Japanese Folk Tale

Translator's Notes xv
because of the shortage of paper in Japan when it was published.
was asked by Y anagi ta and members of his staff to make corrections
in the text where I found errors. Because of the same shortage, many
titles to stories had to be omitted. I have furnished over 1300 of them
after consulting the source material, and at the same time I made
uniform pagination, supplying it in many instances. The new Japanese
edition of 1971 modernized some characters and brought place names
up to date, but it made no corrections. I see no reason to alter administrative
geographical names when they are still identifiable. The basis
for my rendition of place names is Ikei Kasuka, Saikin chasa Nihon
bunken chizu awasete chimei saran (Osaka, 1937). No period in particular
is designated on the map of old provinces which I made. I simply
include those mentioned in the text.
I have rounded out some of the notes into simple sentences, but
left others alone to preserve the feeling of notes, which they are. I
have edited some notes to give direction to those which Yanagita left
as questions in light of the facts now available. It is possible that
some selections of notes were not suitable and some appear more than
once. Yanagita's comments point perhaps to an old version, to a version
where episodes have been combined, where the work of a professional
storyteller is apparent, or to one depending upon a translation
from a foreign source. Y anagi ta even points to poor versions. A beginner
can glean considerable information and sidelights on the tales from
Yanagita's jottings. Nearly half of the tale-types have a condensed
version of a normative example. Others can be guessed by their titles
and notations. The scarcity of notes was due to the fact that only
samplings could be used in order to keep the work within a single
volume.
Items listed as "further reference" following the entries sometimes
will be the least satisfactory to Western students. They are Yanagita's
personal notations which he added, and there is no way now to be sure
what he had in mind when he made them. It is enough for Japanese to
see the notations of this famous scholar, and few would attempt to
probe them. I edited a few, particularly the foreign entries. The references
open the door to comparative studies within Japanese literature.
Although the references, too, are highly selective, they may challenge
some student in the West who is looking for a new approach to Japanese
studies. Themes belonging to folk tales included in written literature
can be recognized only by one who has had access to the folk
tales.
My other contribution to this volume is the Bibliography of
Sources. It gives the correct transcription of Japanese titles, names of
authors, publishers, and the like. Yanagita's library was not cataloged
at the time the Guide was compiled. His assistants who worked on the
project decided to list relevant books which were on the shelves of
the N.H.K. library where they did their work. Their list in the volume
is not a complete representation of sources. I have noted in the Bibliography
the items which have been republished recently and others
which are scheduled to be revised and enlarged. The present efforts to
make available sources which have been out of print shows how highly
the early work of collectors is valued. I have also furnished several
indexes and lists for students with specialized interests.