Customer Reviews

Japanese Fairy Tales

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Since it was free I didn't really know what to expect but the stories are quite nice. Not all of them are light-hearted though and even with the ones with "happy endings" you still might not want to read them to kids.

The stories in this book were very interesting and I enjoyed them. However, I do think it would be nice if the free Kindle edition contained the original illustrations. The same is true for most, if not all of the free classics for Kindle. But of course it is free.

Japanese Fairy Tales, also known as The Japanese Fairy Book, is a 1908 collection of traditional fables and folktales compiled and translated by Yei Theodora Ozaki.

As I understand it, this is a somewhat liberal translation; accuracy to the source material has obviously been sacrificed to a certain extent for the sake of accessibility. Interestingly, words that would not be translated today are translated here for the sake of the Western audience ("samurai," for example, is translated "knight"). Many of these stories are not concise - they tend to meander - and some end rather abruptly. Without substantial familiarity with the original material, it's difficult to determine how much of this is the stories themselves and how much is Ozaki's doing, but I suspect the latter is more responsible.

These stories are, nevertheless, mostly quite enjoyable, and the differences and similarities with Western fairy tales are particularly interesting. (Wicked stepmothers, apparently, are a source of plot conflict the world over.)

Many of these stories are grim and violent, of the degree of the original un-sanitized Grimm Brothers' tales. There are vicious revenge stories here, and the ones involving animals bring to mind Tom and Jerry (or, perhaps more accurately, Itchy and Scratchy, never mind Happy Tree Friends), even with some obvious sanitizing ("The Farmer and the Badger" is a notable example). Many stories do not have happy endings. They certainly aren't all for small children.

Accuracy aside, Japanese Fairy Tales is a nice little collection of stories, and a decent introduction to Japanese folklore.

I really enjoy fairy tales and Japan, so I thought it'd be neat to read fairy tales from another country. They're not quite as dark as some of Grimm's tales, but there are cannibalistic ogres, wars, and murders. However, most of them should be appropriate for young kids (and it'll be a break from Snow White and Rapunzel). But I'm 17, so you should probably read the stories before you read them to any kids. Overall, while some of them can be repetitive (the gods give the childless elderly couple a kid as a blessing!), most of them are unlike anything you've ever read before. And did I mention that it's free?

Fairy tales are usually thought of as children's literature, and in terms of how much children in particular are fascinated with them this categorization is not without a merit. However, most good fairy tales tap into some social or personal tension, a fact of life, or a natural phenomenon. They often take rather ordinary situations and push them to the limit of what our imagination considers plausible. Fairy tales are thus a form of reductio ad absurdum of common sense, and they often help us see various life situations in terms of their most basic principles. This is why fairy tales have had, and continue to have, a lot of fascination with adults as well.

Most of us have grown up with fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen or Brothers Grimm. There is a sort of cannon of western fairy tales that have become part of the common patrimony of the entire world - Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Rapunzel, and many others. However, these fairy tales are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the European fairy tales, and the World literature is even more filled with beautiful, unusual and imaginative stories.

This collection of the Japanese fairy tales is as great of a collection of fairy tales as they come. It is rather fascinating to see that even thought many fairy tales reflect certain Japanese cultural norms (like bowing as a greeting and a sign of respect), the basic structure and the motifs are surprisingly familiar. We have villains and heroes charged with an unusual and demanding task, monsters and dragons are everywhere, and most tales take place "long, long, time ago." All of the tales are very well written and the language is crisp and contemporary. This collection will be a great source of enjoyment for children and adults alike.

I really found myself enjoying this book. I have always been interested in other cultures, and the lore associated with them. While I am sure it was far from a complete collection, the tales within were entertaining, and offered a glimpse of the morals of the culture and society from the times they were first told. Definitely worth a read through if you find yourself with a few spare hours.

I like this book, apparently it isnt as original as it could be. Apparently its been changed a little to be more enjoyably for American children. But if you're a mythical stories buff, or a Nipponaphile its still a good read.