Land of Folklore
Tōno is a rural town in the hills of central Iwate Prefecture. The area is notable for its rustic landscapes and traditional farming culture. But Tono is best known as a repository of Japanese folklore due to its legends of spirits, animals and supernatural creatures. This rich oral tradition was passed down through generations of storytellers and eventually collected into a book by the pioneering folklorist Yanagita Kunio.
Yanagita Kunio came to the region during the early Meiji Period and collaborated with Tono native Sasaki Kizen to gather local stories and to publish them in "Legends of Tono" in 1910 as one of the first collections of Japanese folktales. The legends that they transcribed continue to be told today, and story telling performances in Japanese are regularly held at the folk villages, museums and some of the hotels around the town.
Tono City Museum is the Japan’s first ethnic museum where you can learn about Tono’s unique traditional culture. Focusing on folklore information, the museum displays such things as Tono’s culture, natural features and history through video and sound. There is also plenty of data related to “Tono Monogatari” (The Legend of Tono) which has accumulated the folk tales of the land.
Yanagita Kunio came to the region during the early Meiji Period and collaborated with Tono native Sasaki Kizen to gather local stories and to publish them in "Legends of Tono" in 1910 as one of the first collections of Japanese folktales. The legends that they transcribed continue to be told today, and story telling performances in Japanese are regularly held at the folk villages, museums and some of the hotels around the town.
Tono City Museum is the Japan’s first ethnic museum where you can learn about Tono’s unique traditional culture. Focusing on folklore information, the museum displays such things as Tono’s culture, natural features and history through video and sound. There is also plenty of data related to “Tono Monogatari” (The Legend of Tono) which has accumulated the folk tales of the land.
