FAIRY TALES 
 FROM 
 
 FAR JAPAN 
 
 TRANSLATED 
 FROM THE JAPANESE 
 
 By 
 SUSAN BALLARD 
 
 Of the St. Hilda Mission Tokyo 
 
 WITH A PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 By 
 MRS. ISABELLA L. BISHOP, F.R.G.S. 
 
 Author of 'Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,' etc. 
 
 Illustrated by Forty-seven Engravings from Japanese 
 Originals 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY 
 
 56 Paternoster Row, and 65 St. Paul's Churchyard
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE 
 
 IN Parts I. and II. of this little book I have written 
 about Japan and the Japanese for those who would 
 like a little information beyond the mere traveller's talk, 
 but have not the leisure necessary for reading books of 
 research. I have tried to write for such an audience as 
 might be assembled at a mission work-party. 
 
 The Fairy Tales themselves will doubtless appeal to 
 both old and young readers. 
 
 SUSAN BALLARD.
 
 PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 By Mrs. Isabella L. Bishop, F.R.Q.S. 
 
 Author of 'Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,' etc. 
 
 I HOPE that the readers of this book will find it as 
 attractive as I have done. It takes me back to long 
 journeys in 1878, through the then scarcely known interior 
 of Northern Japan, when, far away from Europeans, I lived 
 among the common people, hearing their talk through my 
 clever boy interpreter, and listening during the long 
 evenings by many a family hearth to these and similar 
 tales, which became as familiar to me as the ' Blue-Beard ' 
 and 'Jack and the Beanstalk' of my childhood. 
 
 On such stories the quaint, quiet children of Japan are 
 brought up, and in this harmless myth-world they live, till 
 the cares of life begin to press upon them ; and in their 
 turn they tell the same in the long winter evenings to 
 grave-eyed gentle children of their own, and it is difficult 
 to say whether the myths are dearer to the adult or the 
 child. 
 
 Miss Ballard has done English readers a service in 
 placing within their reach a few of the most popular 
 specimens of Japanese fairy lore, showing the sort of 
 pabulum on which Japanese children are reared. In their 
 daily life, myth, legend, and fairy tale go alongside the 
 
 545031
 
 Prefatory Note 
 
 Western learning taught in the schools, and help to keep 
 up something of the poetic and romantic feeling which we 
 have been used to regard as an element of Japanese 
 character. 
 
 To adult readers 1 specially commend the preliminary 
 chapter. In a very small compass it gives some important 
 facts of which it is discreditable to be in ignorance, 
 especially now that this brilliant and progressive empire 
 has successfully asserted her claim to take equal rank 
 with the civilized nations of Europe. 
 
 It is noteworthy, and this chapter makes it very clear, 
 that many of the myths of Buddhism and Shinto are 
 numbered among the fairy tales, while as religious legends 
 they are believed by adults, and thus the legend of 
 Amaterasu, on p. 12, is accepted as historic truth. If any 
 cause produced a general scepticism as to the authenti- 
 city of the fairy tales which cluster round Kwannon, Inari, 
 and Jizo (alluded to on p. 21), half the shrines in Japan 
 would be emptied. This book, small as it is, serves to 
 show something of that curious commingling of myth, 
 legend, and fairy lore which forms on the whole the 
 popular religion of Japan, the only religion to which, from 
 its poetry and gaiety, and from bringing them into contact 
 with the deified mythical heroes of their race, the masses 
 are in any way attached. 
 
 Hence, as closely connected with the national cult, and 
 as forming part of the much-cherished national life and 
 history, fairy lore in Japan takes a position not belonging 
 to it in any Christian country. 
 
 One of the prettiest of the stories in this book is that 
 6
 
 'refatory Note 
 
 >f the 'Magic Mirror.' It has a sweetness and simplicity 
 Deculiarly Japanese, and the picture of domestic happiness 
 vith which it closes can have nothing but a good influence. 
 Fhe quiet story of O Nami San prefixed to the tales, gives 
 in interesting glimpse of Japanese girlhood among the 
 poor, Japan being the only Oriental country in which 
 what we know as girlhood has any existence. 
 
 The illustrations taken from Japanese sources are 
 characteristic, and show the style of picture which is the 
 joy of young and old. 
 
 I have much pleasure in commending these charming 
 tales to all who desire a glimpse into Japanese fairy lore.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PART I 
 
 PA(.E 
 
 FOR MY GROWN-UP READERS 11 
 
 PART II 
 ABOUT THOSE WHO READ THE FAIRY TALES 
 
 
 PART III 
 
 THE FAIRY TALES 
 
 I. MOMOTARO ; OR, THE PEACH-BOY 43 
 
 II. THE OLD MAN WHO MADE THE TREES BLOSSOM . . 56 
 
 III. KACHI KACHI MOUNTAIN 71 
 
 IV. THE MAN WITH THE WEN 82 
 
 V. THE MAGIC MIRROR 92 
 
 VI. THE LUCKY HUNTER AND THE SKILFUL FISHER . . 102 
 VII. THE SWORD OF THE ASSEMBLED CLOUDS OF HEAVEN . .116
 
 {Seepage <)i.
 
 T 
 
 PART I 
 FOR MY GROWN=UP READERS 
 
 HE very name of Japan has a fascination for English 
 people. It is suggestive of all kinds of delightful 
 things silks and fans, china and cherry blossom, along 
 with quaint children and paper houses. 
 
 But how few people in England really know anything 
 about the life of the Japanese or their literature! For 
 those who cannot go and see a people in their own 
 country, the only way to know them is to read their books 
 the books written by themselves for themselves. And in 
 the hope of making my readers acquainted with the real 
 Japanese people, I offer them, as the result of four years 
 spent in that country, this translation of Japanese fairy 
 stories. These are the stories that Japanese children are 
 brought up upon -the stories that little Miss 'Waterfall' 
 or 'Stork' are as familiar with as English children are 
 with Jack the Giant-killer or Cinderella. 
 
 In order to understand the people of another country 
 you must know something about their literature, and in
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 order to understand the literature one must know a little 
 about the history and religion of the nation. 
 
 The history of Japan commences with the Emperor 
 Jimmu Tenno, 1 B.C. 660. But there are many tales of the 
 mythical gods before him, who created and then inhabited 
 Japan. It is worthy of notice that in these tales it is 
 stated that when heaven and earth began, three deities 
 were already in existence ; showing that in Japan, as in 
 Egypt and other countries, there has always been a 
 tradition of a Triune God. 
 
 Among the mythical deities of Japan, the Sun Goddess 
 is the most venerated. In the street of a Japanese town, 
 when you hear a beating of drums and playing of flutes, 
 you may know that there is a kagnra going on. In front 
 of some temple a small wooden platform has been 
 erected, on which several men, wearing extraordinary 
 masks and strange garments, are acting a play, which is 
 being watched with great interest by the crowd. ' It is a 
 kaguraj they will tell you, and the kagura is a kind 
 of dramatic performance which dates from the time when 
 the Sun Goddess, having quarrelled with her brother, hid 
 in a cave, and was only tempted out by the performance 
 of a kagura. 
 
 The Sun Goddess comes perpetually into Japanese 
 history and art, and also into music. When the court 
 musicians give a performance of their strange and, to 
 English ears, dreary music, if you ask what all that 
 
 1 The tradition is that he was the son of the Lucky Hunter and the 
 daughter of the Dragon King. See the story, ' The Lucky Hunter and the 
 Skilful Fisher.' 
 
 12
 
 For my Grown-up Readers 
 
 wailing is about, you will probably hear that it is very 
 ancient music, and is descriptive of what was performed 
 to tempt the Sun Goddess out of her cave. 1 
 
 Three events of very great importance in the history 
 of Japan are 
 
 1. The introduction of Buddhism. 
 
 2. The introduction of Christianity. 
 
 3. The commencement of the ' Period of Enlightened 
 Peace,' as the reign of the present emperor is called. 
 
 It was in the sixth century A.D. that Buddhism was 
 brought to Japan from Korea, and at the same time there 
 came Chinese literature and civilization, which took a 
 firm hold of the Japanese mind. The speech and writing 
 of the educated classes became Chinese, and from that 
 time the Japanese language was left to the common 
 people. 
 
 In order to read a book written in Japanese, you must 
 go back to the tenth century to such a writer as the 
 famous court lady, Murasaki Shikibu. 
 
 ' I am tired of the novels of the present time,' said a 
 court lady to the empress. 
 
 'You must write us a new one,' said the empress, 
 turning to Murasaki, another of her attendants, who 
 forthwith retired from the court to obey the com- 
 mand. 
 
 You may often see her in pictures and on fans a 
 
 lady seated at a low table, holding a pen in her hand, 
 
 and gazing across the waters of a lake. At a time 
 
 when English women were unable to sign their own 
 
 1 See the story, ' The Sword of the Assembled Clouds of Heaven.' 
 
 13
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 names, she wrote a work which won for her such lasting 
 fame that she may be called the Shakespeare of Japan. 
 The Japanese look back with regret to the cluster of 
 brilliant women-writers who lived about that time ; for 
 the deadening effect of Buddhism was creeping over 
 the country, and it took from the Japanese women both 
 their freedom and their culture, and it will only be with 
 a struggle that they will regain the position they held 
 in olden times. 
 
 In 552 A.D. the first Buddhist books were brought into 
 Japan. Just a thousand years afterwards, Francis Xavier 
 landed, and the gospel of Christ was preached. As in 
 other countries, he here met with opposition in many 
 places, but with great encouragement in others. The 
 visitor to Japan who lands at Nagasaki and sees its 
 temples and shrines, finds it difficult to believe that in 
 1567 there ' was hardly a person who was not a Christian.' 
 Nobunaga, one of the greatest men Japan has had, 
 favoured Christianity, and it seemed as if the whole 
 country would become Christian. 
 
 The work commenced by Xavier was carried on by 
 priests who came chiefly from Spain and Portugal. But 
 the successors of Nobunaga did not at all share his views, 
 and, sad to say, Christianity became entangled with political 
 questions, and a rumour arose that the missionaries were 
 merely the heralds of a foreign invasion. The words of a 
 Portuguese sea captain first aroused suspicion. 1 'The king, 
 my master, begins by sending priests, who win over the 
 people; and when this is done he despatches his troops 
 
 1 Things Japanese, by Professor Chamberlain
 
 For my Grown = up Readers 
 
 to join the native Christians, and the conquest is easy and 
 complete.' This unfounded statement was repeated, and 
 had terrible consequences; it raised a persecution which 
 only ended with the siege of Shimobara, where forty 
 thousand were killed, and the professors of Christianity 
 were rooted out of the country. 
 
 It is only fair to the Japanese to remember that in so 
 doing they thought they were defending their country 
 against traitors who were in league with a foreign foe. 
 But the accounts of the treatment of the Christians are 
 very terrible. ' We read of Christians being executed in 
 a barbarous manner in sight of each other, of being hurled 
 from the tops of precipices, of being buried alive, of being 
 torn asunder by oxen, of being tied up in rice bags, which 
 were heaped up together, and of the pile thus formed 
 being set on fire. Others were tortured before death by 
 the insertion of sharp spikes under the nails of their hands 
 and feet, while some poor wretches, by a refinement of 
 horrid cruelty, were shut up in cages, and there left to 
 starve with food before their eyes. Let it not be supposed 
 that we have drawn on the Jesuit accounts solely for this 
 information. An examination of the Japanese records 
 will show that the case is not overstated.' 1 
 
 These terrible persecutions were suffered by men, 
 women, and quite young girls, and they had only to recant 
 to be at once set free. The constancy of the Christians is 
 the more remarkable when we think how little knowledge 
 they had. They could not derive strength and support 
 for their faith from the Bible, for they had no written 
 
 1 Mr. Gubbins, in the Asiatic Soc. Trans. 
 
 15
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 gospel whatever. And yet they suffered with a heroism 
 that has never been surpassed, even b} r the martyrs of 
 Rome. 
 
 After the siege of Shimobara very strict laws were 
 enforced. Christianity was forbidden ' even to speak by 
 mistake of these matters invites punishment;' commerce 
 was forbidden ; no foreigner was allowed to land in Japan ; 
 it was forbidden to build large ships, in case the Japanese 
 should be tempted to go in them to a foreign country. 
 Japan remained shut up and in a state of stagnation for 
 upwards of two hundred years. It was a highly civilized 
 country, with an intelligent people, there was peace in the 
 land, and yet during that time no invention was made, no 
 progress in science. Schools were opened and education 
 provided, but it consisted only in the close study of 
 Chinese learning. And so the nation slumbered for more 
 than two hundred years, until the guns of American ships, 
 under Commodore Perry, forced the unwilling Japanese to 
 see that they were part of one great human family, and 
 that they could not refuse to know the other nations of the 
 world. 
 
 Treaties and negotiations of various sorts were begun 
 by the commodore, the land went through great throes 
 in the abolition of the feudal system and other changes 
 which led up to the great date of Japanese history, the 
 year of our Lord 1868, which is called in Japan the year 
 one of the Period of Enlightened Peace. 
 
 During this period the emperor has taken the power 
 entirely into his own hands ; a representative Government 
 has been formed, the army and navy have been modelled 
 16
 
 For my Grown = up Readers. 
 
 on European systems ; Shintoism has been fixed as the 
 State religion, but religious toleration has been proclaimed. 
 
 The unnatural quickness with which these changes 
 have been made has created many anomalies, and the 
 country is torn by two parties, one consisting of those 
 who wish as quickly as possible to abolish the Chinese 
 influence and adopt European ideas ; the other, of those 
 who cling to the customs handed down by generations of 
 ancestors, and receive everything European with suspicion. 
 
 But it is by the religions of a country that the mind of 
 the people is known. What, then, is Shintoism, the State 
 religion? It is the original religion of Japan, existing in 
 ;he country long before Buddhism. It may be defined as 
 :he worship of a man's own ancestors and the ancestors 
 of the emperor. It acknowledges no one Supreme Being. 
 There are no idols in a Shinto temple. In the centre is a 
 mirror and a stick with pieces of cut paper attached to it. 
 Both are symbolical. 
 
 But though in a Shinto temple there is, properly 
 speaking, no god worshipped, yet, in the same way that 
 the ancient Romans had endless gods Neptune, Mars, 
 md others so the Shinto religion has created gods and 
 goddesses of the ocean, of mountains and of rivers. Chief 
 imong the Shinto deities is the Sun Goddess, who is 
 cnown in Japan as Amaterasu, and her shrine at Ise is 
 chronged by worshippers. 
 
 The Shinto religion teaches nothing. ' With moral 
 leaching, Shinto does not concern itself,' says a well- 
 vnown writer. And so in calling Shintoism a religion an 
 ncorrect word is used, for that cannot be called a religion 
 
 I! I/
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 which does not tell of a Creator, and which gives man no 
 guidance as to his duty in life. 
 
 This worship of ' deified ghosts,' as it has been called, 
 was found unsatisfying by the Japanese, for the Buddhist 
 teachers who came in the sixth century were welcomed, 
 and gradually the whole nation, even the Mikado, adopted 
 Buddhism. But they did not reject Shintoism, they kept 
 both, and the religion of Japan became a mixture of 
 Buddhism and Shintoism. 
 
 What is Buddhism? In order to understand anything 
 about Japan, you must know a little about Buddhism. To 
 explain it, we must divide Buddhism into two parts : first, 
 the Buddhism of the scholars ; second, that of the people, 
 for in Japan these are very different. It is not necessary 
 to go into the details of the life of Gautama, the great 
 founder of Buddhism. He was born in the sixth century 
 B.C. Though son of a king, and happily married, he found 
 no pleasure in life. ' Nothing is stable on earth/ he used 
 to say. ' Nothing is real. Life is like the spark produced 
 by the friction of wood. It is lighted and extinguished ; 
 we know not whence it came or whither it goes. It is like 
 the sound of a lyre ; and the wise man asks in vain from 
 whence it comes and whither it goes. There must be 
 some supreme intelligence where we could find rest.' l 
 Men at all times and in all countries have realized that it 
 is only in knowing the ' supreme intelligence ' that we can 
 find rest. 'Our souls were formed for Thee, and cannot 
 rest until they find Thee,' said Augustine. ' I will give 
 you rest/ was the promise of our Lord. 
 
 1 Buddhism, by Max Miiller. 
 1 8
 
 i For my Grown-up Readers. 
 
 Gautama was carefully kept from the sight of all 
 'suffering, and there is a celebrated story of how, when 
 |he saw for the first time a decrepit old man, he turned 
 away from his amusements, exclaiming, ' What have I, the 
 future prey of old age what have I to do with pleasure ? ' 
 He soon afterwards fled from the court, and from that 
 time he lived a life of great self-denial, and being ever 
 wrapped in contemplation, he became the 'enlightened 
 one;' and on his teaching is based the religion which is 
 professed to-day by many millions of human beings. 
 
 There is no more pathetic figure in history than 
 Gautama's, and there is nothing sadder than the religion 
 he bequeathed. Everything is worthless. Man must try 
 to extinguish all desires, and life itself is the root of all 
 sorrows. According to Buddhist teaching, man is being 
 perpetually born again into this world. If he has 
 committed evil deeds in one life, he may be punished in 
 the next, and his soul may even enter a beast. There are 
 six worlds or conditions into which he may be born 
 
 1. The world of hell. 
 
 2. The world of hungry devils. 
 
 3. The world of beasts. 
 
 4. The world of disembodied spirits. 
 
 5. The w r orld of man. 
 
 6. The world of heaven. 1 
 
 But to attain the abstract perfection that is the supposed 
 
 laim of the Buddhist seems impossible, for though those 
 
 iwho can ' apprehend the Ten Abstract Truths ' may get to 
 
 it after four births, yet the inferior intelligence can only 
 
 1 Rev. A. Lloyd, Asiatic Soc. Trans. 
 
 19
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 arrive at that condition after a hundred kalpas, or periods 
 of time transcending calculation. 1 
 
 It makes one's head reel to think of the studies that the 
 scholar goes through in his struggles to attain perfection ; 
 they are truly beyond an ' inferior intelligence.' Here are 
 a few sentences from the dying speech of a great teacher 
 
 'The commandments of the aforesaid apparent doctrine 
 are the Three Refuges, the Eight Precepts, the Five 
 Precepts, and the Commandments of the Shomon and the 
 Bosatsu. Each of these four classes has its own special 
 commandment. 
 
 ' What are called the Juzen are three commandments 
 concerning the body, four concerning the mouth, and three 
 concerning the heart. 
 
 ' If you reverse the order, and from the end return to 
 the beginning, you will find that the elemental principle 
 is the one heart. There is no difference between my heart, 
 the heart of all sentient beings, and the heart of Buddha. 
 
 1 Knowing these commandments, keep them as a treasure. 
 If, therefore, you break them you are not the disciple of 
 Buddha. Such a man is not my disciple either; nor am 
 I his teacher. He does not differ from a piece of mud or 
 a broken tree.' 
 
 The majority of the Japanese people are Buddhists, but 
 Buddhism is not a religion that can touch the masses. If 
 you take a tour through the country, turning aside from 
 the beaten track, living in tea-houses, dispensing with 
 furniture, content to have neither bread nor meat, you will 
 come across all kinds of images and shrines, and will 
 
 1 Sir E. Satow. 
 2O
 
 For my Grown = up Readers. 
 
 gradually understand the popular beliefs. Here under the 
 shadow of high cryptomerias is a shrine to the Goddess 
 of Mercy, the Thousand-handed Kwannon ; but you will 
 observe that she has only forty hands, it being impossible 
 to put a thousand on one figure. 
 
 That stone slab by the dusty road represents a triad of 
 monkeys, one with his hand to his ears, another with a 
 land to his eyes, and the third with his to his mouth, for 
 they will neither see, hear, nor listen to evil. 
 
 The little red shrine that makes such a vivid spot of 
 :olour in the darkness of the wood is a shrine to the Fox 
 od, Inari by name. Originally the fox was only the 
 nessenger of Inari, but now the common people consider 
 Inari and the fox to be the same. 
 
 The rice fields, which cover the country with a lush 
 ^reen, are under his protection. And if not duly honoured 
 :he fox has the terrible power of entering the human body 
 and bewitching people. 1 
 
 As you get to the top of some mountain pass and are 
 able to look across a plain, probably broken by curiously 
 jabrupt mountains and sudden rocks, you find a stone 
 jngure, and are told that this is the Pass of Jizo, the patron 
 >f travellers. 
 
 Though there are but few images of the founder of 
 Buddhism in Japan, woods and streets and country roads 
 abound with that of Jizo, for he is not only the patron of 
 iravellers, but also of children. 
 
 In the spirit world there is a hideous old hag, who robs 
 :hildren of their clothes, and puts them to the endless task 
 
 1 See the story. ' Kachi Kachi Mountain.' 
 
 21
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 of piling up stones on the banks of a river. But from this 
 hag Jizo has the power to deliver them, and so those that 
 love the children pray to him. 
 
 These are two or three of the gods of popular Buddhism 
 whose shrines fill the country. And with the belief in 
 them are numberless curious ideas about the spirit 
 world. 
 
 You may want to make an addition to your house, and 
 in doing so propose to open a door outwards. If the door 
 would face in a north-easterly direction, your landlord will 
 rather eject you and lose a good tenant than allow you 
 to do so ; for that is the direction by which all kinds of 
 evil spirits and misfortunes enter the house. 
 
 1 If you go away,' he says, 'no one w r ill take the house 
 with such a door, and if, while you are in it, you have 
 illness or any misfortune, people will blame me for 
 allowing a "Kimon," as it is called.' 
 
 Look at this party of little girls chattering away over 
 their beloved paper dolls. You will see that the paper has 
 been cleverly manipulated by those little fingers, and the 
 dolls are dressed in scraps of cotton or silk. But if you 
 look at one of the treasures you will see that she has no 
 face just a piece of blank paper. Perhaps you suggest 
 painting a mouth and eyes, but you will be met with 
 little screams and cries of ' No ! no ! If we paint a face 
 she will become a ghost, and haunt us at night.' 
 
 And though you may become acquainted with many 
 paper dolls, you will never find a lady with a face among 
 them. 
 
 And when you are quite in the country, if you take a 
 
 22
 
 For my Grown-up Readers. 
 
 stroll along to the river, perhaps some morning in spring, 
 when the banks by the roadside are covered with violets, 
 and the cherry trees are hanging down their pink tassels, 
 as you approach you will hear the shouting of a party of 
 children who are splashing their brown and naked little 
 bodies in the water. But notice that arrangement of sticks 
 
 the bank. It is like what gipsies put up from which to 
 hang their kettles ; but here, in place of a kettle, there is a 
 white cloth suspended. By the side lies a rough wooden 
 dipper, and perhaps a branch of cherry blossom is stuck 
 in as ornament. That is the 'flowing invocation,' for. the 
 cloth is suspended over flowing water. A w r oman has died 
 at the birth of a child, and her spirit must wander until the 
 cloth is worn through by the water that is poured over it. 
 Each passer-by is expected to fill the dipper and empty it 
 over the cloth. 
 
 And as you realize a country where shrines and images 
 are to be found at every turn, in the woods, in the streets, 
 and by the seashore, you naturally come to the conclusion 
 that the Japanese are earnest in their beliefs. But, strange 
 to say, you are quite wrong. Go into this little house, 
 and when you have drunk the inevitable tea and had a 
 little talk, ask the old woman whether she worships 
 Buddhist or Shinto deities. She will probably shake her 
 head and say, laughing 
 
 'Oh, as for me, I worship nothing!' 
 
 ' Do you never worship anything? ' 
 
 ' Oh, I am only an old woman ; I know nothing 
 about it.' 
 
 Or ask these country boys who come and sit down 
 
 23
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 beside you on the roadside, and seem extremely desirous j 
 to have the honour of talking with a European. They, too, 
 will tell you that they know nothing about their gods, and 
 may add that they look upon them as bakarashii koto, 'just 
 nonsense.' 
 
 Both Buddhism and Shintoism teach the immortality 
 of the soul, yet in the newspapers you may see such 
 statements as that made recently by a school superin-| 
 tendent. 1 He took one hundred and eighteen children 
 about thirteen years old, and asked them if the soul lived 
 after death. Eighty-one believed that ' death ends all/ 
 twelve could not answer, twenty-five thought that the soul 
 did live after death. 
 
 And now you see what a difficult task the Christian 
 missionary has before him. To the Buddhist philosopher, 1 
 with his elaborate systems, he says, ' You must become as 
 a child.' To the Shintoist he says, ' You must worship the 
 Creator, not the created spirit.' To the people, with their 
 shadowy belief in myriads of gods, he says, ' There is one 
 God and Father of all.' 
 
 And to all he has to strive to bring home the sense of 
 sin, and their need of a Saviour. And here we touch i 
 upon the greatest blemish in the Japanese character, anclj 
 the gravest obstacle to the advance of Christianity. Many 
 writers have charged the Japanese with a shallowness of 
 character, a want of personality. But this is the result of 
 their religion. 
 
 ' Belief in the personality of man and belief in the 
 personality of God stand or fall together. Where faith in 
 
 1 In the Shukyo. 
 24
 
 For my Grown = up Readers. 
 
 the personality of God is wanting, the perception which 
 men have of their own personality is found to be in an 
 equal degree indistinct.' 1 The greatest difficulty for the 
 Christian missionary is to arouse ' the human sense of 
 guilt, that awful guardian of our personal identity.' 
 
 For the Japanese have long been taught that ' Morals 
 were invented by the Chinese because they were an 
 immoral people ; but in Japan there was no necessity for 
 any system of morals, as every Japanese acted rightly, if 
 he only consulted his own heart.' 
 
 And where there is no sense of sin there is no desire 
 for holiness, and a Saviour who has come to deliver them 
 from the bondage of sin, and to impart that holiness 
 ' without which no man can see God,' is a perfectly new 
 and strange idea. Nor can they easily grasp the idea that 
 sin itself is such a hideous thing that God should Himself 
 die on the cross to release us from it. 
 
 The Buddhist philosopher teaches that life is to be 
 despised, and that it is a sin to take pleasure in anything, 
 for everything is a delusion. Our Lord taught that the 
 meanest human life is of value, and we are told that ' the 
 works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that 
 have pleasure therein,' and that the duty of believers is to 
 ' rejoice evermore.' 
 
 Yes, indeed ; the conversion of the Japanese to Christ 
 will only be effected by much patient teaching ; and how 
 few there are to give it ! When a great wave rushed in on 
 the east coast and carried away 40,000 human beings in a 
 few moments, how many Christian teachers were there 
 
 1 Fisher, The Grounds of TJieistic and Cliristian Belief.
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 among them ? One itinerating Roman Catholic priest was 
 the only one on that long sea-line. 
 
 In spite of the fact that the coming of Christianity into 
 Japan has roused a certain activity among the Buddhist 
 priests, the mass of the people know little of, and care 
 nothing for their religion. 
 
 ' No God, no faith, no hope ! ' 
 
 And now, if this brief sketch has in any measure 
 brought before my reader's mind's eye the people of Japan, 
 they will agree with the words of a learned professor who 
 spent much time in the study of various faiths 
 
 ' Many are the advantages to be derived from a careful 
 study of other religions, but the greatest of all is that it 
 teaches us to appreciate more truly what we possess in our 
 own. When do we feel the blessings of our own country 
 more than when we return from abroad ? 
 
 ' It is the same with regard to religion. Let us see 
 what other nations have had and still have in the place 
 of religion ; let us examine the prayers, the worship, the 
 theology, even of the most civilized races, and we shall 
 then understand more thoroughly what blessings are 
 vouchsafed to us in being allowed to breathe from the first 
 breath of life the pure air of a land of Christian light and 
 knowledge. We are too apt to take the greatest blessings 
 as matters of course, and even religion forms no exception.' 
 
 26
 
 [See page 101.
 
 PART II 
 
 ABOUT THOSE WHO READ THE FAIRY 
 TALES 
 
 A True Story for my Child = readers 
 
 TDERHAPS some of the children who read these stories 
 will say that they want to know something about the 
 Japanese who live now; the stories are all about 'long, 
 long ago' people. Well, I will tell you a little about 
 some of the people who are living now. 
 
 You English children live in brick and stone houses ; 
 Japanese children live in houses made of wood, bamboo, 
 and paper. You go to school with leather boots on ; they 
 patter along to school either in straw sandals or wooden 
 clogs. You eat your dinner of beef and potatoes with a 
 knife and fork ; they eat their rice and fish, bits of sea- 
 weed, and ginger and vegetables with a pair of chopsticks. 
 And so you might think that Japanese children are quite, 
 quite different to you. But it is only because you don't 
 know them ; if you did, you would find out that they are 
 very like yourselves. 
 
 We English people often say that the Japanese are all 
 ' as like as two peas.' The Japanese say that English 
 people have all got just the same face, 'as like as the two 
 
 29
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 sides of a lemon,' they say. And they very often find it 
 difficult to tell which is a man and which is a woman. 
 
 Often as I pass through villages I hear the discussion 
 going, ' Is it a man foreigner, or is it a woman foreigner ? ' 
 
 Not that I would look at all like a man to your eyes, 
 but in this country, where the women always go bare- 
 headed, though the men often wear hats, the very fact of 
 seeing something on my head makes them think that I 
 am a man. 
 
 If you could live in Japan, and get accustomed to the 
 language, and listen to the children talking to each other, 
 the feeling that the Japanese are as ' like as two peas ' 
 would soon pass away. In my Sunday school I find the 
 same naughty little boy who will poke his neighbour 
 and look about, instead of attending to his lesson; only 
 whereas in England I spoke to him as ' Tom ' or ' Dick,' in 
 Japan I call him 'Mr. Sato/ or 'Mr. Yamada,' because 
 Japan is a very polite country, and one must not forget to 
 say ' Mr.,' even to children. 
 
 And in my Japanese Sunday school there is also the 
 smart boy who learns his verse and always wants to say 
 it first ; and the girl who, as ' Emily ' or ' Sarah ' in England, 
 is fond of finery, and likes to spend her money on feathers 
 or ribbon bows, appears in Japan as Miss Stork, or Miss 
 Waterfall, and wears wonderful hairpins ornamenting her 
 hair, and a big sash round her waist. 
 
 Yes, you will meet good children, naughty ones, clever 
 
 ones, stupid ones, in Japan just as in England ; and I 
 
 would like to tell you about one girl I know, because I 
 
 think that I might call her the good ' story-book ' kind of 
 
 30
 
 About those who read the Fairy Tales 
 
 a girl. You don't meet that kind of girl often in England, 
 do you ? Nor do you in Japan ; but I would like you to 
 know that there is that kind of girl in Japan, and so I will 
 tell you about her. 
 
 Not far from the slopes of the snowy Fuji lies a small 
 town whose inhabitants boast that their town contains not 
 a single empty house, nor a person who need be a moment 
 idle if they wish to work. They are chiefly engaged in the 
 cultivation of tobacco and silk-worms. During June and 
 July the women hardly have a moment's rest ; every house 
 has its trays of silk-worms, which have to be fed with 
 fresh leaves six times every day. The Japanese beliefs 
 have very little hold in the place, but nine years ago there 
 was not one Christian in the town. But the headman, 
 hearing the preaching of a Japanese clergyman, became 
 convinced of the truth of Christianity, and such was the 
 influence of his life that there is now quite a band of 
 earnest Christians. 
 
 It soon became their great desire to have a church, and 
 in 1895 a room was consecrated as a preaching place by 
 the bishop. The opening service was quaint. The bishop 
 sat on a chair, lent by the only person who possessed one 
 the dentist. The rest of us sat on the floor. The 
 singing took many ups and downs which it was impossible 
 to follow, and occasionally it was very terribly out of tune, 
 but the pleasure of the congregation in the completion of 
 a building whose every nail had been a subject of interest 
 was really touching. 
 
 It came to be my duty to go once a month to try to 
 help on the work among the women. One Sunday evening
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 I noticed kneeling beside me a little slip of a girl who 
 looked about thirteen. 
 
 ' Who is she ? ' I asked O Miyo San, one of my Christian 
 girls. 
 
 'She is a friend of mine, who wishes to know about 
 God.' 
 
 'You must bring her to see me next time I come,' 
 said I. 
 
 On my next visit I had only just arrived, and was 
 unpacking, and scattering over the floor (for there are no 
 chests-of-drawers) my clothes, bread, cold meat, Bible 
 pictures, butter, Japanese tracts, magic-lantern slides, and 
 a collection of other things, all wanted, and none of them 
 to be had for love or money in the place, when there came 
 a ' We beg your honourable pardon,' and the two girls 
 appeared. 
 
 Nami San was shy at first, but gradually unfolded. 
 1 Yes, she had a father, but he was very delicate, and, to tell 
 the truth, he did woman's work ; he did the daily rice and 
 the hibachi (fire-box), while she and her mother were 
 strong and could work, so they kept the household by 
 making tobacco-boxes.' 
 
 1 talked to the child and showed her some pictures, and 
 when they were making their bows before going, I asked 
 her if she would come and see me next day. She looked in 
 an embarrassed way at O Miyo San, who began to explain. 
 
 ' To-morrow is Saturday, and if she does not do Sunday 
 evening's work on Saturday, she cannot go to church on 
 Sunday ; she will be working till eleven o'clock at night 
 to-morrow.'
 
 About those who read the Fairy Tales 
 
 I really was astonished. It meant something, when 
 you have to be up at five o'clock in the morning, to stay 
 up till eleven o'clock, especially for a girl of thirteen. 
 
 After this first introduction, O Nami San never failed 
 to come and see me on my visits, and she always appeared 
 at the Sunday evening service. We had a good many 
 talks, and I found that her ideas on many subjects were 
 peculiar. 
 
 ' O Nami San/ I said, when reading of the Bethlehem 
 shepherds, 'you see, shepherds are men who take care of 
 sheep and feed them. I suppose you have never seen a 
 sheep ?' 
 
 ' Oh yes, I have, 1 she said. ' When there was the festival 
 in honour of the Fox God there was a fair, and two sheep 
 were brought to it. I saw them, and they fed on paper.' 
 
 ' Oh no,' I said ' at least, these shepherds did not feed 
 their sheep on paper; they fed them upon grass.' 
 
 The sheep she saw ate paper and liked it ' awfully/ 
 she declared. 
 
 Japanese paper is a peculiar soft material, and I can 
 imagine sheep eating it, but I cannot imagine what kind 
 of mutton would develop out of paper-fed sheep. 
 
 When spring came, O Nami San appeared one day, 
 bowing at my door, bearing a large medicine-bottle, with a 
 lily stuck in it. 
 
 ' I was saying to O Miyo San, " What are we to do for 
 the Teacher ?"' (This is a very respectful term, like the 
 Jewish ' Rabbi '). ' " We cannot spread a feast before her ; 
 what can we do?" And O Miyo San said, " She is very 
 fond of flowers ; " so I have ventured to plant a few poor 
 c 33
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 flowers in front of your honourable house, and as you say 
 you don't like getting up early in the morning, I have 1 
 planted them so that they will flower about nine o'clock in 
 the morning.' 
 
 The Japanese have a wonderful way of timing the 
 flowering of some of their flowers. But some flower at a 
 terribly early hour. The morning glory, for instance, is 
 at its best about four or five in the morning, and it is quite 
 a matter of sorrow to some of my friends that I won't get 
 up at four o'clock to gaze at morning glories ; but my 
 unromantic English soul does not rise to any enthusiasm 
 at that hour. 
 
 And now whenever I arrive on my monthly visit, the 
 medicine-bottle is handed in at the door, with a flower or 
 some bright-coloured leaves, always arranged with that 
 taste which the commonest people among the Japanese 
 invariably show in their handling of flowers. 
 
 It was now some little time since O Nami San began 
 to receive Christian teaching. As her parents were not 
 Christians, it would not have been wise to baptize her 
 too soon, but I thought that I would speak to her about 
 baptism. 
 
 ' O Nami San, you have seen people receive holy 
 baptism in this church. Do you wish to be baptized ? ' 
 
 ' I am always praying,' she said in a plaintive voice, 
 ' that I may receive baptism and be taught the Way 
 quickly. I think if I was baptized I should have such a 
 comfortable feeling in my heart. But O Miyo San says 
 that I cannot be baptized yet, because my faith is so 
 thin. 1 
 
 34
 
 About those who read the Fairy Tales 
 
 ' And why does she think your faith thin ? ' I asked, and 
 I could not help smiling. 
 
 It was after I had known O Nami San a couple of 
 months that I first made the acquaintance of her father. 
 One evening, ' I beg your honourable pardon,' was heard 
 at my door. 
 
 ' Condescend to enter,' I call, and an elderly man, with 
 large dark eyes and a rather mournful countenance, entered 
 with all due Japanese politeness. 
 
 ' The Teacher has condescended to arrive ' bow. 
 ' Our spirits are poisoned to think that you should have 
 to travel in this terrible rain ' bow number two. ' I am 
 O Nami San's father. Please to continue your kindness to 
 my unworthy daughter ' and bow number three completes 
 the number required by Japanese etiquette. 
 
 We have a little conversation, and then he says 
 in an embarrassed way, ' I have a favour to ask of the 
 Teacher.' 
 
 ' He can't want to learn English, can he ? ' I thought, for 
 that is the usual favour that the young students come 
 to beg. 
 
 ' Please to deign to look at this ; ' and he drew out of 
 his long hanging sleeve a piece of steel, cut in a long 
 narrow strip, with a notched edge like a clock-wheel. 
 
 ' There is one thing in the world that I long to have,' he 
 said, ' and it is not to be had in Japan, but in England I am 
 told it is to be had. This is steel cut for a clock-wheel, 
 but I want a longer piece. Now, in Japan no clock is 
 made that requires a bigger wheel than this, but in 
 England I am told there are great big clocks. I have 
 
 35
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 invented a machine for cutting paper ; every one says that 
 it is just what is needed, but it must be bigger, and so the 
 wheel must be bigger. And in England they say there are 
 big clock-wheels, if only the Teacher could tell me where 
 I could get a big wheel.' 
 
 ' Would it not cost a good deal ? ' I said, thinking that 
 poor little O Nami San would have to make a great many 
 tobacco-boxes to pay for her father's wheel. 
 
 ' I have thought of that machine for years,' he said ; 
 ' and the neighbours know about it, and they would lend 
 me money.' 
 
 I felt very doubtful as to what I ought to say. The 
 great army of disappointed inventors of Europe rose to 
 my mind. Ought I to encourage him ? 
 
 ' I would wait for years,' he continued pleadingly, ' if 
 only I could get it.' 
 
 He went on to explain about the invention. 
 
 'You must excuse my clumsy Japanese/ I say, 'and 
 that I do not understand all you tell me. But I will come 
 to-morrow to see your machine, and then I shall understand 
 better.' 
 
 Next day I went to his house, and I saw at a glance 
 the cause of O Nami San's round shoulders. Her work 
 consisted of sitting in front of a low table, on which she 
 placed a sheet of cardboard, then with a few twists she 
 shaped this into a tobacco-box, and then tossed it from 
 her into a huge basket, as high as a man, which stood in 
 front of her. It looked easy enough ; but how awful it 
 must be, I thought, to sit there day after day, working at 
 that unutterably uninteresting cardboard! Her mother 
 36
 
 About those who read the Fairy Tales 
 
 and younger sister sat by her, engaged on the same work. 
 Nine thousand boxes, they told me, they could send out 
 on a busy day, but they had then to start work before 
 daylight. 
 
 ' And how does O Nami San get time to read her Bible 
 as she does ?' I asked. 
 
 ' Oh, we don't do nine thousand every day ; some days 
 the manufactory only want a couple of thousand, and then 
 she reads her Bible.' 
 
 O Nami San's father came in, and after the usual 
 exchange of bows we went on to the burning subject, as I 
 found it to be, of his invention. 
 
 ' Oh yes/ said his wife, ' he is always wandering about 
 doing nothing, thinking of his invention. You know quite 
 well who does the work of the house. It is all very 
 well to say that the people cut paper by hand, and 
 your invention will cut it in half the time; but I say 
 that you had much better come and make tobacco-boxes 
 too.' 
 
 She said it in a laughing, scornful kind of way, while 
 the man looked at her deprecatingly with his sad eyes. 
 
 ' If the Teacher would only tell him the name of a shop,' 
 he said; but I knew it meant more than that. It meant 
 translating his letter for him, for what English clockmaker 
 would understand all the wiggles and waggles of his 
 Japanese writing? And it meant also that he would live 
 for months dreaming of that big clock-wheel. Once give 
 my advice, and he would consider the whole thing 
 accomplished, for the faith these country people have in 
 a ' Teacher ' is unlimited. 
 
 37
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 ' I know nothing about the clock-shops in England,' I 
 tell him. ' You must ask some clockmaker in Tokyo when 
 he next sends an order to England to order one bigger 
 strip of steel for you. There are plenty of orders 
 constantly sent to England.' 
 
 His face grew sadder and sadder, and I could see that 
 I had been his last hope. 
 
 It is some months since we had that interview, and I 
 have seen him several times since, and whenever we meet 
 I have a kind of guilty feeling. I know, but for several 
 reasons cannot tell him, that next 'year I return to 
 England. 
 
 When the time comes, shall I offer to try and get him 
 the steel, or would it be silly to encourage him in his 
 inventions ? Is poor O Nami San's back to grow rounder 
 and rounder over her thousands of tobacco-boxes, while 
 he merely dreams of inventions ? Why should he not do 
 the dull work too ? But then, would it not be very 
 unkind to let the poor man go disappointed through life, 
 longing for something that I could bring him ? I think 
 that I must help him. 
 
 Of course, if this were one of my fairy tales, you 
 would hear that he got his wheel ; that his invention 
 was a great success ; that O Nami San never made any 
 more tobacco-boxes, and they 'all lived happily ever after.' 
 
 But, as I told you before, this is a real life story, and 
 not a make-up ; and the piece of steel which O Nami San's 
 father gave me as a pattern of what he wanted is still in 
 my box, and she still sits tossing her boxes into the big 
 basket. 
 38
 
 About those who read the Fairy Tales 
 
 Do I mean her always to go on at her hard work ? 
 Certainly not, especially as I know children in England 
 who would love to act like the kind fairy who comes in 
 the stories and makes people happy. 
 
 What do 3 r ou suppose the money is for that you put in 
 missionary boxes ? Do you just drop it in, and then never 
 think any more about it ? Sometimes the money goes to 
 help to build churches and rooms for meetings, like the 
 one in the village I have been telling you about ; sometimes 
 it is needed for sending teachers to those villages, because, 
 you see, they need some one to explain the Bible to them ; 
 and some of it is spent on schools. I mean O Nami San 
 to go to one of these schools, where she will not have to 
 get up in the dark and work all day, but will be taught 
 and helped in every way, so that I hope her faith will not 
 be ' thin ' any more, but will grow strong and be a help to 
 others. 
 
 I wish that I could tell you more about the Japanese ; 
 but it would make this book too long. They are kind, 
 nice people, who are very friendly to us English, so we 
 really ought to give them what w r e consider our greatest 
 possession our Bible. 
 
 Forty years ago there was not a single Christian in 
 Japan, now there are nearly a hundred thousand. It 
 sounds a lot ; but then there are millions of people. 
 
 Instead of my telling you about them, I want you to 
 read some of their own stories. If you asked a Japanese 
 boy to tell you a story, he would say politely, ' Will you 
 condescend to listen to the story of Momotaro, or the 
 story of the dog Shiro ? ' 
 
 39
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 Unfortunately, it is a very long way from England to 
 Japan, and I dare say you have never met a Japanese boy, 
 and so I have taken some of the Japanese children's books 
 and put them into English for you. Here they are, with 
 their pictures. Pray 'condescend ' to read them ! 
 
 40
 
 PART III 
 THE FAIRY TALES 
 
 I 
 
 MOMOTARO; OR, THE PEACH- BOY 
 
 TT was the beginning of summer. The ground was 
 covered with a sheet of soft green, and the willows on 
 the banks of the river were shaking out their tassels. 
 Every now and then a soft breeze ruffled the surface of 
 the water. The green all round and the summer air gave 
 a delicious feeling that cannot be put into words. 
 
 On the bank of the river an O baa San 1 sat washing 
 clothes. She had chosen a good place for her basket, and 
 taking the clothes one by one, was washing them in water 
 so clear that you could see the stones at the bottom and 
 the crazy dartings of the little minnows as plainly as if 
 they had been in your hands. Suddenly there came 
 rolling down with the stream the most enormous, round, 
 soft-looking peach. 
 
 ' Well,' said the O baa San, ' I am sixty years, but never 
 
 1 The terms ' O jii San' and ' O baa San ' mean 'honourable old man ' 
 and 'honourable old woman,' and are always used when speaking of old 
 people. The word 'jii ' is pronounced as in ' Gee up, horse ! ' and 'baa,' 
 the same as in ' Baa, baa, black sheep.' 
 
 43
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 have I seen such a wonderful-looking peach. It must be 
 delicious to eat.' She looked round for a stick to reach 
 it with, but there was none. She was perplexed for a 
 moment, then, clapping her hands and nodding her head, 
 she sang the words 
 
 ' Far waters are bitter, near waters are sweet 
 Leave the bitter, come to the sweet.' 
 
 These words she sang three times, when, strange to 
 say, the peach rolled over till it was just in front of her. 
 
 ' How delighted the old man will be ! ' she thought as 
 she picked it up. She then packed up her clothes and 
 hurried home. When she saw the O jii San returning from 
 the mountains, where he had been cutting grass, she ran 
 out to meet him, and showed him the peach. 
 
 ' Dear me,' said the O jii San, ' it is wonderful. Where 
 did you buy it ? ' 
 
 ' Buy it ? I did not buy it.' And then the O baa San 
 told the story. 
 
 ' I feel hungry/ said the O jii San ; ' let us have a feast 
 at once.' 
 
 So they got out a board to cut it on, and a knife ; but 
 just as the O jii San was going to cut it he heard a clear 
 child's voice, which said, ' O jii San, wait ! ' and at that 
 moment the peach fell in two, and out there danced a little 
 boy. Was not this a strange thing? The O jii San and 
 O baa San thought so, and they were nearly fainting with 
 surprise when the boy said 
 
 ' Do not be afraid of me. You have often lamented 
 that you have no child, and the gods, being touched with 
 pity, have sent me down to be your child.' 
 44
 
 Momotaro ; or, The Peach -boy 
 
 Was this not delightful for the old couple ? They did 
 not know how to express their gratitude for this 
 unexpected favour. 
 
 As he had come to them in a peach they called the child 
 Momotaro, or Peach-boy. The years 
 passed very quickly, and as Momotaro 
 grew up he became remarkable for his 
 beauty, his bravery, and, above all, his 
 great strength. 
 
 One day he came to the O jii San 
 and said 
 
 'Father, for '. ...': 
 
 many years your 
 kindness has been 
 higher than the 
 mountains on 
 which you cut the 
 grass, and deeper 
 than the river 
 where the O baa 
 San washes her 
 clothes. How can 
 I thank you?' 
 
 ' Do not thank 
 
 us/ said the O jii San ; ' it will pain us if you do so ; 
 besides which, when we grow old we shall be dependent 
 on you, so you will not be indebted to us.' 
 
 ' While I am still so much indebted to you I do not like 
 to leave you,' said Momotaro, ' but still I have a request to 
 make : please give me leave to go away for a short time.' 
 
 45
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 ' Go away ! where to ? ' 
 
 'From the earliest ages,' said Momotaro, 'in the north 
 of Japan, separated from the mainland by the sea, is an 
 island which is inhabited by demons. These demons do 
 not obey the gods of Japan, but follow their own wicked 
 devices. They are rascals who steal both people and 
 treasure, but I mean to crush them with one blow, and to 
 bring back all their stolen riches. For this purpose I wish 
 to leave you.' 
 
 The O jii San was at first speechless with astonishment, 
 but as he considered the matter he remembered that 
 Momotaro, having been sent down by the gods, was not 
 likely to receive any injury, so he said 
 
 ' As you wish to go I will not stop you. Indeed, as 
 these demons are the enemies of Japan, the sooner you 
 destroy them and restore peace to your country the 
 better.' 
 
 Momotaro was very glad that the O jii San had so 
 willingly given permission, and preparations for his 
 journey were begun at once. The O baa San got out her 
 stored-up millet and made him some dumplings, and then 
 got his clothes ready. 
 
 When the time came for him to start the old couple 
 saw him off with tears in their eyes. 
 
 'Take care of yourself. May you return victorious,' 
 they said. 
 
 ' And you, also, please to take care of yourselves,' said 
 Momotaro. 
 
 He pressed on as quickly as he could on his journey, 
 till when it was midday he sat down to eat his dinner. He 
 46
 
 Momotaro; or, the Peach = boy 
 
 had just taken out one of the dumplings, when suddenly 
 beside him there appeared a dog, who, showing his 
 teeth, began to bark. ' Wan ! Wan ! ' barked the dog, 
 'you have come into my territory without leave, so 
 if you do not at once give me your dinner I will devour 
 you.' 
 
 Momotaro smiled scornfully. ' You desert dog,' he 
 said, ' I am going forth to fight the enemies of Japan, and 
 if you come in my way I will slay you.' 
 
 ' I did not know it was Momotaro,' said the dog, cower- 
 ing down and putting his tail between his legs. ' 1 humbly 
 beg your honourable pardon for my rude conduct. Please 
 allow me to accompany you to fight the enemies of our 
 country.' 
 
 ' I have no objection to your coming,' said Momotaro. 
 
 4 Nothing would give me so much pleasure,' said the 
 dog. ' But I am very hungry. Will you please give me 
 something to eat ?' 
 
 ' Here is a dumpling for you,' said Momotaro. 
 
 When the dog had eaten the dumpling they hurried on. 
 They had crossed many mountains and valleys, when 
 suddenly, as they were hurrying along, an animal sprang 
 down from a tree, and bowing down in front of Momotaro, 
 said 
 
 ' Is this not the great Momotaro going to make war 
 against the enemies of Japan? Pray allow me to accom- 
 pany you.' 
 
 The dog came angrily forward. ' You mountain monkey, 
 of what use would you be in the war? I alone accompany 
 the great Momotaro.' 
 
 47
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 Now, the dog and the monkey never can be friends, 
 and, of course, this speech 
 made the monkey very angry. 
 
 ' You think a great deal of 
 yourself,' said the monkey, 
 preparing to fight. He could 
 not draw his sword, for the 
 monkey does not generally carry a sword; but, showing 
 his teeth and sharpening his nails, he approached the dog. 
 Just then Momotaro stepped forward. 
 
 ' Stop/ said he ; 'do not be so hasty, dog. This monkey 
 is not a bad fellow, and I intend to enrol him as one of my 
 vassals.' So saying, he gave the monkey half a dumpling, 
 which the monkey ate, and so became one of Momotaro's 
 retainers. But it was no easy matter to make these two 
 go peacefully along together. So at last Momotaro hit 
 upon the plan of giving his standard to the monkey, and 
 making him walk in front, while he gave his sword to 
 the dog, who walked behind, while Momotaro himself 
 walked in the middle, carrying only his fan. 1 
 
 And so they hurried on their way, when suddenly, as 
 they were entering a wilderness, a wonderful bird sprang 
 from the ground. His body was clothed with a feather 
 robe of the five colours, and his head plumage was of 
 the deepest crimson. 
 
 The dog, seeing the bird, thought he would devour him 
 at one mouthful ; but Momotaro sprang forward and 
 prevented this. 
 
 1 This would be his gunsen, or war-fan. Before the Japanese army 
 was modelled on the European system, an officer's equipment included a 
 fan, partly made of iron, with which he pointed when giving his orders. 
 
 48
 
 Momotaro ; or, The Peach -boy 
 
 ' He is a curious bird, and may be of use to us,' he said. 
 ' Bird, do you wish to interrupt my journey ? If so, the dog 
 shall bite off your head. But if you submit to me, you may 
 become my vassal.' 
 
 The bird, in- stantly kneeling down in 
 
 front of Momo- /Sf""^^^ taro > sa ^ 
 
 ' Is this the ( JT J great Momotaro of whose 
 
 expedition I I //-___-/ have heard a rumour? I
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 am called the pheasant, and am a hiimble bird that lives 
 in the wilderness. Pray allow me to accompany you to 
 fight the enemies of Japan.' 
 
 The dog stepped forward. ' Does this low fellow go 
 with us?' he said. 
 
 ' It is no business of yours, dog/ said Momotaro. ' But 
 I will give you three animals warning that, if there is the 
 slightest quarrelling between you, I \vill send you back 
 that very moment. In war a good position is better than 
 good luck, but union is better than either good luck ori 
 good position. However w T eak the enemy, we cannot be 
 victorious if we do not fight together.' 
 
 The three animals listened with the greatest reverence, 
 and promised implicit obedience, and after the pheasant 
 had been enrolled in their ranks by receiving the customary 
 half dumpling, they again hurried on their way. 
 
 At last they came to the sea. Not even the smallest 
 island was in sight, nothing to be seen but waves. It 
 looked as if some monster lay at the bottom of the sea, 
 stirring it up. 
 
 Now the dog, the monkey, and the pheasant are all 
 creatures that live on dry land, and though the steepest cliff 
 and deepest valley could not frighten them, yet when they 
 saw the rolling up and down of the waves they stood quite 
 speechless. 
 
 Momotaro, seeing this, said in a loud voice, ' Nozu, my 
 vassals, why do you hesitate ? Do you fear the ocean ? 
 You cowards! It would have been better to have come 
 alone than to have had such companions ; but I will now 
 dismiss you. Return ! ' 
 50
 
 Momotaro; or, The Peach = boy 
 
 The three animals were much pained at hearing these 
 reproaches, and clinging to Momotaro, besought him not 
 to send them away. As they really seemed to be plucking 
 up courage, he at last consented, and they began to 
 prepare a boat. 
 
 There was a favourable wind, and after they set out the 
 receding shore was soon lost to sight in the morning haze. 
 At first the animals were very unhappy, but they gradually 
 became accustomed to the motion, and then they used to 
 stand on deck looking eagerly for the appearance of the 
 island. At last, for want of occupation, each animal began 
 to show off his own particular accomplishment ; the dog 
 sat up and begged, the monkey played tricks, and the 
 pheasant, not to be outdone, began to sing a mournful kind 
 of song. 
 
 All this was a great amusement to Momotaro, and 
 before he knew it the island was close at hand. They saw 
 a rock carved out as with a chisel, on the top of which was 
 a gate and barrier of iron. The houses were closely 
 crowded together, and their roofs were also of iron. Many 
 flags were flying ; indeed, it seemed an impregnable 
 fortress. Momotaro, seeing this, turned to the pheasant, 
 ' Lucky you have wings/ he said. ' Now fly to the 
 island and find out what they are doing those island 
 demons.' 
 
 The pheasant, bowing low, instantly obeyed his orders 
 and flew to the island, where he found the demons all 
 assembled on the roofs of their houses. 
 
 ' Listen, you island demons/ sang the pheasant. ' The 
 messenger of the great Sun Goddess is coming with an
 
 \
 
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 army to destroy you. If you wish to save your lives, yield 
 at once.' 
 
 ' You vain pheasant ! ' laughed the demons. ' We will 
 soon let you feel our weapons.' And so saying, they 
 girded up their garments of tiger-skin and seized their 
 weapons. But the pheasant, who is naturally a very 
 strong bird, swept down, and with one peck took off the 
 head of a red demon. 1 Then began a fierce battle, but very 
 soon the gate burst open, and the dog and the monkey 
 rushed in, raging like lions. The demons, who thought that 
 they had only to do with one bird, were much alarmed, and 
 began to fight furiously. Even the children of the red, 
 black, and blue demons all joined, and the sound of their 
 yells as it mingled with the sound of the waves beating on 
 the shore was truly terrible. But they soon got the worst 
 of it, some falling from the rocks and some being killed 
 by the fierce onslaughts of the dog, the monkey, and the 
 pheasant. 
 
 Till at last only the head demon was left ; and finally 
 he, throwing away his weapons, broke off his horns, as a 
 sign of submission. 
 
 With his hands full of treasures he knelt down before 
 Momotaro in a spider-like fashion, and with tears stream- 
 ing down his cheeks. 'Great Momotaro,' he said, 'spare 
 my life ! From to-day I shall reform ; only spare me ! ' 
 
 Momotaro laughed scornfully. ' You coward, only 
 thinking of your life ! For many years you have perse- 
 cuted and killed innocent people, so now you shall receive 
 no pity. We will take you a prisoner to Japan, and there 
 
 1 In Japan there are red, black, and blue demons, according to tradition. 
 54
 
 Momotaro; or, The Peach -boy 
 
 your head will be cut off and stuck on a gate as a warning 
 to all who see it.' 
 
 So the monkey, tying a rope round the demon, led him 
 prisoner. They also carried away with them the hoarded 
 treasures of the demons. There was coral, and tortoise, 
 and pearls, not to speak of magic coats and umbrellas, 
 which made the person who used them quite invisible. All 
 these things were put in the boat, and great was the joy of 
 the O jii San and O baa San when they saw Momotaro 
 return victorious. 
 
 And they lived happily ever after. 
 
 55
 
 THE OLD MAN WHO MADE THE TREES BLOSSOM 
 
 T ONG, long ago, there lived an old couple who had no 
 *-* child, so to comfort them they bought a dog, whom 
 they called Shiro. 
 
 They grew very fond of him, and did everything they 
 could to make him happy : when they had anything nice 
 to eat they always fed him first, and it was their great 
 delight to watch his happy, expectant face. 
 56
 
 The Old Man who made the Trees blossom 
 
 It is said that a cat in three days forgets the kindness 
 of three years, whereas a dog does not in three years 
 forget the kindness of three days. And this, indeed, was 
 the nature of Shiro, who did all he could to show his 
 gratitude to the O jii San, his master, and the O baa San, 
 his mistress. In the daytime he would go with the O jii 
 San to the mountains to cut wood, and at night he would 
 guard the house. 
 
 Now, it so happened that the next-door neighbours 
 were also an old couple. But they hated Shiro, and if 
 he as much as peeped round their gate they would 
 throw a stick or a stone at him, and once they made him 
 quite lame. As he had never done anything to hurt them, 
 this showed that they were people of a very disagreeable 
 nature. 
 
 One day the O jii San heard Shiro barking violently in 
 the garden. ' It must be the crows that he is barking at,' 
 thought the O jii San, and he went out to see what was 
 the matter. Shiro, looking very happy, came rushing 
 towards him, and pulling at his coat, dragged him to a 
 corner in the garden, where there was a large tree, under 
 which he had been digging. 
 
 ' Well, Shiro, what is it, then ? ' said the O jii San. But 
 Shiro went on digging furiously and barking. The O jii 
 San, thinking that there must be something there, fetched 
 a hoe and began to dig. Soon he saw something shining, 
 and picking it up, found a golden guinea. Thinking 
 this very strange, he went on digging, and soon came upon 
 a perfect pile of guineas, yellow as the mountain gorse. 
 The O jii San, hardly able to walk for astonishment, went
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 and called the O baa San, and the two carried the money 
 into the house. 
 
 So, through the kindness of Shiro, the old couple grew 
 quite rich, and naturally Shiro was petted even more than 
 before. 
 
 Now, very shortly after this the next-door neighbour 
 came, and, making a very polite bow, said, ' I am so sorry 
 to trouble you, but would you be so kind as to let me have 
 the loan of Shiro for a little ? ' 
 
 As the neighbour had always been so cross to Shiro, 
 the Ojii San thought this very strange ; but, being a kind 
 old man, he only said, ' If he can be of any use to you, 
 pray take him.' 
 
 Having thus successfully borrowed Shiro, the neighbour 
 returned to his house, and calling his wife, fetched a hoe, 
 and they went to the back garden, where there grew a tree 
 just like the one in the O jii San's garden. 
 
 ' Now,' said he, ' as there were guineas under the tree 
 in my neighbour's field, there is no reason why they should 
 not be under my tree;' and so saying he pushed Shiro's 
 nose into the earth, pressing it down and hurting him very 
 much. So Shiro began to scrape with his front paws, 
 which delighted the neighbour very much. 'Now stop,' 
 said he, 'and I will dig.' So he took the hoe and began 
 to dig. 
 
 ' Dear me, the guineas are very deep down this time ! ' 
 he grumbled, as he went on digging and digging. And 
 then all at once he came upon nasty black mud. Seeing 
 this, the old couple were very angry. 'You are no 
 better than a useless knave, if you can dig up guineas 
 58
 
 The Old Man who made the Trees blossom 
 
 only in your own house!' said the neighbour, seizing 
 Shiro and beating him with the hoe. Alas, poor Shiro ! 
 He struggled violently, but the neighbour in his rage 
 hit him on the head, and he soon fell a lifeless corpse. 
 
 The neighbour took up his body, and burying it in the 
 hole, returned to the house, looking as if nothing had 
 happened. 
 
 Now, as Shiro did not return, his master and mistress 
 
 59
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 began to get anxious, and at last the O jii San went to the 
 neighbour and said 
 
 'What has become of our Shiro? If your honourable 
 business is finished, please let him return to us.' 
 
 ' Is it Shiro you want? I have just killed him.' 
 
 'What, killed Shiro!' said the O jii San, thunderstruck. 
 'Why?' 
 
 'Of course I would not kill an innocent creature. 
 Please to listen to what happened. Lately foxes have been 
 coming into our garden, so I borrowed Shiro for a watch- 
 dog, but he did nothing but eat and sleep, and made such 
 a mess of the house and garden that at last I got out of 
 temper and killed him.' 
 
 'Oh dear, oh dear!' said Shiro's master, weeping 
 bitterly. 'Poor thing! if I had only known what was 
 happening, I would have saved his life. Whatever his 
 faults were, you have done an unkind thing.' The O jii 
 San wept for some time, while the neighbour went on 
 complaining of Shiro. ' Well,' he said, 'what is done can't 
 be undone. Poor Shiro seems to have behaved badly, and 
 he has reaped the consequences. But please to give me 
 his body.' 
 
 'Oh, I can't do that, for I have buried it under the 
 tree.' 
 
 ' Dear, dear ! Have you already buried it ? What shall 
 I do ? Well, would you mind selling me the wood of the 
 tree?' 
 
 'Sell the tree?' 
 
 1 Yes ; as Shiro was buried under it, I should like to 
 have the wood.' 
 60
 
 The Old Man who made the Trees blossom 
 
 'Oh, well, if that is the case, I don't mind selling it 
 to you.' 
 
 And so the O jii San bought the wood and carried it 
 home. He then set to work and made a tub from it for 
 the manufacture of aiva inochi, which he wished to offer to 
 Shiro's spirit. 1 The old couple both worked hard at the 
 mochi. 
 
 1 Now, Shiro,' they said, ' your spirit should be happy, 
 for we are making your favourite awa mochi.' 
 
 But a most astonishing thing happened. They only 
 put in a handful of millet, but it kept on increasing and 
 increasing till at last the tub overflowed. The old couple 
 were very much delighted. ' This certainly must be the 
 doing of Shiro,' they thought, and they put the nicest- 
 looking cakes on the shelf; after which they had quite a 
 feast, for the cakes were more delicious than anything they 
 had ever tasted. 
 
 Now, the neighbour heard of this. So after a few days 
 he came and said 
 
 'We have been thinking in our house that as Shiro was 
 so fond of awa nioc/ii, we would like to make a few cakes 
 and offer them to his spirit, so would you kindly lend us 
 your tub? 1 And 'the O jii San lent it, though he thought 
 it very disagreeable of the neighbour, after what had 
 happened, to come borrowing his things. 
 
 1 In Japanese houses you will generally see a shelf against the wall, on 
 which are vases of flowers, cakes, etc. These are offerings to the spirits of 
 deceased members of the family. The O jii San wished to treat Shiro 
 exactly as if he were a human being, so he offered the cakes to his 
 spirit. 
 
 61
 
 The Old Man who made the Trees blossom 
 
 Well, the old people 
 waited for a few days, but 
 there was no appearance of 
 their tub being returned. The 
 O jii San, thinking he would 
 just ask for it, went to the 
 neighbour, and found him sit- 
 ting in front of his oven, 
 piling wood on the fire. 
 
 'Oh, is it your tub that 
 you want?' he said. 'As 
 for your tub, I chopped it up 
 and am now putting it on the 
 fire.' 
 
 ' Chopped up my tub ! ' 
 
 ' As it is borrowed from 
 you, of course I would not 
 chop it up without a reason,' 
 said the neighbour; 'but I 
 borrowed it on purpose to
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 make awa inochi to offer to the dead Shiro ; and yet when 
 I put in the millet nothing but black mud came out of 
 the tub, which of course was very disagreeable for us ; 
 so I thought I had better chop up such a useless tub.' 
 
 'I am really very sorry that such a thing should have, 
 happened to you ; but if you had only asked me, we have 
 plenty of awa mochiin the house, and could easily have given 
 you some. However, as you have already burnt it, why, it 
 can't be helped ; but, as Shiro was buried under that tree, 
 I think that I should like to keep some of the ashes.' 
 
 ' Oh, as for the ashes, you may take as many of them as 
 you like.' 
 
 So the O jii San took a basketful of ashes ; and what he 
 was thinking of one does not know, but he scattered them 
 about the garden. And then a most extraordinary thing 
 happened. 
 
 A plum tree and a cherry tree, which had been quite 
 withered, suddenly went ' Pop ! ' and burst into flower. 
 And such flowers they were, too ! It was as if you saw 
 Jokigase and Yoshino (places celebrated for blossom) at 
 one glance. 1 
 
 ' Well, this 15 beautiful ! ' said the O jii San, and he put 
 away the remaining ashes most carefully. 
 
 Shortly after this an unknown samurai (knight) came 
 to the O jii San's house. 
 
 1 The Japanese are especially fond of the plum and cherry blossoms. 
 They do not cultivate these trees for their fruit, but for their flowers, and 
 when the blossom is out there is a general holiday-making, while parties 
 are made up to go and ' view the blossoms.' A favourite tree is as much 
 cherished as a favourite dog would be in England, and Japanese literature 
 is full of allusions to these blossoms. 
 64
 
 The Old Man who made the Trees blossom 
 
 'My name is Nuikashi,' said he, 'and I am the retainer 
 of a great daimio. In my master's grounds is a favourite 
 cherry tree, which, alas ! has withered. The gardener is 
 perfectly exhausted with his efforts to revive it, and we are 
 all much troubled. But we have heard that you possess 
 some wonderful kind of ashes that make withered trees 
 flower. If that is the case, I beg of you to come to the 
 palace and help us.' 
 
 ' It is indeed true what you have condescended to hear, 
 and I shall feel honoured in being allowed to bring my 
 humble ashes to your honourable dwelling,' said the O jii 
 San, bowing down to the ground. 
 
 ' Please come with me as soon as possible,' said the 
 samurai ; and they soon started, the samurai walking first, 
 and the O jii San carefully carrying the precious ashes 
 behind. 
 
 When the daimio (a great feudal lord is called a daimio) 
 saw the O jii San, he said 
 
 ' Is this the O jii San I have heard of?' 
 
 'Yes,' said the O jii San. 'Owing to your most 
 condescending orders I have ventured to intrude myself 
 into your honourable presence. It is a great distinction 
 for me.', 
 
 ' O jii San,' said the daimio, ' having heard of your 
 wonderful ashes, I wish to see their effect.' 
 
 So they went to the withered tree. 
 
 The O jii San, gathering up his courage, took the basket 1 
 of ashes, and carefully choosing his footing, climbed up the 
 cherry tree ; then, selecting the nicest-looking ashes, he 
 threw them at the top branches. 
 
 E 65
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 And then a most strange thing happened. The moment 
 the ashes touched the branches there was a ' Pop ! ' and the 
 
 withered tree burst into such brilliant flower that it quite 
 dazzled one to look at it. 
 
 The daimio was extremely delighted. He at once 
 invited the O jii San to the palace, where there was a 
 splendid repast. The daimio not only praised the O jii 
 San, but he gave him money and perfect mountains of 
 dresses and splendid things, and he also said that the O jii 
 San was always to be known as ' The O jii San who makes 
 the cherries blossom ; ' which every one thought a most 
 charming name. 
 
 Meanwhile, the neighbour had been very unhappy, for 
 68
 
 The Old Man who made the Trees blossom 
 
 he had borrowed Shiro in the hope of getting golden 
 guineas, and he had borrowed the tub in the hope of 
 getting awa mochi, and each time he had been bitterly 
 disappointed. When he heard that the O jii San had been 
 to the palace, and had received splendid gifts and a 
 charming name from the daimio, and all by his clever use 
 of the ashes, his astonishment knew no bounds. 
 
 ' What, the ashes of the tub ! ' he cried. ' Why, if I had 
 only thought of it, I could have done that too ; but I 
 believe that there are still some left in my house.' But 
 there were none of the ashes of the tub in the house ; so 
 he just took some common ashes, and, putting them into a 
 basket, he went into the street and began calling out in a 
 loud voice, ' I am the celebrated old man that makes the 
 trees blossom/ and 'Who wants their trees to blossom?' 
 Now, the daimio's attendants knew that their master was 
 in want of some amusement, so they told the neighbour to 
 come to the palace. But when the daimio saw him he said, 
 ' That is not the same man ; but, of course, it may be a 
 pupil whom he has taught.' 
 
 The neighbour bowed down and said, ' I beg your 
 honourable pardon. I am no one's pupil. The man who 
 came to you lately only imitated me.' 
 
 'What! was he only your imitator? Then you will be 
 able to do something very wonderful.' 
 
 So they went to a withered tree in the garden, and the 
 neighbour, remembering what he had heard of the O jii 
 San doing, took the nicest-looking ashes and threw them 
 at the tree. But the withered tree remained a withered 
 tree just the same. So he threw some more, then some 
 
 69
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 more, but there was no appearance of even a bud. So then, 
 with all his might, he threw the whole basketful. Then 
 
 there was a scene of great 
 confusion, for the wind 
 carried the ashes all about 
 the garden, and they blew 
 into the eyes of the atten- 
 dants, and even into the 
 eyes of the daimio himself. 
 And he was naturally very 
 angry. ' You are the imi- 
 tator/ he cried, and by his 
 
 orders the an gry atten- 
 dants seized the neigh- 
 bour, and binding him 
 
 with ropes, put him in prison for being such an impostor. 
 But the O jii San, what with the guineas that Shiro had 
 
 found for him and the presents he had received from the 
 
 daimio, became a rich man, and lived peaceably and happily 
 
 ever after.
 
 Ill 
 
 KACHI KACHI MOUNTAIN 1 
 
 ONCE there was an O jii San who was much troubled 
 by a most mischievous Old Badger, who used to 
 come out of his hole every night and do a great deal of 
 damage in the O jii San's garden. 
 
 >But at last the Old Badger was caught in a trap. 
 4 O baa San/ called the O jii San to his wife, ' I have 
 caught that wicked Old Badger. He will no longer come 
 out at night and destroy our garden. To-night we will 
 make him into badger soup.' 
 
 And so saying, the O jii San tied the Old Badger's legs 
 together, and hung him up to one of the rafters of the 
 kitchen, and went away rejoicing, to his daily work. 
 
 The Old Badger/left hanging from the kitchen rafters, 
 had plenty of time for thought, and he began to plan a way 
 of escape, and at last in his craftiness he hit upon a plan 
 that seemed hopeful. The O baa San was in the kitchen 
 pounding millet with a big hammer. 
 
 1 The belief in the miraculous powers of the fox and the badger is among 
 one of the most deeply-rooted superstitions in Japan. Fox-shrines are to be 
 found in every village, and even in lonely woods. It is believed that foxes 
 and badgers can not only enter into people and bewitch them, but also that 
 they can assume the form of human beings. There is a special place where 
 fox-bewitched people are treated for cure. 
 
 71
 
 Kachi Kachi Mountain 
 
 ' O baa San,' w said the Old Bad- 
 
 ger, 'it really is Jl too bad that such 
 
 an old woman as ^^^^^^^k you are snould 
 
 have such heavy . ^^ 'jjjjf'*^ ill work to -do. It 
 must be very try- ^&&- '^ l|| ing for you. Do 
 
 let me do it for s %?t-^gJEir ^ you.' 
 
 'No, no/ said the O baa San, 
 
 shaking her grey head. ' If anything should happen while 
 the O jii San is away, how I would be scolded ! But thank 
 you for your kindness all the same.' 
 
 But the Old Badger was a cunning creature, and he 
 went on in a purring tone of voice 
 
 ' Your caution is quite right ; but you need not imagine 
 that I would do anything so bad as run away, when once 
 I have been caught. But as I am hanging here with 
 nothing to do, why should I not help you for a bit? Do 
 try me.' 
 
 And so he went on gently persuading her, till at last 
 the O baa San, who was a good old creature, and never 
 thought of any one telling lies, untied the rope and, letting 
 him free, handed him the hammer. 
 
 ' Well, then, take it for a little,' she said. 
 
 But the wicked Old Badger, instead of pounding the 
 millet, as he had so faithfully promised to do, suddenly 
 fell on the O baa San and, knocking her on the head, killed 
 her on the spot, and then assuming the shape of the O 
 baa San (as foxes and badgers have the power of doing), 
 he sat down to await the return of the O jii San. Towards 
 evening the O jii San, little dreaming of what had taken 
 place, came home. 
 
 73
 
 Kachi Kachi Mountain 
 
 ' O baa San/ he called, out 
 to his wife, ' have you made 
 
 soup 
 
 that Old Badger into 
 Let us have supper.' 
 
 The O baa San brought the 
 supper, and he sat down to eat 
 it, when suddenly the O baa 
 San jumped up. 
 
 'Ah! O jii San, you won't *. ;)V-' ' "-;" ' 
 find much supper there, and as 
 
 for the O baa San, I have killed her. I am the badger 
 you thought you had tied up so securely.' And with a 
 frisk of his tail off he ran. 
 
 The O jii San was much too much astonished to run 
 after him. He sat down and began to weep very bitterly. 
 
 ' Oh, that wicked Old Badger! Has he really killed my 
 poor old wife? What shall I do without her?' 
 
 As he sat on his veranda, weeping, he heard a gentle 
 voice beside him. 
 
 ' O jii San, why are you weeping ? ' 
 
 The O jii San, looking up, saw the White Rabbit, who 
 lived near by. He was a very different creature from 
 the Old Badger, being a creature of a most amiable 
 disposition. 
 
 'Ah, is it you, Mr. White Rabbit?' said the O jii San. 
 ' Thank you for asking, but that wicked Old Badger has 
 killed my poor wife. Is it not dreadful?' and he told the 
 whole story. The White Rabbit, listening, felt very sorry 
 for him. 
 
 ' It is indeed dreadful, but do not you trouble about 
 
 75
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 punishing the murderer. I will take that on myself. He 
 shall not go free.' 
 
 ' How strange it is/ said the O jii San, ' that two such 
 different creatures should belong to the same tribe ! The 
 one so kind-hearted, and the other so wicked.' 
 
 ' Trust to me/ said the White Rabbit ; and he set off 
 home. But on his way he thought he would go at once, 
 and see if he could carry out a plan of vengeance. So he 
 went to the hole of the Old Badger. 
 
 Now, the Badger, knowing quite well that he had done 
 a very wicked thing, and having a very bad conscience, 
 was keeping in the very back of his hole. 
 
 'Mr. Badger/ called out the White Rabbit, 'what has 
 happened to you? In this fine weather why do you keep 
 in the back of your hole? You had better come with me 
 to gather sticks on the mountain.' 
 
 When the Badger knew that it was only the White 
 Rabbit, he did not feel so frightened. 
 
 ' Well/ he said, ' I believe I'll come with you. I am 
 feeling rather dull.' 
 
 So the two set out together, and they spent the day 
 on the mountain-side collecting sticks, and w r hen it was 
 evening they tied them in bundles, and carrying them on 
 their backs, set off home. As they were strolling along, 
 the White Rabbit got a little behind the Badger, and 
 slipping a flint out of his pocket, he struck a light and 
 quietly set fire to the sticks on the Badger's back. 
 
 In a minute or two the Badger said, ' Mr. Rabbit, what 
 is that sound I hear, like Kachi, Kachi?' 
 
 ' Oh/ said the White Rabbit, with an unconcerned face, 
 76
 
 Kachi Kachi Mountain 
 
 ' don't you know that this mountain is called Kachi Kachi 
 Mountain ? and so as I go along I keep saying to myself, 
 Kachi Kachi, Kachi Kachi.' 
 
 'Oh, but, Mr. Rabbit, now* I hear a sound like Bo, Bo 
 just behind my ear. Do see what it is.' 
 
 ' Oh/ said the White Rabbit, ' did you not know that 
 the mountain has two names ? and I first say one, and then 
 the other Kachi Kachi, Bo, Bo.' 
 
 But at that moment the fire touched the Badger's back, 
 and he screamed out, ' I am on fire!' and began rushing 
 along. The White Rabbit said to himself, 'This is the 
 punishment of a wicked Old Badger; 'and so, though he 
 pretended to be much surprised and concerned, he really 
 kept fanning up the flame. The Badger set off as fast as 
 he could to his own hole, for help to put out the fire. The 
 White Rabbit did not follow him, but next day he went to 
 inquire for him. 
 
 ' Mr. Badger,' he called out, ' were you burnt ? How 
 are you ? ' 
 
 The Badger came out with his head all bound up with 
 a towel. 
 
 'Oh, Mr. Rabbit,' he said, 'what a dreadful time I 
 had yesterday ! ' 
 
 ' Well,' said the Rabbit, ' I just brought you along this 
 pot of stuff to rub on your burn ; ' and so saying he handed 
 him a bottle of strong acid. 
 
 ' That is very kind of you, and if you will excuse me I 
 will just rub it on at once.' 
 
 But no sooner had he done so than he jumped up, frantic 
 with the pain, and rushed into the darkness of his hole.
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 "The Rabbit, still determined to put an end to the life of 
 the wicked Old Badger, returned to his own hole, meaning 
 to wait a little. But one day he saw the Badger coming 
 towards him. 
 
 'Well, Mr. Badger, how are you? Shall we go for 
 another walk?' 
 
 1 Not to Kachi Kachi Mountain again,' said the Badger. 
 
 ' No/ said the Rabbit. ' Well, then, we might go to the 
 sea-shore.' 
 
 'Yes,' said the Badger. 'That would be amusing.' 
 
 ' I will get ready a boat,' said the Rabbit, ' and we 
 will go for a row on the water.' 
 
 The Rabbit at once set to work to prepare two boats ; 
 one he made for himself of wood, and one for the Badger 
 which was only made of mud, hardened and made to look 
 all right. 
 
 The Old Badger came back in a few days. 
 
 ' Well, Mr. Rabbit, how about the boats ? ' 
 
 ' They are all right,' said the White Rabbit. ' Let us 
 start at once.' 
 
 So they went down to the sea-shore, where they 
 embarked, the White Rabbit in the wooden, the Badger in 
 the clay boat. 
 
 ' What a beautiful view ! ' said the White Rabbit. 
 
 'Yes, indeed,' said the Badger; 'and what a delicious 
 thing it is to be on the water on such a calm day ! ' 
 
 ' But it is not very amusing just to paddle about,' said 
 the Rabbit. ' Let us have a race.' 
 
 ' All right,' said the Badger. ' But we must start 
 together. Now then, one, two, three, off! ' 
 80
 
 k'achi Kachi Mountain 
 
 And the Badger and the Rabbit both started pulling as 
 hard as they could ; but the Badger's boat being only of 
 clay, he could not get it along, and as he pulled it began to 
 crumble away, and the water to come in. 
 
 ' Oh, help, help ! ' he cried. ' Mr. Rabbit, wait for me. 
 My boat is coming to pieces ! ' 
 
 Then the White Rabbit stopped rowing, and standing 
 up he said 
 
 ' Oh, you wicked Old Badger ! Who killed the 
 innocent O baa San ? I have taken on myself to avenge 
 her. The burning you got on Kachi Kachi Mountain, and 
 the acid I gave you for your burns were all part of the 
 punishment. And now your end has come.' 
 
 And lifting up his oar, he gave one blow to the boat, 
 which broke all in pieces, and the Badger sank into the 
 water. 
 
 Then the White Rabbit, having carried out his promise, 
 returned to the O jii San, and told him all that had 
 happened ; and the O jii San, rejoicing that wickedness had 
 received its just punishment, spread a magnificent feast 
 before the White Rabbit, and begged him from that time 
 to live in the house, and look upon himself as one of the 
 family.
 
 IV 
 THE MAN WITH THE WEN 1 
 
 , long ago, there was an unfortunate O jii San, who 
 had a large wen on his right cheek. It was a great 
 trial to him, and he had gone to many doctors about it, and 
 used much medicine, but it only grew worse and worse. 
 
 One day the O jii San went to the mountain to gather 
 wood. All day long he was tramping about hither and 
 
 1 This story first appeared in a collection of Japanese stones which was 
 published in 1664, but it is supposed in Japan to date from a much earlier 
 time. In Volume III. of the Transactions of the Asiatic Society there is a 
 paper which draws attention to the similarity between this story and an Irish 
 legend, called the Legend of Knockgrafton. The writer of the paper makes 
 the following remarks : 
 
 ' The stories are unmistakably identical. Can it be supposed that the 
 leading idea that of the taking off the hump, or wen, of one man, by the 
 agency of elves, and clapping it on to another man in reward for his envy 
 and want of skill came into the heads of two different story-tellers, one a 
 Celt and the other a Japanese, independently? Is it credible that one of 
 these stories is not borrowed from the other ? But if so, then at what age 
 of the world did the loan take place, and which country was the lender, 
 and which the borrower? As we know of no recent epoch at which the 
 communication from one country to the other is likely to have taken place, 
 we are led to think that this story may be one of the most ancient traditions 
 of the human race, and that it may date from a time far anterior to history, 
 when a Turanian tribe occupied Iceland, preceding the Celtic tribes, who are 
 now the oldest stratum of humanity remaining in the Far West.' 
 
 I am far from agreeing with this writer as to the impossibility of two 
 story-tellers of different races hitting on the same idea; but it would be 
 interesting to know in how many countries this tale is known in some form. 
 If it is one of the oldest traditions, it would be found in other countries 
 besides Japan and Ireland. 
 82
 
 The Man with the Wen 
 
 thither, and it was only towards evening that he gathered 
 together his load and began to descend the mountain ; but 
 just then the slcy became suddenly overcast, and down 
 came a torrent of rain. 
 
 'Dear, dear/ thought the O jii San, 'just when I am 
 miles from any shelter ! What is to be done ? ' 
 
 But at that moment he spied a big tree, into whose 
 hollow trunk he could easily creep. Most thankful he 
 was for the shelter, for the rain came down, and the 
 thunder rolled in such a way as to make the poor old man 
 feel half dead with fright. 
 
 However, it was only a thunderstorm, and it began 
 gradually to clear, and at last the O jii San saw the rays 
 of the setting sun shining on the opposite mountain. 
 
 'Well, I had better be getting home/ thought he; but 
 just as he was going to creep out of the tree he heard a 
 tramp of feet. 
 
 ' That must be other woodcutters who have been 
 caught like me ; I may as well go along with them ; ' and 
 he put out his head to call to them. But, to his amazement, 
 instead of the peaceful woodcutters he expected to see, a 
 very different sight met his eyes. 
 
 There came dancing along the mountain-side a troop of 
 one-horned, three-eyed, crocodile-mouthed demons and 
 elves, the red ones dressed in bear-skins, the green ones 
 in tiger-skins ; there were at least a hundred of them, all 
 with wands in their hands. 1 
 
 1 In Japan women-ghosts, demons, and elves have one eye ; men-ghosts 
 have three ; mortals only have two eyes. Demons are divided into red 
 and green. 
 
 83
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 The poor old O jii San fell back into the tree with fright. 
 Fortunately, the demons had not seen him, and there he 
 lay, hardly able to breathe. 
 
 The demons stopped quite near the tree, and as the 
 sounds of their merriment grew louder the O jii San 
 thought he might venture to peep out. 
 
 'They are having a good time. What can they be 
 doing?' 
 
 So he put out his head a little and watched them. One, 
 who seemed to be the master-demon, stood in the centre, 
 while the others danced and sang.

 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 ' It seems to be a kind of social gathering of demons/ 
 said the O jii San to himself. 'Well, well, that is a funny 
 thing! I am an old man, and have come to this mountain 
 nearly every day, but it is the first time I have seen such a 
 strange sight.' And he crept out a little further. 
 
 'Now then, my men/ said the master-demon, who was 
 drinking wine out of a big goblet, ' have you nothing 
 newer than that to show me ? These are just the same 
 old dances that you have gone through so often before.' 
 
 ' Well/ thought the O jii San, ' if that is the case, why 
 should I not show them something new? As the demons 
 are so fond of dances, I don't believe they will hurt me. 
 I'll just try.' And feeling inspirited by the lively chorus 
 that the demons were singing, he ran out. 
 
 The demons were much startled when this unexpected 
 old man ran into the midst of them. 
 
 The O jii San danced like a man who knows that his 
 life depends on what he is doing. 
 
 ' Well done ! ' cried one demon. ' That's good ! ' shouted 
 another ; and when the O jii San at last, quite worn out, 
 came to a stop, the master-demon handed him the wine- 
 bowl. 
 
 'It has really been most amusing/ he said, 'and we 
 are much obliged to you.' 
 
 The O jii San bowed. ' It is very good of you to excuse 
 my interruption of your feast, and I am delighted to have 
 given you any amusement.' 
 
 ' You must do it again.' 
 
 4 Certainly/ said the O jii San. 
 
 'To-morrow/ said the demon. 
 S6
 
 The Man with the Wen 
 
 'Yes, to-morrow.' 
 
 ' But what proof have we that you will come ? You 
 must give us some pledge.' 
 
 ' What can I give you ? ' asked the O jii San. 
 
 The demons held a consultation, and then one of them, 
 with a very knowing look, got up and spoke. 
 
 ' We must, of course, take something that he values. I 
 have always heard that mortals consider a wen a very 
 lucky thing to have. You see that O jii San has one on 
 his right cheek ; let us take that.' 
 
 'That is a brilliant idea,' said the others. 'We will 
 do so.' 
 
 And, to the amazement of the O jii San, in a moment the 
 demons, both red and green, and his wen had all vanished. 
 
 ' That troublesome thing gone, and without even a 
 twinge of pain! Most astounding! I wish I had come 
 to the demons a little sooner.' 
 
 He hurried home, and his old wife was delighted to see 
 him appear. 
 
 ' And what did you do in the rain ?' she said. ' Come 
 in quick and rest.' 
 
 And just then, looking at him, she saw the change in 
 his face. 
 
 'What has happened?' she exclaimed. 
 
 ' You may well ask/ said the O jii San ; and then he told 
 her the whole story. 
 
 ' Well, well,' she said, ' now is not that a good thing? 
 But what are the demons going to do with the wen, I 
 wonder?' 
 
 Now, it just so happened that the next-door neighbour
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 was an old man, who had a wen on 
 his left cheek which gave him great 
 trouble. When he heard the O jii 
 San's story, he felt very envious. 
 He came along to the O jii San's 
 house, and said 
 
 ' Is it true that yesterday you 
 met with demons, who took off your 
 wen?' 
 
 > W? 
 
 :> ^' -
 
 !>?
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 ' Perfectly true.' 
 
 ' Well, if that is the case, I think I will just go to the 
 mountain and see if they will do the same for me.' 
 
 ' Very well,' said the O jii San ; ' I will tell you where 
 they are to be found.' 
 
 Then he most kindly gave him full directions, and the 
 neighbour joyfully set off to go up the hill. 
 
 'Ah, there is the tree! Now I must creep into the 
 trunk and wait.' 
 
 When evening came, he heard the tramp of feet, and, 
 just as before, the demons stopped in front of the tree 
 and began their festivities. 
 
 'Is the old man not coming to dance?' said the 
 master-demon, looking 
 round. 
 
 ' Here I am, here I 
 am ! ' cried the neigh- 
 bour, running out. ' I 
 have been waiting for 
 you ;' and he took out 
 his fan, and began to 
 dance and sing as hard 
 as he could. 
 
 But he was a clumsy 
 old man, who had 
 never studied even the 
 first rules of dancing, 
 and the demons soon 
 saw that he was just 
 jumping about. 
 90
 
 
 The Man with the Wen 
 
 ' That's not like yesterday ! ' 
 
 ' That won't do ! ' 
 
 ' Here, take back your pledge and go ! ' 
 
 And the neighbour, trembling for his life, was soon 
 running down the mountain-side with a wen on either 
 cheek. 
 
 &*-
 
 THE MAQIC MIRROR 
 
 LONG ago, in the province of Echigo, there lived a man 
 and his wife who had one child, a daughter, who 
 was the joy of their hearts. 
 
 It happened one day that the father had to go to 
 the capital, which in those days was Kyoto, not Tokyo, 
 on business. 
 
 'It is a long way,' said his wife, 'and there are many 
 dangers ; condescend to take care of yourself, and return 
 quickly.' 
 
 ' I will be so good while you are away,' said the little 
 daughter. ' Please bring me something from the capital.' 
 
 The mother and daughter accompanied him to the 
 gate, and stood watching till his big sun-hat disappeared 
 in the distance. 
 
 'Now he is really gone, and you must keep house with 
 mother, and we will play at dolls' tea-party,' said the 
 mother. 
 
 The days passed quickly away, and when his business 
 was finished the father came back. His face was so brown 
 with the sun that no one but his wife and child could 
 recognize him. When he had rested a little after his 
 journey he opened his travelling-basket. 
 92
 
 The Magic Mirror 
 
 ' This is for you/ he said, taking out a doll and handing 
 it to the little girl, who, trembling with delight, stretched 
 out her little hands, delicate as the leaves of the maple, to 
 receive it. 
 
 ' And this is for you,' he said, handing a mirror to 
 his wife. 
 
 Now, his wife, having lived entirely in the m'ountains, 
 had never before seen a mirror. 
 
 'What is it?' she said. 
 
 'That is a mirror/ said the husband, laughing, 'and it 
 reflects your face. As the sword is the emblem of a man, 
 so the mirror is the emblem of a woman. And, you know, 
 a mirror is one of the three sacred treasures of Japan. 
 Here in the country it is impossible to buy one, but in the 
 towns they are to be bought. You must take care of it.' 
 
 ' Indeed I will/ said the wife, much delighted. ' I will 
 look upon it as my emblem, and will keep it carefully in 
 this box.' 
 
 The father, mother, and daughter were very happy 
 together; but in this world things never go on long the 
 same. The moon is not always round, flowers are not 
 always in blossom, and happiness does not go on for ever, 
 and a sudden sorrow came to this family the mother fell 
 ill. At first it was only a cold, but as the days passed she 
 gradually grew worse, and at last the doctor threw away 
 the spoon. 1 
 
 The daughter never left her mother's side. It was she 
 
 1 In olden times, before European medicine was introduced, the doctor 
 s.gnified that he gave up hope by throwing away the spoon for the 
 medicine, 
 
 93
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 who rubbed her and gave her medicines, and attended to 
 her night and day. 
 
 One night the mother, calling the daughter to her side, 
 said, ' When I am dead you must be very dutiful to your 
 father.' 
 
 ' Do not speak of such things,' said the daughter. ' You 
 must get well.' 
 
 ' No,' said the mother, ' I am dying. My death now is
 
 The Magic Mirror 
 
 probably a punishment for some sin I have committed in 
 a previous state of existence. 1 But I have something that 
 I wish to give you ; and so saying she took from under 
 her pillow a box. ' A long time ago/ she said, ' when you 
 
 1 According to the theory of transmigration, punishment is endured for 
 sins committed in a former state.
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 were a little girl, your father went once to the capital, and 
 he brought me back a very wonderful present Now, after 
 I am dead, if you think longingly of me, take out the thing 
 that you will find inside this box, and look at it. When 
 you do so my spirit will meet yours, and you will be 
 comforted.' 
 
 Soon after this the mother passed away. The grief of 
 the father and daughter was great, and as the days passed 
 away the girl's heart grew no lighter. The sound of the 
 wind in the trees, and the dropping of the rain, everything 
 reminded her of her mother. One day she suddenly 
 recollected her mother's words, which in her grief she had 
 forgotten, and running to the box, opened it, and took out 
 the mirror. She gazed at it in astonishment, for there 
 before her she saw her mother's face, only younger and 
 more beautiful than it had been during her illness. The 
 face appeared to smile at her, and it seemed as if her 
 mother were on the point of opening her lips and speaking 
 to her. The daughter was much astonished. 
 
 ' Then it was quite true what she said, that I was to 
 look at this if I was longing for her, and I would be 
 comforted. Oh, how joyful ! Now I can always meet her 
 spirit.' 
 
 After a year had passed away the father, at the earnest 
 desire of his relatives, took another wife. The daughter 
 behaved to her just as if it had been her own mother, and 
 the father was much pleased to see such peace and 
 harmony between them. But this was only for a time. 
 The step-mother began to change, and to treat the girl 
 very unkindly, and to make all kinds of complaints about 
 96
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 her to the father. He, however, paid no attention to them ; 
 on the contrary, he treated his daughter all the more 
 affectionately. 
 
 One day the step-mother came weeping to her husband. 
 
 ' i have come to say farewell to you ; I must leave your 
 house,' she said. 
 
 The husband was much surprised. ' What do you 
 mean?' he said. ' Do you dislike me ?' 
 
 'Nothing would give me greater happiness than to 
 remain always with you,' said his wife ; ' it is only because 
 I am in danger of my life that I wish to go.' 
 
 'Your life in danger!' he exclaimed. 'How can that 
 be possible ? ' 
 
 ' It is your daughter,' she answered. ' I am only her 
 step-mother, and therefore she dislikes me, and has made 
 a plan to kill me by magic. She sits in her room for hours 
 and gazes at something in her hand, which I believe is my 
 likeness in wood.' 
 
 The husband listened attentively to what his wife said, 
 and although believing it to be a slander, still, remembering 
 that the daughter did stay for hours in her own room, he 
 saw that there was something at the bottom of it, so, wishing 
 to solve the matter for himself, he went on tip-toe to his 
 daughter's room. 
 
 Now, the poor girl had been very unhappy for some 
 time, for she felt that her step-mother had changed towards 
 her, and she knew of the unkind things she told the father. 
 So her heart was very heavy, and her only pleasure was 
 to steal away to her own room and look at the mirror. 
 And on this day, as usual, she had taken it out, and was 
 98
 
 The Magic Mirror 
 
 sadly thinking of her happy life with her mother, when 
 some one suddenly entered the room behind her. She 
 quickly slipped the mirror into her sleeve. 
 
 'Why are you here all alone, sitting doing nothing?' 
 said her father, very angrily. 
 
 She gave no answer. 
 
 'What did you hide just now?' he said in a severe 
 tone ; but she was too much surprised to make any reply. 
 
 ' Then it is true what my wife says. You are always 
 thinking of your own mother, and you have planned to 
 kill your step-mother by magic arts. What evil spirit has 
 taken possession of you, that you have such wicked 
 thoughts ?' and the father's anger rising more and more, 
 he scolded the girl without waiting an answer, till at length 
 she flung herself before him. 
 
 4 Do not say such things about me!' she entreated. ' I 
 am only a silly girl, but I have never had unkind thoughts 
 about my step-mother. Believe me, I have never wished 
 to hurt her in any way.' 
 
 But he would not believe her. 
 
 ' If that is the case, why do you stay all alone, and why 
 when I came in did you hide something in your sleeve?' 
 
 And so, as he still mistrusted her, she drew the mirror 
 out of her sleeve and held it up. 
 
 ' This is what I have been looking at,' she said. 
 
 ' That !' said her father, much surprised. 'Why, that is 
 the present I brought your mother from Kyoto. Why 
 should you sit gazing at that ? ' 
 
 Then she told her father of her mother's dying words. 
 
 ' I do not understand,' said her father. ' When you long 
 
 99
 
 The Magic Mirror 
 
 for your mother you look in this glass, and her spirit meets 
 you? That is impossible.' 
 
 1 Indeed I am telling you the truth/ said the girl. ' But 
 look ; do you not see my mother's spirit in this ? I can see 
 it always ; ' and she held the mirror up before her face. 
 
 Then the father suddenly understood what she had 
 been thinking. 
 
 'I see,' he said to himself; 'it was a device of her 
 mother to comfort the poor child, and she has all this 
 time been mistaking her own face for that of her mother. 
 Certainly they were as like each other as the two sides of 
 a lemon, so perhaps it is not wonderful.' Then, turning 
 to the girl, he said, 'And so all the time that we thought 
 you were plotting some magic arts you were really look- 
 ing at your mother ! We have indeed been unjust to you.' 
 At that moment the step-mother, who had been listening 
 behind the paper walls, came in, and kneeling down in front 
 of the girl said 
 
 ' You must forgive me. When I saw you constantly 
 sitting on the floor looking at something that you would 
 not show to others, I grew suspicious, and gradually 
 came to have these bad thoughts about you. But please 
 forgive me, and let us drown in the sea the thought of 
 all that has passed. I cannot but admire your love for 
 your own mother.' 
 
 The father was much delighted at this happy ending 
 to their unhappiness, and they were ever after a most 
 united family. 
 
 101
 
 VI 
 THE LUCKY HUNTER AND THE 5KILFUL FISHER 
 
 T ONG, long ago there lived a prince named Hiko-hoho- 
 4- rf de-mi-no-mikoto. He was gifted beyond ordinary 
 men, but as he more especially excelled in the chase, he 
 was known as the Lucky Hunter. 
 
 Now, this prince had an elder brother who was above 
 all things skilful in fishing, for which reason he was known 
 as the Skilful Fisher. It was the daily amusement of these 
 brothers to go out, the one to the mountains and the 
 other to his fishing, till one day the Lucky Hunter said to 
 his brother 
 
 'Sir, every day you go out with your net ard I with 
 my bow and arrow. But really it is rather dull to do the 
 same thing every day ; let us change, and you go to the 
 mountains, while I go to the sea. It will be more amusing 
 to have a change.' 
 
 1 Well, I believe you are right/ said the elder brother ; 
 and taking the bow and arrow, he went off to the 
 mountains, while the Lucky Hunter went a-fishing. 
 
 Choosing a comfortable rock, the Lucky Hunter seated 
 
 himself, and proceeded to put the hook on to the line, and 
 
 then threw it. He watched anxiously, and when there 
 
 was the slightest movement he drew it in and looked. 
 
 102
 
 The Lucky Hunter and the Skilful Fisher 
 
 But by the end of the day the Lucky Hunter, who could 
 hit the swiftest flying sparrow, had not caught one of the 
 little fish which were just under his nose, and, terrible to 
 relate, his elder brother's hook had disappeared. 
 
 1 Oh, horrors ! ' he said, ' it is my elder brother's most 
 treasured possession ;' and he began to hunt for it. 
 
 Now, the Skilful Fisher, having also undertaken 
 something that he was not accustomed to, was equally 
 unsuccessful, and as he was coming back, looking very 
 cross, he met his brother on the beach. 
 
 ' What are you doing here ? ' he said. 
 
 ' Sir,' said the younger brother, ' I have done a most 
 inexcusable thing;' and then he told the whole story. 
 
 'You have lost my hook!' said the elder brother in a 
 towering passion. ' I went out hunting just to please you, 
 and then you go and lose my hook. Well, you had better 
 find it quickly, for you won't get back your bow and arrows 
 until you do.' 
 
 So the Lucky Hunter, feeling that his elder brother had 
 every excuse for being angry, and that it was entirely his 
 own fault, went on searching and searching, but there was 
 no trace of the hook. Then, knowing that it really was no 
 good to go on searching any longer, he took his sword and 
 hammered it into five hundred hooks, which he offered to 
 his elder brother with a humble apology. But his brother 
 would not listen. Then he made five hundred more, and 
 offered them to him. 
 
 ' If you bring me a million hooks,' said the Skilful 
 Fisher, ' it won't make any difference. I will not forgive 
 you until I see my own hook.' 
 
 103
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 And he would not be appeased. The fact of the matter 
 was that the Skilful Fisher was a bad man, who had long 
 been envious of his brother's virtues, and had been plotting 
 to take his position. 
 
 So the Lucky Hunter, in obedience to his elder brother, 
 went back to the sea-shore to look for the hook. But 
 there was still no trace of it. 
 
 Now, as he sat disconsolately on the sea beach, an old 
 man suddenly appeared beside him, and, looking at him, 
 said 
 
 ' How is it that the Prince comes to be on the sea-shore 
 all alone?'
 
 The Lucky Hunter and the Skilful Fisher 
 
 ' I am in great difficulties/ said the Lucky Hunter. ' I 
 have lost my brother's hook, and cannot find it. But who 
 are you ? ' 
 
 ' I am known as the old man of the salt earth, and I feel 
 
 5T -,^^->>^^^ X ^^2^\ X <-Wff^ 
 
 ^ "'., UWA,. ^v** /.y \\\<K~~^. *S, >l*WJ3iii i 
 
 - i v ^^' - ' y <; ' ^fPvf/3 raj^^sr ffi* i 
 t^Siafes!? 1 ^S^<- fc* u i L^fe.^^/ 

 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 very sorry for you ; but, to tell the truth, I think that the 
 hook is by now either at the bottom of the sea, or else it 
 is inside some fish, so that it is no use your looking for 
 it here.' 
 
 ' But what can I do ? ' asked the Prince. 
 'There is nothing for it but to go to Dragon Land and 
 ask the King to help you,' replied the old man. 
 
 ' That is a good idea,' said the Prince ; ' but where 
 is Dragon Land? and how am I to get there? It is 
 somewhere far away in the sea.' 
 
 ' Do not trouble yourself about that,' said the old man. 
 ' I will take the liberty of showing you how it can be 
 managed.' 
 
 And the old man at once began preparations, and soon 
 
 brought to the Prince a basket which would serve for a 
 
 boat. The Prince was delighted, and standing in it, set off. 
 
 ' If I am successful in getting the hook, you shall 
 
 certainly be largely rewarded,' he said. 
 
 The old man repeated again his directions for the 
 journey, and the Lucky Hunter was soon floating away 
 over the blue sea. 
 
 The Dragon Land being far, far away, he thought it 
 would be a long time before he arrived, but suddenly there 
 rose out of the sea a cluster of beautiful buildings. There 
 was a handsome gate, behind which were houses with 
 beautifully glittering roofs, and in front of the gate there 
 was a large tree overshadowing a well. But, unfortunately, 
 there was no one in sight. So the Prince resolved to take 
 a few minutes' rest, and climbing up into the tree, he settled 
 himself among the branches. 
 106
 
 The Lucky Hunter and the Skilful Fisher 
 
 Just as he had done so there was a creak, creak, and 
 the gate was opened, and two beautiful damsels came out 
 This being Dragon Land, you would expect the inhabitants 
 to be dragons or snakes, but these two women were 
 beautiful beyond ordinary mortals. The Lucky Hunter 
 was speechless with astonishment, and leaning down from 
 the tree, he watched breathlessly. 
 
 The damsels, not knowing that they were being 
 watched, were just going to draw some water, when, looking 
 down, they were startled to see the face of a noble-looking 
 knight reflected in the well. Stepping back, they gazed up 
 into the tree, where they saw a prince of such handsome 
 appearance that they at once thought that he must have 
 fallen from the skies. 
 
 The Lucky Hunter, being thus discovered, climbed 
 clown. 
 
 ' I am a thirst}* traveller,' he said. ' I stopped to drink 
 from your well, but there was no pitcher. Pray draw me 
 one cupful.' 
 
 The damsels hastened to draw some water, and 
 presented a cupful to the Prince, who, drinking it, 
 expressed his thanks, and then as he returned the cup 
 he slipped into it a bead off his golden chain. 
 
 The damsels were still more astonished when they 
 saw a bead from an imperial chain in their cup. 
 
 'It can be no ordinary man who gave that,' they 
 whispered to each other, and then they politely asked 
 his name. * 
 
 ' I am Hoho-de-mi-no-mikoto,' said the Lucky Hunter, 
 smiling. ' And who are you ? ' 
 
 107
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 ' Are you really that great Prince ? We are the 
 daughters of the Dragon King.' 
 
 'That is indeed fortunate for me/ said the Prince. 
 ' Please to take me to your father.' And then he told them 
 of his loss. 
 
 ' Our father will be overpowered with joy at such an 
 unexpected pleasure as a visit from your highness/ said 
 the damsels ; and they led the way through the gate.
 
 The Lucky Hunter and the Skilful Fisher 
 
 t^my ws?&RiL&i &a 
 
 2-^ *3&*] 1 ^^c^^^i^Ji s 
 
 / W ^ ^.i ;; v7tf.%C'l '^i^ 1 >J vf t i/ ' v\v 
 
 if/' Ji^Wr-^X 
 
 Iff . // isT^w,:^ '.f*..r 
 
 The elder prin- 
 cess went first to tell , 
 her father, and he, ,?L J 
 anxious to do all 
 honour to the de- 
 scendant of the gods, 
 called together his 
 fish retainers and 
 went forth to meet 
 the Lucky Hunter, and taking him by the hand, led him 
 into the house to the seat of honour, then bowing down 
 before him, said 
 
 1 This is the first time that I have had the honour of 
 meeting your highness. I hope that you will favour me 
 with your kind friendship.' 
 
 The Lucky Hunter, politely returning his bow, said 
 
 'Is this the Dragon King of whom I have heard so 
 much 1 I am afraid that I am intruding on you.' 
 
 109
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 4 Pray do not say such a thing/ said the Dragon King. 
 ' It is very good of you to come to such a miserable hole.' 
 
 Then he called his retainers to bring a banquet, 
 whereupon they placed before the Lucky Hunter all the 
 delicacies of the ocean, piled mountains high, and while he 
 partook of them damsels played on the koto and danced 
 for his amusement. Indeed, they exerted both hand and 
 head for his entertainment. 
 
 When he had been refreshed, the Lucky Hunter thus 
 addressed the Dragon King 
 
 'Sir, you have probably already heard from your 
 daughters the reason of my coming here. I am troubling 
 you very much, but please order a search to be made for 
 the hook through your domain.' 
 
 The King forthwith commanded all his retainers to 
 assemble. So they came, rank upon rank, all the chief 
 dignitaries of the kingdom, the octopus, the cuttlefish, the 
 bonito, the plaice, the oxtail fish, and many others. Then 
 the King, addressing them, said 
 
 'This is the Prince Hiko-hoho-de-mi-no-mikito. Now, 
 yesterday, when the Prince was fishing off the coast of 
 Japan he lost his hook, and thinking that some of you 
 may know where it is, he has come down on purpose to 
 look for it. Now, if any of you have stolen it, let him at 
 once return it, or if any one knows where it is, let him 
 at once come forward.' 
 
 At this unexpected speech the fishes looked at each 
 other in amazement ; but the plaice came bustling forward. 
 ' If you will allow me to speak,' he said, ' I will express 
 my opinion that Mr. Perch is the thief.'
 
 The Lucky Hunter and the .Skilful Fisher 
 
 ' What ground have you for your suspicions ? ' said 
 the King. 
 
 'From yesterday evening the perch has been quite 
 unable to eat/ was the reply. 
 
 ' It certainly looks bad that he has not appeared in 
 answer to my summons/ said the King. ' Let him be 
 brought to my presence at once.' 
 
 When the perch arrived, behold, instead of his usual 
 scarlet face, he was pale and gasping for breath. 
 
 ' Why did you not appear in answer to my summons? 
 demanded the King. 
 
 'Because I was ill.' 
 
 ' Silence ! That is an excuse. You have swallowed the 
 hook of the Prince.' 
 
 ' It may be as you say ; but if I did so, it was uncon- 
 sciously, so please do not blame me ; besides which, I am 
 suffering great pain ! ' gasped the perch. 
 
 'There is no doubt/ said the plaice, 'that the hook 
 is in the perch's throat, and I propose that it should at 
 once be taken out and restored to his highness.' 
 
 ' I am sure I ask nothing better/ said the perch. 
 
 Thereupon the plaice took up his position in front of 
 the perch, who opened his mouth to the uttermost, and 
 after a tug, tug, the hook was drawn out. They then 
 cleaned it and, with a low obeisance, presented it to the 
 Prince. 
 
 Having at last obtained what he had so earnestly 
 been seeking, the Prince was much delighted, and repeat- 
 edly thanked the Dragon King by whose efforts it had 
 been found. He also begged that the thief might be 
 
 in
 
 <l
 
 The Lucky Hunter and the Skilful Fisher 
 
 pardoned ; and the perch, flapping his fins, went joyfully 
 home. 
 
 Now, having successfully got his hook, there was no 
 longer any need for his remaining in Dragon Land ; but 
 the King and his daughters so earnestly besought him 
 to stay a little longer, that the Lucky Hunter, not being 
 stony-hearted, yielded to their entreaties. 
 
 In Dragon Land, as in this world, time slips very 
 quickly by, and he found before long that he had been 
 three years away from home. He began to think longingly 
 of his country, so one day he said to the Dragon King 
 
 ' I have been intruding for long on your kindness, but 
 as I am the governor of my country, I ought not to stay 
 here any longer. Pray do not be offended if I say that I 
 must go.' 
 
 The King and his court were plunged in grief. 
 H 113
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 1 It would be too much to expect a descendant of the 
 gods to remain long with us,' said the King. ' But may 
 we ask that, as a result of your visit, there may be more 
 intimacy between the inhabitants of the land and of the 
 ocean ? ' 
 
 Then the two princesses came forward, each bearing 
 a crystal ball in her hands. 
 
 ' These are the family heirlooms of Dragon Land,' they 
 said, 'and we wish to present them to you. They are 
 known as " High Tide" and " Low Tide." ' 
 
 ' You are extremely kind/ said the Prince. ' May I ask 
 the use of " High Tide " ? ' 
 
 ' This ball/ said the Princess, ' has the strange property 
 of being able to bring salt water sweeping over the driest 
 ground. You have but to hold it up; and in the same 
 way if you but hold up " Low Tide/' whatever waters are 
 near you they will at once retire. Therefore, O Prince, if 
 you only carry these two balls about your person, no 
 danger from drought nor from perilous waters can ever 
 come near you.' 
 
 After they had fully explained the use of the balls, the 
 Prince, with a broken voice, bade them farewell, and 
 returned to Japan in a boat peculiar to Dragon Land that 
 is to say, the back of a crocodile. 
 
 The Lucky Hunter immediately sought out his elder 
 brother, and presenting him with the hook, again politely 
 apologized. 
 
 Now, during the absence of his brother, the Skilful 
 Fisher had seized all his possessions and installed himself 
 as governor of the country, so that when the Lucky 
 114
 
 Ths Lucky Hunter and the Skilful Fisher 
 
 Hunter came back he was bitterly disappointed and filled 
 with jealousy. 
 
 He then began to make plans for getting rid of him, so 
 one day when they were walking together in a solitary 
 place, he pulled out his sword to stab him. 
 
 But the Lucky Hunter, perceiving his brother's design, 
 fortunately remembered the balls, and when he held ' High 
 Tide ' up, strange to say, great waves rolled in from every 
 side, and the place quickly resembled a deep sea, in which 
 his brother was struggling for his life. 
 
 Listening to his piteous cries for help, the Lucky 
 Hunter felt compassion, and, pulling out ' Low Tide,' held 
 it up, upon which the waters rapidly disappeared. 
 
 The Skilful Fisher, whose life had thus been spared to 
 him, felt deeply repentant for his evil deeds, and earnestly 
 besought his brother to let the remembrance of them be 
 drowned in the salt waves. 
 
 Receiving his brother's pardon, he became quite a good 
 man, and the whole country enjoyed peace and prosperity 
 under the reign of the Lucky Hunter.
 
 VII 
 
 THE SWORD OF THE ASSEMBLED CLOUDS 
 OF HEAVEN 1 
 
 T^VERY one is aware that the first goddess of Japan 
 was the great Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, who is now 
 worshipped at Ise. 
 
 1 The following story gives the accepted origin of one of the three 
 Imperial Treasures of Japan. 
 
 The Mikado reigns over Japan in virtue of his unbroken descent from 
 the Sun Goddess, the great Amaterasu. The numerous stories respecting 
 her and her brother are mythological rather than fairy tales, and possess 
 great interest for the historian. Nineteenth century advance has done 
 much to sweep away the mystery which formerly surrounded the Mikado, 
 but there are still many undivulged secrets in the Land of the Rising Sun, 
 and among them is that which enfolds the Sacred Treasures. Where they 
 are kept, and what exactly they are, is known to no one. 
 
 Sir Ernest Satow, in his paper on 'Ancient Japanese Rituals,' writes 
 as follows : 
 
 'The Mirror and Sword are two out of the three precious objects, 
 regarded as the regalia of the Japanese sovereigns, the possession of which 
 was the evidence of their title to reign. 
 
 ' The third is a stone, or perhaps a necklace of stones ; of what kind is 
 not precisely known. 
 
 ' The Sword, Mirror, and Jewel were brought to Japan by tlfe ancestor 
 of the Mikados, the mythical grandson of the Sun Goddess. 
 
 ' After the first priest princess had been in charge of the sacred symbols 
 for some fifty-three years, in the course of which she had frequently removed 
 them from one site to another, finding herself getting old and feeble, she 
 delivered them into the care of her niece, who wandered about with her 
 trust until B.C. 4, according to popular chronology, when she settled down 
 at Isd, at a spot indicated by a revelation from the Sun Goddess.' 
 116
 
 The Sword of the Assembled Clouds of Heaven 
 
 Now, the Sun Goddess had a younger brother called 
 Susa, who was a very strong man, but of a turbulent 
 nature, and his wild actions were the source of much 
 trouble to his sister. Yet you could not call him a bad 
 man, and so the great goddess generally forgave him, 
 until one day his conduct was too bad for forgiveness, 
 for he not only destroyed the weaving-loom which the 
 Sun Goddess had set up, but he also killed the women 
 who were working at it. 
 
 Then the Sun Goddess in her wrath retired into a 
 cave, and shutting the door, declared that she would issue 
 forth no more. 
 
 This was terrible, for as long as the goddess refused 
 to appear there was no source of light, and Japan lay in 
 deep darkness. 
 
 Then the other gods, in dismay, held a consultation ; 
 and the fear of perpetual night hanging over the land 
 made every one lay plans for enticing the goddess out of 
 her cave. 
 
 ' We must soothe her wounded feelings, and in order 
 to do that let us perform an interesting kagura] said one. 
 
 The other gods agreed to this, and preparations were 
 at once begun for a great kagnra. 1 
 
 1 Even the tourist who has only spent a few weeks in Japan must have 
 occasionally come across a kagnra being performed in the streets. On a 
 temporary wooden platform two or three men clad in strange garments, 
 with huge masks of the most fantastic shapes, walk about to the sound of 
 flutes and drums, enacting a kind of play. The subjects are generally 
 historical. The performances are usually near temples, being originally 
 meant for the amusement of the god. The learned say that these 
 performances owe their origin to the Sun Goddess's retirement into the 
 
 cave.
 
 The Sword of the Assembled Clouds of Heaven 
 
 They all assembled in front of her 
 cave, and there was music and dancing, 
 playing of flutes, and beating of drums. 
 
 ' How very amusing it seems ! ' said 
 the Sun Goddess to herself. ' I must 
 take one look.' And, opening the door, 
 she peeped out. 
 
 But as soon as the beam of light 
 was seen which betrayed her presence, 
 the god of great strength, seizing the 
 door, forced it open, and she came 
 forth. And so light once more entered 
 
 119
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 the world, and there was 
 
 great joy. But as its 
 
 disappearance had been 
 
 the fault of Susa, it was 
 
 necessary to punish him, so they sub- _^_ ^. 
 
 jected him to several tortures, and '"""^ ^S& 
 
 then sent him away into the wilder- ^8 
 
 ness of Takamaga. At this Susa was jT**- 
 
 very angry; but as it was his own 
 
 fault it could not be helped. 
 
 One day as he was standing by the river, he saw a chop- 
 stick floating down. 
 120
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 'Dear me/ he thought, 'a chop-stick for eating with! 
 -then there must be people living up there.' 
 So he went up the stream, and before long he met an
 
 The Sword of the Assembled Clouds of Heaven 
 
 old couple, leading between them a young girl. They 
 were all weeping bitterly. 
 
 ' Why do you weep ? ' asked Susa. 
 
 ' I know not who you are/ replied the old man, ' but it 
 is very kind of you to inquire into our grief. This is my 
 daughter, the Lady Inada. I and my wife had eight 
 daughters, but all except this one have been devoured by 
 the eight-forked serpent. And to-night he comes to 
 devour her also. There is no way of escape.' 
 
 ' I feel truly sorry for you/ said Susa ; ' but this serpent
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 that you speak of, what kind of a 
 creature is he? I will go forth and 
 destroy him.' 
 
 'Oh no; that would be too dangerous 
 for you,' said the old man. ' If he were 
 an ordinary serpent it might be done,
 
 The Sword of the Assembled Clouds of Heaven 
 
 but this is a terrible monster with eight 
 heads. If you go forth against him you will 
 only be destroyed.' 
 
 ' However many heads he has, that does 
 not matter,' said Susa. ' I am the descendant
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 of the gods, and I cannot give way before a monster like 
 that.' 
 
 The old couple were much surprised. 
 
 'How, then, have you come to such a place as this?' 
 they said. 
 
 ' I am the brother of the Sun Goddess ; I am Susa,' he 
 said. 
 
 'In that case our daughter is indeed saved!' they 
 exclaimed with joy, and bowed down to the ground. 
 
 Then Susa began his preparations. He caused the old 
 man to fill eight jars with sake, and to place them beside a 
 great rock. Then he caused the Lady Inada to sit on the 
 top of the rock, in such a way that her face was clearly 
 reflected in all the eight jars. 
 
 'Now,' said Susa, 'you must sit here, and when the 
 serpent comes you must on no account move.' 
 
 Susa himself hid in the shadow of the rock, and their 
 watch began. 
 
 As the night came on, a wind bearing a strange fishy 
 odour sprang up, great drops of rain began to fall, and 
 the aspect of the place became very gloomy. 
 
 Suddenly under the shadow of the opposite mountain 
 there appeared sixteen great balls of fire ; but in reality 
 they were not balls of fire, but the sixteen eyes of the 
 eight-headed serpent. 
 
 'It has come!' exclaimed Susa to himself, and holding 
 his breath and grasping his sword, he crept nearer. The 
 monster, quite unconscious of what awaited him, came 
 rapidly on, thinking to devour the Lady Inada. Suddenly 
 he perceived her face in the eight jars. 
 126
 
 The Sword of the Assembled Clouds of Heaven 
 
 Now, the serpent, being a mere reptile, has no true 
 wisdom, and it never struck him that this was a plot to 
 deceive him. He plunged his eight heads into the eight 
 jars, and quickly drank up the sake, and as there was 
 poison mixed with the sake, he almost at once fell down 
 unconscious. 
 
 ' Now is the time,' thought Susa, who had been 
 watching, and he rushed out from under the shadow 
 of the rock. 
 
 The monster, who was not dead, opened his eyes and 
 showed his fangs, but as he was drunk, and as his 
 opponent was a descendant of the gods, there was no 
 hope for him, and he was very quickly destroyed, and 
 the waters of the river became as red as rouge from 
 the flow of his blood. 
 
 But Susa, fearing lest he should come alive again, 
 began to cut up his body from the head to the 
 tail. 
 
 And as he cut, his sword encountered something and 
 broke. 
 
 'This is strange,' he thought, and looking, he saw a 
 splendid sword in the serpent's body. ' I have hit upon 
 a fine thing,' said he, drawing it forth. 
 
 Now, this sword he afterwards presented to the Sun 
 Goddess, and it is known as the sword of the Assembled 
 Clouds of Heaven, and is still one of the Imperial 
 Treasures. 
 
 Now, Susa, having successfully killed the serpent, 
 married the Lady Inada, and they lived happily ever after. 
 
 127
 
 Fairy Tales from Far Japan 
 
 He also built a temple at Izumo, where he is worshipped 
 to this very day. 1 
 
 1 Murray's Guide Book to Japan, published 1894, contains the following 
 remarks upon the temples at Izumo : 
 
 ' The services are conducted by priests gorgeously arrayed in white and 
 purple robes, with gold figuring. The chief priest, who boasts of being the 
 eighty-second descendant in a direct line from the god Susa-no-o, used to be 
 styled a god upon earth. From 200,000 to 250,000 pilgrims visit the great 
 shrine yearly. On festal days the sound of the clapping of hands, to call 
 the attention of the god, is unbroken, like the roar of a cataract.' 
 
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