batch.motif.japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki-gutenberg-l2373-l2477
---
record_id: batch.motif.japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki-gutenberg-l2373-l2477
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
passage_locator:
label: THE STORY OF URASHIMA TARO, THE FISHER LAD / THE FARMER AND THE BADGER /
THE ADVENTURES OF KINTARO, THE GOLDEN BOY / THE STORY OF THE MAN WHO DID NOT WISH
TO DIE; lines 2373-2477
start: '2373'
end: '2477'
translation: Japanese Fairy Tales
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: Sentaro is carried by a paper crane to the country of Perpetual Life. He
settles there and learns that no one dies or becomes sick, but the inhabitants
long for death because they believe it leads to Paradise. Poisons and deadly foods
have no harmful effect there. After three hundred years Sentaro becomes weary,
prays to Jofuku, and the paper crane carries him back toward Japan despite his
later regret.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Sentaro travels for several days through the air on a paper bird and reaches
an island.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: After Sentaro dismounts, the crane folds up by itself and enters his pocket.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: Sentaro explores the country and town, finds them strange but prosperous,
and takes lodgings at a hotel.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The hotel proprietor helps Sentaro arrange his residence in the country of
Perpetual Life.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: The islanders have no memory of anyone dying there, and sickness is unknown.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: Priests from India and China had told the islanders of Paradise, whose gates
could only be reached by dying.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:7
text: The islanders long for death because they are tired of their very long lives
and desire Paradise.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: Substances considered poisonous elsewhere are eaten or bought eagerly in the
country of Perpetual Life but do not kill anyone there.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:9
text: Sentaro initially delights in the country of Perpetual Life and wishes to
live for thousands of years.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: After three hundred years, Sentaro becomes tired of life in the country and
longs for his own land and home.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:11
text: Sentaro prays to Jofuku, the paper crane emerges from his pocket, grows large,
and carries him across the sea toward Japan.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:12
text: While being carried away, Sentaro looks back, regrets what he has left, and
cannot stop the crane.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Sentaro
description: A man who travels to the country of Perpetual Life, settles there,
later tires of it, and prays to return to his native land.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: paper crane
description: A paper bird that carries Sentaro through the air, folds into his pocket,
later grows large again, and carries him toward Japan.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:7
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: islanders of the country of Perpetual Life
description: Inhabitants among whom death and sickness are unknown, and who long
for death as a way to reach Paradise.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: hotel proprietor
description: A kind proprietor who promises to arrange Sentaro’s sojourn with the
city governor and finds him a house.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: priests from India and China
description: Priests who had told the islanders of Paradise, a beautiful country
reached by dying.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: merchants from other countries
description: Merchants whose arrivals prompt rich people in the country of Perpetual
Life to buy poisons.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Jofuku
description: A saint whom Sentaro remembers as having helped him before and to whom
he prays for return to his own land.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: resident seeker of perpetual life
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Sentaro comes to live in the country of Perpetual Life because he had wished
to escape death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- id: role:2
label: magical aerial conveyance
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The paper crane flies thousands of miles, folds into Sentaro’s pocket, and
later carries him toward Japan.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:7
- id: role:3
label: deathless inhabitants desiring death
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The islanders do not die or sicken but long for death as desirable.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: role:4
label: local host and facilitator
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The proprietor helps arrange Sentaro’s residence and finds him a house.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:5
label: transmitters of Paradise teaching
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Priests from India and China tell the islanders about Paradise, reached through
dying.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:6
label: suppliers of desired poisons
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Rich people rush to merchants from other countries to buy poisons.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:7
label: weary return-seeker
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: After three hundred years Sentaro tires of life in the country and prays
to return home.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:8
label: invoked helper
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Sentaro prays to Jofuku to bring him back to his own land.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: paper crane
literal_form: folded paper crane that becomes large enough to carry Sentaro through
the air
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:7
- id: sym:2
label: country of Perpetual Life
literal_form: island country where no one dies and sickness is unknown
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: sea crossing
literal_form: sea or ocean crossed by the crane between the island and Japan
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:4
label: poisons as desired food
literal_form: poisons, poisonous globe-fish, and sauces made of Spanish flies eaten
or bought in hope of death
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:5
label: Paradise
literal_form: beautiful country of happiness, bliss, and contentment whose gates
are reached by dying
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: flight to the island
summary: Sentaro rides the paper crane through the air for several days until they
reach an island, where the crane folds into his pocket.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: settlement in the country of Perpetual Life
summary: Sentaro explores the strange prosperous country and, with help from the
hotel proprietor, becomes a resident.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: customs of the deathless islanders
summary: Sentaro learns that the islanders never die or fall ill, long for death
and Paradise, and consume poisons that have no deadly effect.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: weariness and return toward Japan
summary: After three hundred years Sentaro tires of life in the country, prays to
Jofuku, and is carried back across the sea by the paper crane, though he regrets
leaving.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: quest for perpetual life becomes weariness of immortality
taxonomy_refs:
- mystical_quest
basis: Sentaro seeks refuge in a land without death, but after centuries finds endless
life monotonous and wishes to return home.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage emphasizes ironic reversal more than a formally named quest;
the taxonomy match is broad.
- id: motif:2
label: magical departure to a distant otherworldly land
taxonomy_refs:
- departure
basis: Sentaro is carried thousands of miles by a paper crane to the country of
Perpetual Life.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: The destination is an island country rather than explicitly a divine realm.
- id: motif:3
label: return by the same magical conveyance
taxonomy_refs:
- return
basis: After praying to Jofuku, the paper crane reappears and carries Sentaro back
toward Japan.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The passage ends during the return journey and does not show arrival in
Japan.
- id: motif:4
label: inverted values in a deathless land
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
basis: Sentaro values escape from death, while the deathless islanders value death
and consume poisons as desirable goods.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The duality is ethical and social rather than a paired cosmological opposition.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage presents the islanders’ belief in Paradise as a teaching transmitted
by priests from India and China.
claim_level: historical_contact
target: India and China religious teaching about Paradise as reported inside the
tale
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: This is an internal narrative claim in an English retelling and does
not establish independent historical transmission details.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 2373-2387
quote_or_summary: Sentaro becomes accustomed to a swift flight on a paper bird;
after several days they reach an island, and the crane folds itself into his pocket.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 2388-2405
quote_or_summary: Sentaro explores the strange prosperous country, takes hotel lodgings,
and receives help from the proprietor to become a resident in the country of Perpetual
Life.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 2406-2416
quote_or_summary: No one within the islanders’ memory has died there, sickness is
unknown, and priests from India and China had told them of Paradise, reachable
only by dying.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 2417-2431
quote_or_summary: Unlike Sentaro, the islanders long for death as desirable because
they are tired of long life and desire the happy land called Paradise.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 2432-2455
quote_or_summary: Foods poisonous elsewhere are treated as desirable; rich people
buy poisons hoping to die, but poisons have no harmful effect, and poisonous globe-fish
and Spanish-fly sauces are sold as food.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 2456-2470
quote_or_summary: Sentaro at first delights in life without death, but after business
troubles and three hundred years of monotony he grows tired and longs for his
homeland.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 2471-2477
quote_or_summary: Sentaro prays to Jofuku; the paper crane emerges undamaged, grows
large, and carries him across the sea toward Japan while he looks back with regret
and cannot stop it.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/japanese/project-gutenberg/japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: Extraction is based only on the supplied passage. Motif labels are broad
and require human review against the Atlas taxonomy.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
No taxonomy IDs were added beyond the supplied available motif families and symbols.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:japanese-fairy-tales-ozaki-gutenberg__l2373-l2477
passage_sha256=6222121de78768929c84fc2cf95bf3f5e56f77832cdb10bf3764f4d49429b051