News

Umi no Minwa no Machi Project For Sea Folklore Gets TV Anime

The Nippon Foundation announced on Monday that the "Umi no Minwa no Machi" (The City of Sea Folktales) project, which focuses on passing on local folklore to children, is getting a television anime. The anime will have 25 episodes, and it is scheduled to premiere in December.

Each episode will focus on a different folktale from Japanese areas near the sea, including:

• Shima no Tengu-sama (Tengu-sama of the island) - Haboro, Hokkaido
• Kanda Kani (Kanda crab) - Sotogahama, Aomori
• Kamiwari Geki (Kamiwari rock) - Minamisanriku, Miyagi
• Kurokami to Akakami no Tatakai (Battle of the black god and the red god) - Oga, Akita
• Todo no Ongaeshi (Sea lion's gratitude) - Sakata, Yamagata
• Karo-san no Tenga Myо̄jin (Long-armed god of Mt. Karо̄) - Shinchi, Fukushima
• Yukideko no Shirohebi (White snake of the thawed snow mound) - Funabashi, Chiba
• Senju О̄hashi to О̄kame (Senju Great Bridge and the giant turtle) - Adachi, Tokyo
• Kujira Mikoshi (Whale palanquin) - Imizu, Toyama
• Tako Kamisama (Octopus god) - Nanao, Ishikawa
• Nishiogawa 11-men Kannon Bosatsu (Nishiogawa 11-headed bodhisattva) - Obama, Fukui
• Maritsuki-uta (Maritsuki song) - Fujikawa, Yamanashi
• Utо̄tо̄ge (Utо̄ Pass) - Shiojiri, Nagano
• Okuhamanako no Densetsu (The legend of the nue of Okuhamana Lake) - Hanamatsu, Shizuoka
• Ama no Tomokazuki (Female diver's tomokazuki, or aquatic yо̄kai) - Toba, Mie
• Shikobuchi-san (Mt. Shikobuchi) - Takashima, Shiga
• Bettō no Shio (Steward's tide) - Awaji, Hyōgo
• Daisen no Amidasama (Amida of Daisen) - Daisen, Tottori
• Kyūri no Kamisama Yamabe Jinja (Cucumber god's shrine near the mountains) - Gotsu, Shimane
• Hyakkanjima Monogatari (Tale of Hyakkan Island) - Fukuyama, Hiroshima
• Naruto no Taiko (Naruto's taiko drum) - Naruto, Tokushima
• Jizō ga Hama (Jizō seaside) - Saijo, Ehime
• Umi ni Shizunda Oni (The oni who sank in the sea) - Nakatoka, Kochi
• Koto no Umi no Tennyo (Celestial maiden of the koto's sea) - Higashisonogi, Nagasaki
• Okanegahama to Okuregahama - Hyuga, Miyazaki

Shinnosuke Numata (animation producer of Kemono Friends 2 is the chairman of the project's executive and certification committee.

The "Umi no Minwa no Machi" project adapted 10 folktales into anime from 2018 to 2019. The project produced a 5-minute short based on the Uozu folktale "Ikari no Dobu" in 2020, among several other anime adaptations of folktales.

Sources: Umi no Minwa no Machi project's website, Comic Natalie