Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) Part A
The story, "The Man Who Did Not Wish To Die," is simply about a man that fears death. Sentaro, a man living a wealthy life that could have anything he wanted and never even thought about work, realized that one day his life would end.
He was very distraught and remembered a story about a Chinese King that set out to find an elixir that would allow him to live forever. The king sent out one of his courtiers to retrieve this elixir, but he never came back. Sentaro thinks that he can find this potion if he, himself, takes the journey to the famous Mt. Fuji where the elixir is said to be.
He could not find the hermits that rumored to hold the elixir to life, so he began to seek out the shrine for the king's courtier that came to Mr. Fuji a long time ago. Sentaro prayed and prayed to the shrine when the courtier appeared one night. He spoke to Sentaro and told him that his intentions for the elixir are selfish and to become a hermit, he needed to have a pure heart.
Since Sentaro could not become a hermit, the courtier gave him the option of going to a land where death never comes, so Sentaro followed the instruction in order to go there.
Sentaro reached the island that the courtier sent him to, but it was not what he expected at all. The paradise of forever life that he seeked was not that at all.
Everyone around him wanted death to escape to the true paradise... but Sentaro believed that he would never grow tired of living. His experience was nothing like he wanted and he found himself longing to go back to his old life where life was easier. The paradise was not paradise at all. He tried to leave back on the crane that took him there, but the crane (that was paper) crumpled up, fell into the ocean, and so Sentaro fell too which foreshadowed his death.
The story had a wild twist!! I was definitely not expecting it. The island life that he lived and wished to leave was actually a dream into the future. As he was praying to the courtier, he fell asleep and the dream created a visual of what he would see if he chose to live forever. He took the lesson and decided to not go to the land of life. The grass is not always greener on the other side.
Bibliography: The Man Who Did Not Wish To Die (Parts 1-3) from the Japanese Fairy Tale Unit by Yei Theodora Ozaki
He was very distraught and remembered a story about a Chinese King that set out to find an elixir that would allow him to live forever. The king sent out one of his courtiers to retrieve this elixir, but he never came back. Sentaro thinks that he can find this potion if he, himself, takes the journey to the famous Mt. Fuji where the elixir is said to be.
He could not find the hermits that rumored to hold the elixir to life, so he began to seek out the shrine for the king's courtier that came to Mr. Fuji a long time ago. Sentaro prayed and prayed to the shrine when the courtier appeared one night. He spoke to Sentaro and told him that his intentions for the elixir are selfish and to become a hermit, he needed to have a pure heart.
Since Sentaro could not become a hermit, the courtier gave him the option of going to a land where death never comes, so Sentaro followed the instruction in order to go there.
Sentaro reached the island that the courtier sent him to, but it was not what he expected at all. The paradise of forever life that he seeked was not that at all.
Everyone around him wanted death to escape to the true paradise... but Sentaro believed that he would never grow tired of living. His experience was nothing like he wanted and he found himself longing to go back to his old life where life was easier. The paradise was not paradise at all. He tried to leave back on the crane that took him there, but the crane (that was paper) crumpled up, fell into the ocean, and so Sentaro fell too which foreshadowed his death.
The story had a wild twist!! I was definitely not expecting it. The island life that he lived and wished to leave was actually a dream into the future. As he was praying to the courtier, he fell asleep and the dream created a visual of what he would see if he chose to live forever. He took the lesson and decided to not go to the land of life. The grass is not always greener on the other side.
Bibliography: The Man Who Did Not Wish To Die (Parts 1-3) from the Japanese Fairy Tale Unit by Yei Theodora Ozaki
Grass Isn't Always Greener Meme
from ImgFlip
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