Three Strong Women: A Tall Tale From Japan

By Claus Stamm

Book Overview

When the famous wrestler Forever Mountain tickles a plump little girl, the consequence is that he must be trained by her, her mother, and her grandmother. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670833231
• ISBN13: 9780670833238
• Release Date: June 1990
• Publisher: Viking Children's Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.3" x 10.3"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

My daughter could not get enough of this story...

My daughter loved this book and I loved reading it to her! We had an old scholastic version from a garage sale and I wanted to see what else was out there. I ordered this edition and it is one of the 20 or so children's books that we will keep in our permanent collection. These illustrations are great. The story is now probably my favorite tall tale. I also think this is a great read aloud for the 6-8 year old crowd.

Things are not always what they seem...

This book tells the story of a wrestler who encounters three generations of women as he heads to the capital city to begin the wrestling season at the court of the Emperor. He's very conceited and literally loves the sound of his voice. He comes across a young woman carrying water from the river and decides to tickle her for fun. The fun is at his expense when she captures him and drags him home for further training before the wrestling season commences. When they arrive back at the farm, the wrestler encounters her mother carrying a cow over one shoulder and her grandmother as she uproots a tree that gets in her way and tosses miles away. The three women put him to work to strengthen him and after three months when he goes to the capital he easily defeats and scares off his opponents. He returns to the three women to marry the daughter and live life as a farmer. I love that the book ends with the young woman carrying the wrestler up the mountain before she lets him carry her, though I sort of wish the illustration showed the former instead of the latter. The illustrations by Kazue Mizumura are lovely, sort of reminiscent of Japanese calligraphy done with loose brush strokes in shades of black, white, and red. The main lesson relates to humility and assumptions. While the wrestler pays the price for his assumptions, the outcome is positive all around. There is also an implicit message about class and idleness in the representation of the courtiers. Finally, the book seems to celebrate humility, simple living, and, of course, hard work.

Appearances can be deceiving

I read this story with my seven year old daugther. We agreed this is a wonderful tale. These three deceptively frail appearing women teach the strongest Sumo wrestler in Japan about values, strength of character and enjoying life. Kristen liked the "happily ever after". A very pleasant story with simple illustrations.