THE STORY OF THE AGED MOTHER

A Japanese Folklore
Mother knows best.
A mothers love is priceless and can never be compared to other things that a child could have. Through
experiences she gained wisdom and out of it she will always guide her loved ones and give them the best
of her soft heart.
The story of the Aged Mother is a folklore from Japan, it tells a story about the care and wisdom of a
mother to his son, their situation and the sons love and tender reverence. The story took place at
Shinano, in the foot of a mountain where the mother and her son who is the protagonist, lived. The mother
was already old and widowed while his son was a poor farmer. The son was a reflection of a very good
child having a very loving mother. The antagonist in the story was the ruler who boasted his power and
ordered unreasonable things. The conflicts were divided into separate related parts resulting to an
episodic plot. It started from the first part of the story when the antagonist ordered to kill the elderly. It is a
man vs. man conflict as seen throughout the story where the tension lies between the son and the ruler.

The ruler ordered to kill all the aged people in the province. The son loved his
mother so much and so upon hearing the proclamation he was filled with
sorrow and hopeless sighs. He doesnt want his mother to die in the hands of
the bad guys and so though it was very painful for him, he had to carry his
mother to the mountain called the mountain of the Abandoning of the Aged
and leave her there. The trail to the mountain was steep and puzzling. They
reached the summit and there they bid farewell. The mother warned his son
about the dangers in going down and said that he should follow the path were
he can see piles of twigs to avoid being lost.
Let not thine eyes be blind, my son The mountain road is full of danger.
Look carefully and follow the path which holds the piles of twigs. They will
guide thee to the familiar way farther down- These were the lines that were

delivered by the aged mother to her son. These only show the perfect love of
the mother.
But the son did not abandon his mother; he cried and carried her mother
again. He hid his mother in beneath the kitchen floor, a closet inside their
house. After some days, the ruler through his heralds announced to the
people that his subjected people should present him a rope of ashes. No one
could really make a rope of ashes and in great stress the son told his mother
about it and the mother was able to come up with an idea. She told her son to
make a rope of twisted straw and stretched it upon a row of flat stones and
burn it on a windless night. In this part of the story the wisdom of the mother
was shown. The protagonist managed to made one and so the ruler was
impressed. Because of what the son did, the ruler changed his mind and from
that time he knew the importance of the elders in the society, leaving the
saying, With the crown of snow, there comes wisdom!
Mainly the theme of the story evolves in two subjects; the love of family
member to each one specially the mothers love and the wisdom that she has
gain through decades of experiences. Realism was used as a literary trend
because characters are real people and the setting is familiar and current. It
contains a lesson and the language used was not too deep to understand.
In the first part of the story the strong and unconditional love of a mother was
reflected and the sons concern to her as a mother. That though they are
incomplete and they faced hardships in life, still they managed to support each
other and stay together.