For folklore more generally, see Japanese folklore. For mythical folk-ballad of the Ainu, see yukar.
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Japanese folktales are an important cultural aspect of Japan. In commonplace usage, they signify a certain set of well-known classic tales, with a vague distinction of whether they fit the rigorous definition of "folktale" or not among various types of folklore. The admixed impostors are literate written pieces, dating back to the Muromachi period (14th–16th centuries) or even earlier times in the Middle Ages. These would not normally qualify for the English description "folktales" (i.e., pieces collected from oral tradition among the populace).
In a more stringent sense, "Japanese folktales" refers to orally transmitted folk narrative. Systematic collection of specimens was pioneered by the folklorist Kunio Yanagita. Yanagita disliked the word minwa (民話), a coined term directly translated from "folktale" (Yanagita stated that the term was not familiar to actual old folk he collected folktales from, and was not willing to "go along" with the conventions of other countries).[1] He therefore proposed the use of the term mukashibanashi (昔話, "tales of long ago") to apply to all creative types of folktales (i.e., those that are not "legendary" types which are more of a reportage).[2]
^Yanagita, "Preface to the 1960 edition", appended to Nihon no mukashibanashi (Folk tales of Japan), Shinchosha, 1983, p.175
^Masuda, Katsumi (1969) [1968]. "minwa" 民話. In Heibonsha (ed.). Sekai hyakka jiten 世界百科事典. Vol. 21. p. 492.
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