Recent Collections of Japanese Folk Tales

Abstract

Selections from three of the four main lines of collecting Japanese folk literature in Japan are reviewed. Four volumes are by Mizusawa Ken'ichi, the foremost collector: Robata no tonto mukashi, Ojiya no mukashibanashi (1971); Mukashi attatte, Aramachi no mukashibanashi (1969); Miruna no hanazashiki, Haha to ko no mukashibanashi (1969); and Mukashibanashi nōto Saishū to kenkyū (1969). Mizusawa collects talcs in Niigata. The last mentioned book gathers together his reports, articles, and notes published between 1958 and 1969. He records in dialect with standard Japanese in parallel where necessary, preserving the musical flow of the tale. The next three volumes are in the Mukashibanashi kenkyū shiryō sōsho series published by a committee of university men: Daisen hokuroku no mukashibanashi (1970), Sado kininaka no mukashibanashi (1970), and Kogane no uma (1971). The first follows the format of the series, including recordings by narrators on 33⅓ rpm discs. Mukashibanashi wa ikite iru by Inada Koji, a member of the series committee, gives a hopeful view of the survival of folk tales. Hagino Saihei mukashibanshi shū (1970), a collection by Nomura Jun'ichi of Kokugakuin University and Nomura Keiko is a one-narrator volume showing the folk tale rooted in family legends