Crane Wife - Tsurunyobo

A folktale. A marriage tale with the theme of a marriage between an animal and a male human. A poor man rescues a wounded crane that has fallen to the ground. One night, a beautiful woman visits the man's house and asks to stay the night. The woman becomes the man's wife and weaves cloth. The cloth she weaves sells for a high price. The man breaks the taboo of looking at weaving and peeks into the weaving shop, where he sees a crane plucking its feathers and weaving cloth. The crane notices the man peeking and flies away. This is a tale of a wife from a different species that combines an element of an animal's repayment of a favor. In western Japan, the cloth woven by the crane is called "crane's feather robe." There are many similar stories in which storks replace the cranes, and one is the origin story of the Konoike family of Osaka. There are similar stories distributed throughout the country, in which the knot is in the shape of the "Harima Thread Long" and the needle is placed in a dish filled with water, so when you go to Saraike Pond in Harima Province, you will find your wife there. These stories probably originated from stories that were created in the Osaka area.

The Muromachi period Narrative Story Tsuru no Soshi (published in 1662, Nara ehon, etc.) is another example of a "crane wife," but it lacks the weaving element characteristic of this folktale. In the published version, the wife transformed into a crane brings gold, and the man becomes wealthy and prosperous. The Narrative Story includes an episode in which a feudal lord falls in love with the beautiful wife. In the published version, the wife's supernatural powers drive away an army that attacks to take the wife away, and in the Nara ehon, the wife's powers help him accomplish the difficult task given to him by the lord, who asks him to bring a stone of rapeseed and a "disaster." This is a characteristic of a "difficult wife," and it is consistent with the folktale of the "Fuebiki Groom," in which a master flute player marries a heavenly being, and with the similar Narrative Story Bontenkokuni. They also share an episode in which the protagonist visits the wife's homeland to complete a difficult task, and "The Crane Wife" and "The Flute-Playing Son-in-Law" evolved from a single story. The prototype, the difficult-tasting "The Heavenly Wife," is widely distributed in Korea, China, India, Turkey, and even Europe. In Korea and China, there are stories about a wife being a snail from before the 10th century, and the Japanese folktale "The Clam Wife" and the Tale of Clams: The Story of Clams are similar stories, and although they do not involve a difficult task, they do include an episode about weaving a loom, making them closer to "The Crane Wife." "The Crane Wife" is likely an individualized version of a group of folktales about wives of a different species. "The Dragon Palace Wife" and the "Egazuga Wife," a "Dragon Palace Wife"-type story, are also examples of tales about wives of a different species that involve difficult tasks.

[Yo Kojima]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

昔話。動物と人間の男子との結婚を主題にした婚姻譚(たん)の一つ。貧しい男が、傷ついて地上に降りているツルを助ける。ある晩、美しい女が男の家に訪ねてきて、泊めてくれという。そのまま女は男の妻になり、機(はた)織りをする。織られた布は高く売れる。機を織るところを見てはならないという禁を破り男が機屋をのぞくと、ツルが体の羽を抜いて布を織っている。男がのぞいたのに気づいたツルは、そのまま飛び去る。動物の恩返しの要素が結び付いた異類女房譚である。ツルの織った布を西日本では「鶴の羽衣」とよんでいる。ツルのかわりにコウノトリになっている類話も多く、大阪の鴻池(こうのいけ)家の由来譚になっているものもある。結びが「播磨糸長(はりまいとなが)」の型をとり、水を入れた皿に針が置いてあったので、播磨国の皿池に行くと妻がいたとする類話も全国的に分布する。これらは大阪付近で成立した語り物に由来するのであろう。

　室町期の物語草子『鶴の草子』（1662年刊本、奈良絵本など）も「鶴女房」の一例であるが、この昔話に特徴的な機織りの要素が欠けている。刊本では、ツルが化した妻が持ってきた金で富み栄えたとある。物語草子には、美しい妻に領主が横恋慕する挿話がある。刊本では、妻を奪うために攻めてきた軍勢を、妻の霊力で追い払い、奈良絵本では、菜の種一石と「わざわい」というものを持ってこいという領主の難題を、妻の力で果たすことになっている。これは「難題女房」の特色で、笛の名人が天人を妻にする「笛吹き婿」の昔話や、その類話である物語草子の『梵天(ぼんてん)国』とも一致する。難題を果たすために妻の故国を訪問する挿話も共通しており、「鶴女房」と「笛吹き婿」は一つの物語から分化したものである。その原型に相当する「天人女房」の難題型は、朝鮮、中国、インド、トルコをはじめヨーロッパにも広く分布している。そのうち朝鮮や中国には女房を田螺(たにし)とする話が10世紀以前からあるが、日本の「蛤(はまぐり)女房」の昔話や物語草子の『蛤の草子』はその類話で、難題の趣向はないが、機を織る挿話は入っていて「鶴女房」に近い。「鶴女房」は一群の異類女房の昔話のなかから個性化したものであろう。「竜宮女房」や「竜宮女房」型の「絵姿女房」も難題を伴う異類女房譚の例である。

［小島瓔］

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