The Legends of Tono: 100th Anniversary Edition - Hardcover

Yanagita, Kunio

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0739127675 ISBN 13: 9780739127674

Publisher: Lexington Books, 2008

Synopsis

This is an exciting new book that for the first time combines rich biographical information on the founder of Japanese folklore studies, Kunio Yanagita, with a superb updated translation of his literary classic, The Legends of Tono (1910). This marvelous translation of a Japanese literary and folklore classic, reflecting thirty-five years of research and scholarship, is filled with enthralling tales that bring alive Japan's rich traditional heritage.

About this title

Review:

The various episodes selected from the countless field notes Yanagita took provide, from a literary point of view, a peerless model of conciseness. In his sentences can be found a perfect economy, his words used as sparingly as gold.--Yukio Mishima

There is magic on every page of Yanagita's 'Legends, ' and it's very hard not to be seduced by this reissued, 100th anniversary translation.... This handsome new edition updates Morse's excellent but rare 1975 translation with a new preface and introduction.... It's a must-have for everyone who wants to know what the psycho-spiritual lives of rural Japanese were like a century ago. Tono stands proud as Japan's heart of darkness, and Yanagita is its best guide.--Tim Hornyak, 2009 "The Japan Times "

That is the wonder of the Tono book. We are looking at tales in the making. Yanagita gives us a rare glimpse of story-telling as process, rather than product.--A. W. Sadler

The Tono monogatari takes its place with the Kinder und Haus-Märchen of the brothers Grimm as a landmark collection in the history of folklore studies...In making The Legends of Tono available in English translation Ronald Morse, the perceptive biographer of Yanagita-sensei, has placed Asian and folklore scholars in his debt. It deserves a wide attentive audience outside its own country to match the readership it has rightfully earned at home.--Richard M. Dorson

The stories themselves are a collage of disparate elements coming together to create an overall feel of the area. It creates a real sense of place and time and feeling.--Sci-Fi Japan, April 2010

About the Author:

Ronald A. Morse is a leading thinker and commentator on Japan.

About this edition

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0739127675
• ISBN 13: 9780739127674
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 116