Folklore and Urban Legends
The Procession of Lord Long Legs
Let’s take a break from monsters and look at how insects are said to have lived in yet another of William Griffis’s collected tales from Japan. Lovely and bright in the month of May, at the time of rice-planting, was the day on which the daimio, Lord Long-legs, was informed by his chamberlain, Hop-hop, that…
Watanabe Kills the Great Spider
This week continues spooky October with another Watanabe and Raiko monster adventure. You can find modernized versions of these and other stories in my compilation “Tales from Old Japan.” During the time in which Watanabé was forming his plan to destroy the onis that lurked in the Oyé mountains, the brave Raiko fell sick, and…
Watanabe Cuts Off the Oni’s Arm
To celebrate October (one of my favorite months), I will be posting Japanese folklore in their original English versions. You can find modernized versions of these and other stories in my compilation “Tales from Old Japan.” When the capital of Japan was the city of Kioto, and the mikado dwelt in it with all…
The Fisherman and the Moon Maiden
Pearly and lustrous white, like a cloud in the far-off blue sky, seemed the floating figure of the moon maiden, as she flew to earth. She was one of the fifteen glistening virgins that wait attendant upon the moon in her chambers in the sky. Looking down from her high home to the earth, she…
Unhappily Ever After: the Endings of Japanese Fairy Tales
If you read Japanese folklore, you notice how different the endings seem against Western stories. In most Japanese folktales, people die in the end. Happily-ever-after endings stand out because of their rarity. Of course, most of Grimm’s fairy tales end on a similar note. The children’s versions of Grimm’s most of us in the West…
Yuki, The Snow Woman
In a village of Musashi Province, there lived two woodcutters: Mosaku and Minokichi. At the time of which I am speaking, Mosaku was an old man; and Minokichi, his apprentice, was a lad of eighteen years. Every day they went together to a forest situated about five miles from their village. On the way to…
