Since the beginning of this year I’ve been delving more and more into the mythologies of Japan and Ireland. Ever since my visit to Ireland last year, I was spellbound and wanted to learn more about their ancient culture and history. As I dove into the books I found, I noticed some interesting similarities between Irish and Japanese myths. The similarities don’t stop at the myths, however, as I’ve found that the cultural backgrounds of the two countries also parallel each other in interesting ways.
If we have to choose a starting point for these parallels, geography might be a good place to begin the comparisons. Japan and Ireland are both island countries that find themselves on opposite ends of the Eurasian continent. Without a doubt, this factor made both countries reliant on fishing and also made water a strong element in both countries’ folklore. The sea is both an object of awe and fear. What lay beyond the horizon when looking out to sea helped give birth to the belief that a magical island called Tír na nÓg was somewhere hidden away, distant from the shores of Ireland. In Japan as well, the ocean was said to be a link to another world. You could say the border between “this” world and the spirit world lay in the water surrounding the islands and the rivers that ran through them.
In one folktale from Japan, a man named Urashima Tarō is carried off to a Dragon palace under the sea where he meets Princess Otohime. He stays for several days and before he heads back to the real world, he is given a jewelry box by the princess and told not to open it. When he gets back to shore, he opens the box and turns into an old man because hundreds of years had passed in the real world. This concept of the passage of time being different in the “other” world can also be seen in the tale of Tír na nÓg in Ireland, in which our main character Oisín meets a fairy woman riding a horse named Niamh (pronounced Neev). She takes him to the magical land of eternal youth, Tír na nÓg, where he also stays several days. Before he returns to Ireland, Niamh tells him to not get off his horse under any circumstances. Upon his return, he discovers that hundreds of years had passed in Ireland. He then sees some men in trouble with their horse, and Oisín ends up stepping foot on the land in attempt to help them. He instantly grows old and dies on the spot.
Next, I’ll introduce the Irish folk story first, one which isn’t as well known as the previous one. The Hunchback of Knockgrafton tells the story of Lusmore, who was a kind man who was severely hunchbacked. He was very skilled at using herbs and weaving together baskets and all sorts of other things. One day he finds himself near a fairy mound where he stops to take a rest, and the fairies began to sing a song. “Monday, Tuesday!” they sang in Irish, and Lusmore decided to contribute by adding “Wednesday!” to their song. The fairies loved his contribution so much they removed his hunchback, and he went back to town happily. When word got out about what happened, because Lusmore was so grateful and was fairly open about the story to others, another hunchbacked young man named Jack Madden went out to find the fairies. Upon hearing their song at the mounds, he shouted “Thursday! And Friday!” very impatiently, thinking he would get a bigger reward if he added not just one more day, but two. The fairies sensed his arrogance and gave Jack another hunchback, presumably the one they took from Lusmore. Jack left walking away crookedly, having to carry two hunchbacks for the rest of his life.
This paralell’s the Japanese story Kobu-tori Jiisan which is about an old man with a lump or tumor on his face. In the mountains, he encounters tengu, which are demons from Japanese mythology, who are dancing around and enjoying themselves. The man decides to join them without fear and the tengu are so moved by this that they remove the lump for him. When he gets back and tells others about what happened, one of his neighbors who was a miserable old man who also had a lump on his face, decides to try to find the tengu. He ventures out and finds them and throws himself into their dancing, but with little passion in his heart. The tengu sensing his lack of commitment and disgusted by his bad dancing give him the lump they removed from the first old man.
The last tales I’d like to compare are the tales of the Irish folklore being the Selkie & her skin and the Japanese tale of Hagoromo, or the “robe of feathers”. In the Irish tale, a Selkie is a type of “seal person” that has a separate skin they can shed when they become seals. In a classic tale of the Selkie, she sheds her skin and bathes and a human man steals her skin and tells her she now has to marry him, since she has no other place in the human world. The Selkie marries the man and even has children, all whilst longing to go back to the world where she’s originally from. Her child ends up finding her skin hidden somewhere and when she sees it, she immediately puts it back on and jumps into the water only to never come back to her human life again. Her husband and sadly her child never hear from her even once more. In Hagoromo (which is also a famous Noh-style play) a fisherman finds the Hagoromo, a magical feather robe of a celestial being. This other-worldly woman sees him take it and demands it back and the fisherman argues with her until she agrees to show him her dance. In some versions, he bribes her to marry him, but this could be influence from other tales with this “swan-maiden” motif, but it’s said that in the original Japanese tale, she simply disappears after the dance is over.
Many Japanese tales are influenced by both Shintoism and Buddhism. Most people still practice customs from both religions to this day, and it can be said that many are proud of their culture’s ties to nature and seasons as well. While in modern day Japan very little believe in the polytheism of Shintoism, many are aware of the ancient beliefs of their ancestors. In the ancient religion of Japanese Shinto, there is a god in everything – trees, pebbles, lakes, hedges. Anything found in nature was tied to a god. Water was especially holy and said to be a passage to the other world, especially in sacred springs and wells.
In Ireland you can also find sacred wells throughout the country, still believed to hold powers of purification to this day and protected as important heritage sites. These wells are now mostly associated with Christian saints but they actually trace back farther than the beginning of Christianity. Originally, they were sites devoted to gods in the ancient pagan religion of Ireland. When Christianity was brought to the island, instead of completely erasing the people’s original beliefs, the Christians simply kept the sites and renamed them after Christian saints. (or simply took the names of the old gods and turned them into Christian saints)
Nowadays you can see still many people visiting the sacred wells in Ireland to pray at them or give a small offering, akin to how Japanese people visit Shinto shrines to do the same. It’s not uncommon to see an older Japanese person touching trees at shrines — which are considered holy — and closing their eyes while reciting a prayer. Trees are also heavily intertwined with Ireland; the ancient Ogham alphabet is based on the native trees found in Ireland. Trees, mounds and shrubs are still thought to be sacred places that are even protected by law in modern day Ireland.
This ancient pagan religion of Ireland was also polytheistic and the ancient Irish people believed that gods could be found anywhere. Just like Japan, it was said gods could be found in rivers, forests, rocks, trees and other natural formations. Of course, this kind of belief is not limited to Ireland and Japan — animism can be observed in many countries around the world. However, in various areas, these two countries have more similarities to each other than most people expect.
As I already touched upon, another notable area of similarity is the fact that both island countries had their own long standing “pagan” or “animistic” religions before another religion was brought over to them from the Euroasian continent. But this didn’t lead to the complete erasure of their previous beliefs — they instead adapted and harmonized the two. (Moreso in Japan)
In Japan, this “outside” religion would of course be Buddhism, and in Ireland, Christianity. In modern Japan people visit both Shinto shrines and Buddhist Temples indiscriminately and both religions have found a place in society. In Ireland, the ancient religion is not as prevalent, however as I mentioned before, many sacred spots have still been maintained. Instead of complete erasure, the church had adapted the old spots in order to maintain their importance (according to some). The very famous Celtic cross is also a perfect example of the combination of the two religions — the Christian cross incorporating elements of the faith before it, in result creating a symbol unique to Ireland.
One famous spot to visit in Ireland is the 5,000 megalithic burial tomb Newgrange, which is among the oldest burial tombs in the world and one of the most ancient sites still standing in all of Europe. It is suspected to be used to bury Kings and possibly other members of the royal family. In Japan, you can also find these tombs which are called “Kofun”, but they are not as old as Newgrange — they were created in the form of earthen mounds from the 3rd to the 7th century. These were also used for members of the ruling class in ancient Japan. While burial mounds can be found in various countries across the world, this is worth mentioning as yet another similarity between Ireland and Japan because they are both very well known in their respective countries and well maintained to this day. The oldest burial mounds in the world are found in Ireland and across the British Isles, so it’s no wonder that Newgrange is such a big attraction for many who visit the Emerald Isle.
I think most people would not think to compare the two simply because they’re thought to be very different countries to most. This might come as a surprise to Japanese people more than the Irish, because Irish culture is not as widespread in Asia as Japanese culture is in Europe. I mentioned that many Japanese people are proud of their deep ties to nature but they don’t know as much about the similarities they have with other countries. One factor is that education in Japan doesn’t teach people so much about other countries but instead focuses on how “unique” Japanese culture is because of its roots in these ancient beliefs. Another factor is that Japanese travel television shows love to focus on the differences of other countries. (This might be pretty normal everywhere, but honestly, they love to focus on how different!!! other places are in comparison to Japan)
This is why it’s so important to teach children and encourage them to learn about the rest of the world and even do their own research, because through that it becomes extremely clear that as a human race we have more similarities than differences. I encourage others to read up on the fascinating history and folklore of both countries. In my next blog post I’d like to focus on another link Ireland and Japan (and two more countries) have through a very special individual.