KJCKorea
Journal Central

A common type of character show in Korean and Japanese rabbit tales is the <Trickster> type. It can be divided into two types: the <Self-centered type>, and the <Decentralized type>. Korean <Self-centered type> has a variety of narrative structures. The rabbit's Trickster behavior deceived its opponent in order to save its own life at first, but the content was changed into bloody vengeance on the opponent later. In comparison, the narrative structure of the Japanese <Self-centered> type seems to be very simple, and the sole purpose of the rabbit's behavior is to be focused on thoroughly deceiving their opponent to take what it wants. As for the characteristics of the Korean <Decentralized type>, the rabbit plays a role in a judge who embodies social justice by telling good from bad from the third party's eyes. On the contrary, the characteristics of the Japanese <Decentralized type> have shown that the rabbit was good at the punishment of animals which methodically broke down the framework of common sense as a judge. The things that Korea and Japan have in common are that the rabbit punishes the wrongdoing animal thoroughly as a judge. It shows the aspect of a new creator which realizes a society of justice.

토끼 설화(Rabbit Tales), 트릭스터(Trickster), 비교(Comparison), 자기중심형(Self-centered type), 탈중심형(Decentralized type)