Japanese Folk Tale

Humorous Stories: Exaggerations 217
Nagasaki: (Old) Iki 218, "Kichigoro who sold grey mullet" (Borauri
Kichigoro). The feudal lord promoted him step by step because of
brave deeds done by chance. Shimabara 91, "The exploit of Sannen
Nebotaro" (Sannen Nebotaro no tegara). Sannen Nebotaro escaped
to Satsuma and performed an exploit. No part about seeking
marriage. It is strange that he went to Satsuma. An example in
Chiho sodano
Kagoshima, Kawabe-gun, Kushi: (No source). A man went to Kushi-go
and falsely claimed to be Kamakura Gongoro. He performed many
brave deeds there by chance and displayed bravery. In Kagoshima
they call him Kamakura Gongoro for some reason. The tale is
close to "The brave tailor" [Killing seven of the enemy with one
stroke].
The tendency to attach all sorts of episodes to amusing tales is
probably a device to prolong them, as in "Rat sutra" and "Who is
it?" or in the story of how a gambler frightened off thieves by
chance. He called himself Kamakura Gongoro and performed many
brave deeds by chance. Refer to "The lucky new samurai." He was
fooled into buying a mask of Hannya [God of WisdomJ, frightened
another gambler away, and got possession of his gold, thus becoming
a choja, (Tsugaru mugashiko 35). There are many such stories.
"Seven enemies at one stroke" by Grimm belongs to this group. A
story of a chance brave deed is also in "The three sons-in-law."
Refer to the discussion of Huet and the folk tale in Mukashibanashi
kenkyu II 6 12.
212. Catching Sparrows
To catch a lot of sparrows, gather fresh camellia leaves early in
the morning and scatter them around. Put a little wine dregs on each
and leave them. Sparrows will come and eat the dregs. They will get
drunk and go to sleep there. In the meantime, the sun will come out
and wilt the leaves. They will curl up and wrap around the sparrows.
Then sweep them into a straw sack.
Nagasaki, Shimabara Hanto
Akita: Ugo 57, 279. Notations. Making a nose look like a walnut to
catch little birds.
Nagasaki: Shimabara 300, "Catching lots of sparrows" (Suzume 0 takusan
toru hanashi). Example. Also, to catch a lot of pigeons, tie a
string onto a bean. A pigeon will eat it and the bean will come
out in the droppings. Another pigeon will eat it, and so on until
_ you have them all on a string like a rosary.
Oita: Bungo kijin 82, "Catching sparrows" (Suzume torD. Catching
little birds with wine dregs, persimmon leaves, and acorns. On
page 87 of the same book it tells how to see a play for nothing.
There is also a method of painting a hand and holding it out for