Reading Diary A: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki)

Oh this unit (Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki)) is really cool so far! I love that the stories are 3-4 parts long. I really like the longer stories because I like to feel like I am able to learn about the character more, and spend more time inside of the story. 

So far my favorite story is The Man who did not Wish to Die. I really liked how within the story a good background was given into the "Elixir of Life" that the man was searching for. That one of the most powerful emperor's had searched for it and not been able to obtain it, was a great testament to how elusive and desirable this thing was.

Sentaro flying to the land of Perpetual Life from the book
of Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Ozaki, illustrated by
Japanese artists

One of my favorite parts of the story is the description of life in the land of Perpetual Life. Sentaro was so determined to live forever or for hundreds and hundreds of years at least that he had never considered that it might not be as grand as he thought. The land of Perpetual Life was beautiful, but the people in it were not happy. They had been alive for hundreds and hundreds of years, no one had died. A priest had told them about Paradise, which was only to be found after death, and the people longed so much to reach that place that they would eat and drink poison in an attempt to get sick and die. I loved the initial contrast made between the people of the land and Sentaro after he first arrived in the land of Perpetual Life. They had such different outlooks of things, and I loved how over the course of the story Sentaro begins to see how living forever is not necessarily a blessing.

I really thought Sentaro was an easy character to read about. He had the same desires as so many people have, to live comfortably and almost lavishly, and to live a long long life. However throughout the story his outlook changes completely, and he seems wiser and to have a better understanding of life and the world and gifts around him.