Japanese Fairy Tales

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

When the new Japanese American Museum was under construction, I took my Porterville high school students to the museum on two different occasions. Students were fascinated with the history of the Japanese internments that related to our study of Snow Falling on Cedars, which the coordinator thought better than Farewell to Manzinar for its delineation of the events during WWII. The students were divided up into small groups and given a tour of Japan town as well as a visit to the Buddhist temple. Reluctant to leave, students enjoyed the close contact with their individual docents, who talked as they walked us through all aspects of the museum and tour of Japan town. A number of the docents had been in internment camps as children, which authenticated the story.

While at the museum, I purchased The Haunted Flute and other Japanese Stories. Although it has been at least 12 years, I had not read the book until now. Written for middle grades with delightful illustrations by Warwick Goble, the fairy tales are intriguing. The book would be a positive addition to any middle school library.

From the introduction, let me quote a summary of the types of stories included:
"In this collection of traditional folk tales that are most loved by Japanese boys and girls, you will find adventures and enchantments aplenty. In "The Hauted Flute," for example, a young girl finds a super-onatural way to contact her beloved father. In "The Magic Teakettle," you'll meet a delightful [badger] teakettle that not only sings and dances but is very wise. And in "The Jellyfish Takes a Journey," you will learn why the jellyfish has no bones" (7).

My favorite tale is "The Girl with the Black Bowl." As a romantic with a sense of duty, I enjoyed the predictable happy ending with its metaphysical implications about the nature of our journey on this planet. The young lady does all that is required of her to reach a magical ending and the happiness of becoming the chosen bride of the young lord of the estate. Her every wish is eventually fulfilled because of her cheerfully having borne the trials of being born beautiful though of lowly caste. She successfully carries out her promise to her dying mother.

The magical realism of South American writers has its roots in fairy tales such as the ones found in this book. If you have a middle school child or even an adult with an upcoming birthday, you may want to include a copy of this book in your gift bag. I plan to pass my copy on to my grandchildren once I'm through with this course.

The Haunted Flute and Other Japanese Stories. Nina Rosenstein, Ed. New York: Random House, 1995.[Edit by="tbarber on Feb 24, 12:16:14 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="tbarber on Feb 24, 12:23:53 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for your informative post on Japanese fairy tales! You mentioned that the book The Haunted Flute and Other Japanese Fairy Tales would be great for middle school students. I teach ESL at the high school level and we are always looking for new books to add to our library. Do you think the book might be appropriate for intermediate ESL students?

[Anonymous]

The book of Japanese fairy tales intrigues me. The stories are each about four pages long with illustrations illuminating the imaginative portion of each tale. I would think that high school students, particularly those who come from East Asia, would enjoy the book. It might be a bit difficult for some, but as their language skills progress, I would think they would appreciate the tales both for their brevity and for the imaginative and cultural implications each offers.

I will try to remember to bring the book to class so that you can look at it this Tuesday, 2/26.

[Anonymous]

I remembers seeing a book of Japanese fairy tales in a toilet in Scotland once. I ended up staying in there for a while! To say the least! They were amazing....they felt like a cross between greek myth and the old testament. Very imaginative...occasionally morally objectable, in terms of sexism etc. but certainly interesting.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the Fairy Tale Book suggestion. I am very interested in gathering a good collection of world fairy tales to share with my 7th and 8th graders. The Haunted Flute and other Japanese Stories sounds ideal for the 7th grade STUDIO curriculum. The STUDIO curriculum was adopted by our school a few years back, and there is an entire section for teaching narrative dedicated to studying Fairy Tales and rewriting them. Of course, the STUDIO library that came with the curriculum only included European stories (eg. "Little Red Riding Hood", "Cinderella", "Snow White" etc.) Although, these are fine and dandy and my students did enjoy them, I wanted to share fairy tales from other cultures and parts of the world with them. Because my student population is primarily African-America and Latino, I shopped around and checked out many books that were culturally relevant for them to include in the Fairy Tale library.

I haven't taught the Fairy Tale Unit in over a year, but I am still looking for recommendations. And I greatly appreciate yours.

On the same note, there is a fascinating website teachers can use to explore and teach not only Japanese Fairy Tales, but other classic and sacred texts. The website is:
http://www.sacred-text.com/shi/ft2/index.htm In it, you have instant access to stories such as "The first Rabbits", "Lord Bag of Rice", "Peach Darling", and others. Students can access the short tales and learn about cultures different from their own while simultaneously exploring theme and story-telling.

Students can access texts and scriptures of the Shinto Religion, as well as, Buddhism, Confucianism, Animism, Ainu Text, and Folk Tales. The stories are included so that students can navigate through them and reference the footnotes, index, and glossary. The website also has wonderful illustrations the students are sure to enjoy!

The website offers a great opportunity for educators to purchase Sacred Texts on disk. The disk contains over a thousand classic texts from all around the world! This is a resource any teacher can use, no matter what subject is taught.

The best part is you get previews of what the disk contains at no cost! You could check out "Japanese Fairy Tales", second series, by Teresa Pierce Willingston, illustrations by Sanchi Ogawa at a click of a button.

Check it out for yourself and share the site with your students.

http://www.sacred-texts.com or http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/jft2/index.htm

[Edit by="rflores on Jul 28, 12:48:15 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

I have always loved folkore tales. I started with Italian Folktales by Italo Clavino and then started to collect folkltales from every culture.. including Native American, American Railroad Tales, Irish Folktales, Aesop's tales, Brothers' Grimm, etc. and at one point I fould A Japanese Folktales book. I love to read to myself, to my children amd to my students... and they love to listen to the stories... I allow my students to write short summery, to re-write the story by changing its content and improvising their own, or to draw an event or an instant from the story as they see it.

[Author]

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