A review by paul_cornelius
Tales of Old Japan: Folklore, Fairy Tales, Ghost Stories and Legends of the Samurai by A. B. Mitford

4.0

I have only just begun to look into Japanese literature and folk tales. Accordingly, I decided to start with two of the most important people to introduce Japanese culture into the West, Lafcadio Hearn and, A. B. Mitford. Lafcadio Hearn is much more "literary" than is Mitford. But Mitford does a superior job of providing context and historical discussion of the people, institutions. and belief systems incorporated into his stories. And, again, as with Hearn, you are getting a unique look at Japan in transition, from the end of the Tokugawa shogunate to the Meiji Restoration. Thus we get an eyewitness account of Japan moving towards modernization. It's also an era now lost to history.