© Getty Images

Kintaro -

In Japanese folklore, Kintaro is known by the name of Golden Boy after his glowing flaxen skin. Raised by a witch on Mount Ashigara, as he grew older Kintaro became stronger and stronger.

© Getty Images

Kintaro -

Kintaro befriended animals and became Sakata no Kintoki, a warrior and loyal follower of the samurai Minamoto no Yorimitsu, himself a beloved folk hero. Kintaro's heroic exploits included helping villagers subdue a notorious bandit chief, taming a wild bear, and capturing a huge koi carp. Kintaro's legend has endured for centuries, the Golden Boy symbolizing the ideals of courage, loyalty, and compassion in Japanese culture.

© Getty Images

Issun-Boshi -

The legend of Issun-Boshi begins with an elderly childless couple whose only wish is to have a son, even if the newborn is just one inch tall. The couple pray to the Sumiyoshi sanjin, three Shinto gods who bless the pair with a miniature child. They name their new arrival Issun-bōshi, or "One-inch Boy."

© Public Domain

Issun-Boshi -

Despite his diminutive size, One-inch Boy yearns to be a samurai, and practices with a sewing needle for a sword and uses a rice bowl for a boat, complete with chopsticks for oars. His small stature notwithstanding, Issun-Boshi gets a position guarding a beautiful princess. One day the pair are attacked by an oni, or ogre, wielding a mallet with magical powers. The tiny hero defeats his foe using the needle. As a reward, the princess uses the mallet to grow her guardian to full size. Shortly afterwards, the couple are married.

© Public Domain

Momotaro -

Another popular hero of Japanese folklore is Momotaro, the oni-slaying Peach Boy. The story goes that Momotaro was born from a giant peach, which was spotted floating down a river by an old, childless woman who was washing clothes by the waterfront.

© Getty Images

Momotaro -

Upon opening the peach and being named Momotaro—from momo (peach) and taro (eldest son in the family)—the youngster explains that he's been sent from heaven to defeat marauding demons and ogres. He begins his quest, helped by a talking dog, monkey, and pheasant. Momotaro and his new friends are seen later with the demons' plundered treasure and the evil chief as a captive.

© Getty Images

Urashima Taro -

In this Japanese fairy tale, Urashima Taro is a fisherman who rescues an injured turtle. By way of a thank you, the reptile carries Urashima to the bottom of the sea and the dragon palace where he meets an attractive princess called Otohime.

© Getty Images

Urashima Taro -

Urashima spends what he believes to be several days with the princess, whereas in actual fact one hundred years have past. Missing his family, he returns to dry land but not before being given a jewelry box by the princess and told never to open it. Back home he finds his family long dead. Stricken with grief, he peers inside the box, whereupon a cloud of white dust envelopes Urashima Taro causing him to age quickly and die.

© Getty Images

Bunbuku chagama -

Bunbuku chagama, which more or less translates to "happiness bubbling over like a tea pot," refers to the charming tale of a poor man who takes in a stray tanuki (raccoon dog) that uses its shapeshifting powers to reward its rescuer for his kindness.

© Public Domain

Bunbuku chagama -

The tanuki transforms itself into chagama, or tea kettle, so the man can sell him for money. A monk purchases the shapeshifter but ill treats his new acquisition. The tanuki teapot sprouts legs and runs off back to the poor man. This time he keeps the tanuki and opens up a roadside attraction where it performs tightrope tricks for a fee. No longer poor, the man and his racoon dog live happily ever after.

© Public Domain

Shita-kiri Suzume -

This folktale translates to "Tongue-cut Sparrow." Once upon a time, there lived an old man and an old woman. The old man was kind and gentle, but his wife was mean and greedy. The couple earned their living by cutting wood and fishing. One day the old man went into the mountains and saw a sparrow crying out in distress. He carried it home.

© Public Domain

Shita-kiri Suzume -

The old man fed the little bird rice. His wife, though, scalded him for wasting food. Later, after he had returned to the mountains, the sparrow gobbled up a plate of starch. Infuriated, the old lady cut the sparrow's tongue out. It flew off. Learning of what had happened, the old man went in search of his injured friend, aided by other sparrows. He finds the tiny passerine and feeds it. By way of thanks, the old man is offered a choice of two baskets, one small, one large. He takes the smaller basket as it's easier to carry. In it he finds a large amount of treasure. His wife, learning of the other basket, steals it. Sliding open the top, she finds it full of snakes. The shock sends her tumbling over a cliff to a certain death. The moral of the tale is how the purity of friendship overcomes the evil of greed and jealousy.

© Public Domain

Kaguya-hime -

One of Japan's oldest legends is the story of Kaguya-hime, a princess from the Moon who one day visits Earth. She's discovered as a baby by a bamboo cutter, swaddled inside the shining stalk of a bamboo plant.

© NL Beeld

Kaguya-hime -

Kaguya-hime grows up beautiful and serene, and has many suitors. Each one, however, is turned away after failing to complete impossible tasks. She eventually attracts the affection of the emperor of Japan, but even royalty can't keep her feet on the ground. She eventually reveals her celestial origins and returns to the Moon.

© Getty Images

Kiyohime -

Kiyohime is one of the most famous antagonists in Japanese literature. A character in the story of Anchin and Kiyohime, she is an example of a honnari hannya—a demon woman who has attained a frightening level of power.

© Getty Images

Kiyohime -

The story tells of Kiyohime falling in love with a Buddhist monk named Anchin. However, her affection isn't reciprocated. Angry and feeling rejected, Kiyohime transforms into a monstrous serpent and chases the hapless monk, who hides in an enormous bell. But overcome with rage and despair, she wraps herself around the bell and breathes fire into it, roasting Anchin alive.   

© Public Domain

Bancho Sarayashiki -

Japanese folklore extends to a number of chilling ghost stories, among them Bancho Sarayashiki, or 'The Dish Mansion at Bancho.' The tale surrounds a beautiful young maid named Okiku, whose master—a samurai named Aoyama Tessan—was known as being cruel and brutal.

© Public Domain

Bancho Sarayashiki -

Okiku refuses Aoyama Tessan's romantic advances. His pride severely dented, he tricks Okiku into believing that she has lost one of the family's 10 precious porcelain plates, a crime normally punishable by death. Knowing she's innocent, she nonetheless begs for the samurai's forgiveness. He agrees to overlook the 'loss' if she'll finally become his lover. Again, she refuses. Trembling with rage, he throws the woman down a well, killing her. Okiku returns as a vengeful spirit, her voice being heard counting from one to nine and then uttering a terrible scream. In modern-day Japan, Okiku would inspire the character of Sadako (or Samara in the American version) of the horror film 'The Ring.'

© NL Beeld

Kachi-kachi Yama -

Translating into English as 'The Farmer and the Badger,' this somewhat disturbing folktale features a tanuki (the aforementioned racoon dog) as a villain. The story surrounds an elderly farmer and his wife, whose neighbor is a mischievous badger.

© Getty Images

Kachi-kachi Yama -

Tired of the badger ruining his land, the farmer vows to kill it. Eventually the animal is caught and tied up. With the farmer out of the house, the imprisoned badger pleads with the farmer's wife to let him go. This she does only to be killed and sliced up for soup by the murderous badger, who in fact is a tanuki. The tanuki then takes the form of the dead woman. Later, the farmer is offered a bowl of soup by his "wife." He ends up eating his own spouse! The badger flees. Distraught, the widowed farmer turns to a rabbit for help. The rabbit befriends the unknowing badger and the pair go fishing in a boat. Seeking to avenge the farmer, the rabbit hits the badger with an oar, sending the shapeshifter into the water, where it drowns.

© Public Domain

Hanasaka Jiisan -

This Japanese folktale roughly translates to 'The Story of the Old Man Who Made Withered Trees to Blossom.' A childless couple adore their little dog, called Shiro. One day, the hound digs up a box of gold in their garden. A greedy neighbor hears about the discovery and asks if he can "borrow" the dog and take it for a walk.

© Getty Images

Hanasaka Jiisan -

Instead, he makes the canine dig up his own garden, but the only thing the dog reveals are some old bones. Furious, the neighbor kills Shiro. The grief-stricken couple retrieve their pet's lifeless body and bury it. The next day a tree is marking the dog's grave. The man chops down the tree and makes a mortar and pestle from it. He pounds rice into the mortar, which turns into more gold. The neighbor steals the mortar, but his rice turns to foul-smelling berries, so he burns it. That night, in a dream, the dog tells his master to take the ashes of the mortar and sprinkle them on certain cherry trees. The trees bloom in spectacular color.

© Getty Images

Yokai -

In Japanese mythology, yokai are horrific monsters, supernatural creatures, and strange phenomena that you definitely would not want to meet on a dark night. Oddly, though, yokai can be benign as well as wicked.

© Public Domain

Yokai -

One such example is nekomata, a kind of cat yokai. According to legend, nekomata have been accused of killing and eating people. With eyes like a cat but with a body of a dog, these creatures either live in the mountains, or are domesticated, with some able to sing and play musical instruments.

© Public Domain

Tengu -

A familiar figure to visitors to Japanese shrines and temples, the long-nosed tengu is a supernatural being that inhabits mountainous areas. It, too, is considered a type yokai.

© Getty Images

Tengu -

The Japanese take tengu very seriously. Described as birdlike demons that some believe are almost divine, tengu are seen as dangerous, though often protective, spirits.

© Getty Images

Amaterasu -

And what of Japan's many deities? Of particular note is the sun goddess Amaterasu, perhaps the most important Shinto deity. Portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the 'Kojiki,' Amaterasu is so revered that the Japanese imperial family is believed to have descended from her.

© Getty Images

Amaterasu -

Amaterasu is also held to be the divine ancestor of the first emperor of Japan. Furthermore, the Rising Sun motif is often associated with her. The Japanese people call their country Nippon or Nihon, which literally translated means "source of the sun." It is loosely translated into English as "Land of the Rising Sun."

Sources: (MythologyWorldWide) (Web Japan) (Yokai.com) (New World Encyclopedia) (Mythopedia)

See also: A journey through Japan's 72 micro-seasons

© Getty Images