The kind reception given to "The Japanese Fairy Book" has encouraged me
to venture on a second volume of stories from Japan. I have invented
none of these stories. They are taken from many different sources, and
in clothing them with an English dress my work has been that of adapter
rather than translator. In picturesqueness of conception Japanese
stories yield the palm to none. And they are rich in quaint expressions
and dainty conceits. But they are apt to be written in a style almost
too bald. This defect the professional story-teller remedies by
colouring his story as he tells it. In the same way I have tried to
brighten the rather bare structure of a story, where it seemed to need
such treatment; with touches of local colour in order to give emphasis
to the narrative, and at the same time make the story more attractive to
the foreign reader. Whether I have succeeded or not, the reader must
judge for himself. I shall be satisfied if in some small measure I have
been able to do for Japanese folk-lore what Andrew Lang has done for
folk-lore in general, and if the tales in their English dress are found
to retain the essential features of Japanese stories.
Miss Fusa Okamoto and Mr. Taketaro Matsuda, my brother, Nobumori Ozaki,
and one or two friends have given me help in translation.
For the introductory note I am indebted to Mr. J.H. Gubbins, C.M.G., of
the British Embassy, Tokyo.
Most of the illustrations have been drawn by Mr. Shusui Okakura, of the
Peers' College, to whose painstaking and patient collaboration grateful
acknowledgment is due. A few of the pictures were drawn by Mr. Tsutsui,
of the "Jiji Shimbun," and some of the historical pictures by Mr. Kokuho
Utagawa and Mr. Tosen Toda.
Yei Theodora Ozaki.