Japanese folktales

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Japanese folktales are an important cultural aspect of Japan. In commonplace usage, they signify a certain set of well-known classic tales, with a vague distinction of whether they fit the rigorous definition of "folktale" or not among various types of folklore. The admixed impostors are literate written pieces, dating back to the Muromachi period (14th–16th centuries) or even earlier times in the Middle Ages. These would not normally qualify for the English description "folktales" (i.e., pieces collected from oral tradition among the populace).

Contents

• Overview
• List of Japanese folktales
• Animals in folklore
• Theorized influences
• See also
• References
• Further sources

In a more stringent sense, "Japanese folktales" refers to orally transmitted folk narrative. Systematic collection of specimens was pioneered by the folklorist Kunio Yanagita. Yanagita disliked the word minwa (民話), a coined term directly translated from "folktale" (Yanagita stated that the term was not familiar to actual old folk he collected folktales from, and was not willing to "go along" with the conventions of other countries). ^[1] He therefore proposed the use of the term mukashibanashi (昔話, "tales of long ago") to apply to all creative types of folktales (i.e., those that are not "legendary" types which are more of a reportage). ^[2]

Overview

A representative sampling of Japanese folklore would definitely include the quintessential Momotarō (Peach Boy), and perhaps other folktales listed among the so-called "five great fairy tales" (五大昔話, Go-dai Mukashi banashi): ^[3] the battle between The Crab and the Monkey , Shita-kiri Suzume (Tongue-cut sparrow), Hanasaka Jiisan (Flower-blooming old man), and Kachi-kachi Yama .

These stories just named are considered genuine folktales, having been so characterized by folklorist Kunio Yanagita. ^[4] 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, ^[5] though extant manuscripts are much later. The text mentions, for example, the flame-proof "fire rat ( 火鼠 , Hinezumi) (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 otokibanashi (お伽話), i.e., tales told by the otogii-shū, professional storytellers hired to entertain the daimyō lord at the bedside. ^[6] That term remained in currency through the Meiji era (late 19th century), when imported terms such as minwa began to be used. ^[6] In the Taishō era the word dōwa (lit. "children's story", a loan translation for fairy tales or märchen ) was used. ^[6] 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, 'Legends of Tōno ( 遠野物語 , Tōno Monogatari)' (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	Note
hero/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 head
9	Hagoromo		a tennin has her feather mantle stolen by a fisherman
grateful 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 life
good fortune motif
18	Kobutori Jīsan		a man with a large wen (tumor, kobu) on his cheek, and how he loses it
19	Straw Millionaire		Straw Millionaire (わらしべ長者, Warashibe Chōja)
punishment motif
20	The Crab and the Monkey		Monkey-Crab Battle (さるかに合戦, saru kani gassen)
21	Kachi-kachi Yama		rabbit punishes tanuki

Theorized influences

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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 . ^[8] The stories mentioned in the Buddhist Jataka tales appear in a modified form throughout the Japanese collection of popular stories. ^{[9] [10]}

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. ^{[11] [12]}

See also

• Gesaku
  • Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya ( Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari  ^{[ ja ]})
• Kaidan
  • Banchō Sarayashiki, the ghost story of Okiku and the Nine Plates.
  • Yotsuya Kaidan, the ghost story of Oiwa.
  • Yukionna, the snow woman.
• Legends
  • Hagoromo legend  ^{[ ja ]}, related to Hagoromo (play)
  • Kiyohime legend; passionate for a priest, she turned into a dragon.
  • Tamamo-no-Mae, a vixen-type yōkai monster, masquerading as a woman.
  • Ushiwakamaru, about Yoshitsune's youth and training with the tengu of Kurama.
• Mythology
  • Luck of the Sea and Luck of the Mountains
• Setsuwa
• Urban Legends

Related Research Articles

Urashima Tarō is the protagonist of a Japanese fairy tale, who, in a typical modern version, is a fisherman rewarded for rescuing a turtle, and carried on its back to the Dragon Palace (Ryūgū-jō) beneath the sea. There, he is entertained by the princess Otohime as a reward. He spends what he believes to be several days with the princess. But when he returns to his home village, he discovers he has been gone for at least 100 years. When he opens the forbidden jewelled box (tamatebako), given to him by Otohime on his departure, he turns into an old man.

Kunio Yanagita was a Japanese author, scholar, and folklorist. He began his career as a bureaucrat, but developed an interest in rural Japan and its folk traditions. This led to a change in his career. His pursuit of this led to his eventual establishment of Japanese native folkloristics, or minzokugaku, as an academic field in Japan. As a result, he is often considered to be the father of modern Japanese folklore studies.

Issun-bōshi is the subject of a fairy tale from Japan. This story can be found in the old Japanese illustrated book Otogizōshi. Similar central figures and themes are known elsewhere in the world, as in the tradition of Tom Thumb in English folklore.

Momotarō is a popular hero of Japanese folklore. His name is often translated as Peach Boy, but is directly translated as Peach + Tarō, a common Japanese given name. Momotarō is also the title of various books, films and other works that portray the tale of this hero.

Bunbuku Chagama, literally "Bunbuku tea-kettle" is a Japanese folktale or fairy tale about a tanuki, that uses its shapeshifting powers to reward its rescuer for his kindness.

Tadaaki Miyake is a Japanese folklorist born in 1939 at Okayama Prefecture.

Tikki Tikki Tembo is a 1968 picture book written by Arlene Mosel and illustrated by Blair Lent. The book tells the story of a Chinese boy with a long name who falls into a well. It is an origin myth story about why Chinese names are so short today.

The term yamabito (山人) or sanjin, as understood in Japanese folklore, has come to be applied to a group, some scholars claim, of ancient, marginalized people, dating back to some unknown date during the Jōmon period of the history of Japan.

Keigo Seki was a Japanese folklorist. He joined a group under Yanagita Kunio, but often came to different conclusions regarding the same folktales. Along with collecting and compiling folktales, Seki also arranged them into a series of categories.

Shippeitaro or Shippei Taro (German spelling: Schippeitaro; Japanese: しっぺい太郎 or 竹篦太郎 is the name of a helper dog in the Japanese fairy tale by the same name.

Bake-danuki (化け狸) are a kind of yōkai found in the classics and in the folklore and legends of various places in Japan, commonly associated with the Japanese raccoon dog or tanuki.

Hometown Rebuilding: Folktales from Japan is a 258-episode long Japanese anime television series that adapts various traditional stories from Japan. Each episode of this anime comprises three approximately seven-minute tales. Produced by the Tokyo-based animation company Tomason, it was aired by TV Tokyo from April 1, 2012 to March 26, 2017.

Japanese folklore encompasses the informally learned folk traditions of Japan and the Japanese people as expressed in its oral traditions, customs, and material culture.

"Kobutori Jiisan" translated directly as "Lump-Taken Old Man" is a Japanese Folktale about an old man who had his lump taken or removed by demons after joining a party of demons (oni) celebrating and dancing in the night.

Urikohime, Uriko-hime or Uriko Hime is a Japanese folktale about a girl that is born out of a melon, adopted by a family and replaced by a creature named Amanojaku.

Hachikazuki or Hachi Katsugi is a Japanese folktale of the Otogi-zōshi genre. It refers to a maiden of noble birth who wears a bowl on her head and marries a prince.

The Fire Boy is a Japanese folktale collected by scholar Seki Keigo. It tells of a boy expelled from home to another realm and, thanks to the efforts of a faithful horse, marries a lord's daughter.

The Snail Son is a character that appears in Japanese folktales, as a type of enchanted husband that becomes disenchanted from his animal form and becomes a handsome man. Some tales are related to the cycle of Animal as Bridegroom or The Search for the Lost Husband.

The Golden Eggplant is a Japanese folktale, published by scholar Seki Keigo in Folktales of Japan. Scholars relate it to tale type ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children", of the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index.

Tales of Magic, also known as Merlin's Cave, and Wonderful, Wonderful Tales From Around the World, and known in Japan as Manga Fairy Tales of the World is a Japanese anime anthology series based on fairy tales and classic stories, produced by Dax International and animated by Madhouse.

References