STORYTELLERS’ ASSOCIATION OF JAPAN
Message
President of Kataritetachi-no-kai
Hikaru KATAOKA
(poet, researcher of children’s culture,
the former president of Tokyo Kasei University)
Kataritetachi-no-kai, Storytellers’ Association of Japan was founded in 1977. As a non-profit organization, we have been engaged in various storytelling activities as follows: story times for children; Tellabration and seasonal storytelling events for adults; storytelling training courses; stage art performances; research into oral tradition; international exchange; the publication of seasonal newsletters and the Journal “The World of Storytelling.” Keeping the oral tradition alive, we pursue the art of modern storytelling.
The founder of our association, the late Miki SAKURAI (1933-2009), made outstanding contributions to research into the intimate relations between Japanese old tales and European folktales, and introduced Japanese legends and folktales at storytelling festivals in Europe and Canada. We are an institutional member of the Federation of Asian Storytellers.
We have organized many international exchange events with storytellers from overseas such as Nick Hennessy, Nicola Grove and Taffy Thomas from UK, Gail Fricker, Cathy Miyata and Anne Glover from Canada, J.G. Pinkerton and Margaret MacDonald from USA.
You are warmly welcome to contact us if you are interested in the activities of the Association.
