You just sliced the peach.

If I were asked, "If you could experience a different life for just one week, who would you want to be?" I would want to beMomotaro. And not just any Momotaro—not the samurai played by Hideki Takahashi, nor the one from the game where King Bombee follows you around, but the Momotaro from the folktale about a boy who was swimming in the river before he was even born and went on to energetically slay demons.

Momotaro was born from inside a peach in ancient times.

And that folktale raises many "whys" in the modern day.
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It is not out of a sense of justice to want to slay demons,

but out of a curiosity about whether kibi-dango (millet dumplings) are effective against demons.
They worked on the dog, monkey, and pheasant, but I haven't tried them on a demon.

If they are effective, perhaps that story wasn't about demon slaying, but a story that was resolved by eating a full-course meal in a top-floor suite of a luxury hotel. It might not have been about punching, kicking, or slashing. To begin with, are demons really the bad guys? In every era, only the victors tell the story.
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Also, I want to see what happened to the peach afterward.

Was it kept carefully like an umbilical cord? Or was the peach born from a mutation treated like oversized municipal waste and thrown away? I want to see the fate of the peach.
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I also want to know if Momotaro could compete on the world stage.

"Japan's Number One Momotaro"

But the world has heroes who defeated dragons and demigods who brawled with gods. The Avengers are cool, too.

Could he have beaten Abe no Seimei? Could he beat Kitaro?
How would he compare to all the world's feats of strength?
I wonder what Momotaro's world ranking would be.

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And the biggest mystery.

"The manufacturing method of kibi-dango"
Is that really just a dumpling?

Is it an item created for brainwashing?
Or is it a token of friendship?
Or perhaps it is a dangerous item that would be immediately regulated in the modern day; there are too many things I am curious about. I would like to see the ingredient list.
This is no time to be slaying demons.

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And when I return safely from Onigashima, I want to say one thing to the old man.

"You just sliced the peach, didn't you?"

The old man would surely start saying,


"Back in my day..."
If he did, I think I would cut him off and retort,

"Now is not the time for that story."
I was the one who fought at the risk of my life.


The dog, the monkey, and the pheasant all did their best. The old woman found the peach, raised me, and made the magical item, the kibi-dango.
Only the old man's contribution is strange.

He sliced right past Momotaro's body, and said, "Phew, that was close." That's all he did.
However, let me think about it calmly for a moment.

If the old man hadn't sliced the peach, Momotaro wouldn't have been born. It's a matter of hindsight, but since Momotaro was also nearly sliced along with the peach, I suspect he wouldn't have survived.
There would be no demon slaying.

Perhaps there would have been no thought of making kibi-dango. The dog, monkey, and pheasant wouldn't have gathered.
Thinking about it that way, that one sword stroke was the beginning of everything.

Though that is just hindsight.



So, at the point where he sliced the peach and Momotaro was safely born, that might have already been "happily ever after."

Thinking about it that way, after all, as a result, perhaps the old man does have a little bit of credit.


Just a little. Really just a little.



It's a bit early, but I think I'll give the old man some kibi-dango as a gift. Father's Day is coming up soon.

Thank you for reading again today.

Well then, see you in the next article.
Have a wonderful day.