Talk:Shippeitaro

Shippeitaro or Schippeitaro
Why Shippeitaro? Our linked sources use "Schippeitaro" for the Andrew Lang version and also for a German-language version, and we know no other sources, evidently. --P64 (talk) 00:35, 20 June 2017 (UTC)


 * It's pretty clear what is wrong with "Schippeitaro". It's the way Germans romanized Japanese names in the past (「し」 as "Schi" and 「ち」 as "Tschi", etc.) that was carelessly retained in English translation.


 * Lang is not the only source. "Shippeitaro" occurs in the preface to Mrs. James's book, and "Shippei Taro" is the English title in Seki Keigo (ed.)'s Japanese folktale anthology, which is more scholarly and "reliable" than Lang.


 * So, just as commented here when he made the spelling change, we should stick to "WPMOS on romanization of Japanese" and use the Hepburn system of romanization which is standard. --Kiyoweap (talk) 06:09, 11 August 2017 (UTC)


 * P.S. Technically speaking, the standard Hepburn would be "Shippeitarō" --Kiyoweap (talk) 06:16, 11 August 2017 (UTC)

Japanese wiki
As of this writing there is not counterpart article in Japanese.

Reference to Shippeitaro occurs under the article for "Kozenji temple" in Nagano Prefecture, section on "Sōtaro tale" (ja:光前寺).

And a tale of this type from the Konjaku Monogatarishū is discussed in the article on "Sarugami" (ja:猿神). An English translation of that tale has been published as ""How the Spirits of Mimasaka Province Give Up Living Sacrifices Because o a Hunter's Scheme" by Michelle Osterfeld Li. --Kiyoweap (talk) 06:42, 11 April 2019 (UTC)


 * I have now cited a paper by Smith which presents opinion that the oral versions found throughout Japan probably stem from the written version in Konjaku Monogatari. --Kiyoweap (talk) 19:44, 11 April 2019 (UTC)

Not a barrel
I would caution against the use of the illustration File:The violet fairy book (1906) (14566716288).jpg from Lang's Violet Fairy Book, because it depicts the sacrifice/dog being stuffed in a barrel, owing to Lang calling the container a "cask".

If we stick to Lang's source in German, the container was a "cage". Mrs. Smith also called it a "cage" in the chirimen book version. In the chirimen book this "cage" is illustrated as a rectangular lidded box made of woven wicker or whatever, something we would probably call a kago (籠) in Japanese. In one scene the box has two bamboo poles attached to it so it very much resembles a palanquin, which is also called kago (駕籠).

Unfortunately the Oregon University digital copy is apparently deadlinked now. You can confirm the images in the Open U of Japan repository copy. But this copy is watermarked and asserts copyright protection so I don't want to upload its images into commons.

I also tracked down what the container is specifically called in Seki's version collected from Monou, Miyagi, and it was a nagamochi (長持ち), a type of lidded chest or box for wardrobes and beddings. --20:55, 11 April 2019 (UTC)