Sakura Tales: Stories from Japan by Anne Shimojima

I love folk tales and legends but still know little about Japanese storytelling traditions, so I got Anne Shimojima's album Sakura Tales, after listening to her presentation last month. For over three decades, Ms. Shimojima has been telling traditional Japanese folk tales, honoring her roots. The CD covntains eleven tales adapted and narrated by Ms. Shimojima.

The tales featured people from all walks of life and ages and demonstrated the typical duality touched upon in such stories, such as respect for elders and their wisdom versus the impulsiveness of the young, the battle between humility and greed, good and evil, and so on.

One of my favorite tales was Table Manners, a humorous story about rice farmers who, not knowing proper table manners, imitated a more knowledgeable colleague at a prestigious dinner to which they were invited, which led to a series of perplexing situations at the table. I also enjoyed the story The Tea Master, in which the main character, when faced with a duel with a samurai warrior, acted with the same humility and confidence as during his tea ceremonies, causing the samurai to withdraw from the duel eventually.

While listening to these stories, I reflected on how important it is to preserve folk tales for future generations and what are the stories I would like to pass down.

You can get your copy of Sakura Tales here.