Help Question: Japanese fables

monicaes · 7 Mar 2024

Hi,

I need some help with my final degree project. I'm comparing fables from my country and Japan. However, I have a question: is there an equivalent to fables in Japan? In Western culture, fables are short stories that convey moral lessons, starring animals.

Is there any literary genre that has similar characteristics? Or, is there another type of narrative that has the same purpose of teaching values? I know that there are translations of Aesop's fables, known as Isoho Monogatari (if I'm wrong, please let me know). However, I'm looking for fables of Japanese origin (even if they're not considered as such).

I'm currently reading the book titled "Fábulas y leyendas de Japón", which is the spanish translation of the work of Yei Theodora Ozaki. What are these stories called? Some of them end with a moral lesson, but I don't know if they're considered fables. Is there a literary genre equivalent to Western fables?

I would really appreciate any information or recommendations you can offer me on this topic.

Thank you so much.

mdchachi · 7 Mar 2024

寓話 - Wikipedia

ja.wikipedia.org

I think the stories in Ozaki's book can be considered to be fables.

Japanese Fairy Tales | Fairytalez.com

Read and listen to Japanese fairy tales from Grace James and Matilda Chaplin Ayrton along with famous Japanese author, Yei Theodora Ozaki at Fairytalez.

fairytalez.com

The title of his book uses おとぎ話 (otogi-banashi) which means fairy tales.

Toritoribe · 7 Mar 2024

It's also called 童話 dōwa (not all dōwa are categorized into fable, though).

monicaes said:
Isoho Monogatari (if I'm wrong, please let me know)

Isoppu Monogatari

cf.
イソップ Isoppu
イソホ Isoho

monicaes · 8 Mar 2024

Thank you so much! @mdchachi @Toritoribe

SomeCallMeChris · 8 Mar 2024

There is an English side to 福娘 (hukumusume)'s traditional stories collection. There are a bunch of non-animal folk stories too -- there are stories that are all human, stories with a supernatural encounter, stories with anthropomorphized animals, and to really confuse things, stories with shape-shifting animals, some of which have a 'supernatural encounter' feel and some of which have a 'anthropomorphized animal' feel.

While the appearing characters go along with certain types of stories, I don't think they neatly break down along the lines of the Japanese terms (童話 douwa 'nursery tale' 民話 minwa 'folk tale' 昔話 mukashi-banashi 'old story', お伽話 otogi-banashi 'fairy tale'), and a lot of stories fit multiple classifications. Especially mukashi-banashi is essentially a catch-all term for all traditional stories. In any case, 'douwa' and 'otogi-banashi' both mean stories for children, while 'minwa'/folk tales are not necessarily for children, but rather are stories handed down by oral tradition.

The index of English stories is really meant for Japanese persons who are learning or practicing English, but it's a complete list of the stories in translation. Generally speaking, the type of stories you're looking for will have an animal mentioned in the story title.

昔話の英語　日本の昔話　1話～10話　＜福娘童話集 Hukumusume fairy tale collection>

hukumusume.com

There is an English edition of the site but it seems to have been abandoned over a decade ago and contains only one animal story (The Mouse's Marriage) so I don't think it's very useful, but it's Hukumusueme fairy tale collection

I don't know if hukumusume can be cited for your research, but it does at least let you read (or sometimes listen to) the stories and find out their titles. It's a kind of janky website, but it is a great resource for anyone with an interest in Japanese folklore.

Edit: Oh. I thought there were no Spanish translations, and I still can't find an index for them, but there is at least one spanish translation: タヌキの糸車 La carreta hiladora del tejón＜福娘童話集きょうの日本昔話＞

monicaes · 9 Mar 2024

SomeCallMeChris said:
There is an English side to 福娘 (hukumusume)'s traditional stories collection. There are a bunch of non-animal folk stories too -- there are stories that are all human, stories with a supernatural encounter, stories with anthropomorphized animals, and to really confuse things, stories with shape-shifting animals, some of which have a 'supernatural encounter' feel and some of which have a 'anthropomorphized animal' feel.

While the appearing characters go along with certain types of stories, I don't think they neatly break down along the lines of the Japanese terms (童話 douwa 'nursery tale' 民話 minwa 'folk tale' 昔話 mukashi-banashi 'old story', お伽話 otogi-banashi 'fairy tale'), and a lot of stories fit multiple classifications. Especially mukashi-banashi is essentially a catch-all term for all traditional stories. In any case, 'douwa' and 'otogi-banashi' both mean stories for children, while 'minwa'/folk tales are not necessarily for children, but rather are stories handed down by oral tradition.

The index of English stories is really meant for Japanese persons who are learning or practicing English, but it's a complete list of the stories in translation. Generally speaking, the type of stories you're looking for will have an animal mentioned in the story title.

昔話の英語　日本の昔話　1話～10話　＜福娘童話集 Hukumusume fairy tale collection>

hukumusume.com

There is an English edition of the site but it seems to have been abandoned over a decade ago and contains only one animal story (The Mouse's Marriage) so I don't think it's very useful, but it's Hukumusueme fairy tale collection

I don't know if hukumusume can be cited for your research, but it does at least let you read (or sometimes listen to) the stories and find out their titles. It's a kind of janky website, but it is a great resource for anyone with an interest in Japanese folklore.

Edit: Oh. I thought there were no Spanish translations, and I still can't find an index for them, but there is at least one spanish translation: タヌキの糸車 La carreta hiladora del tejón＜福娘童話集きょうの日本昔話＞

Thank you so much!!

Help Question: Japanese fables

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寓話 - Wikipedia

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昔話の英語　日本の昔話　1話～10話　＜福娘童話集 Hukumusume fairy tale collection>

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昔話の英語　日本の昔話　1話～10話　＜福娘童話集 Hukumusume fairy tale collection>

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