Urashima Taro
13 min read ages 6 and up
Japanese tales
3 tales
Momotaro, the Peach Boy
15 min read ages 6 and up
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
15 min read ages 6 and up
Three old stories from Japan
No single author wrote these stories. They are old Japanese tales that have been told and retold for centuries, and we know them through later retellings, so on the map they belong to Japan, where they come from, rather than to any one writer or collector.
In Momotaro, the Peach Boy, a childless old woman doing her washing in the river finds a huge peach, and out of it steps a little boy. When he grows up he sets out for the Island of Devils, and a dog, a monkey and a pheasant join him on the way.
In Urashima Taro, a kind young fisherman saves a tortoise from a gang of boys and is taken to a palace under the sea. The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter begins with an old man finding a tiny girl inside a glowing stalk of bamboo and goes on to her return to the moon.
Momotaro ends with the devils beaten and the treasure brought home. The other two end sadly, one with a broken promise and the other with a daughter gone to the moon. All three can be read without charge, retold in English from old texts now in the public domain.