is a popular hero of Japanese folklore. His name is often translated as Peach Boy, but is directly translated as Peach + Tarō, a common Japanese given name. Momotarō is also the title of various books, films and other works that portray the tale of this hero.
There is a popular notion that Momotarō is a local hero of Okayama Prefecture, but this claim was invented in the modern era. This notion is not accepted as consensus in scholarly circles.
Story
thumb|Momotarō coming out of a peach
The present conventional form of the tale (Standard Type) can be summarized as follows:
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Momotarō 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 child explained that he had been bestowed by the gods to be their son. The couple named him Momotarō, from momo (peach) and tarō (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, Momotarō left his parents to fight a band of Oni (demons or ogres) who marauded over their land, by seeking them out in the distant island where they dwelled (a place called Onigashima or "Demon Island"). En route, Momotarō 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 (kibi dango or "millet dumplings"). At the island, Momotarō and his animal friends penetrated the demons' fort and beat the band of demons into surrendering. Momotarō and his new friends returned home with the demons' plundered treasure and the demon chief as a captive.
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This Standard Type of "Momotarō" was defined and popularized due to them being printed in school textbooks during the Meiji Period.
This is the result of development of the literary "Momotarō", which had been handwritten and printed since the early Edo period into Meiji. One significant change is that in most examples of Edo Period literature, Momotarō was not born from a peach, but born naturally to the elderly couple who ate the peach and regained their youth. Such subtypes are classed as , whereas the now conventional subtypes are termed .
Development in literature
Although the oral version of the story may have emerged during the Muromachi period (1392–1573), it may not have been set down in writing until the Edo period (1603–1867). The oldest works of Momotaro known to have existed had been dated to the Genroku era (1688–1704) or perhaps earlier.
Edo period
These older texts from around the Genroku era (e.g. Momotarō mukashigatari) are lost, but surviving examples of later dates, such as the reprint () purportedly preserve the older tradition, and form the first (most primitive) group of texts according to . The late date of the reprint has sometimes caused it to be classed as kibyōshi ("yellow cover" book, directed primarily at an adult audience) or later type of kusazōshi literature (intended for a more general audience, including women and children), but it should properly be classed as akahon ("red book") or early type.
A second group of texts, which Koike considered to be younger, includes the miniature , , printed in Kyōhō 8 (1723). This miniature book is now considered to be the oldest surviving copy of any written Momotarō story.
Whether belonging to the first or second groups, texts from the Edo Period generally follow the same general plot as the modern standard versions but exhibit certain differences in detail.
Dumpling, kindling, animals
Momotarō is not supplied with kibi dango ("millet dumplings"), but rather with and other treats in the oldest Genroku era texts and the first group. In the first group, the old man goes out to cut grass, rather than to cut . The same three companion beasts (pheasant, monkey, then dog) appear in both groups, but in a different order. Though the order of the animals is not significant to the story, the most common order that appear is the dog, the monkey, and then the pheasant. In nearly every variation, all three animal companions agree to help Momotarō in exchange for a portion of his food. In one variation from the Edo Period, the dog is given half a portion, the monkey willingly comes, and Momotarō threatens the pheasant.
Birth from peach
As noted above, in most of the Edo Period books, Momotarō is not born from a peach but from the woman who consumes a peach and grows years younger in age. Both the first and second groups consist entirely of "rejuvenation" types. The "birth from the peach" type examples (such as the version in Takizawa Bakin's 1811 essay "Swallowstone Miscellany") are found among tales that have deviated further, which Koike assigns to a third group of texts. The Momotarō in Iwaya Sazanami's version of 1894 was of similar age (15 years old) when he resolved to go to devil island.
Researcher also noticed the trend of Momotarō being depicted younger and younger, and he dubbed the phenomenon .
Meiji period
After Japan abandoned the feudal system and entered the Meiji era, Iwaya Sazanami became a seminal figure in how the Momotaro story was shaped and became familiarized to the Japanese populace. Sazanami was the author of the Momotaro tales in his commercially successful folktale collections, and also a major contributor to the textbook versions.<!--citations on these to follow-->
The "Momotarō" tale was first incorporated into nationalized textbooks for elementary schools by the Meiji government in 1887.