Editing Urashima Tarō (section)

=== Okinawa ===
[[Basil Hall Chamberlain|Chamberlain]] noted the theory that the Dragon Palace might be a romanticized notion of Okinawa, since "[[Ryūgū-jo|Ryūgū]]" (Dragon Palace) and [[Ryūkyū Islands|Ryūkyū]] (Okinawa) are near [[homophone]]s.<ref name=manyo-chamberlain/>

Recorded in {{nihongo||[[:ja:遺老説伝|遺老説伝]]|Irō setsuden|extra="Accounts Left by Old Men"}} of the 18th century, Tale 103 "A person of Yonaha village visits the Dragon Palace"<!--「与那覇村の人竜宮に遊ぶこと」--> is considered analogous to Urashima Tarō.<ref name=yanagita-okinawa/><ref name="urano&fukatsu"/><ref name=kurata/> In it, a certain man of Yonaha village in [[Haebaru, Okinawa|Haebaru]] finds a lock of black hair and returns it to a beautiful maiden. She leads him to the Dragon Palace. Three months pass and the man wishes to return, but the goddess reveals 33 generations have already passed in his absence. The man receives a folded-up piece of paper he is forbidden from unwrapping, but he opens this packet and a piece of white hair clings to him, turning him into an old man, and he dies. He was enshrined at the place which was named Usani-daki, because the man had "sat and reposed" ({{lang|ja-Latn|usani}}) in his despair.<ref name="urano&fukatsu"/><ref name="taira"/>

Similar tales are found on [[Miyako-jima]] and other places.{{sfnp|Yanagita|1971|p=50}} [[Kunio Yanagita|Yanagita Kunio]] felt that the notion of the Dragon Palace shared its origin with the concept of Niruya ({{illm|Niraikanai|ja|ニライカナイ}}) in the southerly islands of Japan.<ref name=yanagita-okinawa2/>

{{lang|ja-Latn|Irō setsuden}} also records a similar tale, number 42, about {{nihongo||善縄大屋子|Yoshinawa Fuyako}}, which describes a man who, bidden by a mysterious woman appeared before him, carried a large turtle to his home, which bit and gave him a terrible wound so that he was buried. But he turned out not to have died a mortals death, and lived on.<ref name=taira/><ref name=yanagita-okinawa2/>