Iwate Prefecture — Shiwa District

Based on Ogasawara Kenkichi (ed.), Shiwa-gun Mukashibanashi-shu (1938). 87 of 87 tales are available in English so far. Tale numbers follow the order in which the tales appear in the book.

• No. 1UrikohimeAn old woman picked up a melon that had drifted down a river, and raised the girl born from inside it with great care as Urikohime. But while she was…
• No. 2The blowing-flower that bears goldA wife who passed gas by mistake before her lord was sent back to her home village, and there she gave birth to a boy. The child was raised and…
• No. 3Kota of KogaKota of Koga went out to shoot ducks on the Kitakami River, but he thought that rather than shoot them with a gun, he would dive into the river and…
• No. 4Kota of KogaKota, swept away by a duck at a still pool in the Kitakami River, was dropped onto the roof of the great Buddha of Nara. He tried to climb down using…
• No. 5Two-year sesame and three-year sesameA notice board was put up announcing that sesame would be given to whoever could bore the old woman of the choja, a very rich man, until she fell…
• No. 6The fuku-no-kami who was no goodA man who went to Mount Nansho to fetch kadomatsu saw a duck floating on Zarufuchi, and when he threw the kadomatsu into the pool, a woman came out…
• No. 7The priest did itFor the sake of a priest who, every time he got drunk on sake at a parishioner's house, was deceived by a fox, a shape-shifting fox, on his way home…
• No. 8Seventeen long yamsA poor son-in-law had no gift to bring to the autumn mochi feast of the choja, a very rich man. He shot a duck at the river, and where he chased it…
• No. 9The monster templeAt a monster temple where, generation after generation, the head priest was said to be eaten alive, a traveling monk stayed the night. In the middle…
• No. 10The broom of the young treeA father gave his three sons a hundred ryo in gold and a storehouse, and declared that within three years, whichever son put the most valuable thing…
• No. 11Nose-knowingThe husband noticed that whenever he was away, his wife invited the man from the house next door and fed him well. He pretended to go out, then hid…
• No. 12Jingaoka Zaemon and Baba MatsukoAt night, the husband joked about the shape of his wife's hand, and the next morning two samurai appeared, saying they had come to take the wife away…
• No. 13Nukafuku and KomefukuThe stepmother gave Nukanpuku, the child of the first wife, a straw bag with a broken bottom, while she gave Komenpuku, her own child, a sound bag…
• No. 14One little beanA poor old couple found a single bean that rolled into a hole, and as they dug further they came upon Jizo, a stone bodhisattva statue. Jizo invited…
• No. 15Uemontaro and ZaemontaroNeighbors Uemontaro and Zaemontaro stayed one night in a mountain hut, when the mountain gods, gods of the mountains, came late and spoke of the sex…
• No. 16The drum that sounds without being struckA priest who always gave his boy attendant difficult tasks ordered him, "Go buy something-or-other." The boy brought back horse intestines he had…
• No. 17Two bundles, four bundlesA blind zato, a blind itinerant musician, stayed the night when rice-harvest mochi was being pounded. The couple of the house hid the mochi, saying…
• No. 18Goose soupAn old man picked up and raised a white dog, and it helped him hunt deer, so that he got meat from the game. The greedy old woman next door imitated…
• No. 19YamanbaA young temple boy of a mountain temple met a beautiful woman in the mountains and promised to meet her at night, but the priest saw through her true…
• No. 20The transformed tea kettleMonjiya no Kichi, who had lost at gambling, met a fox, a shape-shifting fox, near Hodoshima, and gave it red bean rice and herring in exchange for it…
• No. 21The packhorseA horse trader fell into a muddy paddy and swallowed a frog into his body through his rear, and the frog began to croak inside his belly. On the…
• No. 22A pilgrimage to IseA child who gazed toward the south every morning wished to go on a pilgrimage to Ise, and was permitted by their parents to set out on the journey.…
• No. 23The child who went on pilgrimage to IseA child who had set out on a pilgrimage to Ise stayed the night in an empty house. At midnight a red candle and a red priest, and a black candle and…
• No. 24The calf chojaOn New Year's Eve, the father went out to shop, but instead of New Year goods he bought charcoal and came home with it, and his wife grew angry and…
• No. 25The peach-selling lordA young man hid the feathered robe of one of three tennyo, a celestial maiden, who were bathing, and made her his wife, but a portrait of herself…
• No. 26Itonaga Shoji of Harima ProvinceThree farmers who had come to work on a castle's construction talked among themselves during their lunch break about what they each wished for, and…
• No. 27The cat who made a pilgrimage to IseA married couple kept a cat, borrowed from a family home, to watch the house while they were away. When they joked that the cat was useless, the cat…
• No. 28Monjiya no KichiMonjiya no Kichi, who seemed to be the heir of a choja, a very rich man, was walking across a field in search of a bride when he came upon foxes…
• No. 29The fox's bride-takingMonjiya no Kichi was asked by the choja, a very rich man, to find him a bride, and he asked the foxes, shape-shifting foxes, to disguise themselves…
• No. 30The fool of Senboku townA careless man of Senboku town decided to visit Shiwa Inari, and mishearing his wife's instructions one after another, he set out carrying a…
• No. 31UbakawaA peasant's father promised to give one of his daughters in marriage to a snake, a serpent, often a spirit in disguise, that had saved a frog, and…
• No. 32The monkey's night raidA monkey, old mountain monkeys said to turn uncanny, and a crab pounded rice cakes together on a mountain, but the monkey ran off with the mortar and…
• No. 33Ano-samaA child named Taro, who served Ano-sama of Wayama, blew stolen rice onto a pine tree to make it look as though a hawk had nested there, and deceived…
• No. 34AnosamataroA young man named Taro angered his master and was put into a weir to be sunk in a pond, but he deceived the laborers by lying that a tin mirror was…
• No. 35Okichi and OtamaThe stepmother disliked Okichi, the daughter of the first wife, and tried to kill her with a poisoned bun and with a blade aimed at her as she slept…
• No. 36Aguna ChinawaA tennyo, a celestial maiden, descended to a young man who loved learning and became his wife. The cloth she wove over three years caught a lord's…
• No. 37SunekotanpakoA childless couple made a vow to Yakushi-sama, the buddha of healing, and secluded themselves in prayer, and the text breaks off on the night the vow…
• No. 38SunekotanpakoA childless couple was told in a dream that they should raise with care a child that had settled in a shin, and in time a small boy called…
• No. 39Onchiko-henchikoMonjiya no Kichi, who had lost at gambling, gambled with a Jizo, a stone bodhisattva statue, in a field and won, receiving a vermilion-lacquered…
• No. 40The root of 'indeed'A foolish son-in-law, not knowing how to greet properly at his marriage visit, borrowed the wisdom of an old man next door. The old man tied a string…
• No. 41The farting old man of the mountainsAn old man who had been cutting trees without permission in the forest of the choja, a very rich man, called himself the farting old man of the…
• No. 42The snake that visited a daughterEvery night voices were heard from the daughter's sleeping room, and when her parents questioned her, she confessed that a man wearing a crested coat…
• No. 43Destroying the snake's child with mercuryTo help a daughter who had come to carry the child of a snake, a serpent, often a spirit in disguise, the parents drew water into a tub and had her…
• No. 44RazorA priest cut salted fish with a razor and ate it alone, and he warned his acolyte, "Do not speak of what you see and hear." After that, the acolyte…
• No. 45The otter and the foxA fox, a shape-shifting fox, hungry from the snow, got some fish from an otter. When the fox asked how fish were caught, the otter lied and told it…
• No. 46The cowherd and the yamanbaWhen night fell on a cowherd in the mountains, he called out half in jest, with his leftover fish soup, "Come and eat this," and a yamanba, an old…
• No. 47The mountain of abandoning old menIt was the custom to abandon a parent on the mountain once he turned seventy-two, but the son was moved by his parent's love in breaking twigs along…
• No. 48ChoiwakoraMonjiya no Kichi, a lover of gambling, polished a pine burl and sold it to a priest, falsely claiming it was a fire-charm called Choiwakora, and…
• No. 49The farting brideA bride who had married into a house had a poor complexion, and she confided to her mother-in-law that at her own parents' home she had been free to…
• No. 50The wife who ate nothingA single man was working in the mountains, and when he told his companions that he wanted a wife who ate nothing, such a woman appeared and became…
• No. 51ChohenkoThe stepmother tried to make her own daughter Chahanko kill Chohenko, the child of the first wife, but Chahanko's kindness and quick thinking foiled…
• No. 52The tale of TamaichiA childless couple prayed to Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion, and were granted a son. As the oracle had foretold, the child lost his father at…
• No. 53The temple boy who bought sakeIt began with a scene in which a temple priest who was fond of sake always sent his temple boy to buy it, showing the amount with the number of…
• No. 54Two to and one sho of sakeThe priest told the acolyte how much sake to buy by holding up a certain number of fingers, but he drank it all himself and let the acolyte drink…
• No. 55The master of the marsh of OnumaA man was asked, on the shore of Onuma, by the woman of the marsh, the spirit that rules a marsh, to deliver a letter to the man of Goronuma. On the…
• No. 56The gold that belonged by birthA man was digging up a pine tree to use in his garden when he found a jar containing gold at its roots. He buried it again as it was and told his…
• No. 57The old man's field tillingAn old man tilling his field gave a portion of his rice cake to a rat. In gratitude, the parent rat closed the old man's eyes and led him to the…
• No. 58A persimmon tree on his headThere was a manservant who had a habit of drinking himself senseless and falling asleep at the teahouse, and he was bald. Children threw persimmon…
• No. 59The bottle gourd gentlemanA priest dressed the bottle gourd from next door in a woman's mask and a long-sleeved kimono, set it in his room, and night after night played the…
• No. 60The monkey's brideA choja, a very rich man, had promised his daughter in marriage to a monkey, old mountain monkeys said to turn uncanny, after it plowed his field…
• No. 61The child with a long nameA boy was born and given a very long name. While playing in the river, he fell in by accident. By the time his companions, who had come running for…
• No. 62The old man's flour-grinding songWhile the old man thatched the roof, the old woman did needlework, and the daughter swept the earthen floor, a bean that was found was roasted and…
• No. 63This morning's freezeThe elder brother next door was asked how to greet one's father-in-law at the New Year. He was in the middle of catching fish under the ice at the…
• No. 64Poison pearsA priest, going out, told a young temple boy that there were pears he must not eat, calling them poison pears, and left. The boy could not hold…
• No. 65A pillow on his headAfter marrying into the family, the foolish son-in-law used a pillow for the first time, and because it kept slipping off his head, he asked his wife…
• No. 66The seven JizoOn New Year's Eve, the wife sold a padded coat she had spent three years making, and with the money bought hats for the Jizo, a stone bodhisattva…
• No. 67Puppu and Ae-kanThe priest put the young monks to bed, then roasted mochi and warmed sake to enjoy by himself, and at such times he had a habit of muttering to…
• No. 68The three sons-in-lawWhile three sons-in-law made small talk in front of their father-in-law, two of them, asked about a sound heard in the house, answered plausibly that…
• No. 69Red tray, red bowlA countryman went sightseeing in Kamigata and misheard and misremembered the words used by the inn's master and others there — "going up to the…
• No. 70OkeaemonkoA foolish son-in-law who had married into the family overheard the women in the kitchen calling red bean rice cakes "Okeaemonko," a fearsome thing.…
• No. 71Roasting rice cakesThe priest had a habit of hiding away to roast and eat rice cakes given by parishioners, and he tried to send his young temple boy away by telling…
• No. 72A contest of liarsA liar from the capital and a liar from the countryside came to call, to have a contest of lies. But the countryman's child told lies beyond measure…
• No. 73The wooden pestleThe wife had a nightly habit of turning her backside to the knothole in the door while she washed her feet. The husband of the house noticed that the…
• No. 74The wife who helps the todo next doorThe husband, trying to catch something in the house, ordered his wife to bring a kitchen knife. The wife secretly let the todo, who lived next door…
• No. 75The moonflower chojaThere was a fortunate elder brother and a poor, honest younger brother. When the younger brother lost his seed rice, he borrowed some from his elder…
• No. 76SettokosekA foolish son-in-law, treated to dumplings at the house he had married into, chanted "dumplings, dumplings" on his way home so as not to forget their…
• No. 77The fox's Ubako-samaThe fox of Hodoshima, a shape-shifting fox, used leaves and pheasant feathers to turn into a beautiful girl called Ubako-sama, and entered the…
• No. 78Taro, child of the peachA childless old man and old woman picked up a peach that came floating down the river, and a boy was born from inside it; they named him Taro, child…
• No. 79Kachikachi MountainAn old man caught an evil tanuki, a shape-shifting raccoon dog, and while he was away it tricked and killed his old woman, made her into soup, and…
• No. 80The lodging of the tongue-cut sparrowAn honest old man was fond of a sparrow. The greedy old woman next door scolded it for licking her paste, cut its tongue, and it fled. The old man…
• No. 81The leak in the old houseOn a rainy night, an old man and his wife said that the leak in the old house was more frightening than a tiger from China, and a tiger hiding in the…
• No. 82The cloak and hat of hidingA sly child held a broken basket up to his face and talked to himself, saying he could see Edo and could see Osaka, and a tengu, a long-nosed…
• No. 83The pillar coverOn his way to visit his father-in-law's house as a new son-in-law, the man was given advice by his wife, who told him that if he saw a knot-hole in…
• No. 84The lazy manA man who prayed to the tutelary god, wishing to eat delicious things without working, walked wherever his feet took him, as he had been told, and…
• No. 85The doorway for sending the wife awayA man compared his neighbor's wife with his own, and reproached his own wife, who was a hard worker, calling her ugly, and declared that he would…
• No. 86The foolish sonA tale of a foolish son who, whenever he received something at a relative's house, applied his mother's previous teaching unchanged to the next…
• No. 87The story sellerA son was given two hundred ryo by his parents and set out on a journey. From a story seller who sold each tale for a hundred ryo, he bought two…