Background: Overview Mythology Yōkai & Bakemono Folklore in Art Content: Mukashibanashi Densetsu Kaidan Kotowaza   Further Reading Resources   The Spirit Captive

Mukashi mukashi, aru tokoro ni... These five words, roughly meaning, "long ago, in a certain place," are found at the beginning of many Japanese folktales. They give the setting (mukashi 昔, "the days of antiquity") of the narrative and serve as an introduction; in the same way, Mukashibanashi Library seeks to be an introduction to the world of Japanese folklore to speakers of the English language. The folklore of Japan (more properly Nippon 日本, translated "the land of the rising sun," "the sunrise country", or more literally, "origin of the sun") is extremely lush, dense, and rich, and it is impossible for a single website to accurately portray its depth and complexity. And yet it is the goal of the Library, with these limitations firmly in mind, to give the reader an introduction to this fascinating world in hopes that he will want to continue study on the subject. (See further reading for more information.) It has been said that folklore, having origins in the minds of the common people, contain expressions of the values, virtues, and aesthetics of their culture of origin. Folk ways and folk tales alike may seem strange and follow different logic than a Western mind might anticipate, but they are both important for the meaning they hold and their relevance on a cultural level, and also the pleasure they promise on an aesthetic level. Folklore can be easily defined as "the lore of the folk". What kinds of lore, or knowledge, does this encompass? Folklore is not only the tales or legends of a culture, but also includes such things as songs, proverbs, recipes, crafts, farming methods, knowledge of the natural world, and a culture's way of viewing this world. This is an important thing to remember: not only are these matters interesting and worthy of study on their own, but without these things folktales and legends would have no context. Due to the sheer complexity of folk life and ways, however, it is specifically the tales, legends, strange stories and proverbs of Japan that this site will focus on. Readers interested in other elements of folklore are encouraged to investigate further. When one thinks of Japan, usually one of three images comes to mind: the noble and stoic samurai, the skilled and perfectly presented geisha, or the modern buildings of cities like Tokyo, where high-tech electronics are made. The Library believes that these aspects have been given more than enough coverage, and it is our goal to study rather the lore and life of the historical common people of Japan; most specifically the peasant class. Though, of course, the stories collected herein were known to all classes, not just the byakushō 百姓, the farmers. This study was begun almost one hundred years ago by various scholars during the years of the Meiji Era. The most famous of these figures is Yanagita Kunio, who is considered the greatest pioneer of Japanese folklore studies and ethnology (minzokugaku 民俗学 or 民族学, respectively). He paved the way for the scholars that are active in the field today; for without him, many of the traditional ways of life and orally transmitted tales and legends would be lost. It is to this great man and his colleagues, as well as to his antecedents, that this site is dedicated. M. Lucero, June 2006.