Folk Tales of Japan: 28 Japanese folk tales with cultural commentary Paperback – 16 July 2022

Excellent book from an excellent story teller !

A fantastic book containing 28 interesting and quirky Japanese folk tales. The tales give a great insight into Japanese culture and values.The author uses his obvious extensive cultural knowledge to add a superb insight and comment to these tales to make the book a must read.

Great stories about Japanese folklore along with many insights into Japanese history and culture. Recommended for those interested in Japan and it's history and culture. Neil

Finally got around to reading Kyota Ko's fascinating recounting of Japanese folk tales with the cultural insight of a benshi raconteur. Benshi were cultural narrators for Japanese film audiences before talking pictures came around. Often as popular as the actors in the foreign films themselves, benshi create cultural context to enrich an audience's experience. Kyota is a modern-day benshi raconteur who has written a hugely accessible book. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Japanese culture!

I stumbled across Kyota Ko on socials (as you do, idly scrolling through) and my attention was captured by the way in which he brings folk stories to life with a modern day interpretation. Of the many, many folk tales in Japanese culture, this little book captures a breadth of short stories, accompanied by pretty illustrations perfectly capturing the mood of each tale. The footnotes are invaluable for helping to contextualise the folktales for those of us less familiar with Japanese culture.