The Espousal of the Rat’s Daughter

by Grace James Illustrated by Warwick Goble Mr. Medzumi, the Rat, was an important personage in the hamlet where he lived-at least he was so in his own and his wife’s estimation. This was in part, of course, due to the long line of ancestors from whom he was descended, and to their intimate...

The Peony Lantern

by Grace James Illustrated by Warwick Goble In Yedo there dwelt a samurai called Hagiwara. He was a samurai of the hatamoto, which is of all the ranks of samurai the most honourable. He possessed a noble figure and a very beautiful face, and was beloved of many a lady of Yedo, both openly and in secret. ...

The Moon Maiden

by Grace James Illustrated by Warwick Goble There was an old bamboo cutter called Také Tori. He was an honest old man, very poor and hard-working, and he lived with his good old wife in a cottage on the hills. Children they had none, and little comfort in their old age, poor souls. Také Tori...

The Singing Bird of Heaven

by Grace James Illustrated by Warwick Goble Ama Terassu, the Glorious, the Light of High Heaven, commanded, saying, “His Augustness, my August Child, who is called the Conqueror, shall descend to the land. For it is a Land of Luxuriant Reed Plains, a Land of Fresh Rice Ears, a Land of a Thousand...

The Star Lovers

by Grace James Illustrated by Warwick Goble All you that are true lovers, I beseech you pray the gods for fair weather upon the seventh night of the seventh moon. For patience’s sake and for dear loves’s sake, pray, and be pitiful that upon that night there may be neither rain, nor hail, nor...