| Hello,
everyone!
In
my
storybook,
I have featured
four
different
Japanese
fairy tales. Japan has a long history of tales and folklore.
Some Japanese folktales feature encounters with magical or supernatural
beings or elements. The stories I've picked for my storybook all
have magical occurrences or creatures (whether real or imagined). Here
is a
brief overview of Japanese tales. Many Japanese folktales can be classified into different categories. These divisions include, but are not limited to, "mukashibanashi", or tales of long ago; "namidabanashi," meaning sad tales;"obakebanashi," or ghost stories; "ongaeshibanashi," which are stories about repaying kindness; "tonchibanashi," or witty stories; "waraibanashi,"which are funny stories; and "yokubaribanashi," or stories about greed. My storybook will feature a variety of these tales. The stories all come from the book "Japanese Fairy Tales," written by Yei Theodora Ozaki and published in 1908. Ozaki had a very interesting childhood. Yei Theodora Ozaki was the daughter of Bathia Catherine Morrison, an Englishwoman, and Baron Ozaki, who was one of the first Japanese men to study in the West. Yei Ozaki's parents separated when she was five years old and she went to live with her father in Japan when she became a teenager. During her adult life, she would often travel between Europe and Japan while maintaining careers as a secretary and a teacher. During her lifetime, Ozaki wrote four books about Japanese folk tales translated into English: "Japanese Fairy Tales" or "The Japanese Fairy Book," "Warriors of Old Japan and Other Stories," "Romances of Old Japan," and "Buddha's Crystal and Other Fairy Stories." When Ozaki translated into English, she tended to substitute many Western terms for Japanese terms, such as substituting the word "knight" for "samurai" and "ogre" for "oni." Though these substitutions are logical, I have chosen to use the original Japanese terms where possible in order to further understand and explore the culture. In addition to having a rich folk tale tradition, Japan also has a rich tradition of festivals. Japan celebrates a multitude of festivals year-round. This storybook will showcase four different festivals and each new folk tale will relate to each festival. In correspondence with the Children's Festival is the Dolls Festival for young girls. An example of a story to coincide with this tale would be the "Mirror of Matsuyama," a story which features a girl becoming a young woman. This festival along with the story is featured as the first story in my storybook. While certain festivals, like Children's Day and the Doll Festival, are national celebrations, most other festivals are celebrated within a certain province, region, or city. Some examples include the Sapporo Snow festival which takes place in the city of Sapporo in the region of Hokkaido. A multitude of flower-viewing festivals are celebrated all over Japan, but each festival depends on when the cherry blossoms start to bloom in that area. The flower-viewing festivals are known as Hanami. This type of festival is featured in my second story, which retells the story of the "Old Man who made Withered Trees to Blossom." Another of the festivals that will be featured in this storybook is the Children's Day Festival, or Kodomo-no-hi, also known as the Iris Festival or Shobu no Sekku. Children's Day is an annual holiday that takes place on May 5th every spring. The festival mainly focuses on boys and celebrates symbols of strength and courage. The story I plan to coordinate with this festival, that celebrates boyhood and strength, is the tale of the "Oni of Rashomon," a story of a courageous samurai that must fight a dreadful oni, or Japanese demon. The last festival my storybook features is unique because the festival was founded on a fairy tale story. The Tanabata festival is based on the story of the "Princess and the Cow-herder." This festival occurs annually on July 7th. I hope that you've enjoyed reading about the festivals and that you will also enjoy my storybook. |
Image Information: A Plethora of Koinobori, by sakura_chihaya. Website: DIY Life.