Tell me if you have a topic you'd like to see. (Contact: LoiS-sez@LoiS-sez.com .)
Please also let others know about this site.

Monday, October 31, 2016

Hearn - Yuki Onna - and - Riki Baka - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

The Kwaidan image I've used is from "What are Kaidan?" and, besides discussing Kaidan  on the page's sidebar is a listing of other stories of the genre dating back to the earliest Japanese literature.  It also explains why Hearn called it Kwaidan.  Down in the comments the article also tells a bit more about how these stories came from Hearn's Japanese wife, Setsu, and Hearn's honoring her and her contribution.  (She was from a samurai family, which also explains how often samurai feature in his tales.)  If you Google the images for Kwaidan you will find there are many there including from the movie by that name.  Kobayashi Masaki’s 1965 film is thoroughly reviewed in Weird Wild Realm Reviews.  As a result I can give you this picture from the start of today's first story.  Whatever your weather may be, wherever you are, this should give you a bit of a chill.
That last image came from Nami as the Yuki Onna, which also includes video and more about this  traditional figure in Japanese literature, film, manga, games, and even a symphony.  Wikipedia's article on Yuki-onna is yet another link.  Personally I like Matthew Meyer's more traditional looking image of her.  His site again discusses her and generously shares via Creative Commons license.  He has a comprehensive Yokai database of online Japanese ghosts and monsters and Meyer's artwork, too.
Yuki Onna by Matthew Meyer

Today's story was so short and I've an even shorter tale that also fascinated Hearn.  It's not a monster or possibly even ghostly, but it harks back to two other stories given here, "Before the Supreme Court" and "Strength."


This wraps up this series of Hearn tales, but I hope that, like him, you have gotten enough of a taste to pursue even more.  The books are online, there are videos, articles, images, and much to discover.

Happy Haunting this Halloween!

**************************

Here's my closing for days when I have a story in Keeping the Public in Public Domain
***************** 

This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  


At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it. 

Other Public Domain story resources I recommend -
  • There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm
  • You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"
You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!



Saturday, October 29, 2016

Hearn - Before the Supreme Court - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

http://healthymindscanada.ca
Last week's story came from Lafcadio Hearn's A Japanese Miscellany and so does today's story from the "Strange Stories" section.  Next week is Halloween and that day there will be two short stories from another book of his, Kwaidan, which means "ghost story."  Since I don't usually publish on a Monday I wanted to give a "heads up" alert.

You may have thought about the U.S. Supreme Court reading today's title, but Hearn's Supreme Court is even higher . . . all the way up to heaven.  It's also a title more likely to be of interest to teens and adults, especially parents.

Once again Hearn credits the same Japanese source as last week, Bukkyo Hyakkwa Zensho.  Not all Hearn's "Strange Stories" came from that source.  Also not all of the stories from A Japanese Miscellany have been given here, but I recommend them.  I might have printed "Of a Promise Kept", but then I would also have had to include "Of a Promise Broken."  There are also two longer tales with character names that seem very similar, "The Story of Kwashin Koji", a raucous story indeed, and "The Story of Kogi the Priest" which reminds me of a picture book, Louis the Fish, by Arthur Yorinks, about a butcher who hates meat, but loves fish.  A Japanese Miscellany fits its name with information on dragonflies, Buddhist names of plants and animals, Japanese children's songs, and more stories he obviously didn't think fit any category.  The link in the first paragraph is worth clicking.

Hope you make it back for the two ghost stories I've saved for Halloween itself.
Here's my closing for days when I have a story in Keeping the Public in Public Domain
***************** 

This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  


At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it. 

Other Public Domain story resources I recommend -
  • There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm
  • You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"
You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Hearn - The Story of Umetsu Chubei - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Today's story could be titled "Strength."  It's a natural to tell boys (or any who enjoy superheroes) with a samurai who has to exhibit unnatural, dare we say, superheroic strength?
http://quotesgram.com

This includes a Japanese name and prayer.  It's always best to hunt up someone able to give you pronunciation, but at the end I'll give an easy way to learn today's names and prayer before telling the story if you don't have the opportunity to do this.



Some might say a literary story should be memorized and given unchanged, but I would certainly add to the final line "by Lafcadio Hearn in 1905."  You should also add the book it was in his A Japanese Miscellany.  By the way did you notice the footnote on the first page?  He gives his source of Bukkyo-Hayakkawa-Zensho, but I will leave that to those more able to handle Japanese than I.

I promised "an easy way to learn the names and prayer" and you may hear them in a YouTube video of The Story of Umetsu Chubei by Lauren Flinner and Ryan Mihaly. They abbreviate the story, but at least the names and prayer can be heard.

Before telling the story it would probably be well to give a brief introduction to samurai and the concepts of Japanese goblins and Shinto deities, the Ujigami, and their local followers, the Ujiko.

Of course if you are telling this to young lovers of superheroes, you might also talk about how Umetsu had to adjust after receiving such strength and how it might be difficult.

Today's story can be found in Archive.org's publication of the book, A Japanese Miscellany in the subsection called Strange Stories.  I love some of the stories there and next week, the weekend before Halloween, will give yet another.  Also look ahead to an extra here on Halloween day itself to close out this month of Hearn's spooky tales.  One of the two very brief stories then will be "Riki Baka" -- and "Riki" means "Strength", but "Baka" means "the Simple" or "the Fool", so there is a simple or foolish bit of continuity with today's story topic.
Here's my closing for days when I have a story in Keeping the Public in Public Domain
***************** 

This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  


At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it. 

Other Public Domain story resources I recommend -
  • There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm
  • You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"
You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Hearn - The Goblin Spider - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

 Arachnophobia!

Today's story recorded by Lafcadio Hearn is short but will give many chills.  It's deeply ingrained in Japanese folklore and art as seen in these pictures, both traditional and modern, I've inserted in the story. 
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) - Woodblock triptych print

Daniel Aranda The Sweet Life Tattoo Shop
 
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) - Woodblock triptych print, Minamoto Yorimitsu Shitenno, Raiko's retainer, about to kill the earth spider in its web.

 Utagawa Kuninaga (歌川國長) - Woodblock print, triptych. Raiko with giant spider,


































Photo from Borde Hill in Sussex  from Kay Susan Warner's embroidery blog, SMockerySmArt  "A nice day out"  Sculptor is unknown.

Earlier I mentioned the Goblin Spider is "deeply ingrained in Japanese folklore and art." In a perfect example of how a later or slightly altered search can change results, if you go to Google and try "goblin spider Japanese folklore" there is a large page on Images.  I rejected many because, although the Jorōgumo is a type of Yōkai, a creature, ghost or goblin of Japanese folklore, it turns into a seductive woman before becoming a goblin spider.  That is a totally different tale.

Only after creating my own attempts at providing today's story did I find New Mexico stamp dealer, George C. Baxley, has the original book complete with illustrations (the illustrator is not named in English) and it is one of the five books published by Takejiro Hasegawa where Lafcadio Hearn was the translator.  Knowing the work of Lafcadio Hearn, I would dispute that a bit as the cover says it is "Rendered into English by Lafcadio Hearn."  This and the other stories all speak with Hearn's voice and style, but I also believe he tried to remain faithful to their Japanese origins.  Where does translation become creation?  While at Baxley's Hasegawa link you can also find the other four stories offered.  They include last week's Chin-Chin-Kobakama as well as The Boy Who Drew Cats, which I posted a few years ago.  The two other tales from the series are the strange, but not necessarily spooky The Fountain of Youth, and the jolly The Old Woman and Her Dumplings, which has Oni in it.  (Oni can be translated as a kind of Yōkai from Japanese folklore, variously called demons, devils, ogres, or trolls.)  That link also gives a great deal of information about the publisher, whose work was from 1885 to 1930, and gives hints about Hasegawa's Fairy Tale Series which I found covered more to my interest in Wikipedia's listing of over thirty tales Hasegawa published.  It's certainly a list of the best known Japanese stories in the western world, which was the publisher's intent.  I've a certain bit of satisfaction Wikipedia quotes a publication from Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, "By 1903, the series reached 28 volumes in two series. Most of the stories were based on well-known Japanese folk tales, but some of the later books, including several by Lafcadio Hearn, are thought to have been invented rather than translated, or perhaps combine elements of several folk tales."  The Kyoto University publication has a slightly longer list of the series.  The publication is called "Crepe Paper Books and Woodblock Prints at the Dawn of Cultural Enlightenment in Japan" and is from a rare book exhibition.  I enjoyed prowling it beyond the Fairy Tale Series and especially finding one book about Japanese Story-Tellers only to discover it on the Baxley site, too, since it was yet another Hasegawa publication.  Since some of my readers are storytellers, I suggest the Kyoto University article for its explanation and then read the book on the Baxley site.


In a bit of fact being stranger than fiction, Samurai fighting spiders exist, but these are arachnid fighting clubs with spiders trained to fight each other annually in the southern Japanese town of Kajiki.  (If spiders strike you as creepy, this link is going to being too much.)

The rest of this month I will be sure to give some less well-known stories from Lafcadio Hearn.

*******************
Here's my closing for days when I have a story in Keeping the Public in Public Domain
***************** 

This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  


At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it. 

Other Public Domain story resources I recommend -
  • There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm
  • You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"
You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!


Saturday, October 8, 2016

Hearn - Chin-Chin Kobakama - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

'Tis the month for spooky stories.  One of my favorite authors is the American emigre from around the turn of the 20th century, Lafcadio Hearn, who fell in love with both the daughter of a samurai and Japanese culture, especially the ghostly or the "strange" as he simply called it.  I've decided to take the rest of this month featuring two of my favorite Hearn tales and some new -- to me -- discoveries.  I even plan to include a special extra post on Halloween. 

That link to Hearn gives a few more I love to tell including some little known stories.  If you want a brief look into Hearn's life, scroll down to the first story, "The Boy Who Drew Cats" which I posted here two years ago.

Today's story can be found in various anthologies, such as Margaret Read MacDonald's lovely

Tuck-Me-In Tales,

but even with 26 books by or about Hearn on Project Gutenberg, this story doesn't seem to be there.  To find the book where it was published so long ago, go to the Australian Gutenberg.net for A Ghost Story and others.  I hadn't even realized there was more than one Project Gutenberg!  That's o.k.,  there's never enough sharing of public domain to keep wonderful literature alive.  I could say more, but getting out my soap box for a rant would delay the story.  Just let me take a few lines to point out the home page at http://gutenberg.net.au/ includes a section of Australiana, a good resource about the wonderful land my Aussie colleagues and friends call "Oz" -- making it sound positively mythical or, at the very least, a literary treasure house.

This is a bit of a "cautionary tale", and I suggest judging the listener or being cautious in telling.  This may be scarier than you might expect in a book of bedtime stories like the earlier mentioned Tuck-Me-In Tales.  I wouldn't tell it to those wanting the gently spooky, but it can be appreciated by most children.



Obviously how you tell the ending can make the story less likely to be nightmare material.  Less obvious is how to handle the chant of the toothpick warriors.  If there is a chance somebody in your audience may know Japanese, it's great to start by asking if anybody knows Japanese and getting their assistance.  I only use the first two lines of the chant and teach it beforehand for audience participation, having fun explaining my complete lack of Japanese language skills.  Normally when a story has names or language pronunciation help needed, check for local societies, embassies, classes, whatever you can search out, but in this case plunging into it is understandable and can keep the story a bit lighter.
*******************
Here's my closing for days when I have a story in Keeping the Public in Public Domain
***************** 

This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  


At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it. 

Other Public Domain story resources I recommend -
  • There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm
  • You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"
You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!