Momotarō
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is a popular hero of
Japanese folklore Japanese folklore encompasses the informally learned folk traditions of Japan and the Japanese people as expressed in its oral traditions, customs, and material culture. In Japanese, the term is used to describe folklore. The academic study ...
. His name is often translated as ''Peach Boy'', but is directly translated as ''
Peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...
+ Tarō'', a common Japanese given name. ''Momotarō'' is also the title of various books, films and other works that portray the tale of this hero. There is a popular notion that Momotarō is a local hero of
Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefectur ...
, but this claim was invented in the modern era. This notion is not accepted as consensus in scholarly circles.


Story

Momotarō was born from a giant peach, which was found floating down a river by an old, childless woman who was washing clothes there. The woman and her husband discovered the child when they tried to open the peach to eat it. The child explained that he had been bestowed by the Gods to be their son. The couple named him Momotarō, from ''momo'' (peach) and ''Tarō'' (a name meaning 'eldest son in the family'). When he was just five years old, he was able to cut a big tree with just an old knife. When he matured into adolescence, Momotarō left his parents to fight a band of Oni (demons or ogres) who marauded over their land, by seeking them out in the distant island where they dwelled (a place called Onigashima or "Demon Island"). En route, Momotarō met and befriended a talking dog, monkey, and pheasant, who agreed to help him in his quest in exchange for a portion of his rations (kibi dango or "millet dumplings"). At the island, Momotarō and his animal friends penetrated the demons' fort and beat the band of demons into surrendering. Momotarō and his new friends returned home with the demons' plundered treasure and the demon chief as a captive Ozaki ('end of the cape'). The present conventional form of the tale (Standard Type) can be summarized as follows:
Momotarō was born from a giant peach, which was found floating down a river by an old, childless woman who was washing clothes there. The woman and her husband discovered the child when they tried to open the peach to eat it. The child explained that he had been bestowed by the Gods to be their son. The couple named him Momotarō, from ''momo'' (peach) and ''tarō'' (eldest son in the family). When he was just five years old, he was able to cut a big tree with just an old knife When he matured into adolescence, Momotarō left his parents to fight a band of ''
Oni An is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. Oni are mostly known for their fierce and evil nature manifested in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. Notwithstanding their evil reputation, oni possess ...
'' (demons or ogres) who marauded over their land, by seeking them out in the distant island where they dwelled (a place called Onigashima or "Demon Island"). En route, Momotarō met and befriended a talking dog, monkey and pheasant, who agreed to help him in his quest in exchange for a portion of his rations ('' kibi dango'' or "millet dumplings"). At the island, Momotarō and his animal friends penetrated the demons' fort and beat the band of demons into surrendering. Momotarō and his new friends returned home with the demons' plundered treasure and the demon chief as a captive.
This Standard Type of "Momotarō" was defined and popularized due to them being printed in school textbooks during the Meiji Period. This is the result of development of the literary "Momotarō", which had been handwritten and printed since the early Edo period into Meiji. One significant change is that in most examples of Edo Period literature, Momotarō was not born from a peach, but born naturally to the elderly couple who ate the peach and regained their youth. Such subtypes are classed as , whereas the now conventional subtypes are termed .


Development in literature

Although the oral version of the story may have emerged during the
Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...
(1392–1573), it may not have been set down in writing until the
Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
(1603–1867). The oldest works of Momotaro known to have existed had been dated to the
Genroku was a after Jōkyō and before Hōei. The Genroku period spanned the years from the ninth month of 1688 to the third month of 1704. The reigning emperor was .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 415. The period was ...
era (1688–1704) or perhaps earlier.


Edo period

These older texts from around the Genroku era (e.g. ''Momotarō mukashigatari'') are lost, but surviving examples of later dates, such as the reprint ''Saihan Momotarō mukashigatari'' (c. 1777) purportedly preserve the older tradition, and form the first (most primitive) group of texts according to . The late date of the reprint has sometimes caused it to be classed as ''
kibyōshi is a genre of produced during the middle of the Edo period (1603–1867), from 1775 to the early 19th century. Physically identifiable by their yellow-backed covers, were typically printed in 10 page volumes, many spanning two to three volumes ...
'' ("yellow cover") or later type of ''
kusazōshi is a term that covers various genres of popular woodblock-printed illustrated literature during the Japanese Edo period (1600–1868) and early Meiji period. These works were published in the city of Edo (modern Tokyo). In its widest sense, th ...
'' literature, but it should properly be classed as ''
akahon can refer to the early literary medium that circulated in Edo-period (1603–1867) Japan, circa 1661–1748, to the manga that was the dominant form of literary entertainment in Japan during the post-WWII period around 1946 to 1950 or to the co ...
'' ("red book") or early type. A second group of texts, which Koike considered to be younger, includes the miniature ''akahon'', , printed in Kyōhō 8 (1723). This miniature book is now considered to be the oldest surviving copy of any written Momotarō story. Whether belonging to the first or second groups, texts from the Edo Period generally follow the same general plot as the modern standard versions but exhibit certain differences in detail.


Dumpling, kindling, animals

Momotarō is not supplied with ''kibi dango'' ("millet dumplings"); rather he is supplied with and other treats in the oldest Genroku era texts and the first group. In the first group, the old man goes out to cut grass, rather than to cut . The same three companion beasts (pheasant, monkey, then dog) appear in both groups, but in different order. (comparison chart). Though the order of the animals is not significant to the story, the most common order that appear is the dog, the monkey, and then the pheasant. In every variation, all three animal companions agree to help Momotarō in exchange for a portion of his food.


Birth from peach

As noted above, in most of the Edo Period books, peach boy is not born from the peach but from the woman who consumes the peach and grows years younger in age. Both the first and second groups consist entirely of "rejuvenation" types. The "birth from the peach" type examples (such as the version in
Takizawa Bakin (), a.k.a. (, 4 July 1767 – 1 December 1848), was a Japanese novelist of the Edo period. Born (), he wrote under the pen name (). Later in life he took the pen name (). Modern scholarship generally refers to him as , or just as n. He is ...
's 1811 essay "Swallowstone Miscellany") are found among tales that have deviated further, which Koike assigns to a third group of texts. While "birth from the peach" version has not been confirmed in earlier written texts from the Edo Period, one tantalizing sculpture dating to 1614 depicted a man standing in the middle of a split peach. This purported Momotarō carving at
Kehi Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in the Akebono-chō neighborhood of the city of Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, Japan. It is the ''ichinomiya'' of former Echizen Province. The main festival of the shrine is held annually on September 4. The shrine is con ...
in
Tsuruga, Fukui is a city located in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 66,123 in 28,604 households and the population density of 260 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Tsuruga is located in centra ...
was lost during the air raids of 1945.


Momotarō's age

It was noted that the protagonist Momotarō was being drawn progressively younger by artists over the years. In one subjective estimation, Momotarō appeared about age 30-ish until c. 1735, 25-ish up to c. 1800, and 20-ish until the end of Edo Period in 1867. Not every text specifies age, but in the version in (1798–1861)'s Momotarō's was 15 years and 6 months when he set out on his expedition. And in ''Momotarō takara no kurairi'' (c. 1830-40), Momotarō was aged sixteen. The Momotarō in Iwaya Sazanami's version of 1894 was of similar age (15 years old) when he resolved to go to devil island. Researcher also noticed the trend of Momotarō being depicted younger and younger, and he dubbed the phenomenon .


Meiji period

After Japan abandoned the feudal system and entered the
Meiji era The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization b ...
, became a seminal figure in how the Momotaro story was shaped and became familiarized to the Japanese masses. For he was not only the author of the Momotaro tales in his commercially successful folktale collections, but also a major contributor to the textbook versions. The "Momotarō" tale was first incorporated into nationalized textbooks for
elementary schools A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
by the Meiji government in 1887. It was subsequently omitted from the 1st edition of the National Language Reader or but reappeared from the 2nd edition onward to the 5th edition. It has been generally accepted that the 2nd edition reader of 1910 was ''de facto'' written by storybook author Iwaya Sazanami, who had joined the
Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
as nonpermanent staff in 1906. Iwaya had already published a version of "Momotaro" (1894) for his ''Nihon mukashibanashi'' ( Japanese Folktales), where Momotaro is cast as a military soldier or commander (
shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...
) of Great Japan (Dainihon), dispatched on a punitive campaign to quell the ogres who live in the northeast. Older texts took the punishing of ''oni'' for granted and dispensed with explaining what crimes the oni committed to deserve condemnation. But in Iwaya's version, the ogres were explicitly stated as being evil beings, who devoured the "poor people" and taken "plunder" from the Emperor's land of Japan ( Ozaki's translation), thus morally justifying Momotaro's expedition. It has been suggested these ogres represented the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
of China since the publication occurred in the year of outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War.


Taishō and Shōwa eras

From the 3rd edition National Language Reader (1918–1932) onwards (until the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
), "Momotaro" has occupied the spot of the last tale in Book 1 of these nationalized elementary textbook series. Teachers in essays submitted in 1917 stated that the perception of the Momotaro tale was shifting, so that they were seen as containing lessons of assertiveness and helping in the material advancement of one's country. There was criticism from the
liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
side, for example, the novelist Yamamoto Yūzō (1925) protesting that the ''oni'' were being punished for no apparent reason, and is "tantamount to telling hildrento think of foreigners as ''oni''". In the early
Shōwa era The was the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa ( Hirohito) from December 25, 1926, until his death on January 7, 1989. It was preceded by the Taishō era. The pre-1945 and post-war Shōwa periods are almos ...
, after Emperor
Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...
assumed the throne, Momotarō continued to be used to instill patriotism (or the teachings of the Rescript on Education) pupils with the 4th edition National Language Reader (1933–1938) which begins with the picture of the cherry blossom. The "Momotarō" of the 4th edition was modified so that the ''oni'' now stated "We will no longer torment the people nor take things. Please spare our lives", and forfeits their treasures out of their own volition, thus addressing the foregoing issues (i.e., Momotarō accused of attacking ''oni'' for no legitimate reason). The use of Momotarō in wartime propaganda against the U.S. and its Allies was discussed extensively by John W. Dower in his book '' War Without Mercy'' (1986). Dower is credited with coining the term "Momotarō paradigm" in this respect. Momotarō disappeared from Japanese textbooks at the end of World War II.


Oral variants

The story has some regional variations in oral telling. In some variants, a red and white box are seen floating down the river, and when the red box is chosen to be recovered, Momotarō is found inside. These may be a red box and a black box, or the box may contain a peach inside. These types are often seen in the northern parts of Japan ( Tōhoku and Hokuriku regions). Or Momotarō may exhibit the characteristic of the lazy protagonist in the "Sleeping Boy" stories. These subtypes have been collected mainly in the
Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...
and Chūgoku regions. There are variances about the Momotarō's process of growth; one is that he grew up to meet the expectation of the old couple to be a fine boy. Another is that he grew up to be a strong but lazy person who just sleeps all day and does not do anything. It is possible that the Momotarō being a fine boy version is more famous to give lessons to children. Nowadays, Momotarō is one of the most famous characters in Japan, as an ideal model for young kids for his kind-heartedness, bravery, power, and care for his parents. Grown up, Momotarō goes on his journey to defeat the demons when he hears about the demons of the Onigashima (demon island). In some versions of the story, Momotarō volunteered to go help the people by repelling the demons, but in some stories he was forced by the townspeople or others to go on a journey. However, all the stories describe Momotarō defeating the Oni and live happily ever after with the old couple.


Claims as local hero

Momotarō now enjoys popular association with
Okayama is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The city was founded on June 1, 1889. , the city has an estimated population of 720,841 and a population density of 910 persons per km2. The total area is . The city is ...
City or its prefecture, but this association was only created in the modern era. The publication of a book by Nanba Kinnosuke entitled ''Momotarō no Shijitsu'' (1930) for example helped the notion of Momotarō's origins in Okayama to gain wider familiarity. Still, even as late as the antebellum period before
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
(1941–1945), Okayama was considered only the third contender behind two other regions known as Momotarō's homeland. The demon island () of the story is sometimes associated with Megijima Island, an island in the
Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka ...
near
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, due to the vast manmade caves found there.
Inuyama, Aichi is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 73,420 in 31,276 households, and a population density of 980 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . The name of the city literally transliterates to "Dog ...
has with a legend associated with it. In the 1920s and 1930s, lyricist
Ujō Noguchi was a Japanese poet and lyricist of children's songs and traditional Min'yō folk music. He wrote some of the most beloved and familiar pieces for children and youth choirs, such as "Akai Kutsu (Red Shoes)". He, along with Hakushū Kitahara, and ...
wrote three "folk songs" for the locality alluding to the Momotaro legend.


English translations

The story has been translated into English many times. "The Adventures of Little Peachling" appeared in
A.B. Mitford Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale, (24 February 183717 August 1916) was a British diplomat, collector and writer. Nicknamed "Barty", he was the paternal grandfather of the Mitford sisters. Early years Freeman-Mitford was ...
's ''
Tales of Old Japan ''Tales of Old Japan'' (1871) is an anthology of short stories compiled by Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, Lord Redesdale, writing under the better known name of A.B. Mitford. These stories focus on various aspects of Japanese life before th ...
'' in 1871.
William Elliot Griffis William Elliot Griffis (September 17, 1843 – February 5, 1928) was an American orientalist, Congregational minister, lecturer, and prolific author.Brown, John Howard. (1904)."Griffis, William Elliot,"''The Twentieth Century Biographical Diction ...
published a version in 1880, which remained obscure even to researchers, even though English translations in subsequent decades apparently borrowed from Griffis's phraseology and use of idiom, sometimes even copying outright. Rev. David Thompson's translation as "Little Peachling" appeared as the first volume of
Hasegawa Takejirō was an innovative Japanese publisher specializing in books in European languages on Japanese subjects. Hasegawa employed leading foreign residents as translators and noted Japanese artists as illustrators, and became a leading purveyor of export ...
's ''Japanese Fairy Tale'' series in 1885. A second edition appeared in 1886, with a different set of illustrations, drawn by Kobayashi Eitaku Susan Ballard included the tale in ''Fairy Tales from Far Japan'' (1899).
Yei Theodora Ozaki O'Yei or ''Theodora'' was an early 20th-century translator of Japanese short stories and fairy tales. Her translations were fairly liberal but have been popular, and were reprinted several times after her death. Biography Ozaki was born in Lon ...
included a loosely translated version in her ''Japanese Fairy Tales'' (1903); Ozaki's retellings were based on a version by "Sadanami sanjin" (''sic.'', i.e., ). Ozaki was credited with spreading Japanese folktales to the English-speaking nations by researchers such as . There was another English translation that used the same source as Ozaki and published around the same time, namely, "The Story of Peach-Boy" in ''Iwaya's Fairy Tales of Old Japan'' (1903, repub. 1914) translated by
Hannah Riddell Hannah Riddell (1855–1932) was an English woman who devoted her life to the care of patients with leprosy in Japan. Life Early life and her determination Hannah Riddell was born in 1855 in Barnet, then a village to the North of London. Her ...
. The translation of the collection was a collaborative effort with other translators, such as Fanny B. Greene,
Tsuda Umeko was a Japanese educator and a pioneer in education for women in Meiji period Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Tsuda Umeko" in . Originally named Tsuda Ume, with ''ume'' referring to the Japanese plum, she went by the name Ume Tsuda ...
and others. This latter effort was acknowledged by Iwaya himself. Teresa Peirce Williston in her ''Japanese Fairy Tales'', Second Series, in 1911. The tale was translated as ''Peach-Prince and the Demons'' and included in the compilation ''Fairy stories my children love best of all'', although the compiler did not indicate its Japanese origin.


''Momotarō's Song''

The popular children's song about Momotarō titled ''Momotarō-san no Uta'' (''Momotarō's Song'') was first published in 1911; the text's author is unattributed, while the melody was written by Teiichi Okano. The first two stanzas, with romanization and translation, are given below. :


As war propaganda icon

Portrayal of Momotarō as a soldier in the Japanese Imperial Army fighting hostile nations was already happening by the (First) Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895). The Momotaro tale was altered by Iwaya Sazanami in 1894 so that the ''oni'' lived to the northeast of Japan, a thinly veiled reference to
Qing China The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu people, Manchu-led Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin (1616–1636), La ...
given the then current geopolitics. Iwaya was not purely a major figure in children's literature, but a government official working as the head of the editorial bureau of the Ministry of Education, since 1878. Iwaya would later pen a whole book of essay on the use of Momotaro as an instructional tool, ''Momotarō-shugi no kyōiku'' ("the Education Theory Based on Principles in Momotaro", 1915). Comic images picturing Momotarō defending Japan against ''
Oni An is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. Oni are mostly known for their fierce and evil nature manifested in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. Notwithstanding their evil reputation, oni possess ...
'' representing Russian "Northern Devils" were given out during the 1904–1905
Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
. Momotarō was an immensely popular figure in Japan during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, appearing in many wartime films and cartoons. Momotarō represented the Japanese government, and the enemy states, namely the Allies, later including the United States was symbolized by the oni, the demonic figure. One wartime film, in which Momotarō and his animals mount on a military operation for the Japanese Armed Forces (against the British) is '' Momotarō's Divine Sea Warriors''.


Adaptations and references

* Momotaro appears as a guide and sidekick in the 2006 videogame '' Okami''. * Momotaro was the inspiration for the Imagin Momotaros in ''
Kamen Rider Den-O is the seventeenth installment in the popular Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu programs. It is a joint collaboration between Ishimori Productions and Toei. It premiered January 28, 2007 on TV Asahi, and concluded airing on January 20, 2008. Its le ...
'' (2007). * The theme of the 46th
Super Sentai is a Japanese superhero team metaseries and media franchise consisting of television series and films produced by Toei Company, and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi ("Sentai" is the Japanese word for "task force" or "fighting squadron"). The sho ...
show ''
Avataro Sentai Donbrothers is a Japanese ''tokusatsu'' television drama, the 46th entry in Toei's long-running ''Super Sentai'' series and the third produced in the Reiwa era. The series is a semi-sequel to the previous entry, ''Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger'', and premiered o ...
'' (2022) is loosely based on the Momotaro legend. * Momotaro inspired the events of ''Tougen Anki (桃源暗鬼)'' a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Urushibara Yura. * The Wano Country Arc of the manga ''
One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 1997, with its individual chapte ...
'' was heavily influenced by the story of Momotaro.


See also

*
Kibi dango (millet dumpling) is Japanese dumpling made from the meal or flour of the ''kibi'' (proso millet) grain. The treat was used by folktale-hero Momotarō (the Peach Boy) to recruit his three beastly retainers, in the commonly known version of the tale. In modern ti ...
*
Kintarō is a folk hero from Japanese folklore. A child of superhuman strength, he was raised by a yama-uba ("mountain witch") on Mount Ashigara. He became friendly with the animals of the mountain, and later, after catching Shuten-dōji, the terror of ...
*
Urashima Tarō is the protagonist of a Japanese fairy tale (''otogi banashi''), who in a typical modern version is a fisherman rewarded for rescuing a turtle, and carried on its back to the Dragon Palace (Ryūgū-jō) beneath the sea. There he is entertained ...
*
Uriko-hime Urikohime, Uriko-hime or Uriko Hime (うりこひめ; English: ''Princess Melon'',. ''Melon Maid'' 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 Amanoja ...


Explanatory notes


References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * * * * * *
online
via HathiTrust. Part 1 of 12. Unpaginated. 42 pp. * * * * * * * * * * * * * (reprint Mineruva Shobō, 2004) *


External links

* *
文化財指定
ultural Property Designationat
Kehi Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in the Akebono-chō neighborhood of the city of Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, Japan. It is the ''ichinomiya'' of former Echizen Province. The main festival of the shrine is held annually on September 4. The shrine is con ...
homepage - The purported "Momotaro" carving (photo postcard) {{DEFAULTSORT:Momotaro Japanese folklore Japanese literature Japanese fairy tales Male characters in literature Child characters in literature Fictional ogres Fictional adoptees Oni Cultural history of Japan