Basil Hall Chamberlain, the leading Western scholar of Japan, gathered these tales from Ainu storytellers in Hokkaido and published them through the Folk-Lore Society in 1888. They include creation stories, animal fables, tales of gods and demons, and homely stories such as the wicked rat that tricks a childless couple, translated plainly with a scholarly introduction.
One of the earliest records of Ainu oral tradition, valuable for folklorists and readers curious about Japan’s indigenous people. Download the free EPUB.