Editing Urashima Tarō (section)

== History ==
The full name Urashima Tarō was not given to the character until the 15th century (the [[Muromachi period]]), first appearing in a genre of illustrated popular fiction known as ''[[otogizōshi]]'',{{sfnp|McKeon|1996|pp=134–136ff}}<ref name=waterhouse /> and in the [[kyōgen]] play adaptation.{{sfnp|McKeon|1996|pp=102–107ff}}

The story itself can be found in much older sources, dating to the 8th century (the [[Nara period]]), where the protagonist is styled either "Urashima no ko" or "Ura (no) Shimako", attested in earlier sources such as the ''[[Fudoki]]'' for [[Tango Province]] ({{small|''[[Tango no Kuni Fudoki]]'', [[:ja:丹後国風土記|丹後国風土記]]}}) that survived in excerpts, the ''[[Man'yōshū]]'' and the ''[[Nihon Shoki]]''.{{sfnp|McKeon|1996|pp=7–8, 28, 35}}

More recent editions of these texts tend to favor the "Ura (no) Shimako" reading,{{sfnp|McKeon|1996|pp=7–9, 248}} although some consider this debatable.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The recent "Shimako" reading is based on the alternative name given as "Tsutsukawa no Shimako (Shimako of Tsutsukawa)" in the Tango Province [[Fudoki]] excerpt, which a number of scholars consider the oldest record. However, the same source also records the poem allegedly by the hero which clearly gives the reading in phonetics (in ''[[man'yōgana]]'') as "Urashima-no-ko (宇良志麻能古)". The proponents of the other reading discount the poem by assuming it to be of a later date.<ref name="hayashi-kundoku"/>}}<ref name="hayashi-kundoku"/>

It has also been proposed that it was not until the Heian Period that the misreading "Urashima (no) ko" became current, because names with the suffix ''-ko'' ("child") came to be regarded as female, even though it once applied to either gender.{{sfnp|McKeon|1996|pp=107, 228}} When the texts were written for the [[kyōgen]] theatre, the character's name underwent further change to Urashima Tarō, with ''-tarō'' ("great youth") being a common suffix in male names.{{sfnp|McKeon|1996|pp=102–107ff}} Or perhaps the name was borrowed from {{illm|Tarō kaja|ja|太郎冠者}} who is a [[stock character]] in kyōgen.<ref name=sakamoto-annot-miyoshi/>

===Dragon Palace===
The ''[[Man'yōshū]]'' ballad mentions not only the woman of the Immortal Land, but her father as the Sea God ([[Watatsumi]]).<ref name=manyo-aston/><ref name=sakata/> Although this Sea God cannot be automatically equated with the Dragon God or Dragon King, due to the influence of the Chinese mythology of [[Nine sons of the dragon|Nine Offspring of the Dragon]] in the [[Tang period]], it has been speculated that the turtle princess must have been the Dragon King's daughter in even those early versions.<ref name=sakata/>

The otherworld Urashima visited was not the "Dragon Palace" ([[Ryūgū-jō|Ryūgū]]) until the ''[[otogi-zōshi]]'' versions appeared.<ref name=akiya/> The heroine then became Otohime, the younger daughter of the Dragon King.{{sfnp|McKeon|1996|p=136}}

===Relative dates===
As for the relative dating of these texts, an argument has been advanced that places the ''Fudoki'' version as the oldest.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|By proponents such as {{illm|Akihisa Shigematsu |ja|重松明久}} (p. 107) and Yū Mizuno 1:63, cited by McKeon.}} The argument dates the ''Tango fudoki'' to shortly after 715, but the compilers refer to an earlier record by {{illm|Iyobe no Umakai|ja|伊預部馬養}}, which was identical in content.{{sfnp|McKeon|1996|pp=7–8}}<ref name=shigematsu-oldest /><ref name=mizuno-oldest /> It has even been suggested by [[Shūichi Katō (critic)|Shūichi Katō]] that this Umakai originally adapted this tale into Japanese from a similar Chinese tale.<ref name=kato />