Magic Listening Cap More Folk Tales from Japan

by Yoshiko Uchida

A collection of fourteen tales from Japan representing universal folk themes.

Genres: Japan, Folk Tales

Paperback

First published February 1, 1955

About the author

Yoshiko, born on November 24, 1921, was the second daughter of Japanese immigrant parents Takashi and Iku. Her father worked as a businessman for Mitsui and Company in San Francisco, and Iku wrote poetry, passing along her love of literature to her girls. Though the Great Depression raged, the Uchida family enjoyed comforts because of Takashi's well-paying job and their own frugality. Yoshiko loved to write, and her stories played out on pieces of brown wrapping paper. She also kept a journal to record her thoughts and events.

Enveloped in love and tradition at home, Yoshiko weathered the prejudice she sometimes faced. Many white students at University High School in Oakland didn't invite her to their parties and wouldn't socialize with her, deeming her a foreigner. Even while attending the University of California at Berkley, Yoshiko often faced the same dilemma of being ostracized. She found friendships with other Japanese American students and was preparing to graduate when Pearl Harbor was bombed, changing her life.

The United States government rounded up 120,000 people of Japanese descent and put them into camps. The Uchida family first resided in a horse stall at a racetrack in California, surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards. Though difficult to endure, the next move was worse. Almost 8,000 Japanese were sent to a relocation concentration camp called Topaz in the Utah desert. The detainees suffered from violent dust storms, scorpions, snakes, and exceedingly poor living conditions. Yoshiko taught second grade children there until she received a fellowship from Smith College to earn a master's degree in education.

Yoshiko and her sister both left the camp in May of 1943, with their parents gaining release later that year. Teaching for several years in a Quaker school outside of Philadelphia, Yoshiko decided to quit teaching and find work that allowed more time for writing. She moved to New York City and began as a secretary, penning stories in the evenings. Asked to contribute to a book about Japanese folk tales, Yoshiko discovered that though the book didn't come to be, with time she could create a full collection of folk tales. Writing a few pieces for adults, Yoshiko realized she was better suited for children's books.

A Ford Foundation fellowship sent her to Japan to research the culture and their stories. Spending two years, Yoshiko found her time to be healing as she learned about her own ancestry. The pain of the concentration camps lessened, and she began writing about the experiences in fictional books such as Journey to Topaz and Journey Home. Her career as an author soared as people regarded her as a pioneer in Japanese American children's literature. The author of almost forty works, including Japanese folk tales and stories of Japanese American children making their way in the world, Yoshiko traveled extensively, lectured, and wrote. After suffering from a stroke, Yoshiko passed away on June 25, 1992, in Berkeley, California.

Reviews

[Auryn Maxwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like a lot of the books that I have been reading lately, I would have enjoyed it more if I was younger, but I still enjoyed it plenty. Two of my favorite of the stories were "The Magic Mortar"(especially the fact that it was supposed to be about how the ocean became salty), and "The Deer of Five Colours." I like how a lot of the stories were about bad or greedy people learning there lesson. One issue that I found was that two of the stories, "The Golden Axe" and "The Rice Cake That Rolled Away" were very similar stories. They even ended the same way.

[Catherine Flusche]

As a 12 year old, I rated this 3 stars.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found out about this book by flipping through a volume of biographies of authors in the reference area of the children's section at the library.

The page about Yoshiko Uchida was interesting. I also noticed she grew up in the same area of California that I did. I was surprised I had never been taught about her or assigned any of her books in school. She wrote books for children and adults from 1949-1993 or so and won many awards for her contributions to children's literature.

"Yoshiko Uchida almost single-handedly created a body of Japanese-American literature for children, where none existed before. As the first Nissei writer to devote an entire career to writing for young people about her own rich cultural heritage, she expanded the range of children's reading, with important results for young readers of all ethnic backgrounds."

Yoshiko's family was interned with other Japanese-American families in California and Utah for three years. She taught school in the camps. She was allowed to leave when she was accepted to graduate school. Her experiences in the camps had a big impact on her life and writing.

I also liked this quote I found when I googled her- "I try to stress the positive aspects of life that I want children to value and cherish. I hope they can be caring human beings who don't think in terms of labels - foreigners or Asians or whatever - but think of people as human beings. If that comes across, then I've accomplished my purpose."

So I set off to find one of her books. The first one I found in the kids section was this book of Japanese folktales.

Yoshiko has written many books for children and adults reflecting her Japanese American experience. This book is one of her earlier books, published in 1955. The stories were easy and quick to read. They discouraged greed and promoted friendship, kindness, patience and understanding. I'm glad I picked it up. I will look for more of her writing in the future.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad I picked it up out of a library discard pile; it was very pleasant reading, with the bad guys getting what was coming to them and the good guys getting rewarded.

[Maureen McCadden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Might be my favorite book ever. Still reading once in a while - first read this at age 8.

[Hady Elmossallamy]

it is a cool book i read it all the time.