Tales of Tears and Laughter: Short Fiction of Medieval Japan

by Virginia Skord (Translator)

The stories in this collection constitute just a small portion of a vast body of some four hundred short narratives known as otogizoshi. They represent a cross section of medieval Japan in its richness and complexity, a panoply of life teeming with all the possibilities and contradictions of the age.

Genres: Short Stories, Japanese Literature

222 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 1991

Reviews

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

This seemed more manageable than the Izumi Kyoka book I started around the same time... and yet, I can't read more than 3 pages at a time before losing consciousness every night. And I haven't been back to it in two months. There's something in here that's not quite alive, unfortunately. :(

[Lulu]

13th-17th Otogizoshi = 350 Japanese prose narratives written primarily in the Muromachi period (1337–1573)

Urashima taro