By
David Bituin
In Japanese mythology there are many things that can make up a myth. Japanese
myths usually include snakes in them. They are stories of woman turning into
snakes. Not all myths are about snakes. But most of the time when people think
about Japanese mythology they might think of snakes because they are so closely
related with the Japanese myths in general. People believe that women and snakes
are closely related to each other. There are really two different types of snake
women, ones that are evil are ones that are good. One closely related story
to the snake woman is that there is a palace under the sea at the very depth.
A snake woman lives there who is believed to be the daughter of the sea god.
Any man who goes down and meets her there she marries and she takes good care
of them. When the man has to return to his world she gives him special powers
or wealth. There is a story of a snake woman that every Japanese school child
knows. It starts with a young boy fishing one night and catches a multicolored
turtle and he brings it home. The next morning he wakes up not to see the turtle
but a beautiful woman in place of it. He then is asked by the woman who is a
snake woman to come down to the sea and live with him. He lives with her for
three years and he gets homesick so he asks the snake woman if he can return
home. She says yes and gives him a box and she says if u want to come back down
and live with me again that you can’t open the box. The turtle then guides him
back to his village. He looks around and sees that this is not his village and
then he realizes three centuries have past and he opens the box and immediately
his hair turns white and his skin wrinkles and then his body withers away into
dust. The snake legends very in time periods. Not all snake legends happen in
Japan some happen in Europe and many other places. Snake legends are not widely
spread today as they were centuries ago but they are still remembered in some
places. I have not heard of that many snake legends myself but I am fond of
it. I remember that a snake legend is involved in the movie "The Golden Child"
starring Eddie Murphy. Eddie Murphy who is one of the main characters goes to
visit a mysterious lady that gives him advice and he does not believe that she
is a snake so h e removes the screen that is covering her to find out that it
really is a snake lady. This then concludes my section on the Japanese myths
of snake woman. I believe that these myths and legends of snake women are very
interesting and they can catch your attention. I think that if you get a chance
to read a story of a snake woman you will find that it is very interesting.
