklorist Christine Goldberg recognizes that this is the motif Disguised Flayer (motif K1941 in the Motif-Index of Folk-Literature). This disguise is also used by heroines in other folktales.[19]

Professor Fanny Hagin Mayer remarked on the characters of the elderly couple that adopts Urikohime, which appear in several other Japanese folktales as a set.[20] The elderly woman teaches her adopted daughter skills in weaving.[21]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Yamazato 1983, p. 146.
  2. ^ Kunio 1986, p. 5.
  3. ^ Bonnin 2003, p. 41
  4. ^ King & Fraser 2019, p. 107-108.
  5. ^ Goldberg 1997, p. 37
  6. ^ Eder 1969, p. 24.
  7. ^ Seki 1966, p. 84-85.
  8. ^ Kunio 1986, p. 5-8.
  9. ^ Seki 1966, p. 85.
  10. ^ Fujii 2013, p. 18
  11. ^ Kunio 1986, p. 6-8.
  12. ^ Hiroko Ikeda. A Type and Motif Index of Japanese Folk-Literature. Folklore Fellows Communications Vol. 209. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. 1971. p. 100.
  13. ^ Mayer 1974, p. 78.
  14. ^ Kunio 1986, p. 8.
  15. ^ Takagi 2013.
  16. ^ Takagi 2013, p. 51.
  17. ^ Hiroko Ikeda. A Type and Motif Index of Japanese Folk-Literature. Folklore Fellows Communications Vol. 209. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. 1971. p. 100.
  18. ^ Nakawaki 2020, p. 165 n.22.
  19. ^ Goldberg 1997, p. 36-37.
  20. ^ Mayer 1960, p. 665-666.
  21. ^ Mayer 1960, p. 666.

Bibliography[edit]

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]