JAPANESE FAIRY TALES [Kindle Edition]

Yei Theodora Ozaki (Author, Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Theodora Ozaki was an early 20th century translator of Japanese short stories and fairy tales. She was the daughter of Baron Ozaki, one of the first Japanese men to study in the West, and Bathia Catherine Morrison, daughter of William Morrison, one of their teachers. Tales include:
My Lord Bag of Rice
The Tongue-Cut Sparrow
The Story of Urashima Taro, the Fisher Lad
The Farmer and the Badger
The "Shinansha," or the South Pointing Carriage
The Adventures of Kintaro, the Golden Boy
The Story of Princess Hase
The Story of the Man Who Did Not Wish to Die
The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moon-Child
The Mirror of Matsuyama
The Goblin of Adachigahara
The Sagacious Monkey and the Boar
The Happy Hunter and the Skillful Fisher
The Story of the Old Man Who Made Withered Trees to Flower
The Jelly Fish and the Monkey
The Quarrel of the Monkey and the Crab
The White Hare and the Crocodiles
The Story of Prince Yamato Take
Momotaro, or the Story of the Son of a Peach
The Ogre of Rashomon
How an Old Man Lost His Wen
The Stones of Five Colors and the Empress Jokwa

From the Publisher

COSIMO CLASSICS offers distinctive titles by the great authors and thinkers who have inspired, informed and engaged readers throughout the ages.

Covering a diverse range of subjects that include Health & Science, Eastern Philosophy, Mythology & Sacred Texts, Philosophy & Spirituality, and Business & Economics these newly revitalized treasures are now available to contemporary readers.

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 241 KB
• Print Length: 136 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B002DUDJWQ
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #327,374 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #80 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > Multicultural

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Child's Treasury of Japanese Fairy Tales, December 17, 2007

By 

Zack Davisson "japanreviewed" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Japanese Fairy Tales (Tuttle Classics) (Paperback)

Originally published in 1903, Yei Theodora Ozaki's translation of Sadanami Sanjin's collection of Japanese fairy tales has been the introduction of many a young child into the legends and fables of old Japan across the years. Definitely not a scholarly reference or valuable research tool for folktale researchers, Ozaki unabashedly re-crafted some of the stories, translating loosely and adding in elements of unrelated tales, in order to make them more enjoyable and understandable for Western children. She even gave Urashimataro a happy ending!

There is something delightfully romantic about translations from this era, due to the unfamiliarity with Japanese culture at the time. Terms that would not be translated today, like "oni" and "samurai", are rendered as "ogre" and "knight" and other English equivalents. While unauthentic, this makes the stories more approachable by young children who have a mind for fantasy but haven't yet graduated to Japanese Studies.

While far from a picture book, artist Kakuzo Fujiyama contributed 66 beautiful drawings to illustrate the 22 tales. Unfortunately, all the illustrations are reproduced in black-and-white, instead of the original color plates included in the original pressings.

Many of the stories here are familiar with anyone even slightly interested in Japanese folklore. "Momotaro, or the Story of the Son of a Peach, "The Story of Urashima Taro, the Fisher Lad", "Kintaro the Golden Boy" and "The Ogre of Rashomon". Along with these, there are rarer tales that I haven't seen in any other Japanese fairy tale collection. "The Stones of Five Colors and the Empress Jokwa", "The Sagacious Monkey and the Boar" and "How and Old Man Lost his Wren" were all new to me.

37 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not well formatted for the Kindle, April 6, 2009

By 

B. Tackitt (Granbury, Tx USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Japanese Fairy Tales (Kindle Edition)

the stories are wonderful. a few of them match some of the stoies we heard while living in Okinawa with the military.

HOWEVER, I cannot give the Kindle version a 5 star like I would like to, because the formatting is absolutely horrendous.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, July 13, 2010

By 

David - See all my reviews

This review is from: Japanese Fairy Tales (Paperback)

This is a graet book on this set of Japanese Fairy Tales. When I first gt the book I was impressed with the cover it made me want to read it. The stories were great and the illustrations were good to. Its nice to see a book with illustrations. After being in contact the publisher I found out that there will be more books in this series.