'Moral Values Depicted In The Tumor Doubled'
The folk tale known as The Tumor Doubled aims to influence our understanding of moral values, like many other folk tales. In this tale specifically, it is implied that a negative intentionally leads to negative consequences; likewise, good intentions lead to positive consequences. The folk tale shows the relationship between intentions and consequences by illustrating two priests. The first priest, by mere chance, ends up sleeping at a shin, where many demons gather for drinking and dancing. The priest saw the demons and wished to dance and have a jolly good time with them. At dawn, the demons, in an effort to guarantee the priests return for more fun dancing, took with them a tumor he had been plagued with on his eye. The demons believed that
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the tumor was important to him thus he would return. This was not the case however, the priest was overjoyed to be free from the tumor located around his eye. A second priest heard of the tumor removal and wished for his own tumor to be removed. Therefore, the second priest went to the same shrine and danced with the demons at night intending to somehow replicate similar circumstances in which the first priest has his tumor removed. At dawn, the demons, believing the first priest had fulfilled their promised, returned the tumor to the second priest. The second priest, due to his actions, receives an extra tumor such that they are on both of his eyes. The priest was pained the rest of his natural life.
The Tumor Doubled aims to propagate the moral values of good intentions. The spirit world is a medium to deliver punishment or rewards that enforce proper behaviour, whether intentional or not. The deliverance of punishments and rewards are based on proper or improper behaviour or thoughts. For example, the priest only danced and drank with the demons with the hopes that they would remove his tumor. I will argue that in this specific folk tale, the presence of an unintentional punishment shows that the inhabitants of spirit world do not need to purposefully provide punishment; therefore, there is something else that adjudicates punishment. The aim of The Tumor Doubled is to reinforce moral ideals of having good intentions. Much like many other folk tales during this time, it uses the spirit world to reach its propagandistic ends. Another example of a folk tale aimed to provide moral guidance is Sticky-Sticky Pine (Sakade, 1991, p.55-58). In this story the woodcutter with the best of intentions collects only dead branches as firewood. After mending a tree’s torn branch, to stop its sap from flowing out, he is rewarded financially. A second woodcutter, the one who injured the branch, seeing the first woodcutter wanted a similar reward. The anthropomorphized tree was angry with the second woodcutter and in the end he was punished. Both The Tumor Doubled and Sticky-Sticky Pine use the idea of the spirit world to paint the repercussions of lacking a moral basis in intentions. The Tumor Doubled in particular focuses on the consequence of ill intention. The first priest merely wished to dance with the demons while second priest wanted to dance with them to get rid of his tumor. The reasons for the second priest’s actions were different, even though the priest replicated the actions of the first priest, this folk tale asserts that reasons matter. Dancing and having a jolly time with demons because of ulterior motives results in retribution. However, this retribution was not purposeful, rather it was unintentional on part of the demons in the spirit world. That is to say they demons did not know the first priest was not fond of the tumor, the demons may have believed that the tumor may have been important to the priest. This is shown by the demons taking the tumor as a “pledge” (Yanagita, 1954, p.62). An object taken by a pledge is usually of value, otherwise the pledge would be meaningless because the owner would not bother to return. The demons wished the first priest to return, this is shown by the demons asking for the priest to return saying “[come] next time, too, because you are a jolly priest” (p.62). What this means is that the demons took the tumor as a bargaining chip to ensure that the first priest may return to drink and dance.
Sticky-Sticky Pine does not only focus on the reasons for actions as being the concern of the spirit, as The Tumor Doubled does, rather it also focuses on the repercussions for ill actions and intentions. The second woodcutter cut a branch of a healthy tree instead of a dead one. He did not value all life and he did what he pleased. This resulted the spirit in form of the tree that was cut to deliver retribution for his actions. The revenge that the tree delivered was an intentional action. There may be a difference in how the spirit world delivers but the result is the same. The spirit world intentionally or unintentionally responds to ill action and ill intention. The spirit world responds to both action and intention. It responds in such a way that suggests its occupants are not the sole cause of punishment; on the contrary, it is the spirit world as a facility in and of itself where proper and improper actions and intentions pay out with the appropriate judgement. This is shown by how the demons by taking away the tumor, did not intend it to be a reward. It is clearly stated by the demons that they took the first priest’s tumor away to dissuade him from “breaking [his] promise” (p.62). What this means is that it was used as a bargaining chip by the demons to convince the priest he had a reason to return to be jolly, drink, and dance. But, this move on part of the demons turned out to be very favourable to the first priest. His intentions for dancing with the demons was not wrong so he was rewarded. The second priest danced The Tumor Doubled uses the spirit world as a facility, any action or intent that occurs within this world, even while it is interconnected, bring about a consequence.
For example, in this story the second priest has ill intentions while performing actions that are nearly identical to the first priest; the second priest believes he had overdone the ‘imitation” (p.63). Concequently, The second priest who went to dancing with ill intent received a punishment; however, this punishment was not orchestrated purposefully by the demons. The demons only intention was to return what they said would keep as a pledge. To the demons, the punishment that the second priest faced was merely a honouring of an agreement made antecedent. The spiritual world in this folk tale and the rules and laws this world contains facilitated both the punishment and the reward. The thing that decides whether an action is moral or immoral does not depend solely on the will of the inhabitants of the spirit world. That is to say since there does exist circumstances in which action in the spirit world lead to unintentional punishments and rewards we can say that there is something else that decides if something is proper or not. The spirit world reinforces the idea of proper behaviour by the attribution of punishments and rewards that at least partly exist outside the discretion of its
inhabitants. In conclusion, the folk tale The Tumor Doubled, tries to show us that the intentions of our actions influence heavily whether what we are doing is right or wrong; even if the actions performed are nearly identical. The folk tale known as Sticky-Sticky Pine is another example of a similar story with relatable elements. In this story both the intentions and the actions of the second woodcutter were wrong and he was justly punished by the tree he harmed. Both stories have a conception of the spirit world that facilitate proper behaviour and dissuade improper behaviour. The interesting thing that The Tumor Doubled shows is that the residents of the spirit world do not need to directly and intentionally influence the punishment and reward process like what happens in Sticky-Sticky Pine. The demons who dance with the first priest, unintentionally gave a reward while collecting a pledge. The demons also unintentionally punished the second priest by honouring the agreement that they would return what they have taken. The second priest was punished because he had these ill intentions. This suggests that the reward and punishment process does not only depend on the inhabitants of the spirit world but also something else. Whether that something else be God, Karma, or Buddha. The spirit world reinforces proper intentions and behaviours by using punishments and rewards. This is evidently shown in The Tumor Doubled where the ill-intentioned second priest was punished for not being completely moral in his thoughts.
the tumor was important to him thus he would return. This was not the case however, the priest was overjoyed to be free from the tumor located around his eye. A second priest heard of the tumor removal and wished for his own tumor to be removed. Therefore, the second priest went to the same shrine and danced with the demons at night intending to somehow replicate similar circumstances in which the first priest has his tumor removed. At dawn, the demons, believing the first priest had fulfilled their promised, returned the tumor to the second priest. The second priest, due to his actions, receives an extra tumor such that they are on both of his eyes. The priest was pained the rest of his natural life.
The Tumor Doubled aims to propagate the moral values of good intentions. The spirit world is a medium to deliver punishment or rewards that enforce proper behaviour, whether intentional or not. The deliverance of punishments and rewards are based on proper or improper behaviour or thoughts. For example, the priest only danced and drank with the demons with the hopes that they would remove his tumor. I will argue that in this specific folk tale, the presence of an unintentional punishment shows that the inhabitants of spirit world do not need to purposefully provide punishment; therefore, there is something else that adjudicates punishment. The aim of The Tumor Doubled is to reinforce moral ideals of having good intentions. Much like many other folk tales during this time, it uses the spirit world to reach its propagandistic ends. Another example of a folk tale aimed to provide moral guidance is Sticky-Sticky Pine (Sakade, 1991, p.55-58). In this story the woodcutter with the best of intentions collects only dead branches as firewood. After mending a tree’s torn branch, to stop its sap from flowing out, he is rewarded financially. A second woodcutter, the one who injured the branch, seeing the first woodcutter wanted a similar reward. The anthropomorphized tree was angry with the second woodcutter and in the end he was punished. Both The Tumor Doubled and Sticky-Sticky Pine use the idea of the spirit world to paint the repercussions of lacking a moral basis in intentions. The Tumor Doubled in particular focuses on the consequence of ill intention. The first priest merely wished to dance with the demons while second priest wanted to dance with them to get rid of his tumor. The reasons for the second priest’s actions were different, even though the priest replicated the actions of the first priest, this folk tale asserts that reasons matter. Dancing and having a jolly time with demons because of ulterior motives results in retribution. However, this retribution was not purposeful, rather it was unintentional on part of the demons in the spirit world. That is to say they demons did not know the first priest was not fond of the tumor, the demons may have believed that the tumor may have been important to the priest. This is shown by the demons taking the tumor as a “pledge” (Yanagita, 1954, p.62). An object taken by a pledge is usually of value, otherwise the pledge would be meaningless because the owner would not bother to return. The demons wished the first priest to return, this is shown by the demons asking for the priest to return saying “[come] next time, too, because you are a jolly priest” (p.62). What this means is that the demons took the tumor as a bargaining chip to ensure that the first priest may return to drink and dance.
Sticky-Sticky Pine does not only focus on the reasons for actions as being the concern of the spirit, as The Tumor Doubled does, rather it also focuses on the repercussions for ill actions and intentions. The second woodcutter cut a branch of a healthy tree instead of a dead one. He did not value all life and he did what he pleased. This resulted the spirit in form of the tree that was cut to deliver retribution for his actions. The revenge that the tree delivered was an intentional action. There may be a difference in how the spirit world delivers but the result is the same. The spirit world intentionally or unintentionally responds to ill action and ill intention. The spirit world responds to both action and intention. It responds in such a way that suggests its occupants are not the sole cause of punishment; on the contrary, it is the spirit world as a facility in and of itself where proper and improper actions and intentions pay out with the appropriate judgement. This is shown by how the demons by taking away the tumor, did not intend it to be a reward. It is clearly stated by the demons that they took the first priest’s tumor away to dissuade him from “breaking [his] promise” (p.62). What this means is that it was used as a bargaining chip by the demons to convince the priest he had a reason to return to be jolly, drink, and dance. But, this move on part of the demons turned out to be very favourable to the first priest. His intentions for dancing with the demons was not wrong so he was rewarded. The second priest danced The Tumor Doubled uses the spirit world as a facility, any action or intent that occurs within this world, even while it is interconnected, bring about a consequence.
For example, in this story the second priest has ill intentions while performing actions that are nearly identical to the first priest; the second priest believes he had overdone the ‘imitation” (p.63). Concequently, The second priest who went to dancing with ill intent received a punishment; however, this punishment was not orchestrated purposefully by the demons. The demons only intention was to return what they said would keep as a pledge. To the demons, the punishment that the second priest faced was merely a honouring of an agreement made antecedent. The spiritual world in this folk tale and the rules and laws this world contains facilitated both the punishment and the reward. The thing that decides whether an action is moral or immoral does not depend solely on the will of the inhabitants of the spirit world. That is to say since there does exist circumstances in which action in the spirit world lead to unintentional punishments and rewards we can say that there is something else that decides if something is proper or not. The spirit world reinforces the idea of proper behaviour by the attribution of punishments and rewards that at least partly exist outside the discretion of its
inhabitants. In conclusion, the folk tale The Tumor Doubled, tries to show us that the intentions of our actions influence heavily whether what we are doing is right or wrong; even if the actions performed are nearly identical. The folk tale known as Sticky-Sticky Pine is another example of a similar story with relatable elements. In this story both the intentions and the actions of the second woodcutter were wrong and he was justly punished by the tree he harmed. Both stories have a conception of the spirit world that facilitate proper behaviour and dissuade improper behaviour. The interesting thing that The Tumor Doubled shows is that the residents of the spirit world do not need to directly and intentionally influence the punishment and reward process like what happens in Sticky-Sticky Pine. The demons who dance with the first priest, unintentionally gave a reward while collecting a pledge. The demons also unintentionally punished the second priest by honouring the agreement that they would return what they have taken. The second priest was punished because he had these ill intentions. This suggests that the reward and punishment process does not only depend on the inhabitants of the spirit world but also something else. Whether that something else be God, Karma, or Buddha. The spirit world reinforces proper intentions and behaviours by using punishments and rewards. This is evidently shown in The Tumor Doubled where the ill-intentioned second priest was punished for not being completely moral in his thoughts.