Ranka or Lankeshan ji, or Rotten Axe Handle in English, is a Chinese legend similar to that of Rip Van Winkle

Rip Van Winkle

"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving published in 1819, as well as the name of the story's fictional protagonist. Written while Irving was living in Birmingham, England, it was part of a collection entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon...

, although it predates it by at least a 1000 years. The exact date of origin of the legend is unknown. Its earliest known literary reference is a poem written in 900 by the Japanese poet and court official Ki no Tomonori

Ki no Tomonori

Ki no Tomonori was an early Heian waka poet of the court, a member of the sanjūrokkasen or Thirty-six Poetry Immortals. He was a compiler of the Kokin Wakashū, though he certainly did not see it to completion as the anthology includes a eulogy to him composed by Ki no Tsurayuki, his colleague in...

 upon returning to Japan from China:
furusato wa

mishi goto mo arazu

ono no e no

kuchishi tokoro zo

koishikarikeru


Here in my hometown

things are not as I knew them.

How I long to be

in the place where the axe shaft

moldered away into dust.

The Legend

The legend features a woodcutter, Wang Chih, and his encounter with the two immortals

Immortality

Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...

 in the mountains.

Wang Chih was a hardy young fellow who used to venture deep into the mountains to find suitable wood for his axe. One day he went farther than usual and became lost. He wandered about for a while and eventually came upon two strange old men who were playing Go

Go (board game)

Go , is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago...

, their board resting on a rock between them. Wang Chih was fascinated. He put down his axe and began to watch. One of the players gave him something like a date to chew on, so that he felt neither hunger nor thirst. As he continued to watch he fell into a trance for what seemed like an hour or two. When he awoke, however, the two old men were no longer there. He found that his axe handle had rotted to dust and he had grown a long beard. When he returned to his native village he discovered that his family had disappeared and that no one even remembered his name.

See also

• Chinese mythology in popular culture
  Chinese mythology in popular culture
  Elements of Chinese mythology have appeared many times in popular culture.- Dragon turtle :*Bowser, the arch-nemesis of Mario in the Super Mario Bros. video game franchise, is a well known dragon turtle....
  
  
• Go
  Go (board game)
  Go , is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago...
  
  
• History of Go
  History of Go
  The game of Go originated in China in ancient times; by the 4th century BC it was a worthy pastime for a gentleman, as described in the Analects of Confucius. It reached Korea by the 5th century, in the 7th century it had reached Japan...
  
  
• Chinese mythology
  Chinese mythology
  Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...