The Forgotten Japanese: Encounters with Rural Life and Folklore

A groundbreaking document of rural Japanese life, stories, and traditions from 1850-1960.

Tsuneichi Miyamoto (1907-1981), a leading Japanese folklore scholar and rural advocate, walked 160,000 kilometers to conduct interviews and capture a dying way of life. This collection of photos, vignettes, and life stories from pre- and postwar rural Japan is the first English translation of his modern Japanese classic. From blowfish to landslides, Miyamoto's stories come to life in Jeffrey Irish's fluid translation.

Tsuneichi Miyamoto (1907-81) was a a leading scholar of Japanese folklore and customs. He walked over 160,000 kilometers through rural Japan, collecting the songs, stories, and images of a dying way of life, and was an advocate of social and economic invigoration of rural Japan.

Jeffrey S. Irish is a scholar who has long been immersed in life in rural Japan. Irish wrote a column for a Japanese newspaper for ten years and is the author of four books in Japanese about rural Japan. He served twice as "mayor" of a village, population 30, and teaches courses in community regeneration at a university in Kagoshima.