Japanese legends in F. Hadland Davis’s English retellings (1912)
The Pine-tree Lovers of Takasago
Davis sets a story of lasting companionship beside the pine-tree of Takasago. Matsue, a fisherman’s daughter, loves its fallen needles and makes a dress and sash from them for her future wedding. Across the water, Teoyo follows the flight of a heron and attempts a swim that leaves him exhausted. The waves carry him to Matsue, who brings him beneath the tree and helps him recover. They marry and return to the tree together through old age. After their deaths, the narrative says the gods allow their souls to visit it again, drawing the needles together under the full moon. Davis introduces the tale through passages from the Noh play Takasago and an association between evergreen trees and longevity.
Also known as Matsue and Teoyo
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In the sources
A tree within a cultural frame
DocumentedDavis precedes the legend with translated lines from Takasago and a discussion of the evergreen tree.
Rescue and shared life
DocumentedMatsue’s care for the exhausted swimmer leads to marriage and a habit of returning to the pine together.
Context & interpretation
This is Davis’s particular Matsue-and-Teoyo legend. Its connection with the Noh play is the anthology’s framing, not a claim that the prose story is a complete synopsis of that play. This entry follows Davis’s historical English retelling, rather than establishing a universal Japanese belief or an independently verified event.
Original passages
Source 1
Myths and Legends of Japan
The Pine-tree LoversOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: F. Hadland Davis, Myths & Legends of Japan (London: George G. Harrap, 1912), printed p. 186
Actual scanned prose page and complete named story inspected in the public Reader. Printed pagination checked visually; plate-placement numbers are not used as prose citations.
- Edition
- IMJ-0052-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0052-E001-P0207
- Original scan leaf
- 232
- Recorded leaf number
- 232
- Current Reader position
- 206
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Myths and Legends of Japan
little daughter MatsueOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: F. Hadland Davis, Myths & Legends of Japan (London: George G. Harrap, 1912), printed p. 187
Actual scanned prose page and complete named story inspected in the public Reader. Printed pagination checked visually; plate-placement numbers are not used as prose citations.
- Edition
- IMJ-0052-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0052-E001-P0208
- Original scan leaf
- 233
- Recorded leaf number
- 233
- Current Reader position
- 207
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 3
Myths and Legends of Japan
her dress and sash of pine-needlesOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: F. Hadland Davis, Myths & Legends of Japan (London: George G. Harrap, 1912), printed p. 188
Actual scanned prose page and complete named story inspected in the public Reader. Printed pagination checked visually; plate-placement numbers are not used as prose citations.
- Edition
- IMJ-0052-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0052-E001-P0209
- Original scan leaf
- 234
- Recorded leaf number
- 234
- Current Reader position
- 208
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 4
Myths and Legends of Japan
wander round the pine-treeOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: F. Hadland Davis, Myths & Legends of Japan (London: George G. Harrap, 1912), printed p. 189
Actual scanned prose page and complete named story inspected in the public Reader. Printed pagination checked visually; plate-placement numbers are not used as prose citations.
- Edition
- IMJ-0052-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0052-E001-P0211
- Original scan leaf
- 237
- Recorded leaf number
- 237
- Current Reader position
- 210
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Continue exploring
Kikuo and the Chrysanthemum Spirits
Flowers tended in memory of an exiled lord appear as children to the dying gardener in Davis’s chrysanthemum legend.
Same subject and traditionThe Violet Well
A rescue at a flower-covered well becomes a tragic love story shaped by social exclusion in Davis’s anthology.