Legends of Japan
Representatives
For Continental Europe:
BOXERBOOKS, INC., Zurich
For the British Isles:
PRENTICE-HALL INTERNATIONAL, INC., London
For Australasia:
PAUL FLESCH & CO., PTY. LTD., Melbourne
For Canada:
M. G. HURTIG, LTD., Edmonton
These legends are printed with permission of the Mainichi
Daily News, in which they previously appeared.
Published by the Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc
of Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan
with editorial office at Osaki Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0032
© 1972 by Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc.
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 73-188013
ISBN: 978-1-4629-0772-4 (ebook)
First printing, 1972
Printed in Japan
Table of Contents
| INTRODUCTION | 7 | |
| 1. | The fishermen's battle | 11 |
| 2. | Wrestling a serpent | 17 |
| 3. | The lost chance | 21 |
| 4. | The reed-mower and the lady | 25 |
| 5. | The iron hat | 29 |
| 6. | The demon's spittle | 32 |
| 7. | A piece of straw | 37 |
| 8. | The hunter's trick | 43 |
| 9. | No melon to spare | 48 |
| 10. | A water sprite | 52 |
| 11. | The ogre's horses | 56 |
| 12. | The dragon king's palace | 62 |
| 13. | The bishop's kick | 66 |
| 14. | The long-nosed goblins | 69 |
| 15. | Bewitched by a boar | 74 |
| 16. | A cat-hater | 80 |
| 17. | The flying water jars | 85 |
| 18. | Grave of the chopstick | 89 |
| 19. | The bell thieves | 93 |
| 20. | The monkey's gratitude | 98 |
| 21, | The lost dinner | 103 |
| 22. | Reunion with death | 106 |
Introduction
MOST OF THE stories contained in this book take their material from Konjaku Monogatari (Tales, Ancient and Modern) written in the Heian period (794-1185), one of the classical literary masterpieces of Japan, as valued as the works of Shakespeare and Goethe. Unfortunately, however, Konjaku Monogatari is less known to foreign readers than the famous Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji) and Makura no Soshi (The Pillow Book), though they were written in the same period. Even among Japanese readers, this work has been hitherto less popular than the latter two, because it was not written in their accomplished style, and in addition it did not deal with such enthralling subjects as gorgeous court life or high society of the day. Konjaku Monogatari is composed of thirty-one volumes presenting Japanese, Chinese, and Indian legendary tales, each tale beginning with the familiar phrase "Long,
