Acknowledgements

A translation and bibliography of this length could not have been accomplished without the interest and help of many individuals. I cannot express my gratitude now to each and every one to whom I have been indebted during the years since I first undertook this wearying project, but I have given the names below of those scholars who have been so helpful to me.

The first whom I must name is the late Yanagita Kunio, who put a copy of his Nihon mukashibanashi meii into my hands in 1952 with the advice that it would be helpful to me in my studies. At the same time, he welcomed me to visit his library to consult sources. Then I must mention Professor Hisamatsu Sen’ichi of Tokyo University, who encouraged me to concentrate upon Japanese folk tales in my study while enrolled in the Graduate Division of Japanese Literature (old system). My preliminary translation of The Yanagita Guide to the Japanese Folk Tale was accepted there as my second Progress Report in 1955. Professors Ikeda Kikan and Ichiko Teiji also showed interest in my studies and encouraged me.

Above all I am indebted to the Yanagita Bunko, the collection of Yanagita’s library, which was later housed at Seiji University. The National Diet Library not only had rare books and journals, but catalogs of some university and prefectural libraries which opened the way for more search. Of the governmental and prefectural libraries, I consulted Kokuritsu Kokugo Kenkyū Sho and Fukui, Miyagi, Ōita, Okayama, Saitama, and Yamaguchi, and I searched in the city libraries of Fujisawa, Iida, Ina, Isawa, Morioka, and Ueda. The private libraries of K.B.S., Narita San, and Maison Franco-Japanaise were also helpful. The university libraries that permitted me to consult their catalogs and books were those of Ikeda of Osaka Gakugei, Tokyo Gakugei, Keio, Kokugakuin, and Tokyo Universities. In addition to libraries, there were scholars and collectors who were especially helpful. They were Ariga Kizaeomon, Hakoyama Kitarō, Iwaya Taishi, Maruyama Hisako, Moriguchi Tari, and Takeda Akira. They gave me permission to examine texts and were helpful in many ways. I should also mention the countless second hand book dealers who allowed me to browse among their shelves and who, in many instances, directed me to sources.

Without the generous permission of Yanagita, himself, I could not have undertaken this translation. In 1959 he gave me written permission to translate his Nihon mukashibanashi meii in any way I considered best. I leaned upon his encouragement over the years, right up to his death. Finally, I must express thanks to Ishiwara Yasuyo, who read my entire manuscript and helped me over difficult spots in the translation. I regret that I was never able to compensate her fully for her services and that she has not lived to see the work published.

Fanny Hagin Mayer