The Dancing Kettle and Other Japanese Folk Tales was written by Yoshiko Uchida in 1949. This book is a collection of 14 short folk tales intended, as the author states, to "awaken in readers the realization that all children, in whatever country they may live, have the same love of fun and a good story." In addition, Uchida hopes to "increase among our children a feeling of respect for and understanding of the cultural heritages of other countries and peoples."The Dancing Kettle is the first of the stories included in the collection. I have chosen this tale to summarize since it is the title of the book. This story's main character is a priest who lived in Japan and loved beautiful things, particularly teacups and kettles. He discovered an unusually striking teakettle one day, and took it back to the temple with him where he admired it. Before long, he fell asleep, and while he slept the kettle sprouted a head, legs, and arms, and began to dance about the temple. Two other priests came in and saw the kettle and awakened the owner to show him, but the kettle stopped dancing. (This scene instantly reminded me of the 1955 Looney Tunes episode titled One Froggy Evening, starring Michigan J. Frog, directed by Chuck Jones; if you haven't seen it, it's a must - one of my very favorite Looney Tunes episodes of all time!) The priest sent the two men away and said they had disturbed his nap. The next day the priest poured some water in the kettle, placed it on his hibachi (a traditional Japanese heating device) to boil, and was startled when the kettle shouted "Help! This is hot!" The priest thought he must have acquired something evil so he gave it to a junkman, who soon witnessed the lively kettle's dancing. The kettle told the junkman that he just wanted to be fed and taken care of. The junkman had an idea to start a little theater in the streets to invite people to pay money to see the dancing kettle. (See again how this parallels One Froggy Evening?!) After successfully acquiring all the money he needed, the junkman decided to let the kettle rest and live a peaceful life; then he realized he should thank the priest who had given him the kettle. He gave half of his earnings to the preist's temple and told the priest he wanted to return the kettle to him and asked him to take care of it. The priest assured the junkman he would look after his friend the teakettle, and they lived many happy years together; the priest never tried to boil water in it again, and placed it on his teakwood table in a very special place in the temple where all could admire it.
The Dancing Kettle is typical of the other stories throughout the book, in that it is a brief, entertaining story with a couple of main characters (most of the stories have two or three characters maximum), that exhibits Japanese culture or beliefs and often presents a moral of some sort at the end - not really like Aesop's Fables exactly, but an inherent lesson that can be learned. For example, in The Old Man with the Bump, a greedy neighbor desires to get a bump removed from his face like the old man did at the beginning of the story. He poses as the old man when he learns how he lost his bump, so that the spirits of the forest could remove his as well; the fairies realize the neighbor is an imposter, and instead of removing the bump from his left cheek, they give him a second bump on his right cheek. The neighbor realizes he should not have been dishonest and says "Never again will I try to be someone else." (the moral of the story).
Folk tales are stories told in the beginning years of many cultures/civilizations, Japan and America being two of them in particular, that were circulated by word of mouth and later put into book form. These tales, part of folklore culture, reflect and recount a particular culture's traditions, music, legends, beliefs, and customs. For example, most of the stories in The Dancing Kettle use at least one Japanese word (which I had to look up the meaning of), which gives the reader a glimpse into Japanese culture and tradition. Several of the stories also mention Japanese gods and goddesses, revealing that aspect of Japanese culture. There is also a recurring theme in several of the folk tales regarding kingdoms under the sea - often where kings, queens, and princesses reside, which must also be a belief of Japanese culture (could this be similar to Greek mythology?) In Urashima Taro and the Princess of the Sea, the tortoise addresses the main character as "Urashima-san." In Japan, adding "san" to the end of a name is a way to show respect or honor, similar to how we use Mr. or Mrs. Since Urashima had saved the tortoise's life, the tortoise was indebted to him, respected him, and honored him. He showed this adoration by referring to him in this manner. This is just another insight into Japanese culture that this children's book reveals to readers. All stories in the collection also depict imagery of the Japanese countryside - gardens, mountains, forests, the sea, and rice fields are vividly described in the book.
There is a glossary and pronunciation key at the end of the book which would be extremely helpful for young readers.
I really enjoyed reading this collection of Japanese folk tales. It gave me quite a bit of insight into certain customs, traditions, and ways of life of the Japanese people. I would recommend this book to librarians who would like a diverse selection of cultural books in their libraries. It would be an excellent choice for young readers and a good representation of a title on Japanese heritage. It would also be a good book to choose for a unit on folk tales - you could compare American folk tales with Japanese folk tales and discuss their similarities and differences. Reading books and teaching units like this certainly do help us move towards "one world," as the author hopes the reading of The Dancing Kettle will encourage. Even though American children have probably never heard stories such as this, basic themes of the downfalls of being greedy and foolish are contained in the tales, just as in some of our American folk tales.
Yoshiko Uchida also wrote a second volume of 14 more folk tales titled The Magic Listening Cup: More Folk Tales from Japan. Other books written by Uchida include: The Bracelet; Journey to Topaz; Desert Exile; Picture Bride; The Wise Old Woman; and Journey Home.
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