Foundlings (children or infants who are abandoned by their parents, or sometimes taken from their parents) are prevelent in fairy tales, nursery rhymes, Greek/Roman mythology, many cultural legends and folklore, religious stories, pop culture, literature, etc. (Ex: Hansel & Gretel, Superman / Clark Kent, Moses, Oedipus, etc)
What are some famous or well known examples of characters or stories in Japanese mythology, legends, classic literature, pop culture, children’s stories or songs, etc, that involve foundlings?
2 comments
There are many characters with no (biological) parents in Japanese stories, but I cannot come up with the example for foundling.
In children’s stories, Momo taro, Issun boshi, Kakguya hime, the main characters’ biological parents are unknown(except maybe Kakguya hime). They all appears in magical ways to childless old couples.
In pop culture, Castle in the Sky, main characters don’t have parents but it’s not due to foundling.
Princess Mononoke. There is no official explanation for how San came to be raised by wolves.
I wonder how it’s like in other Asian countries.
Also I wonder in the stories with foundlings, why is the foundling important.
On top of the ‘discovered’ children in TallNeighbourhood’s reply, a number of heroes of samurai lineage were placed with other families. Not so much taken but hidden from enemies.
Good examples are Minamoto Yoshitsune and his brother Yoritomo; they were both raised in at least partial secrecy and pursued their birthrights later. Yoshitsune was raised in a monastery while Yoritomo was taken in by the Hojo clan.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamoto_no_Yoshitsune