Sentaro

Sentaro was the main character in the Japanese fairy tale The Land of Perpetual Life.

He sought to live forever, but found upon experiencing immortality in the Land of Perpetual Life that he soon longed for death. (PROSE: Trace Memory)

Fictography

Dreaming of immortality

Following the death of his father, Sentaro inherited all of his fortunes.

At the age of 33, Sentaro thought of death and sickness and the thoughts made him sad. Having heard stories of people who lived much longer lives, as well as the story of the Chinese emperor, Shin-no-Shiko, and his search for the hermits and their Elixir of Life, Sentaro set out to find the hermits so that he might drink from the water of perpetual life.

He travelled to Mount Fuji, but found no hermits there. All that remained was a shrine to Jofuku. Sentaro prayed at the shrine for seven days, pleading for Jofuku to show him the way to the hermits and their elixir. (PROSE: Trace Memory)

The Land of Perpetual Life

On the night of the seventh day, a door opened and the spirit of Jofuku appeared. The spirit sent him to the Land of Perpetual Life, placing in his hand an origami crane which would carry him there.

Sentaro found the people there were prosperous and wealthy. It was true that nobody died or got sick there, so he settled at a hotel in one of the villages. The owner of the hotel spoke with the governor of the island and arranged for Sentaro to be given a house of his own so that he could live forever in the Land of Perpetual Life.

However, after many years Sentaro realised that living forever was not as enjoyable as he thought it would be. He prayed to Jofuku to take him away. The origami crane carried him away from the island, towards Japan, but flew into a storm. The paper crumpled and they fell into the sea.

Sentaro cried out to Jofuku to save him, but attracted the attention of a shark, which grew nearer the more he fought. (PROSE: Trace Memory)

Reawakening

Sentaro awoke and found himself lying at Jofuku's shrine on Mount Fuji, his adventures in the Land of Perpetual Life nothing but a dream. A messenger held Sentaro's hand and said that Jofuku had shown him the dream so that he would now fear both eternal life and death, and live how a normal man lived.

Sentaro returned home and lived a long life. As an old man, he passed through the gates of death to the Land of Horaizan, where he lived happily ever after. (PROSE: Trace Memory)

Behind the scenes

Sentaro is a character from the real world Japanese fairy tale The Story of the Man Who Did Not Wish to Die, upon which The Land of Perpetual Life is based.