Japanese Fairy Tales
Page 1
Prince Yamato Take bade his wife help him to attire himself like a woman.
Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
www.tuttlepublishing.com
© 1970 by Charles E. Tuttle Publishing Co., Inc.
All rights reserved
LCC Card No. 70-109415
ISBN 978-1-4629-0352-8 (ebook)
First edition, 1970
Printed in Singapore
Distributed by:
Japan
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To
Eleanor Marion-Crawford.
Dedicate this Book
To you and to the sweet child-friendship that you gave me in the days spent with you by the southern sea, when you used to listen with unfeigned pleasure to these fairy stories from far Japan. May they now remind you of my changeless love and remembrance.
Y.T.O.
Tokyo, 1903.
Table of Contents
PUBLISHER’S FOREWORD
9
PREFACE
11
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
13
MY LORD BAG OF RICE
17
THE TONGUE-CUT SPARROW
25
THE STORY OF URASHIMA TARO, THE FISHER LAD
37
THE FARMER AND THE BADGER
51
THE SHINANSHA, OR THE SOUTH POINTING CARRIAGE
60
THE ADVENTURES OF KINTARO, THE GOLDEN BOY
65
THE STORY OF PRINCESS HASE
76
THE STORY OF THE MAN WHO DID NOT WISH TO DIE
87
THE BAMBOO-CUTTER AND THE MOON-CHILD
96
THE MIRROR OF MATSUYAMA
114
THE GOBLIN OF ADACHIGAHARA
131
THE SAGACIOUS MONKEY AND THE BOAR
138
THE HAPPY HUNTER AND THE SKILFUL FISHER
142
THE STORY OF THE OLD MAN WHO MADE WITHERED TREES TO FLOWER
161
THE JELLY FISH AND THE MONKEY
171
THE QUARREL OF THE MONKEY AND THE CRAB
182
THE WHITE HARE AND THE CROCODILES
192
THE STORY OF PRINCE YAMATO TAKE
200
MOMOTARO, OR THE STORY OF THE SON OF A PEACH
216
THE OGRE OF RASHOMON
230
HOW AN OLD MAN LOST HIS WEN
238
THE STONES OF FIVE COLOURS AND THE EMPRESS JOKWA .
246
Publisher’s Foreword
FAIRY tales never go out of style; they are the stuff of dreams and life and imagination, immortalized in the human spirit.
These beautiful legends and tales of old Japan were written for the children of the West, and have been translated from the modern version by Sadanami Sanjin. They are not literal translations, although the Japanese story and all quaint Japanese expressions have been faithfully preserved. In a few instances, to enhance interest and enjoyment, the compiler has used incidents from other versions.
The quaint Japanese expressions have been superbly matched by the quaint but evocative and humanly stirring illustrations by Kakuzo Fujiyama, an artist who lived in Tokyo. There are 66 pictures for the 22 tales, an average of three for each tale.
The tales are about commoners and kings; castles and fairy-lands; good old folks and bad old folks; princesses and warriors; animals, birds, the sky and sea, and the illimitable realms of the imagination.
The stories are the old favorites, such as “Momotaro, or the Story of the Son of a Peach,” and “The Story of Urashima Taro, the Fisher Lad”—and many of the lesser known ones such as “The Stones of Five Colours and the Empress Jokwa.”
All will have wide appeal to children whose minds and imaginations transcend racial barriers. The “twain shall meet” through the medium of these delightful magic carpets. This book was originally published by Archibold Constable & Co., Ltd., Westminster.
Preface
THIS collection of Japanese fairy tales is the outcome of a sugges-tion made to me indirectly through a friend by Mr. Andrew Lang.
They have been translated from the modern version written by Sadanami Sanjin. These stories are not literal translations, and though the Japanese story and all quaint Japanese expressions have been faithfully preserved, they have been told more with the view to interest young readers of the West than the technical student of folk-lore.
Grateful acknowledgment is due to Mr. Y. Yasuoka, Miss Fusa Okamoto, my brother Nobumori Ozaki, Dr. Yoshihiro Takaki, and Miss Kameko Yamao, who have helped me with translations.
The story which I have named “The Story of the Man who did not Wish to Die” is taken from a little book written a hundred years ago by one Shinsui Tamenaga. It is named Chosei Furo, or “Longevity.” “The Bamboo-cutter and the Moon-child” is taken from the classic “Taketari Monogatari,” and is not classed by the Japanese among their fairy tales, though it really belongs to this class of literature.
The pictures were drawn by Mr. Kakuzo Fujiyama, a Tokyo artist.
In telling these stories in English I have followed my fancy in adding such touches of local colour or description as they seemed to need or as pleased me, and in one or two instances I have gathered in an incident from another version. At all times, among my friends, both young and old, English or American, I have always found eager listeners to the beautiful legends and fairy tales of Japan, and in telling them I have also found that they were
still unknown to the vast majority, and this has encouraged me to write them for the children of the West.
Y. T. O.
TOKYO, 1903.
List of Illustrations
Page
PRINCE YAMATO TAKE BADE HIS WIFE HELP HIM ATTIRE HIMSELF LIKE A WOMAN
Frontispiece
PUTTING ASIDE ALL FEAR, HE WENT FORWARD DAUNTLESSLY
18
HIDESATO TOOK ANOTHER ARROW
21
THE PROCESSION
24
AND WITH THESE DREADFUL WORDS SHE DROVE THE BIRD AWAY
27
THE LADY SPARROW INTRODUCED ALL HER FAMILY
30
THE OLD WOMAN HAD NEVER BEEN SO FRIGHTENED IN HER LIFE
35
THE GATE OF SOME LARGE PALACE
42
URASHIMA TARO AND THE SEA KING’S DAUGHTER
45
A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE PURPLE CLOUD ROSE OUT OF THE BOX
49
THE FARMER’S WIFE POUNDING BARLEY
52
HE SET THE BUNDLE OF GRASS ON FIRE
56
HE RAISED HIS OAR AND STRUCK AT THE BADGER WITH ALL
HIS STRENGTH
58
HE THOUGHT AND PONDERED DEEPLY
61
HE MOUNTED THE DRAGON
63
THEN THE MONKEY AND THE HARE HOPPED OUT
67
THE KIND GENERAL GRADUALLY UNFOLDED HIS PLAN
72
LORD RAIKO ORDERED KINTARO TO THE RESCUE
74
HASE-HIME LISTENED IN AN ATTITUDE OF RESPECT
78
HER FATHER SENT FOR HER AND TOLD HER WHAT WAS REQUIRED OF HER
81
TAKEN BY SURPRISE, SHE COULD HARDLY REALISE THAT IT
WAS HER FATHER
84
THE CRANE FLEW AWAY, RIGHT OUT TO SEA
90
HE SCREAMED OUT TO JOFUKU TO COME AND RESCUE HIM
93
HE TOOK THE LITTLE CREATURE IN HIS HAND
97
THE SCREENS SLID OPEN, REVEALING THE PRINCESS
110
THEY ALL GAZED WITH TEARFUL EYES AT THE RECEDING PRINCESS.
112
THE WIFE GAZED INTO THE SHINING DISC
115
THEY WATCHED HIM AS HE WENT DOWN THE ROAD
116
“WHAT I HAVE BROUGHT YOU IS CALLED A MIRROR”
118
THE MOTHER ROUSED HERSELF, AND TOOK HER DAUGHTER’S HAND
121
IN THE ROUND MIRROR BEFORE HER SHE SAW HER MOTHER’S FACE
123
HE PRESSED THE OLD WOMAN TO LET HIM STAY, BUT SHE SEEMED VERY RELUCTANT
132
WHAT HE SAW FROZE THE BLOOD IN HIS VEINS
135
AFTER HIM RUSHED THE DREADFUL OLD HAG
136
THE MONKEY BEGAN HIS TALE OF WOE
139
THE MONKEY WAS RUNNING AFTER THE THIEF AS FAST AS HIS LEGS
WOULD CARRY HIM
140
THE HAPPY HUNTER IN VAIN BESOUGHT HIS BROTHER TO PARDON HIM
143
THE CUTTLEFISH OPENED THE TAI’S MOUTH
154
HE TOOK OUT THE JEWEL OF THE FLOOD TIDE
158
THE DEEPER HE DUG, THE MORE GOLD COINS DID THE OLD MAN FIND
162
THE WITHERED TREE AT ONCE BURST INTO FULL BLOOM
166
THE DAIMIO ORDERED HIS RETAINERS TO PUT THE IMPOSTOR IN PRISON
168
THE DRAGON KING BLAMED THE DOCTOR FOR NOT CURING THE QUEEN
173
“PLEASE DON’T GO SO FAST, OR I AM SURE I SHALL FALL OFF,” SAID THE MONKEY
177
THEY BEAT THE JELLY FISH TO A FLAT PULP
180
THE MONKEY PROPOSED THE EXCHANGE OF THE HARD PERSIMMON-SEED FOR THE CRAB’S NICE DUMPLING
183
THE MONKEY BEGAN TO PLUCK AND EAT AS FAST AS HE COULD
185
“IT WAS YOUR FATHER’S FAULT, NOT MINE,” GASPED THE UNREPENTANT MONKEY
190
SOME OF THE CROCODILES RAN AFTER THE HARE AND CAUGHT HIM
194
THIS MAN HAD A KIND HEART, AND LOOKED AT THE HARE VERY
PITYINGLY
196
WHEN THE PRINCESS HAD LOOKED AT THE KIND BORTHER’S FACE, SHE WENT STRAIGHT UP TO HIM
199
A DAGGER FLASHED BEFORE HIS EYES
205
A MONSTER SERPENT APPEARED
213
SHE SET TO WORK TO WASH THE CLOTHES
217
THE PEACH SPLIT IN TWO OF ITSELF
218
MOMOTARO RETURNED TRIUMPHANTLY HOME, TAKING WITH HIM THE DEVIL CHIEF AS HIS CAPTIVE
228
WATANABE FINDS THE ARM OF THE OGRE
232
SOMEONE WAS KNOCKING AT THE PORCH, ASKING FOR ADMITTANCE
235
IN THIS WAY THE OGRE ESCAPED WITH HIS ARM
237
THE DEMON TOOK THE GREAT LUMP FROM THE OLD MAN’S CHEEK
241
THE OLD MAN TOLD HIS NEIGHBOUR ALL THAT HAD HAPPENED
243
THERE WAS NOW A GREAT WEN ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HIS FACE AS ON THE
LEFT
244
THE EMPRESS JOKWA
247
HAKO LOOKED BACK, AND SAW EIKO UNSHEATHING A LARGE SWORD
248
EIKO VISITS THE FIRE KING
252
THE AMBASSADORS SET OUT IN THE MAGIC CHARIOTS
255
My Lord Bag of Rice
LONG, long ago there lived in Japan a brave warrior known to all as Tawara Toda, or “My Lord Bag of Rice.” His true name was Fujiwara Hidesato, and there is a very interesting story of how he came to change his name.