A "jeweled hand box", "jewel box", "jeweled box", "treasure box", "
casket
Casket or caskets may refer to:
* Coffin, a box used for the display and interment of corpses
* Casket (decorative box), a decorated container, usually larger than about in width and length, but smaller than a chest
** Chasse (casket), a decora ...
", etc., is a mysterious box that in the Japanese folk tale "
Urashima Tarō
is the protagonist of a Japanese fairy tale (''otogi banashi''), who, in a typical modern version, is a fishermen, fisherman rewarded for rescuing a sea turtle, and carried on its back to the Dragon Palace (Ryūgū-jō) beneath the sea. There, ...
", is a parting gift that the fisherman Urashima Tarō receives from mistress of the sea (
Otohime), after his stay at the
Dragon Palace (or
Hōrai), to which he was invited after saving a turtle.
''Katami no hako'' "memento box" is another name by which the box is referred to in the tale.
''Tamakushige'' "comb box" is the name that occurs in earlier precursors, such as the anecdote of Ura-no-Shimako (Urashima-no-ko) in the ''
Fudoki
are ancient reports on provincial culture, geography, and oral tradition presented to the reigning monarchs of Japan, also known as local gazetteers. They contain agricultural, geographical, and historical records as well as mythology and ...
'' of
Tango Province
was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of northern Kyoto Prefecture. Tango bordered on Tanba Province, Tanba to the south, Tajima Province, Tajima to the west, and Wakasa Province, Wakasa to the east. Its abbreviated form name ...
and the ''
Manyōshū'' (8th century). The term ''tamatebako'' was first employed in reference to the tale in a quoted poem in ''Otogizōshi''.
Etymology and aliases
''Tamatebako'' is literally rendered "jewel-hand-box" but sometimes it is seen as not imparting any special meaning and translated as "casket". It was glossed as meaning
a "beautiful box" by McKeon.
The first instance of its use in the Urashima tale is in an inserted poem in the ''Otogizōshi''. And there seems to be a ''
double entendre
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...
'' word-play since ''tama'' can mean "jewel" or "soul".
The box is also referred to as "memento box" in ''
Otogizōshi'' texts.
Modern version
The ''tamatebako'' appears in the story of "
Urashima Tarō
is the protagonist of a Japanese fairy tale (''otogi banashi''), who, in a typical modern version, is a fishermen, fisherman rewarded for rescuing a sea turtle, and carried on its back to the Dragon Palace (Ryūgū-jō) beneath the sea. There, ...
", whose modern version are generally all based on the national textbook. It is told that Urashima Tarō the fisherman was invited to a sea palace (
Ryūgū or Dragon Palace) by the princess (
Otohime) after saving a turtle.
[, translation of 3rd edition national textbook as primary source #13.] He spent a number of days, fed and entertained and upon his leaving received the tamatebako ("treasure box") with explicit instructions to never open the box. When he returned, his parents had died and he recognized no one. In dismay he forgot the princess's caution. When he opened the tamatebako, a white puff of smoke escaped, and he was transformed into an old, white haired man.
[
It is understood during the short time he spent at the Dragon Palace, many years had elapsed in the world back home. Otohime had stored his old age away in the tamatebako, which Urashima Tarō released.
]
Seki's variant
A is given to Urashima Tarō and the princess actually encourages him to use it in the moment of need. This is what occurs in "Urashima Taro" variant collected by Keigo Seki, a telling from Nakatado District, Kagawa.[, reprinted in: ]
When he opened the lid of the box, the first box contained crane's feather; the second box issued a puff of white smoke that transformed him into an old man; the third box held a mirror for him to look at himself. The feather from the first box then fastened itself on his back, now transforming Urashima into a crane, and the princess appeared in the guise of a turtle to see him.[
A version with the three-tiered "Tamatebako" (jeweled hand-box) was also published in English by the Japanese foreign ministry in 1969.
]
Early versions
The box is referred to as "comb box" in a precursor tale, recorded as historical in the ''Fudoki
are ancient reports on provincial culture, geography, and oral tradition presented to the reigning monarchs of Japan, also known as local gazetteers. They contain agricultural, geographical, and historical records as well as mythology and ...
'' of Tango Province
was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of northern Kyoto Prefecture. Tango bordered on Tanba Province, Tanba to the south, Tajima Province, Tajima to the west, and Wakasa Province, Wakasa to the east. Its abbreviated form name ...
, where the principal character is known by the slightly different name, Ura-no-Shimako, and the female identifies herself as a member of the immortals.
Shimako's visit to the Horaisan (Mount Penglai
Penglai ( zh, t=蓬萊仙島, l=Penglai Immortal Island) is a legendary land of Chinese mythology. It is known in Japanese mythology as Hōrai and Bồng Lai in Vietnam. McCullough, Helen. ''Classical Japanese Prose'', p. 570. Stanford Univ. P ...
) or "Tokoyo-no-kuni" ("Timeless Land" or "Land of Eternity") lasts three years, at the end of which he is given the box as a gift.
The legend in the '' Manyōshū'' refers also to a , translated "jewel-casket" by Aston
Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Located immediately to the north-west of Birmingham city centre, Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a wards of the United Kingdom, war ...
, which Urashima receives from the lady or daughter of the Sea-God (Watatsumi
, also pronounced Wadatsumi, is a legendary ''kami'' (神, god; deity; spirit), Japanese dragon and tutelary water deity in Japanese mythology. is believed to be another name for the sea deity Ryūjin (龍神, Dragon God) and also for the , ...
).
Poem and expression
In several of the Otogizōshi texts of ''Urashima Tarō'' is inserted the '' waka'' poem which is an allusion to Urashima:
:
:"The night of meet you s likeUrashima opening the tametebako, hen night turns to dawnthe regret and my tears".
The "''akete kuyashiki''" in the poem might be restated as "mortified by the opening" of the box.
The poem led to the common stock phrase "opened to his regret (mortification), the tamatebako".
Local legends
A Tamatebako is enshrined in the Urashima Jinja in the Tango Peninsula in northern Kyoto Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Kyoto Prefecture has a population of 2,561,358 () and has a geographic area of . Kyoto Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the northeast, Shiga Prefecture ...
.
Explanatory notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
Texts
*
** (reprinted in)
* (text image)
Studies
*
*
*
{{Refend
Japanese folklore