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Japanese Fairy Tales

By: Yei Theodora Ozaki - translator
Narrated by: Leslie Bellair
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Summary

Here are 22 charming Japanese Fairy Tales, translated by Yei Theodora Ozaki, including "My Lord Bag of Rice", "The Tongue-Cut Sparrow", "The Story of Urashima Taro, the Fisher Lad", "The Farmer and the Badger", "The Shinansha, or the South Pointing Carriage", "The Adventures of Kintaro, the Golden Boy", "The Story of Princess Hase", "The Story of the Man Who Did Not Wish to Die", "The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moonchild", "The Mirror of Matsuyama", "The Goblin of Adachigahara", "The Sagacious Monkey and the Boar", "The Happy Hunter and the Skillful Fisher", "The Story of the Old Man Who Made Withered Trees to Flower", "The Jellyfish and the Monkey", "The Quarrel of the Monkey and the Crab", "The White Hare and the Crocodiles", "The Story of Prince Yamato Take", "Momotaro, or the Story of the Son of a Peach", "The Ogre of Rashomon", "How an Old Man Lost His Wen", and "The Stones of Five Colors and the Empress Jokwa".

Public Domain (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
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Editor reviews

Yei Theodora Ozaki liberally translated this anthology of Japanese fairy tales with an aim to please English children. And please them she does, though these folk stories aren't necessarily 100 percent faithful to their original versions. Ozaki substitutes unfamiliar vocabulary and even alters unhappy endings at times, but her motives are pure and these colorful, "enhanced" tales offer children a welcoming introduction to Japanese culture.

Leslie Bellair performs the audiobook in a bright and youthful voice that adds vitality to the content. If an imaginative child closes her eyes while she listens, perhaps Bellair's expressive performance can help recreate the beautiful images that accompanied the original text in 1903.

What listeners say about Japanese Fairy Tales

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awesome stories, voice meh

loved the stories, her voice is too fast and too high, but I've heard worst!

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Amazing

I really liked this it is amazing if you like fairytales then you would like this all of the stories are very good.

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Enjoyable listen

Great little stories and wonderful narration...a really enjoyable listen at any time or anywhere for all the family!

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easy to listen to and well narrated

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys poetry and storytelling Japanese poetry based on this book relies on short storytelling.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would hope to find more or similar to it.

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interesting stories

the narrator has a lovely, calming voice and reads these interesting Japanese fairy tales very well. a nice audio book to listen to 🥰

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Beautiful

MUST LISTEN. interesting and fascinating fairy tales. enjoyed a LOT. extremely unique and engaging plots read by a pleasant voice.

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Brilliant - ignore the disrespectful reviews!

Despite the awful discriminatory comments on this page, this audible tells Japanese folklore beautifully.

People who say it gives children nightmares are most definitely ignorant to Ancient Greek or Egyptian folklore. Zeus was not a nice guy. Not everything has to be converted into Disney to be appreciated in it's raw form. Even Disney stories originated from some pretty terrifying folklore too.

The narrator also has a calming voice and pronounces Japanese words perfectly - in a way critics of this audible could only dream of. Why does this have to be told in a British accent when it's not even British in origin? So odd.

And why can't any of these 'critics' learn to spell words correctly before criticising a perfectly good narrator? Mystery.

素晴らしいです。

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exellent stories

really enjoyable for those who like to learn folklore from japan folklore meets cultural history

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    3 out of 5 stars

Read in american dialect 👎👎👎

It’s a pity Amazon does not use proper english, as there are many interesting titles like this one.
I hope the future wil bring language options.
New storys might work with amercan, older tales makes me uncomfortable if read with an american dialect. It would be better even in broken UK English just real English.

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Gave my children nightmares!

May well be Japanese tales but they can be scsry and gruesome.
I would not recommend as a bedtime listen for children.

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