Review of
Japanese Fairy Tales,
by Iwaya Sazanami
Five out of five stars
Many similarities to European tales
These six tales
by the legendary Japanese storyteller Iwaya Sazanami have many characteristics
of classic European fairy tales. In “Momotaro,” an old, childless couple have
their wish for a son granted via magic. That son then goes off to fight a set
of ogres that have terrorized the local people for years. As is usual in such
stories, he comes back to his parents a hero, having vanquished the entire team
of ogres.
There are many
sentient creatures that exhibit human traits, there are cruel and avaricious humans
and others that are very kind. In many ways, the characters are similar to what
appears in the European fairy tales. There are many reasons why Sazanami is
called the Japanese equivalent of Grimm of Germany. Like the Grimm fairy tales,
Sazanami simply collated and organized rather than wrote these stories of ancient
Japan.
Despite the
large cultural differences between populations, when examining fairy tales, it
is easy to recognize how similar humans are.
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