English

Lord Bag of Rice Long ago in Japan there lived a brave warrior known to all as Tawara Toda, or “Lord Bag of Rice” (a lord due to his high ranking). His true name was Fujiwara Hidesato, and there is a very interesting story of how he came to change his name. Hidesato was a warrior and was always in search of adventures. One day he set out with his two swords and large bow which was much taller than himself and came upon the bridge of Seta-no-Karshi spanning one end of the beautiful Lake Biwa. As soon as he set foot on the bridge, he saw a huge serpent dragon lying across his path.

The Adventures of Kintaro, The Golden Boy Long ago in feudal Japan, there lived a brave soldier named Kintoki and his beautiful wife. After Kintoki’s passing, his wife fled to the Ashigara Mountains in fear of his enemies. There she gave birth to a child she named Kintaro, or Golden Boy. Kintaro was incredibly strong and deep out in the mountains where only woodcutters ever came, Kintaro was soon able to cut trees down as fast as them.

The White Hare and the Crocodiles Long ago, there lived a little white hare on the island of Oki, and just across the sea was the mainland of Inaba, Japan. Now the hare wanted very much to cross over to Inaba. Day after day he would go out and sit on the shore and look longingly over the water in the direction of Inaba, and day after day he hoped to find some way of getting across. One day as usual, the hare was standing on the beach, looking towards the mainland across the water, when he saw a great crocodile swimming near the island. “This is very lucky!” thought the hare.