Various Retellings of a Japanese Tale Found in Traditional Linguistic Culture : The Inaba no Shiro Usagi in Elementary-School Japanese-Language Education Textbooks

The present paper compared versions of the Japanese tale Inaba no Shiro Usagi, as retold in the elementary-school Japanese-language education textbooks of three publishers (Mitsu-mura, Kyoiku-shuppan and Sansei-do ), published in accordance with the New Course of Study. The following characteristics were seen in these retellings of the traditional story: The Mitsu-mura version revolves around the traditional main character, called O-kuni-nushi. Careful portrayals of the personalities and motivations of various characters in the story permit readers to understand and identify with these characters. In the Kyoiku-shuppan version, the main character becomes the rabbit in the story. Simple character portrayals in this version allow the reader to enjoy its traditional “fairy-tale feeling.” The Sansei-do version presents the development of the narrative in clear temporal sequence, and hence would therefore likely be comprehensible even to younger listeners and readers. The rabbit is again the central character. In spite of each of the above purporting to be simple retellings of the traditional Kojiki tale, it is clear that each of these representations of the original st新学習指導要領に基づいて編集された光村図書出版・教育出版・三省堂各社の小学校国語科教科書に掲載されている「いなばのしろうさぎ」の再話作品を比較検討したところ、以下のような特徴が見出せた。 光村版はオオクニヌシ中心の物語で、登場人物の個性や心理の起伏を丁寧に描いており、登場人物の気持ちにより添って読み進めていく作品である。教育出版版は兎中心の物語である。登場人物の描き方がシンプルで、古い説話の雰囲気を楽しむに適した作品である。三省堂版は、時系列通りの物語展開になっている。より幼い子どもにもわかりやすい作品で、主人公は兔である。 このように、同じ古事記説話を元にしていても、作品の個性にかなりの違いがあることがわかった