The Submerged Civilization as a Topos in Japanese Narrative: An Analysis of the Legend of Urashima Tarō and the Myth of Uryūjima or the 'Japanese Atlantis’

Abstract

This article analyses the legend of Urashima Tarō and the myth of Uryūjima Island as emblematic cases of the representation of submerged civilizations in Japanese narrative. The first section addresses submerged civilizations, not only in Japan, but throughout the world, as a recurring literary topos, highlighting their impact on the interpretation of history and their symbolic function in reflecting the social concerns of the cultures that create them. The second section analyses the legend of the fisherman Urashima Tarō (8th century), who travels to the underwater kingdom of Ryūgū-jō, delving into the significance of islands as narrative spaces in Japan and the role they played in the formation of a collective identity. The third section examines the legend of Uryūjima, an island that is said to have sunk in what is now Ōita Prefecture at the end of the 16th century, as well as the research surrounding it, showing the tensions that exist between legend and history, and scientific evidence and cultural narratives. The section also includes the translation of one of the first sources to mention the island, the Hōfu kikigaki (1699). The article highlights the existence of a universal dimension to stories about submerged civilizations, as well as a contextual and particular dimension, which in the legend of Urashima and the myth of Uryūjima is determined by the need to preserve a sense of social cohesion, which is different in each of the contexts of the two cases. In addition, throughout the article, Japanese literary works from the second half of the 20th century that feature submerged civilizations are mentioned, most of them associated with the genre of Climate Fiction or cli-fi, which helps to build interpretative bridges between the cases analysed and contemporary narratives.