Japanese Children's Favorite Stories

This book presents a collection of Japanese children’s stories drawn from folklore, including well-known tales such as Peach Boy, The Old Man Who Made Trees Blossom and Little One-Inch. Each story is accompanied by vibrant watercolour illustrations that bring scenes to life.

Fierce ogres, shape-shifting tanuki (Japanese raccoon dogs), long-nosed goblins and other playful characters appear throughout, reflecting values such as honesty, humility, kindness and good humour.

Florence Sakade was an author, editor and pioneer of English-language publishing in Japan. Her well-known titles include A Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese, Origami: Japanese Paper Folding and Folk Tales from Japan: Fables, Myths and Fairy Tales for Children.

Kurosaki Yoshisuke was an illustrator of children’s books who studied at the Kawabata Painting school. From 1927 until his death, he illustrated numerous children’s books and became the president of the Doga Kenkyukai (Association for the Study of Children’s Illustrations) in 1947.