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Tales From Japan - Helen McAlpine

Description: ISBN 0192751751 / Author: Helen McAlpine / Genre: Junior Books / This extraordinary collection of stories from Japan are retellings of ... more

Tales From Japan - Helen McAlpine ... legends and fairy tales. You'll meet the Sea Spirit, the Moon God, the Emperor Kiyomori, Dragon Princess and many other magical characters. Amidst the stories, the beauty of Japan - its people, its animals and its landscape - is joyfully evoked. The stories include The Birth of Japan, Tales of the Heike, and the Tale of Princess Kaguya.

Newest Review: ... might suggest, deals with the more mythical and proverbial aspect of Japanese mythology, with tales such as ‘The Peach Boy’, ... more

... who (in this version of the tale) is born when a peach is split in two; ‘The Lucky Kettle’, which is about the shape shifting abilities of “badgers”, (it’s been translated as ‘badger’, but should in fact be a ‘tanuki’ – more on this later) and several other more fairy tale-esque stories. The authors’ writing style is very accessible and easy to read and I think readers of all ages would feel comfortable reading the book – the only possible source of confusion could be the pronunciation of certain Japanese names. Fo...more

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Tales From Japan - Helen McAlpine: From The Birth Of Japan To Lucky Teapots (1418 words)
by - written on 19/05/07 (Very useful, 128 readings)
Rating:

~~~ BlueMidget And Japanese ~~~ When I decided I wanted to start learning Japanese as a language, (for no reason other than I was curious, I must be honest), I also thought it important to try and learn something about the culture as well. Never one to need much of an excuse to buy books and DVDs, I set about buying various items on the subject. It was whilst watching one of the anime DVDs I’d bought, (‘Pom Poko’ to be precise) that it occurred to me that there was an awful lot I didn’t know about the background to Japanese culture. Myths and legends have always been something that has fascinated me and I’ve always believed that the mythology of a ... Read the complete review