Traditional Japanese Children's Stories

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I have translated these texts as my own way of studying Japanese. I have made them available on my web page primarily for other people studying Japanese (and also for Japanese people studying English), but also for those in the West who may not be familiar with these stories. However, these stories have, of course, already been translated. A web search on Japanese Children's Stories can show you how to get the English editions.

The files present the books, page by page. Each page begins with the Japanese text, the way it appears in the book, in Japanese characters. This is followed by a phrase by phrase, or sentence by sentence translation. Then there is a brief explanation of new vocabulary or grammatical forms that appeared on that page. The style of the English is a bit rough, in part because I want it to be as much as possible, a literal translation of the Japanese, so that it can aid in learning to read the Japanese.

For those who wish to use the texts to study Japanese, it is useful to have spaces separating the Japanese words. Because Japanese generaly does not use spaces between words, Netscape displays the Japanese text without spaces. However, the .html source files have spaces between the words. I recommend downloading the .html source files, stripping off the html formatting code, and printing the resulting text.

If you don't know how to display Japanese characters: in Netscape, select the ``Options'' menu, then the ``Language Encoding'', then ``Japanese (Auto-Select)''. If your browser doesn't handle Japanese, you can still read the English translation.

ももたろう、 Momotarou (Momotarou, the Peach Boy).

さるかに、Sarukani (The Monkey and the Crab).

したきりすずめ、Shitakirisuzume (The Sparrows' Inn).

はなさかじじい、Hanasakajijii (Grandfather Cherry-Blossom, The Old Man Who Made Trees Blossom).

かちかちやま、 Kachikachiyama (Click Clack Mountain).

つるのおんがえし、Tsurunoongaeshi (The Fairy Crane, Repaying the Kindness to the Crane).

うらしまたろう、 Urashimatarou (Urashima and the Kingdom Beneath the Sea).

いっすんぼうし、Issunboushi (Issun Boshi, the Inch-High Samurai).

おむすびころりん、Omusubikororin (The Rolling Rice-cakes).

ねずみのすもう、Nezuminosumou (Mouse Sumou).

かさこじぞう、Kasakojizou (Bamboo Hats for Jizo, The Grateful Statues).

かもとりごんべえ、Kamotorigonbee (The Flying Farmer).

かぐやひめ、Kaguyahime (The Bamboo Princess).

ちからたろう、Chikaratarou (Power Boy).

きんたろう （金太郎）、Kintarou (Kintarou, The Nature Boy)

ももの子たろう、 Momonokotarou (Momonokotarou, the Peach Boy).