Japanese Fairy Tales: 09/28/07

Japanese Fairy Tales: Kaguyahime the Moon Princess and Other Stories is an a collection of Japanese stories, translated and adapted by J. Robert Magee. Magee lives and works in Japan and the book was published in Japan with lovely illustrations by Kazumasa Miyamoto and Hiroko Kanzaki.

This short book has eleven stories and a short explanation of various Japanese terms. These stories involve magic, transformations, gifts from various gods and battles with demons. The emphasis though on all of these stories is on the importance of family.

Where extra explanations might be needed, Magee is really good at giving them but he doesn't weigh the stories down with lengthy explanations. He mostly sticks to explaining names that are puns or perhaps some bit of culture that would seem very different to a western audience.

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