Here follows a list of Japanese Folktales (昔話) currently on our website. There will be more over time, so please bear with us for the time being.

Festivals

• Ōtoshi no Kyaku. The New Years Eve Visitor. A collection of tales around mysterious New Years visitors who will give great gifts.

Grateful Creature Motif

• The Bewitched Tea-Kettle (分福茶釜 or 文福茶釜) A grateful Tanuki performs for the man who saved him, making him very wealthy.
• My Lord Bag of Rice (俵藤太) The story or Fujiwara Hidesato and the killing of the Giant Centipede Seta at the behest of The Dragon King.
• The Tongue Cut Sparrow (舌切り雀) The story of an old man and his cruel wife who cuts the tongue out of a Sparrow as she grows jealous of how her husband feels about the bird.
• Urashima Taro the Fisher Lad (浦島 太郎) The story of Urashima Tarō who saves a turtle and marries the Daughter of the The Dragon King.

Hero/Heroine Motif

• The Clever Boar and Monkey. An old monkey who was going to be killed saves his life by saving a kidnapped baby.
• Momotarō. Folktale about a man with the same name, as well as a Dog, Monkey and Pheasant and their journey to the island of Onigashima to stop the Oni.
• Princess Glory. A lonely old couple find a baby in a Bamboo Grove and raise her. She later is revealed as The Immortal Lady of Mount Fuji.

Longlife

• Longevity. Story of an old man who wished to live forever.

Mourning

• The Mirror of Matsuyama. A girl missing her mum, thinks she can find her by looking in a mirror.

Punishment Motif

• Kachi-Kachi Yama (かちかち山) Also known as The Farmer and the Badger. The story of a Rabbit seeking revenge on a Badger for killing an old woman.
• The Monkey and the Crab. The son of a crab who was killed by his apparent friend the Monkey gets revenge on his fathers murderer.

Sacrifice Motif

• Shippeitaro – Story of the Dog Shippeitaro and the Warrior who save a maiden from being sacrificed.

Unfinished Business Motif

• Banchō Sarayashiki – Okiku is killed after breaking one of ten heirloom plates, and thrown down a well. Her ghost returns each night trying to count and find the tenth plate she broke.

Yōkai Motif

• Hagoromo (羽衣) Story of a celestial nymph who is forced to marry a fisherman.
• How an Old Man Lost is Wen – Story of a man who dances for some Oni and tricks them into taking the wen growing on his face.
• Rashōmon no oni. Story of an Oni  who is fought by Watanabe no Tsuna.
• The Melon Princess (瓜子姫) Story of a childless couple, who find a melon floating down river. Upon cutting it open a baby girl is found inside.
• The Nightingale’s Coin. A man is gifted with a ‘never ending’ coin after looking after a woman house for one year, without open a ‘forbidden door.’ Later, another man comes hoping for the same reward, but opens this forbidden door.
• The Oni of Adachigahara. A monk seeks shelter in an old womans home only to find out she is an Oni.
• Shōjōji no Tanuki Bayashi. The story of a group of Tanuki and their wild drum parties.

Tales of China

• The Elixir of Life. Story of a Chinese Emperor who believes the Elixir of Life is on Mount Fuji.
• The Shinansha. The story of Emperor Kotei killing the rebel Shiyu after inventing The Shinansha (Artefact).
• The Stone of the Five Colours and the Empress Jokwa. Empress Jokwa saves her country.

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The post Folktales appeared first on . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史.

Hear this tale on Episode 56 of our Podcast, the Japan Archives.

• See also: List of Folktales

The Tongue Cut Sparrow

The Tongue Cut Sparrow (舌切り雀) is a Folktale about an old husband and wife and a Sparrow.

Synopsis

The old man was kind-hearted and loving, however, the woman always spoiled the happiness of their home with her scolding tongue. The old man never paid her much mind. Working all day outside, he would return home to a tamed sparrow who he would talk with and teach tricks. Saving the bird some food from his meal to feed it.

One day the old woman made some starch to wash her clothes, but the sparrow ate it. Being a truthful bird it told her what it had done asking for forgiveness. In retaliation, the old women cut the birds tongue out and drives it away from the house.

The old man after returning him finally gets his wife to tell him where the sparrow is. She tells him she cut out its tongue, and he, calling her cruel, decides he will go in search for her the next day.

He searched for her, eventually finding himself in a bamboo grove. He finds the sparrow here, giving apologise at how she was treated. She says there is nothing to forgive, showing a new tongue has grown back, revealing she is a fairy.

The Sparrow takes the old man to its house, made of the whitest wood, with cream-colored mats and cushions of silk. Whilst here the old man watched the sparrow’s daughter perform the Suzume-Odori (Sparrow Dance).

Night comes and so he says he must leave, despite the sparrow asking him to stay. And so as they part the Sparrow offers him a gift, he can either chose a small or large box to return home with, of which he takes the smaller.

Upon reaching home and explaining where he had been to his wife, they open the box t find it full of gold. His wife, being cruel hearted, berates him for not bringing the larger box as they could have had even more gold. She goes to bed angry, resolved to go collect the larger box herself.

She finds the Sparrow’s home the next day asking for the larger box, and the Sparrow gives it. The old woman is too weak to take the box home and so has to give in halfway. Opening the box she finds it full of demons which jump out and scare her and so she flees back home. There she berates the Sparrow to her husband, who in turn tells her to not blame the Sparrow but to blame herself as her wickedness led to this result.

And so the old woman repented her cruel ways, and the two of them spend the last of their days happy and content with not a need in the world.¹

Footnotes

1. Ozaki, Y.T. (1903) “The Japanese Fairy Book”. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co. Ltd.

	Check out the Japan Archives, our Japanese History Podcast. Instagram (Japan): @japan_archives
	Check out our Gaming Channel on Youtube. Instagram (Minecraft): @mycenria
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The post The Tongue Cut Sparrow appeared first on . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史.