Fairy tales

4 comments

1. i think theres some in the japanese learning pack on /t/

2. [http://hukumusume.com/douwa/](http://hukumusume.com/douwa/)

   At the website, you can read many 童話 (douwa) fairy tales / children stories, and many of them have audio.

   [https://yomujp.com/](https://yomujp.com/)

   This site has children stories, but it also has stories and articles on other topics. It’s has pre-N5 very easy texts (labeled as “N6”) to more advanced N1 material. A lot of the stories seem to also have audio too.

   If you have an iOS device, [Manabi Reader](https://reader.manabi.io/) is a Japanese reading app for learners, and you can read douwa and minwa (民話 / Japanese folkstories) stories in the app, as well as news, blogs, etc. You can just click on a word to see its definition as well as save it to your vocab list to learn later via its SRS (or export to Anki).

   [しのせんせい YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@user-dz8ku4zg5k) narrates many children stories (like the “Tale of Genji”) and other easy Japanese material. You can also check out their [Learn Japanese Through Story playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJov1NnDE_N_92MtmRyQknjavXa1oLSuM) which is geared for N5 or N4 learners.

   If you’re just a beginner, or a low-level reader, I’d recommend using graded readers. Graded readers are much easier and slowly ramp up the difficulty and kanji usage.

   Check the [“Free Reading Resources” section](https://dokushoclub.com/free-reading-resources/) on [dokushoclub.com](https://dokushoclub.com), and select your N-level, like here’s the [N5 list of resources](https://dokushoclub.com/free-reading-resources/n5-free-reading-resources/). You can find links to graded readers and other beginner reading material.

3. I would suggest children’s stories in general are a better starting point depending on your level. Have you attempted to read any of Grimm’s fairy tales? They definitely aren’t at an early reading level.

   Also, depending on your local demographic, check your local library. Some hold multilingual books depending on what people donate.

4. I bought this one some time ago and I liked it. It contains a number of folk stories and fairy tales:

   Tales of Old Japan – Folklore, Fairy Tales, Ghost Stories and Legends of the Samurai (Algernon Freeman-Mitford)

   [https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B085RNNZN2](https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B085RNNZN2)