THE JAPANESE FAIRY WORLD - 35 illustrated stories from the Wonderlore of Japan E-Book

Anon E. Mouse

• Herausgeber: Abela Publishing
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Herein are 35 Japanese Children’s Fairy Stories  taken from the Wonderlore of Japan – and plentiful it is. Japanese lore was well already established when Europe was starting to emerge from the Dark Ages. Compiled in the 19th C. by W E Griffis these stories have been illustrated by Ozawa of Tokio which bring a further dimension to the tales. You will fascinating find stories like The Meeting of the Star Lovers, The Travels of Two Frogs, The Child of the Thunder, The Fire-fly's Lovers, The Battle of the Ape and the Crab, The Wonderful Tea-Kettle and many, many more. The thirty-five stories included within this volume do not contain the usual bloody, and sometimes licentious, elements, with which Japanese popular, and juvenile literature seems to be saturated. These have been avoided to create a volume of children’s stories containing folklore, fairy tales, myths, legends suitable for a western audience. So sit back with steaming beverage and prepare to be entertained for hours. ===================== BIO William Elliot Griffis (September 17, 1843 – February 5, 1928) was an American orientalist, Congregational minister, lecturer, and prolific author. During the American Civil War he served as corporal. After the war, he attended Rutgers University at New Brunswick, New Jersey, graduating in 1869. At Rutgers, Griffis was an English and Latin language tutor for Tarō Kusakabe, a young samurai from the province of Echizen, now part of the Fukui prefecture. In September 1870 Griffis was invited to Japan by Matsudaira Shungaku, for the purpose of organizing schools along modern lines. In 1871, he was Superintendent of Education in the province of Echizen. In recompense, he was provided with a salary, a house and a horse in Fukui. Griffis was a founding member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters (later to become the American Academy of Arts and Letters), the American Historical Association, and the U.S. Naval Institute. He died at his winter home in Florida in 1928. One of Griffis' two sons, Stanton Griffis, became U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Egypt, Spain and Argentina under President Truman. He was ambassador to Argentina while Juan and Eva Peron were in power and wrote of his experiences in a book titled Lying In State. The son, John, became a composer. ================== TAGS: folklore, fairy tales, myths, legends, children’s stories, Japanese, Wonderlore , Nippon, wonder, lore, bedtime stories, Meeting, Star Lovers, Travels, Two Frogs, Child of Thunder, Tongue-cut Sparrow, Fire-fly's Lovers, Battle of the Ape and Crab, Wonderful Tea-Kettle, Peach-Prince, Treasure Island, Fox, Badger, Seven Patrons of Happiness, Daikoku, Oni, Benkei, Bell, Little Silver's, Dream of Shoji, Tengus, Elves with Long Noses, Kintaro, Wild Baby, Jiraiya, Magic Frog, How the Jelly-Fish Lost its Shell, Lord Cuttle-Fish, Concert, Yorimasa, Brave Archer, Watanabé cuts off the Oni's Arm, Kills the Great Spider, Raiko, Shi Ten Doji, Sazayé, Tai, Smells and Jingles, Lake of the Lute, Matchless Mountain, Waterfall of Yoro, Fountain of Youth, Earthquake Fish, Dream Story of Gojiro, Procession of Lord Long-Legs, Kiyohimé, Power of Love, Fisherman, Moon-Maiden, Jewels of the Ebbing and the Flowing Tide, Kai Riu O, Dragon King, World Under the Sea, Creation of Heaven and Earth, How the Sun Goddess was Enticed out of her Cave

Leseprobe

The Japanese Fairy World

Stories from the Wonder-lore of Japan.

Compiled By

WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS,

Author Of "The Mikado's Empire."

Illustrated By Ozawa, Of Tokio.

Originally Published by

Trübner & Co., Ludgate Hill, London

[1887]

Resurrected by

Abela Publishing, London

[2018]

The Japanese Fairy World

Typographical arrangement of this edition

© Abela Publishing 2018

This book may not be reproduced in its current format in any manner in any media, or transmitted by any means whatsoever, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, or mechanical ( including photocopy, file or video recording, internet web sites, blogs, wikis, or any other information storage and retrieval system) except as permitted by law without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Abela Publishing,

London

United Kingdom

2018

ISBN-13: 978-8-827555-45-3

email

[email protected]

website

www.AbelaPublishing.com

How the sun-goddess was enticed out of her cave.

PREFACE.

The thirty-four stories included within this volume do not illustrate the bloody, revengeful or licentious elements, with which Japanese popular, and juvenile literature is saturated. These have been carefully avoided.

It is also rather with a view to the artistic, than to the literary, products of the imagination of Japan, that the selection has been made. From my first acquaintance, twelve years ago, with Japanese youth, I became an eager listener to their folk lore and fireside stories. When later, during a residence of nearly four years among the people, my eyes were opened to behold the wondrous fertility of invention, the wealth of literary, historic and classic allusion, of pun, myth and riddle, of heroic, wonder, and legendary lore in Japanese art, I at once set myself to find the source of the ideas expressed in bronze and porcelain, on lacquered cabinets, fans, and even crape paper napkins and tidies. Sometimes I discovered the originals of the artist's fancy in books, sometimes only in the mouths of the people and professional story-tellers. Some of these stories I first read on the tattooed limbs and bodies of the native foot-runners, others I first saw in flower-tableaux at the street floral shows of Tokio. Within this book the reader will find translations, condensations of whole books, of interminable romances, and a few sketches by the author embodying Japanese ideas, beliefs and superstitions. I have taken no more liberty, I think, with the native originals, than a modern story-teller of Tokio would himself take, were he talking in an American parlor, instead of at his bamboo-curtained stand in Yanagi Cho, (Willow Street,) in the mikado's capital.

Some of the stories have appeared in English before, but most of them are printed for the first time. A few reappear from The Independent and other periodicals.

The illustrations and cover-stamp, though engraved in New York by Mr. Henry W. Troy, were, with one exception, drawn especially for this work, by my artist-friend, Ozawa Nankoku, of Tokio. The picture of Yorimasa, the Archer, was made for me by one of my students in Tokio.

Hoping that these harmless stories that have tickled the imagination of Japanese children during untold generations, may amuse the big and little folks of America, the writer invites his readers, in the language of the native host as he points to the chopsticks and spread table, O agari nasai

W.E.G. Schenectady, N.Y., Sept. 28th, 1880.

CONTENTS.

I.

The Meeting of the Star Lovers.

II.

The Travels of Two Frogs.

III.

The Child of the Thunder.

IV.

The Tongue-cut Sparrow.

V.

The Fire-fly's Lovers.

VI.

The Battle of the Ape and the Crab.

VII.

The Wonderful Tea-Kettle.

VIII.

Peach-Prince and the Treasure Island.

IX.

The Fox and the Badger.

X.

The Seven Patrons of Happiness.

XI.

Daikoku and the Oni.

XII.

Benkei and the Bell.

XIII.

Little Silver's Dream of the Shoji.

XIV.

The Tengus, or the Elves with Long Noses.

XV.

Kintaro, or the Wild Baby.

XVI.

Jiraiya, or the Magic Frog.

XVII.

How the Jelly-Fish Lost its Shell.

XVIII.

Lord Cuttle-Fish Gives a Concert.

XIX.

Yorimasa, the Brave Archer.

XX.

Watanabé cuts off the Oni's Arm.

XXI.

Watanabé Kills the Great Spider.

XXII.

Raiko and the Shi Ten Doji.

XXIII.

The Sazayé and the Tai.

XXIV.

Smells and Jingles.

XXV.

The Lake of the Lute and the Matchless Mountain.

...

The Waterfall of Yoro, or the Fountain of Youth.

XXVI.

The Earthquake Fish.

XXVII.

The Dream Story of Gojiro.

XXVIII.

The Procession of Lord Long-Legs.

XXIX.

Kiyohimé, or the Power of Love.

XXX.

The Fisherman and the Moon-Maiden.

XXXI.

The Jewels of the Ebbing and the Flowing Tide.

XXXII.

Kai Riu O, or the Dragon King of the World Under the Sea.

XXXIII.

The Creation of Heaven and Earth.

XXXIV.

How the Sun Goddess was Enticed out of her Cave.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

1.

Kanamé holding down the great Earthquake Fish,

2.

How the Sun-goddess was enticed out of her Cave,

3.

The Star-lovers Meeting on the Bridge of Birds,

4.

The Egg, Wasp and Mortar attack the Monkey,

5.

The Oni submitting to Peach Prince,

6.

The Monkeys in Grief,

7.

Yorimasa and the Night-beast,

8.

The Fish Stall in Tokio,

9.

A Jingle for a Sniff,

10.

The Ascent of the Dragon's Gate,

11.

The Sorceress Melting the Bell,

12.

The Dragon King's Gift of the Tide Jewels,

THE MEETING OF THE STAR-LOVERS.

NE of the greatest days in the calendar of old Japan was the seventh of July; or, as the Japanese people put it, "the seventh day of the seventh month." It was a vermilion day in the almanacs, to which every child looked forward with eyes sparkling, hands clapping, and fingers counting, as each night rolled the time nearer. All manner of fruits and other eatable vegetables were prepared, and cakes baked, in the household. The boys plucked bamboo stalks, and strung on their branches bright-colored ribbons, tinkling bells, and long