by How to Fool a Cat- Japanese Folktales for Children (retail) (epub)
Carrot and Daikon and Burdock Ninjin to Daikon to Gobo KY 1.027
COMMENT FROM FUJITA-SAN: This story is popular in Japanese picture books, but many recent books say that Burdock was “playing” in mud. When I was a child, people said that Burdock went back to working in the field. Perhaps the publishers think it’s easier for children to understand playing? I think “working in the field” is suitable for this vegetable which gives a subtle earthy taste to stews and soups.
One Bean Make a Thousand Beans Hitotsubu wa sentsubu KY 1.054 Ikeda 176 part I only.
COMMENT FROM FUJITA-SAN: This story resembles the first half of Kachi Kachi Yama, a story that continues with even more mayhem. But I heard it from Uncle Kuni as an independent story.
Farmer’s song in Japanese:
HiTO-tsubu wa SEN-tsubu ni NA-re. [One bean become a thousand beans.]
FuTA-tsubu wa MANN-tsubu ni NA-re. [Two beans become ten thousand beans.]
Tanuki’s song in Japanese:
HiTO-tsubu wa hiTO-tsubu no MA- ma yo. [One bean is one bean.]
Kaze ga FUItara, [If the wind blows,]
MOtonashi DAN. [the bean will be spoiled.]
FuTA-tsubu wa fuTA-tsubu no MA- mayo. [Two beans are two beans.]
KArasu hoJIkurya, [If the crows eat them,]
MOtonashi DAN. [the beans will be spoiled.]
Bragging Rabbit Usagi Mukashi KY 4.008
VILLAGE PEOPLE
Mole, Long Ago Mogura Mukashi/Nezumi Joodo KY 2.011, Ikeda 480C
COMMENT FROM FUJITA-SAN: Stories with two contrasting couples are common. However, I don’t use terms like “good Jisama” and “bad Jisama” in my storytelling. In general, good couples have characteristics as follows: they care for small animals, do not waste things, are hard-working not greedy, and they are good at singing and dancing. Bad couples have opposite characteristics but try to imitate the good couples and fail. I do not need to use the term “bad” Basama because in the old days, wives should not let the fire go out in their kitchen. So when I say that the neighbor lady comes to borrow a light, it means that she is lazy.
A Name for the Cat Neko-no Namae KY 2.005, parallel to Ikeda 2031
COMMENT FROM FUJITA-SAN: Nya-u (Meow) sounds like nyau (it is suitable) in Japanese. The kitten is not just meowing but also agreeing to the new names. Although the husband declared the cat’s names, it was the wife who made the decisions. Don’t you think this arrangement is suitable?
This story is similar to the well-known Nezumi no Yomeiri (Daughter Mouse’s Wedding).
NOTE FROM FRAN: A Vietnamese story, about a king who wanted his cat to have a most powerful name, follows the same sequence as this tale. In “Daughter Mouse’s Wedding” the sequence ends with Mouse, but children often point out that a Cat would be more powerful.
Some of this “strongest of all” sequence also appears in “The Stone Cutter.”
It is Suitable Nyau KY 2.008
COMMENT FROM FUJITA-SAN: When I heard this story, although I was still a child, I wondered about family order. Why did the father ask Jisama and Basama for their opinion before asking the mother? In my storytelling, I gave this order: Jisama, Basama, Mother, Brother (uncle) and Son. But in the old days, if the son were the elder brother he would have been asked before his mother. So please feel free to adjust the order according to your region and tradition.
Once, I had an opportunity to tell this story in America to students of beginning Japanese. I told it slowly in standard Japanese. I was afraid they might not be able to enjoy the pun on “nyau.” In the beginning of the story, I explained that cats’ meowing in Japanese has the same sound as “suitable.”
I didn’t use an interpreter, but students understood the story. When I said, “The mother replied,” the students said, “Nyau wa nai.” When I said, “The uncle replied,” they said, “Nyau wa nai.” Finally, when I said, “The cat said,” they loudly said “Nya-u!” and they seemed to have enjoyed the story.
Number Petition Kazu no Tanganshiyo KY 3.073, Ikeda 1360C part II only
NOTE FROM FRAN: We are indebted to Makiko Ishibashi for her skillful translation of the number “reading” into appropriate English puns. The Japanese number puns literally said, “It is very bitter one by one, to tell you. We suffer three continuous years of crop failure. It’s hard to endure. Five kinds of grains, we haven’t harvested so well. We pawn. We live in shame. We seldom eat. All the ten villages are in trouble. Please have mercy and reduce our tax.”
A literal translation of the governor’s reply is: “Ten villages. You said you seldom eat. You are rotten, to pawn your belongings without shame. You take your duty too lightly. It deserves death. But three generations of merciful governors forgive you even though they hate what you did. For once and all, move out, quickly.”
88th Birthday Souvenir Suehiro KY 4.078
A Rich Man’s Camellias Tsubaki Choja KY 5.062
A Man Who Couldn’t Become Poor Bimbo ni Nare Nakatta Otoko KY 5.070
FOOLISH SON (Bakka Musuko)
Ikeda calls these “Foolish Son/Bridegroom Cycle”
COMMENT FROM FUJITA-SAN: I think stories like this are true education. We learn it without knowing it, rather than “being taught.” In that sense, we can learn a great deal about how to live from stories, not only about a foolish son, but also many other folktales. We learn as we enjoy the stories, without knowing it. For me, folktales were the best textbooks on life.
This kind of story taught people to judge what they were told to do, analyzing the circumstances around them. It was a lesson in reading others’ minds.
These days, we don’t expect people to read our minds. So we teach children to ask clearly what they want for what.
I don’t know which education is better.
Persimmon guard Kaki-no Mihariban KY 2.052
Which is Farther? Docchiga Toi KY 6.018A
Carrying a Rice Bag Katasu o Katsugu KY 6.115
Grilling Fish Sakana yaki KY 6.121
Where the Crow Is Karasu no Iru Tokoro KY 5.082
A Happy Thing Ureshii Koto KY 5.083
TRICKSTERS
How to Fool a Cat Horimono Shoubu KY 4.089
COMMENT FROM FUJITA-SAN: I heard this story from Uncle Kuni. But many Japanese tellers told this story and many Rakugoka (traditional comic reciters) still tell this old time story.
The Price of a Smell Nioi no nedan KY 3.077
NOTE FROM FRAN: Worldwide there are many other versions of “The Theft of Smell” (motif J1172.20.1)—all involving a wise judge. In one, a baker wants to beat the hungry dog that enjoyed the smell of his bread, but the judge orders him to beat its shadow. The Fukushima version, however, is the only one I know in which the traveler has no need of a judge.
Fox and Zatobo-sama Kitsune to Satobou-sama KY 4.021, Ikeda 176X parts I & II only
TANUKI
Clouded Moon Kumo no Kakatta Tsuki KY 4.011
A Tanuki Drum Tanuki no Taiko KY 4.018, Ikeda 325
Zuiten and Tanuki Zuiten-san KY 2.093, Ikeda 66D
COMMENT FROM FUJITA-SAN: Syojoji Temple is famous for its Tanuki-bayashi (tanuki folktales). It seems that Tanuki often visits Buddhist temples, turning itself into a priest or apprentice—or a tea kettle.
PRIESTS, MONKS, AND APPRENTICES
Parting Advice Kotoba-no Senbetsu KY 2.097
Camphor Tree Kusunoki KY 5.025; some points in common with Ikeda 326A
Sentoku KY 7.109
The Boy Who Drew Cats Eneko to Kosousama KY 3.028, Ikeda 178F
NOTE FROM FRAN: We have many English versions of “The Boy Who Painted Cats” but they all seem to be based on Lafcadio Hearn’s retelling (The boy who drew cats. Japanese fairy tale series 23. Tokyo: T. Hasegawa, 1898). They all say that the apprentice painted cats on the walls of the abandoned temple, then slept in the smallest space he could find as advised by his teacher (a motif found in several other stories in this collection). After his pictures killed the monster rat, he went on to become an artist. I th
ink we westerners like the idea that he “followed his bliss” into a career in art.
This version from the Fukushima countryside, however, focuses on the boy’s gratitude and compassion for the cats that saved him. He found a renewed calling to Buddhism and served the villagers.
KANNON
Wealth from a Straw Warashibe Choja KY 7.032, Ikeda 842A
The Strength of a Thousand Men Kannon-sama to Sennin Riki KY 5.119
MANY GODS
Twelve Animal Years Jyunishi no Hanashi KY 1.030 Ikeda 174A in part
COMMENT FROM FUJITA-SAN: For some of us these days, the only time we think of Jyunishi (cycle of twelve animal years) might be when we write New Year’s Greeting Cards. But in the old days, Jyunishi played an important role in our everyday life. For example, we used it for telling time. Midnight was called Mouse. After two a.m. it was the Hour of the Ox—the time when creepy, supernatural things happen. Then Tiger, and so on. Noon was the time of Horse. Also we used it for telling directions, north being Mouse, and south Horse.
We still use Jyunishi in the calendar. Every year has its animal, Mouse, Ox, Tiger and so on. Also, every day has the animal of the day, Mouse, Ox, Tiger, and so on.
Eto is the combination of Jyunishi and Jyuto (the five basic elements of the world: Wood, Fire, Earth, Gold, and Water). We can make sixty-combinations with Jyunishi and Jyuto, such as Wood of Mouse, Wood of Ox, Fire of Tiger, and so on. The person who is born in the year Wood of Mouse will meet his second Wood of Mouse year when he becomes sixty-one years old, and it is a big event for the person, because it means that the person has completed the whole calendar.
NOTE FROM FRAN: In this tradition, people who were born with certain combinations of Jyunishi and Jyuto were expected to be very compatible with people who were born with certain other combinations—and very incompatible with still other combinations. When Mrs. Fujita’s younger daughter married into a very traditional family, a specialist was consulted to check their compatibility and to select the calendar day that would be most propitious for the wedding. They are very happily married!
Picture books, and placemats in Asian restaurants, often say Rat instead of Mouse. Nezumi can be translated either way, although I’m sure Japanese zoologists make a distinction. Likewise, ushi covers Ox, Cow, Bull, Steer, Heifer. Japanese cattlemen surely have specific terms, but the story just says ushi.
How God of Happiness Turned to God of Poverty Bimbou-gami KY 6.201, Ikeda
COMMENT FROM FUJITA-SAN: I heard many stories of God of Poverty. Come to think of it, I didn’t hear stories of God of Happiness. But we worshipped God of Happiness in our life.
Wolf’s Eyebrow Ookami no Mayuge KY 7.059, Ikeda 169
COMMENT FROM FUJITA-SAN: In some versions, Jisama becomes rich, thanks to the eyebrow hair. In other versions, he finds and marries a real human girl. But Toshiko Endo just told me this much.
CREEPY TALES
Adzuki Beans Adzuki-togi KY 3.042
Snoring Tree Root Neagari no Matsu KY 7.079
Carry Me on Your Back! Obake KY 7.152. Ikeda 550B
Old Man of the Mountain Satori KY 7.157. Ikeda 180
Old House Leaking Furuyanomuru KY 5.017. Ikeda 177 parts I & II only
GAMES
Nose, Nose Hana hana KY 7.196
Bottomless Tea Pot Cha-tsu bo KY 7.190
NOTE FROM FRAN: This is my English version of the original Japanese game.
One And One Ichi to Ichi
NOTE FROM FRAN: This is my translation of a game I saw Fujita-san play.
CONTRIBUTORS
Hiroko Fujita is a traditional ohanashi obaasan (storytelling grandma). She spent her childhood in the rural mountain town of Miharu in Fukushima Prefecture, where she heard hundreds of ancient folktales from village elders. A graduate of Japan Women’s University who was an early childhood education for five decades, she now travels Japan, teaching young mothers the old tales. The author of thirty-one books in Japanese, she lives in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan.
Fran Stallings, a professional storyteller based in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, interpreted for Mrs. Fujita’s twelve storytelling tours of twenty-two American states, Japan and Singapore. Stallings edited and adapted English translations of Mrs. Fujita’s storytelling handbook Stories to Play With (August House, 1999) and a collection of forty-seven tales known throughout Japan, Folktales from the Japanese Countryside (Libraries Unlimited, 2008). Stallings’ other publications include articles, stories, songs, and four CDs. Her academic training in biology informs her environmental work as “EarthTeller.”
In 2003, Fujita and Stallings received the National (U.S.) Storytelling Network’s International StoryBridge ORACLE Award for their work on both sides of the Pacific. They hope that these books will make Mrs. Fujita’s stories available to English-speaking story lovers everywhere.
Translator Makiko Ishibashi attended the University of Tokyo. She lived in St. Louis while her husband did postdoctoral work and their two sons attended American schools. Now their sons are grown, and she lives in Saitama, Japan, with her husband. Her current interest is in the ukiyoe (woodblock prints) of Hiroshige, and Edo (the old name for Tokyo). She blogs bilingually at “A Hundred Views Of Edo”
If you have enjoyed the telling of—and discussion of—Japanese folktales for children by Fran Stallings, please take some time to visit:
www.franstallings.com
www.parkhurstbrothers.com
www.storynet.org
