일본문학 속 ‘거절하는 여성’ 고찰—다케토리모노가타리(竹取物語)와 가구야공주 이야기(かぐや姫の物語)를 중심으로 —

Abstract

Before the early Middle Ages in Japan, the marriage system was a marriage in which men visited women, and the bond between husband and wife was loose, so women had no choice but to wait for men to visit them. Therefore, the representative image of women in this period is “Waiting Woman,” which can be confirmed through works such as “The Gossamer Years” and “The Tale of Genji,” a long novel about various women’s lives. However, women who chose “rejection” instead of “waiting” to enrich the story sometimes appeared. For example Oigimi in “The Tale of Genji,” introduced her sister to Kaoru, who likes her, in order to refuse to get married. And Honinnojijyu who appears in the “Japanese Tales from Times Past” teased and refused a man who liked her, causing him to die of lovesickness. In particular, Princess Kaguya, the main character of “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter” which is covered in the main text in this paper, rejects the proposal of five courtiers and the emperor for no apparent reason. Isao Takahata’s animation “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” released in 2013 is based on this “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter”. The animation depicts Princess Kaguya in agony because she does not accept the standards of beauty demanded by society. And it vividly shows Princess Kaguya feeling disgusted and distressed by the men’s sexual jokes. In addition, the character of the Emperor changed to a villain, and the relationship between Emperor and Princess Kaguya, which develops into “friendship → rejection → resignation → maintenance of relationship,” changed to “friendship → rejection → dissolution” In this way, the animation “Princess Kaguya” clarified why the princess “refuses” male courtship. And by clearly portraying the princess’s emotional expression, this animation succeeded in portraying the universal gender issue that is common in modern society.