Ancient Tales and Folk-lore of Japan

About this book

A ghost waits by a violet well. A willow tree shelters a spirit, and a carp offers an unlikely lesson in perseverance. Richard Gordon Smith collected such stories while travelling through Japan with interpreters and local guides.

His collection moves between haunted temples, fishermen's tales, faithful servants and legends attached to particular roads, lakes and villages. The colour illustrations, painted by Mo-No-Yuki from Smith's sketches, give the encounters an unusually vivid setting. Some stories are frightening, others tender or strangely comic; together they preserve the variety of folklore heard during his travels.