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.
RECOMMENDED
