My Lord Bag of Rice
The first element of this story that caught my attention was the Dragon King of the Lake himself, a character that can shift between the shapes of a man and a serpent-dragon. While dragons and shape-shifting are always fun, I think the thing that really interests me about him is the fact that even when he's in his human shape, the Dragon King still has a few qualities that should belong to a dragon, not to a man, and it might be interesting to see how the two different sides of him cross over and interact.
Of course, it was also interesting when he asked the protagonist to take on his mortal enemy for him. Probably because mortal enemies are usually a very personal thing, and I tend to think of both sides of that relationship kind of needing one to define and give meaning to the other—Batman versus the Joker, for example, or Superman versus Lex Luthor. So I find it interesting that the Dragon King is sort of pawning out his villain to this random, brave passerby he's just met. I might end up using that idea in a more modern interpretation, about the shady guy you go to when you need somebody to take care of your nemesis but you don't want to do the dirty work yourself, and you don't want word getting out about it, either.
My Lord Bag of Rice (Part II)
The most interesting aspect of this one was definitely the fact the horrifying, seemingly indestructible monster was actually vulnerable to human saliva. I wouldn't quite go that route if I were to do a story inspired by this one, but I do like the idea of something entirely human and natural to us being something that can take monsters out easily. If anything, I would probably use human blood, because I like the idea of a character drawing her own blood at the beginning of a fight in order to win, instead of losing blood at the end of a fight to signal defeat.
The Adventures of Kintaro, The Golden Boy
I usually don't enjoy the stories about the animals as much, so in this story, the one thing that grabbed my attention was the way Kintaro and his mother had to leave behind their cushy life and go live in the mountains. The whole thing happened because Kintaro's father was killed by some enemies who used to be friends, and his mother feared that those enemies would come for them, too, so they ran. I think something like that would fit perfectly in a crime story, so that's probably the direction I would take my assignment in: the remains of a family on the run from the dad's old crime ring buddies, who ended up offing him when he double-crossed the group. Or maybe it's the protagonist who did the double-crossing, and now he's got to evade the group and take care of the business he undertook when he crossed the group in the first place.
I'm not quite sure what I would do with it yet, but based on the way Kintaro's friends took turns at wrestling matches, my story for this one would definitely have to involve some sort of underground fighting ring.
In this last section of the story, Kintaro's mom explains that part of the reason she's hidden him away in the mountains all these years is because of his unnatural strength—when he was young, he hurt everyone around him without realizing it. If I were to write a piece inspired by that, either the protagonist would have a deadly power set and have to keep away from others, or her younger sibling would, and she would be the one taking care of both of them, bearing that burden. If it's been that way for years and the sibling is old enough, I'm sure some resentment would boil to the surface.
With this one, my first instinct would be to tell a story about two or three kids trying to find a cure for death in order to save a dying friend or family member—maybe one of them reveals, towards the end, that she's dying, too.
Realistically, though, the idea of a notorious robber leading a band of two hundred followers is much more my style, and I think it could be loads of fun to do something with that.
In this section, the protagonist is told how to find the country of Perpetual Life, and it initially seems like that's going to be a good thing. But I can't help but wonder if a place like that would be so great after all. I think I'd like to use this concept, but look at it as more of a grungy, run-down dystopian story than a utopia.
Bibliography: Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki. Source: Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook.
Image Credit: "Black and White Sport Boxer." Source: Pexels.
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