Yakumo Koizumi , born Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, was a writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture and literature of Japan to the West. His writings offered unprecedented insight into Japanese culture, especially his collections of legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. Before moving to Japan and becoming a Japanese citizen, he worked as a journalist in the United States, primarily in Cincinnati and New Orleans. His writings about New Orleans, based on his decade-long stay there, are also well-known.
Urashima Tarō is the protagonist of a Japanese fairy tale, who, in a typical modern version, is a fisherman rewarded for rescuing a turtle, and carried on its back to the Dragon Palace (Ryūgū-jō) beneath the sea. There, he is entertained by the princess Otohime as a reward. He spends what he believes to be several days with the princess. But when he returns to his home village, he discovers he has been gone for at least 100 years. When he opens the forbidden jewelled box (tamatebako), given to him by Otohime on his departure, he turns into an old man.
Japanese folktales are an important cultural aspect of Japan. In commonplace usage, they signify a certain set of well-known classic tales, with a vague distinction of whether they fit the rigorous definition of "folktale" or not among various types of folklore. The admixed impostors are literate written pieces, dating back to the Muromachi period or even earlier times in the Middle Ages. These would not normally qualify for the English description "folktales".
Kṣitigarbha is a bodhisattva primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism and usually depicted as a Buddhist monk. His name may be translated as "Earth Treasury", "Earth Store", "Earth Matrix", or "Earth Womb". Kṣitigarbha is known for his vow to take responsibility for the instruction of all beings in the six worlds between the death of Gautama Buddha and the rise of Maitreya, as well as his vow not to achieve Buddhahood until all hells are emptied. He is therefore often regarded as the bodhisattva of hell-beings, as well as the guardian of children and patron deity of deceased children and aborted fetuses in Japanese culture.
Issun-bōshi is the subject of a fairy tale from Japan. This story can be found in the old Japanese illustrated book Otogizōshi. Similar central figures and themes are known elsewhere in the world, as in the tradition of Tom Thumb in English folklore.
Yamauba, Yamamba or Yamanba are variations on the name of a yōkai found in Japanese folklore.
Yuki-onna is a spirit or yōkai in Japanese folklore that is often depicted in Japanese literature, films, or animation.
Momotarō is a popular hero of Japanese folklore. His name is often translated as Peach Boy, but is directly translated as Peach + Tarō, a common Japanese given name. Momotarō is also the title of various books, films and other works that portray the tale of this hero.
"The Dream of a Summer Day" is an essay by Lafcadio Hearn that reminisced on his childhood, and which also incorporated a retelling of the Japanese folktale of Urashima Tarō. It was the first piece in the collection Out of the East (1895).
The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher is a children's book, written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter. It was published by Frederick Warne & Co. in July 1906. Jeremy's origin lies in a letter she wrote to a child in 1893. She revised it in 1906, and moved its setting from the River Tay to the English Lake District. The tale reflects her love for the Lake District and her admiration for children's illustrator Randolph Caldecott.
Blair Lent, who sometimes wrote as Ernest Small, was an American illustrator and writer of children's books, perhaps best known for those with Chinese themes such as Tikki Tikki Tembo (1968). He won the 1973 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing The Funny Little Woman by Arlene Mosel. Lent used a wide range of techniques in his illustrations, including acrylic painting, cardboard cutouts, colored pencil and ink and wash.
More Than a Miracle is a 1967 film also titled Cinderella Italian Style and Happily Ever After. It stars Sophia Loren, Omar Sharif and Dolores del Río. The movie has a fairy tale narrative. Filmed in the countryside outside Naples, Francesco Rosi directed and Carlo Ponti produced. The theme music was a hit for Roger Williams, reaching #2 on Billboard's survey. Sergio Franchi recorded the title song on his 1968 RCA Victor album, I'm a Fool To Want You.
Molly Garrett Bang is an American illustrator. For her illustration of children's books she has been a runner-up for the American Caldecott Medal three times and for the British Greenaway Medal once. Announced June 2015, her 1996 picture book Goose is the 2016 Phoenix Picture Book Award winner – that is, named by the Children's Literature Association the best English-language children's picture book that did not win a major award when it was published twenty years earlier.
The Fountain of Youth is a Japanese fairy tale collected by Lafcadio Hearn in Japanese Fairy Tales.
Datsueba is often depicted sitting by the Sanzu River (三 途 の川 , lit. River of Three Crossings) in literary, visual, and religious depictions of the Buddhist underworld. Although Buddhist hell is imagined in a great number of texts and images ranging from places such as China, India, and Tibet, Datsueba appears to be unique to Japanese iterations of Buddhist hell. Throughout these depictions, Datsueba is broadly imagined and illustrated as an old, frightening ogress who takes the clothes from the deceased as they cross the Sanzu River.
Arlene Tichy Mosel was an American children's librarian who wrote the text for two award-winning children's picture books illustrated by Blair Lent. Tikki Tikki Tembo won the annual Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and Lent won the annual Caldecott Medal for The Funny Little Woman.
Taro the Dragon Boy is a 1979 film adaptation of a famous Japanese folk tale, and the novel Taro, the Dragon Boy by Miyoko Matsutani. In 1966, Taro, the Son of Dragon with the original Japanese title of "Tatsu, no ko Taro", started as a puppet series on a Japanese television channel. In the late 1970s the anime television series Taro the Dragon Boy was shown on Doordarshan.
"Kobutori Jiisan" translated directly as "Lump-Taken Old Man" is a Japanese Folktale about an old man who had his lump taken or removed by demons after joining a party of demons (oni) celebrating and dancing in the night.
Otogi-zōshi (お伽草紙) is a Japanese collection of short stories by Osamu Dazai. In this work, the author is giving the reader a reinterpretation of classic Japanese fairy tales such as Urashima Taro, Tanuki and the Rabbit, Tale of a man with a wen and the Tongue-cut Sparrow, and gives the characters a new dimension which go against the national spirit which the Imperial Japanese Government was trying to foster.
The Snail Son is a character that appears in Japanese folktales, as a type of enchanted husband that becomes disenchanted from his animal form and becomes a handsome man. Some tales are related to the cycle of Animal as Bridegroom or The Search for the Lost Husband.
