The One Inch Boy

Ikeda :You might know the Japanese children story of The One-inch Boy. He wanted to be big. He wanted to be strong. He wanted to impress the princess. When the demon attacked the princess, the one-inch boy fought with all his might, holding off the demon with his sword made from a needle and protecting the princess. He was ready to defend her to the death. But the demon just picked him up and swallowed him.

Shiratsuchi: But the demon just picked him up and swallowed him.

Ikeda: But still the one-inch boy didn't give up. He ran around the demon's stomach, sticking him with his needle.

Shiratsuchi: The demon started screaming in pain, spat the one-inch boy out, and ran away in terror.

Ikeda: And the demon left behind his famous magic mallet. The mallet made wishes come true. The princess asked the one-inch boy what his wish was and swung the mallet for him. Having wished to be big, the one-inch boy immediately grew to full size. He and the princess later married.Now let us ask ourselves a few questions. What does the demon symbolize? How about the magic mallet? And who is the one-inch boy?

Maekawa: Well, he's certainly not just a short person.

Ikeda: That's right. I think he stands for a person bothered by a sense of inferiority, a person who doesn't think very highly of himself. The demon represents the harsh reality bearing down on the person, or perhaps the person's feeling of inferiority itself.

Maekawa: That means that the one-inch boy's battle against the demon is his conquest of his own feeling of inferiority!

Ikeda: Some psychologists have suggested as much. The one-inch boy didn't just sit there wallowing in self-pity, he fought the demon with all his might and as soon as he did that, the demon ran away, and the one-inch boy's wish to be big came true.

The magic mallet is representative of one's own strength of will, the determination not to give up, to go on fighting. If you use that force of will, you can achieve anything. You can become a big, big person.To tell the truth, it's actually quite a luxury to have time to compare yourself to others and suffer feelings of inferiority or superiority. In a life and death situation, you don't have time for any of that. You just have to put all of your energy into surviving. At such times, a person's spirit, a person's life, brings forth incredible power.

Shiratsuchi: Life force is the magic mallet, then.

Ikeda:You all have your own magic mallet. You're the one who decides if you're going to use it or not.If you have the time and energy to sit around fretting and worrying about your supposed faults, it would be far better to spend that time and energy doing things you can do or are good at. In other words, working on realizing your full potential.

Those who can do that are the true victors. They won't have feelings of inferiority or superiority. They won't envy others or look down on them. They will be warm and friendly to everyone they come into contact with. They are able to live a life as clear and bright as the blue skies.n other words, working on realizing your full potential.