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About

YZ was created as a way to practice reading and translating Japanese texts. The name YZ uses the two verbs ''Yakusuru”(訳する) and ''Zakkuri''(ざっくり) witch loosely translated means "Loosely Translate". YZ is currently created by a team of one and is just for the enjoyment of those who like weird stories.

Popular Posts

Clam Wife (蛤女房)

So this one is really weird. It is in the class of Japanese tales where a human marries a human-like being or a being with a human form. The Story Long, long ago, on a sandy beach, lived a fisherman. One day, the fisherman went out on his little boat and began to fish. When he pulled in his catch, he found that he had caught a huge clam. Looking at the clam the man thought to himself, "It must have been a lot of work for this clam to grow so big. I think that I will let it go free." And with that, he tossed it back into the ocean. Later that evening, a beautiful woman appeared in front of the fisherman and said she wished to become his wife. The two of them soon married. The fisherman was quite happy, and his beautiful wife made the most beautiful dashi stock, and her miso soup was superb. However, she made him vow never to look into the kitchen while she was cooking. Over time, his resolve to keep his vow began to fade and his curiosity grew. He had to know how th...

Yukiwarashi (雪童子)

Yukiwarashi is a tale that originates in Niigata prefecture. I discovered it while searching for stories to translate on Wikipedia. The story follows the Japanese theme of "Old childless couple gets a magic baby" which shows up in many folktales. The story is short with little detail given, but the idea of a little Snow Child is too funny to pass over. The Story Once upon a time, there was a kind-hearted elderly couple. The couple had never had a child of their own, so one snowy day they decided to make a child out of snow. One evening there was a large blizzard, and as the wind whistled outside, a child suddenly, lept into the house. The old couple was overjoyed and decided to raise the child as their own. However, as spring started to approach the child began to wither away. The old couple began to worry, and before they knew it the child had completely disappeared. During the winter of the next year, there was another blizzard. To the old couple's delight, the...

The Rescuing Fox (送り狐)

The Story A long time ago, in this very place lived a Kitsune. Every night the Kitsune would take the form of other Mononoke and go around scaring the people of the town. Some people became so frightened that they became ill and fell into a deep sleep. One night a monk was taking a nightly stroll when the kitsune decided to transform into a large tree and block his path. However, the monk could see through the Kitsune's disguise and using his powers removed the illusion and continued his walk. Unfortunately for the Kitsune, the monk's powers hand bound him to that spot and as the sun began to rise, people began to gather around the spot to see the Kitsune. As the crowd grew so did the resentment towards the fox for the many nights it had scared the people. Soon people in the crowd began chanting "This Kitsune has spooked us enough, we should turn it into Kitsune soup." The ruckus caused by the crowd soon drew the a...

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