@@robertdicke7249 ok so I agree that the evolution of a folktale or myth can give us insights into the culture it grows out of and the changes that culture undergoes. But overall, in the context of the story, I have to say it's more of a shame than anything. As Confucianism moved in women were diminished, and they lost much of their autonomy and freedom. So threatening was the concept of a strong-minded, independent woman that one of the main characters of the story had to be all but erased. So rather than growing and becoming more interesting with time, like many folktales, this story is just abated.
@@the-ma-an that's the thing about the stories of the Dragon King they never mention who he married it's like Cain and Abel we don't know who their wives are
Not really any weirder than European ones... This tale is very similar to Celtic tales about sailors traveling to Fairy Land, staying there for some days and coming back to the same situation as the man in this tale, including them aging into dust if they set foot on land.
History teacher: Alright students, today we are going to learn a bit about the history of Japan. Tell me what comes up to your minds when I say japanese hisory. Everyone: Samurais, Pearl Harbor, Ninjas, Hiroshima ... Me: *The Fujiwara clan famously married their daughters into the imperial family*
@@Crowstrove But Japanese were the ones bombing US navy. Your argument is like saying that the American War for Independence doesn't belong to the British history.
Thank you for posting this story. This reminded me of an Irish Legend called "Oisin in Tir nan-Og" It's about a young warrior named Oisin who was traveling with his warrior companions when they came upon a beautiful princess on a magical horse. She had heard of the many deeds about group of warriors called the "Fianna", and especially how accomplished Oisin was for his courage and poetry ; and she wanted to take him back to a kingdom of youth called Tir na n-Og where any wish you make comes true and no one gets old. Oisin ends up going with her, marrying her and starts to get home sick for his friends and country men back in Ireland. He asks to be able to visit them and his wife concedes but warns him that if he gets off the horse he wouldn't be able to go back. He goes back to Ireland and realizes that nothing looks familiar to him anymore. He sees a couple of men trying to move a heavy stone but having a lot of trouble budging it. So Oisin said he would help them and swooped from the top of the saddle and picked up the rock with ease. However as he was coming back up, the saddle broke and he was cast to the ground. As soon as he touched the earth the horse vanished and Oisin had become an old man. The people found out that he had come from the distant past when the warriors known as the Fianna had roamed Ireland, and Oisin dies soon after. That's amazing to see two cultures with similar stories. They had both been men with noble spirits and both had been taken to a kingdom not of their native lands. Both had become home sick, and had aged rapidly when the instructions of their benefactors had been disobeyed. Thank you for making these videos. Japanese legends and it's history are fascinating!
I am Romanian. In Romania and in some other European countries, we have a story that's very similar to this one. We call it "Tinerețe fără bătrânețe și viață fără de moarte", which roughly translates to "Youth without Old Age and Life Without Death". It's about a prince who travels the world and meets a beautiful princess. They fall in love and she invites him to stay at her palace. However, he is not aware that she is a magical being. He leads a very peaceful, wealthy life at the palace. However, after 3 years (it seems that 3 is a magical number in folktales all over the world), he wants to visit his parents. She allows him to, but she tells him that, no matter what he does, he should never get off his horse and touch the ground with his feet. The prince leaves the palace and starts heading towards his parents' lands. He sees that nothing is the way he remembered it to be. His castle is gone, people are dressed weirdly. He finds out that 300 years passed in the human realm. Out of sadness and shock, he forgets what the princess had told him and he gets off his horse and touches the human world ground with his feet. That is when his hair turns white, his body very old and he grows a ground-touching white beard. Then, he turns into dust.
@@Linfamy Yes. At one of the dive sites I visit the turtles come up to divers looking for food. I was trying to shoo one of them away with my foot, and the bugger bit me.
"The turtle sinks beneath the waves with Urashima Taro on its back, and soon he finds himself-" Drowning. Urashima Taro soon found himself DROWNING and thinking "this was a downright daft idea, now that I think about it."
crypto66 aw! Come on! And spoke without a turtle accent. Obviously she's not a kappa or some random ordinary turtle princes, but a magical one, probably a goddess at that and definitely w she would have had all those minor details covered and yep Next time a turtle goddess without a turtle accent offers to take me to the dragons palace, I'm going - that's what u always carry a zip-tie so I'll have something to keep me from accidentally opening her comb box
I always assumed the princess didn't want him to leave because she knew time passes differently between their worlds and she didnt want hin to find out that everyone he knew and loved were dead
That was fantastic! I had actually read a version of the original version before, where he does save the turtle from some kids, the palace is underwater, and he does marry the princess and they live together for 3 years, I don't remember if the box was a comb box or a different kind of box, but other than that the story was the same. So I kind of knew what was happening. This video gave me a lot more information on a story I love! Thank you, Linfamy! 😁😁😁
This story is a very common one across the world. Plenty of folk tales of people entering a fairy world and when the person returned to find it had been decades or centuries away. Good investigating.
Thanks for spreading knowledge sir. I ve been struggling with japanese history, and wanted to know folktales but they were so boring that i slept. But when i found your channel, my dream came true. Thanks for creating this wonderful channel, hope you will find great success soon.
I'm glad you covered this legend! I remember hearing it when I was 6 from a storyteller who went to my school. The story had adapted names (I guess because he was telling the story for a bunch of kids) and some other aspects, it was very much like the ancient version (not before the moment he meets Kamehime) and I truly loved the way he told me that story. I remember also asking for my mom if I could find a book with this story so she could read it for me before bed, but neither of us know the name of the story or anything alike. Then after 12 years I discovered the name of the legend (because I found the modern version online and many elements were the same) but I still had my doubts because it was different than the version told by storyteller. Today, after 17 years, I found the version I was looking for. Thank you, now I'm sure this is the legend I've been looking for since then. It's a bit too late to ask my mom to read it as a bedtime story, but now I may be able to tell this story to my students and tell them the legend's name, so they can search it afterwards if they want see more of it (and probably show your channel to them, I learned so many things since I discovered it so I think they'll enjoy it a lot)! I got a bit emotional about it, but I decided to post this here anyways, so maybe you'll know that you made my day!
Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Assume a turtle as a UFO Suppose you've moved to another location ten years away at a speed close to the speed of light by a UFO Suppose he lived there for a few days and came back to Earth at the speed of light by a UFO. Urashima is only a few days away. It is twenty years + a few days for the people on earth.(Time slowly advances as it approaches the speed of light)When he returned to Earth, it was the world of the future. So... No one knew him. In Japan, this is called the Urashima effect [science fiction]
@@Linfamy Mechanically, the shell of a turtle on land is stronger in external pressure than the shell of a turtle that lives in the water. Some turtles dive 1,000 meters from the surface of the sea. Approx. 101 barometric pressure at 1,000m. This outweighs the power of the shell of the turtle on land. The power of living things is strange.
Okay, I know this is not your area of expertise, but there's a similar story in Ireland. A handsome warrior (I think his name was Ossin, his dad was definitely Finn MacCool) meets a fairy lady so takes him to fairyland and makes him her husband. A couple of years pass, and the warrior wants to visit home, but his wife will only let him go if he promised to never get off his horse. He finds out centuries have passed and ends up falling off the horse, at which point all his years catch up to him and he wanders the world for a short while as an old man. I've actually noticed a lot of similarities between Irish/Celtic mythology and Japanese Kami worship as well as their respective modern folktales. Considering the distance I doubt these groups influenced each other any more than every other culture in Europe or Asia, but it is still an interesting connection.
Isn't it amazing that there are similarities in stories from different countries? We have a story just like that in Ireland, ever heard of the Tale of Tír na Nóg (the Land of Youth)? Instead of a Turtle & Undersea Kingdom, we have a White Horse, a Golden - Haired Princess named Niamh & the magical island of youth. The story goes that Niamh rides the horse over to Ireland to search for a husband. She meets & falls in love with Oisín, the son of the famous warrior Finn MacCumhaill (pronounced Mak - Cool) & Sadbh (Sa - ba) the Celtic Deer Goddess. They leave for Niamh's homeland & the story goes similar to this one, except when Oisín goes back to Ireland, Niamh advises him to never get off the horse's back under any circumstances, he meets a group of men trying to move a boulder off the road it's blocking & offers to help (he's strong enough to pick said boulder up with 1 hand) he stays on the horse but as the saying goes, even if you plan & do the right thing, there's always that chance that something will go wrong. He bends over & grabs the boulder but as he lifts it up, the saddle girth breaks & he falls off. The minute he falls onto the ground the horse vanishes & he becomes an old man, just like the man in this story, it is said that Oisín is taken to St. Patrick's home where he learns all that occured since he left & he tells Patrick about life in Ireland before Christianity before dying.
Awesome video. I love that you are showing an example of the way stories get modified according to social and religious changes. Super brilliant and well done.
It's interesting to realise the connections that One Piece's Mermaid Island saga makes to this story: Ryuguu Palace, Queen Otohime and the box is referenced, too with the bad guys aging after eating empowering snacks from a forbidden box. It's cool to finally realize these refernces after hearing this story.
I remember this from Okami, though the turtle was a whale instead :) It's really interesting seeing the folklore that the creators took inspiration from :)
What is amazing to me is that even people at ancient times had a vague idea about Einstein's theory of Relativity. There is another American tale about magically sleeping only to wake like 100 years later but your body only aged a few days.
Sooo Rip van Winkle also left his home, returned, and it was in another age/time frame. It looks like a human, collective, instinctual understanding of time according to Einstein, no? Loooove your videos. The humor and the drawings, the really great way you tell the stories and the history of Japan. Thank you, dear.
@@thehumancatmosterfromjapan4233 You mean Kyousha? The two kanji there literally means Perfume and Carriage if I'm not mistaken. Kyousha are the two pieces that move like a rook in shogi, although they can only move forward. Often times, Kyousha is translated as Lance (my name) in English, despite the literal meanings of the kanji used.
I loved this! Have you done any folk Japanese world creation stories? The turtle reminded me of an Indigenous story about North America being 'turtle island', and so I am wondering if you've already talked about stuff like this. Thanks for all the hard work you put into these videos, I really appreciate it!
turtle/penyu/sea turtle/turqoise actually is in naruto shippuden kinda wonder now does the turtle have something to do with ura no shimako or its just a coincidence, cuz only 3 animal has sage mode snail snake and frog weird, hmm
Same here I heard of urashima taro through doraemon and ninja hattori, but in Tamil But currently I am working with anime , Japanese , J-Pop,holding chopsticks , manga , learnt the Japanese national anthem and later........found linfamy completing the list with Japanese history and folk tales (especially from naruto) Watching linfamy after coming from school makes my day
I remember my dad would always read me this story... And ofc many others... But somehow I grow forget about it... It's just today I remember about it somehow... And it does brings me back to 20 years ago... Seeing my dad when he's still young... And I'm on the bed trying to sleep... Those memories is precious and how could I forget about it T-T...
Where I comes from the story says the dude stayed for 7 days as a guest of the Naga King. And it's 70 years passed. The box was given to him and was told not to open. He opened out of curiosity and ages 70 years more. I've never wonder why was he given the box. Your explanation make sense. Great job.
Linfamy not particularly, our curriculum focuses in our own literature (Philippine Literature) but I tend to reach out other literary works as reference so that my students can see how literature of a certain country gives a spice to its culture. 😊
vid is 5 years old I know but I was brought here as reference to a new anime airing Raising Kids in Another World. The protagonist references this story several times in the dub during episodes where they are in a mer-people village as "are they trying to Urashima Taro me?!", and I was so confused. Even in Japanese with subs on it's unclear what he's talking about with a "jeweled box" so I really appreciate finally finding your video to explain it all. I'm a storyteller myself so I love learning everything. It was wonderful to hear the modern telling and I rather think even Japanese people are confused a bit by. Then adding the history and original telling that makes it all make sense was great. You earned the sub, and I look forward to exploring your content.
I had the original story in a book of magic tales!!!! Woah, I am sincerely amazed that for once a Western book faithfully wrote the most ancient, original story. I didn't remember it was Japanese, though I have now checked the book and it says it. I am amazed
“Speak Japanese without Turtle accent” 😂😂 i didnt know that turtle has accent! On a serious note, i really like that idea of “marriage is first between the two people not their parents” 🤷🏻♀️
I love love love this story! And I'm not sure why. Your explanation gave me insight and cleared up some things that have confused me since the first time I read it. I had no idea there was an earlier VERSION! MIND BLOWN! There's a very similar tale in Irish folklore called Oisín (www.ireland-information.com/irish-mythology/oisin-irish-legend.html). There are some differences, but the similarities are obvious (hooking up with a supernatural woman, time differential between supernatural land and protagonist's home, instruction from supernatural woman that the protagonist disobeys, rapid aging). I have always wondered who influenced whom. I suspect the Japanese story came first. Either way, it's amazing that two stories can influence each other when those cultures are on the other side of the world from each other.
In Vietnam, we have a "folktale" about a lake which is now famously located in Ha Noi, and yes, it did have a talkable turtle there, but with sword. And it's golden.
My WTF question was "How can he breathe underwater??" But the old story answered it anyway: they were actually on an island, not in an underwater palace.
Dunno if this falls under "folktale", but Abe no Seimei is an interesting character. I'd love to see you do a video on him! (and the legends surrounding him)
The version I grew up with was, that Urashima was a fisherman's son, in a fishing town, and one stormy night although they lit torches all along the beach, the Urashima boat didn't come back in - his father died at sea. Since then, he was teased by the other boys and became a loner. He had to fish etc., to support his mother and himself, and his life had become very hard. One day he was walking along the beach and some of the other boys were tormenting a turtle. He chased them off, and helped the turtle back into the sea. The turtle said, "I will repay you someday". A while later, he was out fishing, and the turtle came swimming up and said to get on his back, to visit the world under the sea. Urashima did so, after all, life above the sea wasn't too great for him. He went down into the sea and was greeted by the princess, and ate good things and saw wonderful sights, and all was well for a while, but he began to pine for his old life on land. The princess tried to discourage him, but didn't make a big deal about it, just saying, "Remember, once you go back home, you won't be able to come back here". Urashima got back on the turtle's back and was taken home. He walked into the town which looked different, older somehow, and asked around. People and places he asked about, only the old people knew about, and had been there hundreds of years before. The torii by the bay, new when he'd gone into the sea, was now worn and weathered. He looked at his hands and saw they were old; he was old now. And that's it. No love affair, no box, not even much of a moral, except that maybe that the pull of Home can be stronger than the delights of a heavenly kingdom.
I mean if someone magical suddenly appears and tells me we're meant to be, their parents love me and we get to live in a beautiful house without worrying about jobs or taxes or anything I'm staying, and if I miss my parents I'll make sure not to forget the one thing I must keep in mind
Funny how similar old tales are. This story, especialy the modern version, is almost exactly the same as an old irish legend I once read, but with a turtle and a bit of Pandora added. In the irish tale it is a warrior (I dont remember his name) who is brought to Avalon by a love sick godess. He happily follow her, but when home sickness strikes him after a time, his godly lover reluctantly agrees to let him go back for a while. If he agrees to riding one of her horses all the time, never dismounting on irish soil. Naturaly, he finds out that far longer time have passed in his homeland then in Avalon. Then, when he see a group of men struggling with removing a boulder from their arable, he dismounts to help, unknowingly allowing all the passed years to catch up to him. He was now an old man and could never return to his lover.
For some fixing of mistakes, Óisín was the name of the warrior, it was Tír Na Nóg ( Land of the young ) and time was warped in Tír Na Nóg ( one year is a century ).
Reminds me of the Irish tale of tir o nog.The main character's both end up in a place were time workes differently,they both came home to find that they lost everything(mainly because they stayed there for hundreds or thousands of years) and they both aged.
lol i got to know about the first version in Saiki Kusuo no psi--nan; lol any weird Japanese folktale in anime you don't seem to understand, just search for it on Linfamy's channel and you'll be sleep deprived very quicky
Even in the "weird" version, parts make sense. Otohime is a slightly fickle supernatural being, or operating on rules that just played out unfortunately. She wanted Urashima Taro to be rewarded for rescuing one of her people, but tried to stop him from leaving because she knew it'd go badly for him once he reached the surface. The box contains all of the "lost" time of Urashima Taro's life, pretty clearly. He opens it because at that point, what else does he have left? He's lost everything except the gift from the dragon palace that stole his lifetime. Why not open it? The box was given so Taro wouldn't be completely stranded in the future, he'd have the option to belong in it the way he should have, as a much older man.
i may be able to voice some of these people just pay me 5,000 yen an hour and a lunch break and free snacks XD jk i'll voice the characters in the folk tales for free
I've read that tale when I was a kid. In my book the fisherman's name is Urashima and the turtle is the princess's servant. Urashima saves the turtle and years later the turtle saves him from a storm and take him to Ryugu. There he fell in love with the princess Otohime, and the princess asked him to stay with her and that he would never get old there. He wants to leave because he was worried with his old mother, and Otohime gives him the same box. When he found out that 300 years have passed he is so despaired to show the people that he was the guy that left centuries ago that he shows the box as a proof and then he forgets and opens it. Then the weight of the centuries fell on him and perished to dust.
4:35 That voice...oh god ravage me.
Emperor Qin Shi Huang and Xu Fu’s story: ua-cam.com/video/bDnV9UvrpaU/v-deo.html
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Nice!
Thanks!!
You're first video i saw was "Ningyo"! :)
Awesome! :D
Never thought there is an original story. Thank you limfamy
The older version is much better and more compelling
It's much more colorful for sure. I think it makes more sense too, for a folktale at least :p
Agreed.
Agreed
I appreciate them both, the evolution of stories can be as compelling as it contents.
@@robertdicke7249 ok so I agree that the evolution of a folktale or myth can give us insights into the culture it grows out of and the changes that culture undergoes. But overall, in the context of the story, I have to say it's more of a shame than anything. As Confucianism moved in women were diminished, and they lost much of their autonomy and freedom. So threatening was the concept of a strong-minded, independent woman that one of the main characters of the story had to be all but erased. So rather than growing and becoming more interesting with time, like many folktales, this story is just abated.
*without a turtle accent*
Me: *internally laugh out loud*
Hm... how do you laugh out loud inside?
@@Linfamy You think about laughter but dont actually laugh?
@@masterbonzala then it's not "out loud," no? :p
Linfamy
When you laugh silently but your chest is still having a spaz and acheing by laughing and only you can hear the pain inside
Ahhhh that makes sense, loli (laugh out loud inside)
5:31 Even ancient stories have product placement
What were the children's names? I believe one would have to be Forester. Perhaps another would be Outback.
Correct on both
Carmelo Pappalardo
XD
In some stories turtel turns into a naked man
I want to know how where the Dragon King was why was his daughter just hosting this mortal man where the f*** was her father this whole time
Why the father specifically? What about her mother?
@@the-ma-an that's the thing about the stories of the Dragon King they never mention who he married it's like Cain and Abel we don't know who their wives are
Hasan Wilson True
You should research social life in Japan during each time period, it would give insight to how people behaved.
@@labelledamedumanor4876 thanks for the idea
*Japanese Folk Tales are weird*
Now I see the inspiration from weird Anime and Hentai
You're right but you're also sick
Honestly
@@heyitscree860 ikr
Love Hina pretty much based on this folktale.
Not really any weirder than European ones... This tale is very similar to Celtic tales about sailors traveling to Fairy Land, staying there for some days and coming back to the same situation as the man in this tale, including them aging into dust if they set foot on land.
History teacher: Alright students, today we are going to learn a bit about the history of Japan. Tell me what comes up to your minds when I say japanese hisory.
Everyone: Samurais, Pearl Harbor, Ninjas, Hiroshima ...
Me: *The Fujiwara clan famously married their daughters into the imperial family*
A for you
Le fidèle
Pearl harbor is... America.....
I'm imagining you adamantly yelling that line 😍
@@Crowstrove But Japanese were the ones bombing US navy. Your argument is like saying that the American War for Independence doesn't belong to the British history.
Le fidèle
Anything I say is stupid.
The turtle had no turtle accent? unbelievable
ikr?
Unbeliebubble
😅
Thick accent baby
There is actually an Irish myth almost identical to this but the princesses takes the guy to a magic land across the sea instead of a turtle
Ooh cool, what's the name?
@@Linfamy Oisín (www.ireland-information.com/irish-mythology/oisin-irish-legend.html)
@@Linfamy oisín and tír na nóg
@@eoinharrington2692 nice, another commenter said the same thing :D
@@Linfamy who was first?
This was one of my favourite Japanese folk tales during my childhood thank you for the nostalgia lord Lin.
Yay awesome :)
Same! I remember it from a collectiom illustrated by art spiegelman.
Thank you for posting this story. This reminded me of an Irish Legend called "Oisin in Tir nan-Og" It's about a young warrior named Oisin who was traveling with his warrior companions when they came upon a beautiful princess on a magical horse. She had heard of the many deeds about group of warriors called the "Fianna", and especially how accomplished Oisin was for his courage and poetry ; and she wanted to take him back to a kingdom of youth called Tir na n-Og where any wish you make comes true and no one gets old.
Oisin ends up going with her, marrying her and starts to get home sick for his friends and country men back in Ireland. He asks to be able to visit them and his wife concedes but warns him that if he gets off the horse he wouldn't be able to go back. He goes back to Ireland and realizes that nothing looks familiar to him anymore. He sees a couple of men trying to move a heavy stone but having a lot of trouble budging it. So Oisin said he would help them and swooped from the top of the saddle and picked up the rock with ease. However as he was coming back up, the saddle broke and he was cast to the ground. As soon as he touched the earth the horse vanished and Oisin had become an old man.
The people found out that he had come from the distant past when the warriors known as the Fianna had roamed Ireland, and Oisin dies soon after.
That's amazing to see two cultures with similar stories. They had both been men with noble spirits and both had been taken to a kingdom not of their native lands. Both had become home sick, and had aged rapidly when the instructions of their benefactors had been disobeyed.
Thank you for making these videos. Japanese legends and it's history are fascinating!
Thanks for the story! Someone here also mentioned it. Yeah apparently this kind of story is common
L: "some japanese love story in the video"
Me: "i bet that Fujiwara Clan arranged it"
damn 😁
Usually a safe bet though :p
*Urashima Taro:* My hair just turned White!
*Kaneki:* First time?
OMG! Yes!
Oof
oOf
*Unravel plays in the background *
Togame: A newbie I see.
That explains why susanoo turned the 8th daughter into a comb
sasuke? 😂
@Hasan someone knows his myths
I am Romanian. In Romania and in some other European countries, we have a story that's very similar to this one. We call it "Tinerețe fără bătrânețe și viață fără de moarte", which roughly translates to "Youth without Old Age and Life Without Death". It's about a prince who travels the world and meets a beautiful princess. They fall in love and she invites him to stay at her palace. However, he is not aware that she is a magical being. He leads a very peaceful, wealthy life at the palace. However, after 3 years (it seems that 3 is a magical number in folktales all over the world), he wants to visit his parents. She allows him to, but she tells him that, no matter what he does, he should never get off his horse and touch the ground with his feet. The prince leaves the palace and starts heading towards his parents' lands. He sees that nothing is the way he remembered it to be. His castle is gone, people are dressed weirdly. He finds out that 300 years passed in the human realm. Out of sadness and shock, he forgets what the princess had told him and he gets off his horse and touches the human world ground with his feet. That is when his hair turns white, his body very old and he grows a ground-touching white beard. Then, he turns into dust.
Thank you for the story! Yes that is very similar. Apparently there are other European stories about the same, it seems to be a theme
Wow i really wanted to comment about the same story
This version makes more sense tbh
*Turtle talks to me*
Me: "Go home turtle, I'm drunk."
Turtle bites you
XD
@@Linfamy Wouldn't be the first time. Also long as it isn't a kappa I should be fine.
You've been bitten by a turtle??
@@Linfamy Yes. At one of the dive sites I visit the turtles come up to divers looking for food. I was trying to shoo one of them away with my foot, and the bugger bit me.
"The turtle sinks beneath the waves with Urashima Taro on its back, and soon he finds himself-"
Drowning. Urashima Taro soon found himself DROWNING and thinking "this was a downright daft idea, now that I think about it."
Yeah that's what I thought too. They never addressed the underwater breathing bit :p
crypto66 aw! Come on! And spoke without a turtle accent. Obviously she's not a kappa or some random ordinary turtle princes, but a magical one, probably a goddess at that and definitely w she would have had all those minor details covered and yep
Next time a turtle goddess without a turtle accent offers to take me to the dragons palace, I'm going - that's what u always carry a zip-tie so I'll have something to keep me from accidentally opening her comb box
If a turtle suddenly talked, I’ll take it home to my mom.
haha...why just to your mom?
@Emperor Louis The Retard Yeah, but i'm already French, i want a Japanese Turtle !
Within the first few seconds of hearing that this story involved talking turtles I immediately thought of those turtles from Finding Nemo
Bonjour
I would run far away. And only admiting this actually happened to my father, he is the only one who would believe me. XD
I always assumed the princess didn't want him to leave because she knew time passes differently between their worlds and she didnt want hin to find out that everyone he knew and loved were dead
Yeah. Probably that.
"the turtle speaks Japanese without a turtle accent"
I love this 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
😅
You just accidentally explained an entire section of Okami to me and I'm so grateful.
Glad to be of service :D
That was fantastic! I had actually read a version of the original version before, where he does save the turtle from some kids, the palace is underwater, and he does marry the princess and they live together for 3 years, I don't remember if the box was a comb box or a different kind of box, but other than that the story was the same. So I kind of knew what was happening. This video gave me a lot more information on a story I love! Thank you, Linfamy! 😁😁😁
Yay I'm glad you like it 💗
This story is a very common one across the world. Plenty of folk tales of people entering a fairy world and when the person returned to find it had been decades or centuries away.
Good investigating.
Yes it seems to be a theme in many cultures
Thanks for spreading knowledge sir. I ve been struggling with japanese history, and wanted to know folktales but they were so boring that i slept. But when i found your channel, my dream came true. Thanks for creating this wonderful channel, hope you will find great success soon.
Yay I'm glad you like =)
its an honour to me
I'm glad you covered this legend! I remember hearing it when I was 6 from a storyteller who went to my school. The story had adapted names (I guess because he was telling the story for a bunch of kids) and some other aspects, it was very much like the ancient version (not before the moment he meets Kamehime) and I truly loved the way he told me that story. I remember also asking for my mom if I could find a book with this story so she could read it for me before bed, but neither of us know the name of the story or anything alike.
Then after 12 years I discovered the name of the legend (because I found the modern version online and many elements were the same) but I still had my doubts because it was different than the version told by storyteller.
Today, after 17 years, I found the version I was looking for. Thank you, now I'm sure this is the legend I've been looking for since then. It's a bit too late to ask my mom to read it as a bedtime story, but now I may be able to tell this story to my students and tell them the legend's name, so they can search it afterwards if they want see more of it (and probably show your channel to them, I learned so many things since I discovered it so I think they'll enjoy it a lot)!
I got a bit emotional about it, but I decided to post this here anyways, so maybe you'll know that you made my day!
Wow this post got serious, thanks for sharing :)
"if a turtle suddenly started talking.."
Me: say no more, I'm going with that turtle
**turtle proceeds to walk slowly in a large circle, ending at where it started**
Linfamy *c i r c l e*
Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Assume a turtle as a UFO
Suppose you've moved to another location ten years away at a speed close to the speed of light by a UFO
Suppose he lived there for a few days and came back to Earth at the speed of light by a UFO. Urashima is only a few days away. It is twenty years + a few days for the people on earth.(Time slowly advances as it approaches the speed of light)When he returned to Earth, it was the world of the future.
So... No one knew him.
In Japan, this is called the Urashima effect [science fiction]
So the turtle must have been swimming near light-speed
@@Linfamy
Is it a structure that can withstand outside pressure, or is it a structure that can withstand pressure inside without outside pressure?
@@両角-k4q I'm going to say...it's a turtle shell hard enough to withstand the outside pressure
@@Linfamy
Mechanically, the shell of a turtle on land is stronger in external pressure than the shell of a turtle that lives in the water. Some turtles dive 1,000 meters from the surface of the sea. Approx. 101 barometric pressure at 1,000m.
This outweighs the power of the shell of the turtle on land.
The power of living things is strange.
Sounds kinda like come sail away by Styx
Love how you apply historical context to these stories. It really shows how intertwined art and history are.
Which version of the story did you prefer?
The latter.
The Japanese one.
2nd one
Gacha Rainbow what?
The older one
Okay, I know this is not your area of expertise, but there's a similar story in Ireland. A handsome warrior (I think his name was Ossin, his dad was definitely Finn MacCool) meets a fairy lady so takes him to fairyland and makes him her husband. A couple of years pass, and the warrior wants to visit home, but his wife will only let him go if he promised to never get off his horse. He finds out centuries have passed and ends up falling off the horse, at which point all his years catch up to him and he wanders the world for a short while as an old man.
I've actually noticed a lot of similarities between Irish/Celtic mythology and Japanese Kami worship as well as their respective modern folktales. Considering the distance I doubt these groups influenced each other any more than every other culture in Europe or Asia, but it is still an interesting connection.
Yeah another commenter retold a similar story but when he got off his horse he turned to dust. Seems to be a theme
Damn, I wasn't paying attention.
Liked.
>:(
@@Linfamy restarted and watched til the end tho
@@danolive6950 haha yay!
Isn't it amazing that there are similarities in stories from different countries? We have a story just like that in Ireland, ever heard of the Tale of Tír na Nóg (the Land of Youth)? Instead of a Turtle & Undersea Kingdom, we have a White Horse, a Golden - Haired Princess named Niamh & the magical island of youth. The story goes that Niamh rides the horse over to Ireland to search for a husband. She meets & falls in love with Oisín, the son of the famous warrior Finn MacCumhaill (pronounced Mak - Cool) & Sadbh (Sa - ba) the Celtic Deer Goddess. They leave for Niamh's homeland & the story goes similar to this one, except when Oisín goes back to Ireland, Niamh advises him to never get off the horse's back under any circumstances, he meets a group of men trying to move a boulder off the road it's blocking & offers to help (he's strong enough to pick said boulder up with 1 hand) he stays on the horse but as the saying goes, even if you plan & do the right thing, there's always that chance that something will go wrong. He bends over & grabs the boulder but as he lifts it up, the saddle girth breaks & he falls off. The minute he falls onto the ground the horse vanishes & he becomes an old man, just like the man in this story, it is said that Oisín is taken to St. Patrick's home where he learns all that occured since he left & he tells Patrick about life in Ireland before Christianity before dying.
Yep it's amazing. Thanks for sharing! There are similar stories in other cultures too, it seems to be a theme
keep it going im sure you'll beat those top 10 youtubers or even pewdiepie 😂
Any day now :D
Linfamy pls do not beat pewdiepie
Linfamy beat anyone but pewdiepie
@@SonGoku-wp8ru okay I won't, because of you
Linfamy thank u
Awesome video. I love that you are showing an example of the way stories get modified according to social and religious changes. Super brilliant and well done.
Thank you much 💗
It's interesting to realise the connections that One Piece's Mermaid Island saga makes to this story: Ryuguu Palace, Queen Otohime and the box is referenced, too with the bad guys aging after eating empowering snacks from a forbidden box. It's cool to finally realize these refernces after hearing this story.
Yeah, references like that happen everywhere in anime :D
@@Linfamy Yeah, I'm not surprised. It's just fun to finally understand some of those references yourself. :D
I remember this from Okami, though the turtle was a whale instead :) It's really interesting seeing the folklore that the creators took inspiration from :)
I thought that the weird part of the story was the fact that he could breathe underwater 😂
Seriously, I thought the same :p
What is amazing to me is that even people at ancient times had a vague idea about Einstein's theory of Relativity. There is another American tale about magically sleeping only to wake like 100 years later but your body only aged a few days.
Sooo Rip van Winkle also left his home, returned, and it was in another age/time frame. It looks like a human, collective, instinctual understanding of time according to Einstein, no? Loooove your videos. The humor and the drawings, the really great way you tell the stories and the history of Japan. Thank you, dear.
Thank *you* for watching 😁. Maybe the turtle traveled at near the speed of light, that would conform with Einstein's theory :p
When I heard this I immediately thought of the tale of Tír na nóg (look it up) and I think it's really cool to have such similar stories.
Yeah it's amazing how similar these stories from different cultures are
Linfamy: Without a turtle accent
Me: Wait what does that sound like?
Wait.... Is Linfamy secretly a turtle?
No, you'll never prove it! **runs**
You are a cold blooded reptilian.
@@Linfamy get em.
Linfamy and that’s proof ur scared to NOT run, turtle 🐢
Childhood nostalgia is making its wayyy, this was part of my childhood, I'm so glad that I've found this.
Yay :)
Fun fact: Horai is Penglai in Chinese.
That's right =)
Why does ur profile pic translates to nice smelling car
@@thehumancatmosterfromjapan4233 You mean Kyousha? The two kanji there literally means Perfume and Carriage if I'm not mistaken. Kyousha are the two pieces that move like a rook in shogi, although they can only move forward. Often times, Kyousha is translated as Lance (my name) in English, despite the literal meanings of the kanji used.
@@KyoushaPumpItUp mk i read those in chinese though
@@thehumancatmosterfromjapan4233 well, kanji is based on chinese characters.
I loved this! Have you done any folk Japanese world creation stories? The turtle reminded me of an Indigenous story about North America being 'turtle island', and so I am wondering if you've already talked about stuff like this. Thanks for all the hard work you put into these videos, I really appreciate it!
Sure, my first Japan video was the Japanese creation myth: ua-cam.com/video/ATnFsFRnRsI/v-deo.html
Glad you like the channel =)
turtle/penyu/sea turtle/turqoise actually is in naruto shippuden kinda wonder now does the turtle have something to do with ura no shimako or its just a coincidence, cuz only 3 animal has sage mode snail snake and frog weird, hmm
and yes jiraiya is also in japanese culture before naruto so naruto's one is a derivative too
Urashima Taro, I saw it when I was a kid, in Doremon. (Dubbed in Hindi, as I am Indian)
Ooh, didn't know Doraemon has it. I loved reading that manga as a kid :D
@@Linfamy You replied to me 2nd time Linfamy, I am so happy.
@@harshranjan8526 😉👍
Same here
I heard of urashima taro through doraemon and ninja hattori, but in Tamil
But currently I am working with anime , Japanese , J-Pop,holding chopsticks , manga , learnt the Japanese national anthem and later........found linfamy completing the list with Japanese history and folk tales (especially from naruto)
Watching linfamy after coming from school makes my day
@@anupamahariganesan2531 👍
I remember my dad would always read me this story... And ofc many others... But somehow I grow forget about it... It's just today I remember about it somehow... And it does brings me back to 20 years ago... Seeing my dad when he's still young... And I'm on the bed trying to sleep... Those memories is precious and how could I forget about it T-T...
Not only do you know Japanese you know Mandarin! I noticed the correct pronunciation of Xu Fu and Qin Shi Huang.
Plot twist, I know neither 🤣. I try to pronounce the words as correctly as I can though
Linfamy *surprise pikachu face*
Me liking kitsunes and finds this channel. A week later I am an encyclopedia of Asian knowledge.
At this time the vid has no dislikes!
This comment will surely ruin it :p
What have I done!
Where I comes from the story says the dude stayed for 7 days as a guest of the Naga King. And it's 70 years passed. The box was given to him and was told not to open. He opened out of curiosity and ages 70 years more. I've never wonder why was he given the box. Your explanation make sense. Great job.
😉👍
This is going in one of my lectures in Japanese Literature!
Amazing folktale!
You give lectures on Japanese literature??
Linfamy not particularly, our curriculum focuses in our own literature (Philippine Literature) but I tend to reach out other literary works as reference so that my students can see how literature of a certain country gives a spice to its culture. 😊
@@iamtrying2690 gotcha. I respect teachers very much :)
I got respect from the amazing Linfamy! You are amazing man!
Looking forward to more amazing content!
@@iamtrying2690 🤣👍
vid is 5 years old I know but I was brought here as reference to a new anime airing Raising Kids in Another World. The protagonist references this story several times in the dub during episodes where they are in a mer-people village as "are they trying to Urashima Taro me?!", and I was so confused. Even in Japanese with subs on it's unclear what he's talking about with a "jeweled box" so I really appreciate finally finding your video to explain it all. I'm a storyteller myself so I love learning everything. It was wonderful to hear the modern telling and I rather think even Japanese people are confused a bit by. Then adding the history and original telling that makes it all make sense was great. You earned the sub, and I look forward to exploring your content.
Glad you found it helpful!
Oh well dang
first time I've been "early"
I love these stories
they're my favourite
Yay I'm glad you liked them!
you noticed me!( ＾∀＾)
I think I read the original story in my school library once upon a time, now I'm amazed at my school library stocker.
0:57 "Under the sea🎶🎶🎶🎶Under the sea🎶🎶🎶🎶 Darling it's better down where's it's wetter take it from me🎶🎶🎶🎶
😉👍
That song sounds so bad
@@manager-nim2623 why?
@@ladypossum1776 remember how Disney puts hidden sexual innuendos in their films? Think a little bit about this part of the song
@@manager-nim2623 If you take it that way I guess but the song itself is still good. I personally prefer Part of Your World though.
Thank you for this valuable information.
I havent even watched this but I already love it
Haha yes!!
Thank you! The way you told both stories and your analysis were just brilliant. You are a great storyteller but also an incredible teacher.
Thanks for your kind words!
I had the original story in a book of magic tales!!!! Woah, I am sincerely amazed that for once a Western book faithfully wrote the most ancient, original story. I didn't remember it was Japanese, though I have now checked the book and it says it. I am amazed
Another great video, thanks Linfamy.
Thanks for watching 💗
0:40 "should've released those kids into the sea too"- Linfamy 2019 😂😂😂😂
😅
Your content is always 10/10. with this video, you go up to 11.
5:36
I learns that her name is Kamehime
Me(being a Dbz fan): KAMEHIMEha
Wohoo I'm early
And I got a heart ?!😊
Thank you so much
Yayyy 🎉
“Speak Japanese without Turtle accent” 😂😂 i didnt know that turtle has accent!
On a serious note, i really like that idea of “marriage is first between the two people not their parents” 🤷🏻♀️
Agreed!
GEEEZE TOOK ME ALL DAY TO GET TO YOUR VID ... LOVE ME SOME SATURDAY MORNINGS ... AND YOUR VIDS
All dayy? Boo UA-cam notifications
You should hold a fan contest for who can think of the best Japanese folktale
This was so fun to listen to. Thank you for sharing.
Of course, thanks for watching :)
I love love love this story! And I'm not sure why. Your explanation gave me insight and cleared up some things that have confused me since the first time I read it. I had no idea there was an earlier VERSION! MIND BLOWN!
There's a very similar tale in Irish folklore called Oisín (www.ireland-information.com/irish-mythology/oisin-irish-legend.html). There are some differences, but the similarities are obvious (hooking up with a supernatural woman, time differential between supernatural land and protagonist's home, instruction from supernatural woman that the protagonist disobeys, rapid aging). I have always wondered who influenced whom. I suspect the Japanese story came first. Either way, it's amazing that two stories can influence each other when those cultures are on the other side of the world from each other.
In Vietnam, we have a "folktale" about a lake which is now famously located in Ha Noi, and yes, it did have a talkable turtle there, but with sword. And it's golden.
Does the tale have a name?
The Urashima clan famously married their sons into the magical turtle family.
And took control of the Dragon Palace
Ninja turtles
^_^ That turtle is the cutest thing I have ever seen! I want a plushie of it!
:3
The older version makes more sense and it's better. 😄
Haven't heard one person like the modern version better yet :p
Too Cool , These just keep getting better and better :-)
😉👍
My WTF question was "How can he breathe underwater??" But the old story answered it anyway: they were actually on an island, not in an underwater palace.
Ya, they just brushed over that detail didn't they :p
Thanks for explaining the old version.
Dunno if this falls under "folktale", but Abe no Seimei is an interesting character. I'd love to see you do a video on him! (and the legends surrounding him)
Ya he's on my list ;)
@@Linfamy sweeeeet
Loving this channel!
Thank you ;)
I'll totally expect a scientific study how a turtle accent would sound next time.
Also, the original story is way better, screw Conficius.
Haha yeah the ancient story is getting a lot of love
The version I grew up with was, that Urashima was a fisherman's son, in a fishing town, and one stormy night although they lit torches all along the beach, the Urashima boat didn't come back in - his father died at sea. Since then, he was teased by the other boys and became a loner. He had to fish etc., to support his mother and himself, and his life had become very hard.
One day he was walking along the beach and some of the other boys were tormenting a turtle. He chased them off, and helped the turtle back into the sea. The turtle said, "I will repay you someday". A while later, he was out fishing, and the turtle came swimming up and said to get on his back, to visit the world under the sea. Urashima did so, after all, life above the sea wasn't too great for him.
He went down into the sea and was greeted by the princess, and ate good things and saw wonderful sights, and all was well for a while, but he began to pine for his old life on land. The princess tried to discourage him, but didn't make a big deal about it, just saying, "Remember, once you go back home, you won't be able to come back here". Urashima got back on the turtle's back and was taken home. He walked into the town which looked different, older somehow, and asked around. People and places he asked about, only the old people knew about, and had been there hundreds of years before. The torii by the bay, new when he'd gone into the sea, was now worn and weathered. He looked at his hands and saw they were old; he was old now.
And that's it. No love affair, no box, not even much of a moral, except that maybe that the pull of Home can be stronger than the delights of a heavenly kingdom.
Thanks for sharing! I got a hopeless, almost nihilistic vibe out of this version
I mean if someone magical suddenly appears and tells me we're meant to be, their parents love me and we get to live in a beautiful house without worrying about jobs or taxes or anything I'm staying, and if I miss my parents I'll make sure not to forget the one thing I must keep in mind
Haha wait, the turtle didn't say all that. Just asked if you wanted to go to a magical place
@@Linfamy well you don't have to pay taxes in the magical place so it's perfect
Thank you! I knew the modern version but always wonder about the plot holes X3! I learned many things X3
Woohoo :)
Funny how similar old tales are. This story, especialy the modern version, is almost exactly the same as an old irish legend I once read, but with a turtle and a bit of Pandora added.
In the irish tale it is a warrior (I dont remember his name) who is brought to Avalon by a love sick godess. He happily follow her, but when home sickness strikes him after a time, his godly lover reluctantly agrees to let him go back for a while. If he agrees to riding one of her horses all the time, never dismounting on irish soil.
Naturaly, he finds out that far longer time have passed in his homeland then in Avalon. Then, when he see a group of men struggling with removing a boulder from their arable, he dismounts to help, unknowingly allowing all the passed years to catch up to him. He was now an old man and could never return to his lover.
That's pretty amazing how they're so similar :)
For some fixing of mistakes, Óisín was the name of the warrior, it was Tír Na Nóg ( Land of the young ) and time was warped in Tír Na Nóg ( one year is a century ).
@@goose4919 Thanks. It was a long time ago that I read the tale.
Torbjörn Lekberg eh, it's ok.
I've had enough of your videos randomly appearing on my UA-cam recommended. That's it. I'm subscribing to your channel.
Success! 😉
Linfamy XD
We're going on a trip on a talking turtle
Sounds like a fun drug-induced day
I like the old version better! It tells a love story and it really is interesting
Yeah, I agree too
I'll refer to this story for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet DLC
Reminds me of the Irish tale of tir o nog.The main character's both end up in a place were time workes differently,they both came home to find that they lost everything(mainly because they stayed there for hundreds or thousands of years) and they both aged.
Yeah amazing how stories from different cultures can be so similar
@@Linfamy I know right
lol i got to know about the first version in Saiki Kusuo no psi--nan; lol any weird Japanese folktale in anime you don't seem to understand, just search for it on Linfamy's channel and you'll be sleep deprived very quicky
Hahaha yesss
Please keep making more videos! Could you also tell origins of things like our favorite yokai and yurei characters???
Maybe 🙄
Even in the "weird" version, parts make sense.
Otohime is a slightly fickle supernatural being, or operating on rules that just played out unfortunately. She wanted Urashima Taro to be rewarded for rescuing one of her people, but tried to stop him from leaving because she knew it'd go badly for him once he reached the surface.
The box contains all of the "lost" time of Urashima Taro's life, pretty clearly. He opens it because at that point, what else does he have left? He's lost everything except the gift from the dragon palace that stole his lifetime. Why not open it?
The box was given so Taro wouldn't be completely stranded in the future, he'd have the option to belong in it the way he should have, as a much older man.
This is the fundamental myth in Japanese culture. It was one of the first stories I read when learning kana.
So you are telling me it was Urashima Taro's fault... And we've been blaming Pandora the whole time!
Freaking Urashima!
This channel has made me appreciate One Piece a lot more
Why
i may be able to voice some of these people
just pay me 5,000 yen an hour
and a lunch break
and free snacks
XD
jk i'll voice the characters in the folk tales for free
Beautiful tale
I've read that tale when I was a kid. In my book the fisherman's name is Urashima and the turtle is the princess's servant. Urashima saves the turtle and years later the turtle saves him from a storm and take him to Ryugu. There he fell in love with the princess Otohime, and the princess asked him to stay with her and that he would never get old there. He wants to leave because he was worried with his old mother, and Otohime gives him the same box. When he found out that 300 years have passed he is so despaired to show the people that he was the guy that left centuries ago that he shows the box as a proof and then he forgets and opens it. Then the weight of the centuries fell on him and perished to dust.
No fujiwara clan 😭
THE HOURAI ELIXIR O.O
KAGUYA
Hard to fit the fujiwara clan into this one :p
Ooooo I'm loving these videos
Ooooo love this comment
@@Linfamy oooo i love this reply 😂
"Making Confucian heads explode and patriarchy fall out" sounds like a great title for a book on East Asian feminists.