Ōba Minako and Kurahashi Yumiko engage with the Japanese tale “Urashima Tarō” in different ways. In Urashimasō (Urashima Grass), Ōba reflects on the notions of time, memory, and human curiosity embedded in “Urashima Tarō” and links them to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the interstitial identity of Japanese immigrants, and the problematic reality of modern Japan in a way that prefigures contemporary ecocritical and transnational perspectives. In her works Otona no tame no zankoku dōwa (Cruel Fairy Tales for Adults) and Yomotsu hirasaka ōkan (Back and Forth to Yomotsuhira Slope), Kurahashi reshapes Urashima Tarō’s adventures into a metaphor for literature as a cross-cultural, intoxicating trip to another world and emphasizes the subversive, “poisonous power” of storytelling.

Introduction

Among the Japanese women writers who established their literary reputation in the Shōwa era (1926–1989), Ōba Minako (1930–2007) and Kurahashi Yumiko (1935–2005) stand out for their profound and long-lasting interest in folktales. Ōba and Kurahashi have diverse approaches to literature but share similar life trajectories which have informed their perspectives. They both belong to a generation of writers who experienced the harsh reality of the Pacific War and the social tensions of the changing postwar Japanese society. They both studied foreign literature (Ōba studied English literature at Tsuda Women’s College, in Tokyo, whereas Kurahashi enrolled in the Department of French Literature at Meiji University) and, in a period when few women travelled outside Japan, they both lived abroad (Ōba in the US, and Kurahashi in the US and in Portugal). These experiences enabled them to approach the narrative repertoire of Japanese folklore from a larger, transcultural perspective at different stages of their literary careers. Considering the increasing popularity of fairy-tale and folklore studies in recent decades, in relation to postmodernism, postcolonialism, ecocriticism, and political and identity issues, Ōba’s and Kurahashi’s approaches to folktales acquire a special relevance today. In light of these considerations, this chapter will analyze how these writers adapted the Japanese tale of Urashima Tarō, offering new interpretations of the traditional narrative.