Japanese folktales

Japanese folktales are traditional folk narratives of Japan, primarily transmitted orally. Among the best-known Japanese folktales are Momotarō, The Crab and the Monkey, Shita-kiri Suzume, Hanasaka Jiisan, and Kachi-kachi Yama, which are often collectively known as the .

In its strict sense, the term refers to orally transmitted folk narratives. However, it is commonly used more broadly to include literary tales, particularly those written during the Middle Ages, that have long been associated with Japanese folklore. Notable examples are The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter and medieval such as the Konjaku Monogatarishū and Uji Shūi Monogatari, which preserve early literary versions of many stories that also survive in oral tradition.

The terminology used for Japanese folktales has changed over time. The systematic collection of Japanese folktales was pioneered by folklorist Kunio Yanagita. During the Edo period, they were commonly known as . In the Meiji era, the loan translation came into use. Yanagita preferred the term for orally transmitted folk narratives.Yanagita, "Preface to the 1960 edition", appended to Nihon no mukashibanashi (Folk Tales of Japan), Shinchosha, 1983, p. 175.

Related genres such as kaidan (ghost stories) overlap with Japanese folktales but are generally treated separately. Many Japanese folktales incorporate motifs derived from Chinese and Indian traditions, particularly Buddhist narratives such as the Jataka tales.

Overview A representative sampling of Japanese folklore would definitely include the quintessential Momotarō (Peach Boy), and perhaps other folktales listed among the so-called :, p.198. quote:"ごだいおとぎぱなし（五大御伽話）。五大昔話ともいう。桃太郎、猿蟹合戦、舌切雀、花咲爺、かちかち山の五話" the battle between The Crab and the Monkey, Shita-kiri Suzume (Tongue-cut sparrow), Hanasaka Jiisan (Flower-blooming old man), and Kachi-kachi Yama.

History These stories just named are considered genuine folktales, having been so characterized by folklorist Kunio Yanagita., p.253, says calling them otogibanashi (see below) is a misnomer, since they are mukashi banashi (Yanagita's preferred term for folktales orally transmitted) During the Edo period these tales had been adapted by professional writers and woodblock-printed in a form a called kusazōshi (cf. chapbooks), but a number of local variant versions of the tales have been collected in the field as well.

As stated above, non-genuine folktales are those already committed to writing long ago, the earliest being the tale of Princess Kaguya (or The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter), an example of the monogatari type of romance dated to as early as the 10th century, though extant manuscripts are much later. The text mentions, for example, the flame-proof " (or salamander)'s fur robe," which attests to a considerable degree of book-knowledge and learning by its author.

Other examples of pseudo-folktales composed in the Middle Ages are the Uji Shūi Monogatari (13th century) that includes Kobutori Jīsan — the old man with the hump on his cheek — and Straw Millionaire. This and the Konjaku Monogatarishū (12th century) contain a number of a type of tales called setsuwa, a generic term for narratives of various nature, anything from moralizing to comical. Both works are divided into parts containing tales from India, tales from China, and tales from Japan. In the Konjaku Monogatarishū can be seen the early developments of the Kintarō legend, familiar in folktale-type form.

The Japanese word used to correspond to "folktale" has undergone development over the years. From the Edo period, the term used was , i.e., tales told by the otogii-shū, professional storytellers hired to entertain the daimyō lord at the bedside. That term remained in currency through the Meiji era (late 19th century), when imported terms such as minwa began to be used. In the Taishō era the word dōwa (lit. "children's story", a loan translation for fairy tales or märchen) was used. Later Yanagita popularized the use of mukashi-banashi "tales of long ago", as mentioned before.

Some Japanese ghost stories or kaidan, such as the story of the Yuki-onna ("snow woman"), might be considered examples of folktales, but even though some overlaps may exist, they are usually treated as another genre. The familiar forms of stories are embellished works of literature by gesaku writers, or retooled for the kabuki theater performance, in the case of the bakeneko or monstrous cat. The famous collection Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn also consists of original retellings. Yanagita published a collection, '' (1910), which featured a number of fantastical yōkai creatures such as Zashiki-warashi and kappa.

In the middle years of the 20th century storytellers would often travel from town to town telling these stories with special paper illustrations called kamishibai.

List of Japanese folktales Below is a list of well-known Japanese folktales:

No. Name Portrait Notehero/heroine type 1 Chikarataro 2 Issun-bōshi the One-inch Boy 3 Kintarō the superhuman Golden Boy, based on folk hero Sakata no Kintoki 4 Momotarō the oni-slaying Peach Boy 5 The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter about a mysterious girl called Kaguya-hime who is said to be from the capital of the moon 6 Shippeitaro a warrior and a dog who defeated evil spirits 7 Uriko-hime a girl born out of a melon and adopted by an elderly human couple 8 Hachikazuki a girl that wears a bowl on her head9Hagoromoa tennin has her feather mantle stolen by a fishermangrateful creature motif 10 Bunbuku Chagama the story of a teakettle which is actually a shape-changing tanuki 11 Hanasaka Jiisan the story of the old man that made the flowers bloom 12 Kasa Jizō a Jizō statue given a straw hat and is grateful 13 Omusubi Kororin the story of an old man who drops rice into a mouse hole 14 Shita-kiri Suzume the story of the tongue-cut sparrow 15 Urashima Tarō who rescued a turtle and visited the bottom of the sea 16 My Lord Bag of Rice 17 Tsuru no Ongaeshi the story of a crane returning a favor for saving its lifegood fortune motif 18 Kobutori Jīsan a man with a large wen (tumor, kobu) on his cheek, and how he loses it 19 Straw Millionaire punishment motif 20 The Crab and the Monkey 21 Kachi-kachi Yama rabbit punishes tanuki

Animals in folklore Tongue-cut sparrow: A washer woman cut off the tongue of a sparrow that was pecking at her rice starch. The sparrow had been fed regularly by the washer woman's neighbors, so when the sparrow didn't come, they went in the woods to search for it. They found it, and after a feast and some dancing (which the sparrow prepared), the neighbors were given the choice between two boxes; one large and one small. The neighbors picked the small box, and it was filled with riches. The washer woman saw these riches and heard where they came from, so she went to the sparrow. She too was entertained and given the choice between two boxes. The washer woman picked the largest box and instead of gaining riches, she was devoured by devils.Japanese Mythology: Library of the World's Myths and Legends, by Juliet Piggott

Mandarin Ducks: A man kills a drake mandarin duck for food. That night he had a dream that a woman was accusing him of murdering her husband, and then told him to return to the lake. The man does this, and a female mandarin walks up to him and tears its chest open.

Tanuki and Rabbit: A man catches a tanuki and tells his wife to cook it in a stew. The tanuki begs the wife not to cook him and promises to help with the cooking if he is spared. The wife agrees and unties him. The tanuki then transforms into her and kills her, then cooks her in a stew. Disguised as the man's wife, the tanuki feeds him his wife. Once he is done, the tanuki transforms back to his original form and teases the man for eating his wife. A rabbit that was friends with the family was furious, so he had the tanuki carry sticks and, while he wasn't looking, set these sticks on fire. Then the rabbit treated the burn with hot pepper paste. Finally, the rabbit convinced the tanuki to build a boat of clay, and the rabbit followed in a sturdy boat. The clay boat began to sink, so the tanuki tried to escape, but then the rabbit hit him in the head with an oar, knocking him out and making him drown.

Badger and Fox cub: A badger, vixen, and the vixen's cub lived in a forest that was running out of food, so they came up with the plan of one of them pretending to be dead, the other disguising as a merchant, and the “merchant” selling the “dead” animal to a human. Then they would have money to buy food. The vixen pretended to be dead while the badger was the merchant. While the transaction was happening however, the badger told the human that the vixen wasn't actually dead, so the human killed her. This infuriated the cub, so he proposed a competition. They would both disguise as humans and go into the village at different times. Whoever guessed what “human” was the other first, wins. The cub walked towards the village first, but he hid behind a tree. The badger went into the village, and accused the governor of being the fox, so the bodyguards of the governor beheaded him.

Theorized influences

The folklore of Japan has been influenced by foreign literature as well as the kind of spirit worship prevalent all throughout prehistoric Asia.

The monkey stories of Japanese folklore have been influenced both by the Sanskrit epic Ramayana and the Chinese classic Journey to the West.On the Road to Baghdad Or Traveling Biculturalism: Theorizing a Bicultural Approach to... By Gonul Pultar, ed., Gönül Pultar. Published 2005. New Academia Publishing, LLC. . Page 193 The stories mentioned in the Buddhist Jataka tales appear in a modified form throughout the Japanese collection of popular stories.The Hindu World By Sushil Mittal. Published 2004. Routledge. . pp93Discovering the Arts of Japan: A Historical Overview By Tsuneko S. Sadao, Stephanie Wada. Published 2003. Kodansha International. . pp41

Some stories of ancient India were influential in shaping Japanese stories by providing them with materials. Indian materials were greatly modified and adapted in such a way as would appeal to the sensibilities of common people of Japan in general, transmitted through China and Korea.Miraculous Stories from the Japanese Buddhist Tradition: The Nihon Ryōiki of the Monk Kyōkai By Kyōkai. Published 1997. Routledge. The Sanskrit Epics By John L Brockington. Published 1998. Brill Academic Publishers. . pp514

Japanese folktales

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