Жена ждрал – брак с натприродним супружником у јапанским народним приповеткама
Crane Wife − Marriage to a Supernatural Spouse in Japanese Folktales

Summary/Abstract: The well-known international theme of the marriage between a man and a fantastic being is stylized both in myth and in the oral literature of Japan. In this paper, we have tried to determine the characteristics of the genre, comparing the stories with those from European and Serbian oral heritage.The oldest Japanese chronicles contain myths about the holy marriages of gods. Among them are zoomorphic creatures, mainly snakes. If the story features a snake god, he transforms himself into a man and visits a woman under cover of darkness. The serpent goddess spends more time in the human form but must return to its original form when it is due to give birth. When a man breaks the taboo and reveals her identity, she leaves, and this act causes cosmological consequences.

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