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Yamada H. Negative origin of a cultural trait? Myths of the loss of literacy

Hitoshi YAMADA — Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University (Japan, Sendai)
E-mail: yamadahi@m.tohoku.ac.jp

 

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ABSTRACT. Since the 19th century, myths of the loss of literacy have been collected and analysed by scholars such as Mason, Ōbayashi, Riftin, Onohara, Oppitz, Tapp, and Scott among others. As a result, we now have a fairly clear picture of their distribution and classification, as well as their implications. The relevant tales are distributed in Southeast Asia, Far East and in Europe. The once-possessed letters are said to have been lost in various ways: they were washed away by water, eaten by a human or an animal, and so on. In some narratives an eaten book changed into the omasum of an animal. Not only handed down orally, but also literally in some cases, these traditions have the characteristics of a “negative origin of a cultural trait,” while at the same time they tell of acquired techniques such as broidery patterns or divination methods. They reflect also the view of the self and others. In these myths, similar tothose of lost paradise or the origin of death, a fundamental problem for human beings is expressed — whether to follow fate passively and negatively, or to choose an option actively and positively. It is for this very reason that they have been transmitted in various places with different transformations over time.

 

KEYWORDS: myths of the loss of literacy, interethnic relationships, culture hero

 

УДК 003:291.13
DO I 10.31250/2618-8600-2019-3(5)-42-56

 

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