A rabbit , an old man and the moon

 

My great friend and long suffering Japanese teacher, Naomi, was recently inspired by the manga of Osamu Tezuka to make a lesson for me. She took a story from his "Buddha" series and re-wrote it in modern Japanese for me to read. It is a traditional story and maybe the origin of Japanese peoples belief that you can see the image of a rabbit on the surface of the moon.  Below I have written the story in my own words in English. The Japanese version is by Naomi Littletree (typed by me, so there might be some errors). At the bottom there is a You Tube link to see Osamu Tezuka's original artwork for the story.

A long time ago an old man went on a journey by himself.  The old man walked very very slowly and for a very long time did not eat anything. Day after day while walking, he was looking for something to eat.  One day finally the old man collapsed. A bear, a fox and a rabbit all saw this happen and decided to search for food for the old man. At the river the bear found fish for the old man. The fox found fruit. The rabbit searched as hard as he could to find food for the old man, but could not find any. The bear and fox became very angry with the rabbit. The rabbit asked the old man to make a fire and even though the old man did not know why the rabbit wanted a fire, he lit a fire.  But when the fire became big, suddenly the rabbit jumped into the flames. The surprised old man quickly went to help the rabbit and pulled him out of the fire, but it was too late, the rabbit was dead. The rabbit could not find food for the old man, so gave himself as food.  The bear and fox were ashamed of the anger they had shown the rabbit and the old man loudly cried. They were all deeply moved by the actions of the rabbit. The old man held the rabbit's body up to the heavens and the soul of the dead rabbit went to the centre of the full moon.

昔むかし、一人の旅の老人がいました。老人は、ゆっくりゆっくりと歩いていました。老人は、長い間、何も食べていませんでした。毎日毎日、食べ物を探しながら、歩いていました。ある日、とうとう、老人は倒れてしまいました。それを、見つけたクマ、キツネ、そしてウサギは、老人のために、食べ物を探しに行きました。クマは、川で魚を見つけました。キツネは果物を見つけました。　ウサギは一生懸命、食べ物を探しましたが、何も見つけることが出来ませんでした。クマとキツネは、ウサギを怒りました。ウサギは老人に、たき火を作ってください、頼みました。老人は、ウサギが何がしたいのか、分かりませんでしたが、たき火を作りました。 火が大きくなってきた時、突然ウサギは、たき火の中に、飛び込みました。びっくりした老人は、火の中から、ウサギを助けましたが、ウサギはもう死んでいました。　ウサギは食べる物が見つけられなかったので、老人に、自分を食べてもらおう、と考えたのです。ウサギを怒ったクマとキツネは、とても恥ずかしくなりました。老人は、大きな声で、泣きました。そしてウサギの優しい心に、老人とクマとキツネは、とてもとても感動しました。老人は、天に向かって、ウサギをあげると、ウサギの魂は、満月の中へ入って行きました。

Osamu Tezuka's original artwork.

Moon over Kyoto

 

 

Follow the link below to a great post about rabbits on "The Wiccan Life" blog.

 

http://thewiccalife.blogspot.jp/2014/05/rabbits-in-mythology-story-behind-moon.html