Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: 兎婿, Rabbit Son-in-Law, Rabbit Bridegroom
Category: Rabbit
The Myth
Usagimuko, meaning “rabbit son-in-law,” is a figure in Japanese folktales found across regions from Tōhoku to Kantō. The stories follow a marriage between a rabbit and a human woman, usually arranged after the rabbit helps an old man with agricultural work. In exchange for its assistance, the rabbit demands marriage to one of the man’s daughters. Although the older daughters refuse, the youngest often agrees, only to use her cleverness to escape the unwanted marriage and defeat the rabbit. The tale resembles the broader Japanese story type of the monkey son-in-law.
In a version from Mutsu City, Aomori Prefecture, an old man is weeding his bean field when a rabbit offers to help. Grateful for its work, the old man promises that the rabbit may marry one of his three daughters. When the man later regrets his promise and becomes ill with worry, his eldest and second daughters refuse to marry an animal, but the youngest agrees. She asks her grandfather to make a mortar and carries it on the rabbit’s back when it comes to take her into the mountains. During cherry-blossom season, she persuades the rabbit to climb a tree beside a river to collect branches as a gift for her grandfather. With the heavy mortar still on its back, the rabbit climbs high into the tree, breaks a branch, and falls into the river. Unable to escape, it dies, and the youngest daughter returns home to continue caring for her parents.
A similar story was recorded in Niihari Village, Tone District, Gunma Prefecture. There, a rabbit helps an old man digging carrots and demands marriage to his daughter in return for pulling up a long carrot. The eldest daughter rejects the rabbit because of its long ears, while the second also refuses. The youngest becomes its bride and is taken into the mountains. When she later prepares to return home, she carries a heavy stone millstone filled with rice cakes on the rabbit’s back. She then persuades the rabbit to climb a cherry tree to gather branches. The rabbit breaks a branch and falls into the river, where the weight of the millstone prevents it from escaping. In both versions, the youngest daughter outwits the rabbit and returns safely to her family.
Sources
“Usagimuko.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1084241464.html