Japan Folklore

Once upon a time in a remote mountain village in Japan there lived an honest old man and his wife. The old man was out plowing his field on...

A long time ago in a small village in Japan there lived a poor old man and his wife. One day, as New Year's drew near, the wife looked i...

Long, long ago in a far off land there lived a young man. One day, while working on his farm, a brilliant white crane came swooping down and...

One day, Jinbei the junkman was on his way home from town as usual with a cart full of junk he had bought that day. Suddenly, he heard loud,...

  Once upon a time, there was a young apprentice who lived in a temple in the mountains. He was a mischievous boy and enjoyed playing pranks...

  Once upon a time, there lived a mischievous young man named Hikoichi. Hikoichi had heard rumors about a cape owned by a tengu - a long-nos...

Once upon a time, there lived an old man and an old woman. The old man was kind and gentle, but his wife was mean and greedy. One morning as...

  Long, long ago there lived a sweet old couple. Having no children but desiring one very much, they went to the shrine and prayed, "Pl...

Long, long ago, there lived an old man, an old woman, and their son. Now the son was of an age where he should be out working in the rice fi...