151 Tales From Japan

Once upon a time in a certain village in Japan, there lived a woman named Okiku. She used to wash dishes at Himeji Castle. One of her master’s retainers, a samurai named Aoyama tried to seduce Okiku many times, but every time she rejected him. After some time, Aoyama became impatient and decided to trick […]

Long ago in Yotsuya, an area of Tokyo, there lived a beautiful young woman named Oiwa. She wished to marry a samurai, Tamiya Iemon. Iemon had lost his master’s favour and presently was unemployed. But still, Oiwa loved him very much and married him. Oiwa didn’t care that Iemon was poor. But, as time went

Once upon a time, a young boy was born into the powerful clan of Ogata. All the people in the clan expected him to accomplish great things. But soon enough, there was a fall of the Ogata clan. After the fall of the clan, the boy (now a young man) was left homeless. He joined

Once, a gambler sitting under a big tree was rolling the dice. A long-nosed demon was looking at the gambler and wanted the dice very much. So, the gambler exchanged the dice for the demon’s feather fan. The demon said, “If you fan a nose with this fan, it will become longer. Turn the fan

Once upon a time, there lived an honest, hard-working but a penniless young man. He had a very bad luck. He made all his efforts to earn a decent living for himself but everything went in vain. His bad luck kept him poor. He did not know what to do. Unable to bear his poverty,

Once upon a time, there was a proud samurai. One day it so happened, that he had to spend the night at a farm house in the country. The farmer asked him to cover himself with the straw matting as it was too cold. “I have fought so many battles, and when I slept in

Once upon a time, there lived an old man and an old woman in a certain village of Japan. One night, it was raining heavily and they could not sleep. So, they started talking. The old man said, “A leak in an old house is something to be afraid of even more than a tiger-wolf.”

Once, there lived a couple who liked mochi more than anything else. One night, they made a huge amount of mochi and ate a lot. At last, only a little was left. “Tonight let’s see who can keep still the longest. The one who wins will have the remaining mochi,” the wife said. They agreed.

Once upon a time, a bride and her mother-in-law were getting ready for the May Festival. They took the May doll out of the box and got into an argument. “This doll is called Tawara Toda,” the bride said. “No, it’s Hachiman Taro,” the mother-in-law said. Neither of them was ready to give up and

Kidaiyu was a wrestler at Hida in Bungo. Slowly and steadily, his fame as a wrestler rose and he was invited for the wrestling match in Kyoto to meet the foremost wrestler named Kokanja of Izumo. Now, Kidaiyu wanted to beat Kokanja and be a successful wrestler. So, he stopped at the Myojin at Oimatsu

Once upon a time, there lived a strong woman named Oiko in the village of Ishibashi in Omi. This year, the village faced the drought. The people turned the water away and prevented it from flowing into Oiko’s rice paddy. At night, when everyone was asleep, she took a big rock and put it in

Once upon a time, there lived a man named Senoo Gorobe. One night, when he was passing Tanosaki Bridge, a young woman approached him. “Please hold this baby for a while,” she said, and after leaving the baby with Gorobe, she went away. Gorobe stood there holding the baby. Suddenly, it began to grow heavier.

Long ago and far away across the sea, there lived a kind-hearted old man and an old woman. One day, the old man went up into the mountains to gather firewood. He sat down to eat his lunch and opened the wrapper of rice balls. One of his rice balls fell and rolled over. It

Long ago in Aoyama, there lived a rich samurai named Monnasukezaemon. An honest servant had been working with him for years. It was the last day of the last month of the year. The year was about to end. The master sent his servant to Asakusa to collect fifty ryo. He had deposited his money

Once upon a time, a traveller was on his way back to Kyoto. He had many followers along with him. They came to a lonely village along the Hokkoku-kaido. It was evening. Tired, they looked for a place to spend the night. At last, they came to a house where a woman lived all alone