Abstract

“My marriage partner was not human…”
An introductory guide to Iruikon’intan—Japanese folktales of unions between humans and nonhumans—offering fresh inspiration for creating new fantasy worlds.

This book explores the fascinating realm of Iruikon’intan (“tales of human–nonhuman marriage”), stories in which humans wed beings that are not human—animals, spirits, or otherworldly entities. Such stories, including well-known folktales like The Crane Wife and Issun-boshi, have long been beloved in Japan. Today, the theme remains popular in novels and anime, yet there are few comprehensive introductions to the subject.

Drawing on about 70 examples, this book classifies and examines these tales, revealing how they reflect timeless human concerns—gain and loss, exclusion, order, transformation, gender, and beauty standards—and how they still resonate with issues in modern society.
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Contents
Chapter 1: Marriage with Animals
(The Animal Wife / The Animal Husband)
Chapter 2: Marriage with Beings from Other Worlds
(Water Realms / Terrestrial Otherworlds / The Celestial Realm)
Chapter 3: Marriage with Nonhuman Forms
(The Monstrous Wife / The Monstrous Husband)
Chapter 4: What Tales of Human–Nonhuman Marriage Reveal About Society
(Characteristics of Japanese Iruikon’intan / The Exclusion of “Others” / The Prohibition Against Looking / The Motif of Transformation)

Author’s Information

Born in Kobe in 1957. Graduated from the Faculty of Letters, Osaka University; completed coursework in the doctoral program at Osaka University Graduate School of Letters; Ph.D. (Literature, Osaka University, 1997). Specializes in folklore and cultural anthropology. Member of the Japanese Folklore Society, the Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology, the Society for Oral Literature, and the American Folklore Society.
Has served as lecturer and associate professor at the University of Ulsan (Korea), research associate at the National Museum of Japanese History, lecturer at Osaka University, and associate professor at Koshien University. Currently Professor in the Department of History, Faculty of Letters, Kobe Women’s University.