The Grass-Cleaving Sword
I was impressed by the self-sacrifice, strength, and
intelligence of Tacibana (Yamato’s unloved wife). On one hand, I felt it was a
little sexist that Yamato was unfaithful and unloving and she was praised for
never reproaching him for it and always loving him the same. On the other hand,
I thought her forgiveness and self-sacrifice were beautiful. I think one could
argue equally well that she is weak or strong for continuing to serve her
husband when he isn’t good to her.
A beautiful and tragic image: Tacibana, running through the
flames to Yamato, with her hair singed and skin scorched and tearing off her
clothes as she runs. I questioned whether she was real or not, but she did
deliver the sword that saved Yamato.
The Sacred Sword
I was so angry when Yamato told Tacibana to go home because
she was hideous to him after he hears the siren song. He cites her scorched
skin and hair as the reasons for her ugliness, when those very things are the
direct result of sacrificing her health and safety to bring him the sword that
saved his life! It’s like he forgets that she saved his life and that he wouldn’t
be alive if she didn’t have that scorched skin and hair. So ungrateful!
Tacibana predicts that she will hold Yamato in her hair, and
this does eventually happen and is another instance of her saving him.
The Dragon
Benten, the evil siren-goddess, lures Yamato in yet again
and tells him that she will hold him forever unless some more beautiful goddess
loves him more. Yamato hears his name from above (he is underwater), and he
sees long dark hair coming down to him. He realizes that Tacibana is calling
his name and that she is the beautiful goddess who loves him. Her hair wraps
around him and pulls him up to safety.
When Yamato wakes up, Tacibana is gone. He goes to the palace
and finds many dead due to Susanoo in the form of an evil dragon. Tacibana is
chanting a prayer to remove the dragon. Yamato kills it, and Tacibana rejoices
that he has saved her. Eventually, though, the two go on a voyage to one last
battle, and Yamato challenges Susanoo. Benten, Susanoo’s daughter, demands that
Yamato die, but Tacibana quickly sacrifices herself, jumping into the water.
When Yamato finds her, she is lifeless.
I think Tacibana is just as much of a hero as Yamato, but
she is never called one. If I retell this series of stories I would focus on
her and the pain that a real person, rather than an imagined perfect woman,
would feel from her husband’s infidelities. I would still make her a faithful
and self-sacrificing character, but show the strength behind those actions and
the pain that she has to deal with due to her husband.
The Great Wave off Kanagawa, woodblock print by Hokusai.
Source: Wikipedia.
Bibliography: The Romance of Old Japan by E. W. Champney and F. Champney. Link to the reading online.
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