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The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Japanese: 竹取物語, Hepburn: Taketori Monogatari) is a monogatari (fictional prose narrative) containing elements of Japanese folklore. Written by an unknown author in the late 9th or early 10th century during the Heian period , it is considered the oldest surviving work in the monogatari form.
Tsuru no Ongaeshi (鶴の恩返し, lit."Crane's Return of a Favor") is a story from Japanese folklore about a crane who returns a favor to a man. A variant of the story where a man marries the crane that returns the favor is known as Tsuru Nyōbō (鶴女房, "Crane Wife").
The moral is often interpreted that everybody has to accept their fate. Foxes (see kitsune) are also seen in Japanese culture as magical and often mischievous animals. Some folk tales tell stories how foxes change shape to impersonate other beings and objects. Gon also mimics humans on occasions, although there seem to be no magical powers ...
"Run, Melos!" (走れメロス, Hashire Merosu) is a Japanese short story by Osamu Dazai.It was first published 1940 and is a widely read classic in Japanese schools. It was first used as teaching material for Japanese middle high schoolers in 1956.
Shita-kiri Suzume (舌切り雀, shita-kiri suzume), translated literally into "Tongue-Cut Sparrow", is a traditional Japanese fable telling of a kind old man, his avaricious wife and an injured sparrow. The story explores the effects of greed, friendship and jealousy on the characters.
Themes that appear in the folklore concerning heroes are moral lessons, or stories that function as parables. The tale of Shita-kiri Suzume, for example, warns of the dangers of greed, avarice, and jealousy through the example of an old couple's experiences with a fairy who disguised herself as a sparrow to test the old man. [ 9 ]
Osamu Tezuka based a short story in his Phoenix series on the story of the Hagoromo, but with a sci-fi twist, featuring a time displaced human girl from the distant future instead of a tennin. Recently, the story was adapted into the manga and anime series Ceres, The Celestial Legend .
A representative sampling of Japanese folklore would definitely include the quintessential Momotarō (Peach Boy), and perhaps other folktales listed among the so-called "five great fairy tales" (五大昔話, Go-dai Mukashi banashi): [3] the battle between The Crab and the Monkey, Shita-kiri Suzume (Tongue-cut sparrow), Hanasaka Jiisan (Flower-blooming old man), and Kachi-kachi Yama.