ももたろう (Peach Boy)

 Growing up, I distinctly remember my mom reading this book to me. Granted it was one of the only Japanese folklore books we had, and it was in English. But regardless the whole story line has been engraved in my head till this day. The story goes, ももたろう (Momotaro) was born from a giant peach, which was found floating down a river by an old, childless woman who was washing clothes there. The woman and her husband discovered the child when they tried to open the peach to eat it. The couple named him Momotaro, from Momo (peach) and taro (eldest son in the family). When he was just five years old, he was able to cut a big tree with just an old knife When he matured into adolescence, Momotaro left his parents to fight a band of おに Oni (demons or ogres) who marauded over their land, by seeking them out in the distant island where they dwelled a place called おにがしま (Onigashima) or "Demon Island". On the way, Momotaro met and befriended a talking dog, monkey and pheasant, who agreed to help him in his quest in exchange for a portion of his rations きびだんご (kibi dango) or "millet dumplings"). At the island, Momotaro and his animal friends infiltrated the Oni's fort and beat them into surrendering. Momotaro and his new friends returned home with the Oni's plundered treasure to return to their rightful owner, and the demon chief as a captive. This was one of my favorite books as a child, it was a unique twist to any superhero storyline. And I enjoyed regardless of how many times I've read it.

I definitely enjoyed watching this video, because I've only ever read the book, and haven't seen the video nor have heard it in Nihongo before. It was definitely an eye-opening experience and I believe I appreciate it more now since I'm taking Japanese. I was able to keep up with the hiragana subtitles, but the speech was too fast to understand at first, so I watched it a second time and was able to recognize some phrases from class.

Here is a picture of the cover of the ももたろう book I grew up reading: