earticle

영어

To Japanese people “The Hare of Inaba” is a well known tale, which was recorded in Kojiki, the eighth century records of Japan. Many early researchers had presumed that the tale had come from Korean peninsular but found no evidence whereof. However, since the same tale was found in Odongdo of Yeosu, the theory of introducing from Korea began to gain momentum. Owing to the discovery this article aims to find out the transmitter of the narrative, its transmittee group for investigating the transmission time, and the group's connection with ancient Korea. The results presumed that the group which brought the tale from Korea to Japan must be Haji family of old Japanese. That is because the background of hare tale was the family's seigneury, because Haji family members considered themselves as the transmittees of the hare tale, and because some descendents of the family has the name of Haji-Usagi ((土師兎); Haji-Hare). Moreover, Haji clan orginated from Izumo, which had a close relationship with cultures of Gaya and Shilla of ancient Korea, and ruled the Tottori area as a power group. Especially, the clan as a professional group was entitled to build keyhole-shaped tombs, which were distributed in the Japanese Islands and southern Korea, and create Haniwa (埴輪; terracotta clay figures). As shown in the distribution of keyhole-shaped tombs inside the Korean peninsula, Haji clan maintained a close relationship with southern Korea including Odongdo of Yeosu. It can be presumed that the hare tale was imported from southern Korea to Japan by the clan and inserted into the legend of Ohokuninushi. Thus the hare tale of Kojiki holds a great significance in the history of Korea-Japan relations as a valuable cultural asset.