Dear Reader: In order to view all colored text and non-English text accurately, please ensure that the PUBLISHER DEFAULTS SETTING on your reading device is switched to ON. This will allow you to view all non-English characters and colored text in this book. —Tuttle Publishing
Tuttle is pleased to publish this new bilingual edition of A Treasury of Japanese Folktales. The stories and drawings in this book originally appeared in Old Tales of Japan. That book, originally published in 1953, remained in print for many years and was beloved by generations of children. This new edition features a Japanese text by Yumi Matsunari and Yumi Yamaguchi. We hope that this will help to introduce the book to a new generation of readers and serve as an inspiration for young learners of Japanese and English.
Comments about this book
The “Old Tales of Japan” translated by Mrs. Yasuda bring back many endearing memories of childhood to each and all of us in Japan. I hope that these tales we love may be shared and enjoyed by our little friends of other countries.
— Her Imperial Highness Princess Chichibu
Here are old Japanese tales translated and delightfully retold for English-speaking children by Mrs. Yasuda .... They will all find their way into the hearts of a new generation of children.
— Elizabeth Gray Vining, Former tutor to the Crown Prince of Japan
In these delightful folk stories as told by the gifted author Yuri Yasuda, there are revealed for our better understanding the old traditions and customs, the aspirations and innermost feelings of the Japanese.
— Dr. Francis B. Sayer, Former U. S. Undersecretary of State
These old tales of Japan, charmingly recounted, especially for children … are just as interesting and just as significant to grown ups .... I hope many children of other nations will read these well-told tales ....
— Mrs. Joseph C. Grew, Wife of former American Ambassador to Japan
These are charming tales, most skillfully rendered. I recommend them warmly to children of all ages and congratulate Mrs. Yasuda on her mastery of the English language, so gracefully displayed in this volume.
— Lady Gascoigne, Wife of former British Ambassador to Japan
When my niece, Mrs. Yasuda, told me of her plan to publish these stories, I was truly delighted, and encouraged her to complete the series. The book is fittingly illustrated by pictures destined to help the child grasp the true import of the stories.
— Count Makino, Former Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal to the Imperial Court of Japan
The tales told in this book … are now retold here by Mrs. Yasuda with exquisiteness .... They will be, I am sure, read by Western children with the same delight and thrill as by the children of this country.
— Shinzo Koizumi, Advisor for the Education of the Crown Prince of Japan
With her extraordinary command of English and great love of children, no one could have been better suited for the work than Mrs. Yasuda, and I know lovers of fairy tales all over the world … will welcome her contribution to their collection.
— Mrs. Takakichi Aso, Daughter of Mr. Shigeru Yoshida, former Prime Minister of Japan
Author’s preface
Children the world over love stories. In Japan too, countless children through the ages have lifted expectant faces to their elders to hear them tell of a boy born from a peach, or of a beautiful princess floating to the moon, or of a little sparrow, or of a cunning badger. In 1946, when I first chose to tell Japanese tales to children of foreign countries my sole desire was to help to form in a small way a rainbow of understanding between our children’s world to those of others. For I think fairy tales of all countries, though told in various ways, are always basically the same—-they differ only in customs and manners. I have retold these tales in my own way—just as they were told to me when I was a child—and I hope readers will be as happy as I was in the quaint land of old Japan.
It remains for me to express my gratitude to Josephine B. Vaughan and Dorothy W. Phillips for their kind help. Mrs. Vaughan has written several books on Japan. Both have great sympathy with the Japanese. Their revision has been invaluable to me. The faults that remain are my own.
— Yuri Yasuda
To my children, who have brought me great happiness, and to my mother and her mother and all the mothers who have passed these stories down to us.
— Yuri Yasuda
Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
Copyright © 2010 by Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yasuda, Yuri.
Treasury of Japanese Folktales / by Yuri Yasuda; Japanese translation by Yumi Matsunari and Yumi Yamaguchi; illustrated by Yoshinobu Sakakura and Eiichi Mitsui.—Bilingual ed.
v. cm.
An English/Japanese bilingual edition of “Old Tales of Japan,” published by Japan Overseas Commercial Co., 1953.
Contents: Shitakiri Suzume (The Tongue-Cut Sparrow); Kintarō (The Strong Boy); Nezumi No Yomeiri (The Marriage of a Mouse); Urashima Tarō (The Fisherman and The Tortoise); Kaguya Hime (The Luminous Princess); Momotarō (The Peach Boy); Kachi Kachi Yama (The Kachi Kachi Mountain); Kobutori Jiisan (The Old Men With Wens); Hanasaka Jijii (The Old Man Who Made Trees Blossom); Issunbōshi (The One-Inch Boy); Bunbuku Chagama (The Lucky Cauldron); Sarukani Kassen (The Monkey-and-Crab Fight).
ISBN: 978-1-4629-1462-3 (ebook)
I. Tales—Japan. [1. Folklore—Japan. 2. Japanese language materials—Bilingual.] I. Matsunari, Yumi.
II. Sakakura, Yoshinobu, ill. III. Mitsui, Eiichi, 1920- ill. IV. Yasuda, Yuri. Old Tales of Japan. V. Title.
PZ49.41.Y37 2010
398.20952--dc22
2009047879
This edition is published by arrangement with Japan Overseas Commercial Co., Ltd. Copyright in Japan by Yuri Yasuda. All rights reserved.
Distributed by
North America, Latin America & Europe
Tuttle Publishing
364 Innovation Drive
North Clarendon, VT 05759-9436 U.S.A.
Tel: 1 (802) 773-8930
Fax: 1 (802) 773-6993
Japan
Tuttle Publishing
Yaekari Building, 3rd Floor
5-4-12 Osaki Shinagawa-ku
Tokyo 141 0032
Tel: (81) 3 5437-0171
Fax: (81) 3 5437-0755
Asia Pacific