Ancient Tales and Folk-lore of Japan

Ancient Tales and Folk-lore of Japan is a book by British traveler Richard Gordon Smith, first published in 1918. It is a collection of fifty-seven historical legends and folktales from Japan, where the author lived for some time in the early twentieth-century. Nearly all of the stories are set in a well-defined time and place, instead of 'once upon a time.' Themes include ghosts; unrequited love across social boundaries; Shinto landscape, tree and ocean spirits; and tales driven by Bushido and Buddhist ethics. This edition does not include illustrations.