Yamanba, the Mountain Witch

Learn Japanese Through the Darker Side of Japanese Folklore

Deep in the mountains lives the Yamanba (山姥)—a terrifying old witch with a taste for unfortunate travelers.

This newly expanded edition of Learn Japanese with Yokai! Volume 6 uses two classic folktales to help upper-beginner and intermediate learners build real Japanese reading and listening skills:

牛方と山姥 — Ushikata and Yamanba
An ox-driver carrying dried fish across a mountain encounters a hungry Yamanba—and soon finds himself running for his life.

山姥と三枚のお札 — Yamanba and the Three Magic Charms
A young temple apprentice ignores a warning, ventures into the mountains, and discovers that the kindly old woman offering him shelter is not what she seems.

NEW & IMPROVED

This revised edition has been greatly expanded to make the stories easier—and more useful—to study.

Inside you’ll find:

Before You Read guides introducing important vocabulary, grammar, and cultural points

Sentence-by-sentence Japanese with furigana, vocabulary, grammar, and usage notes

Full Japanese-only versions for reading practice

Review & Practice sections with comprehension, particles, translation exercises, and answer keys

Kanji in Focus pages with stroke order, readings, components, example words, and memory aids

Native Japanese audio at slow and natural speeds

PDF, EPUB, and Anki downloads

Free Makoto+ Japanese Explorer access for every sentence in the book, with audio, word-by-word breakdowns, translations, quizzes, and games

Designed primarily for upper beginners around JLPT N4 and above, but ambitious newer learners can work through it slowly while intermediate learners will find plenty to dig into.

Learn Japanese one sentence at a time—and try not to get eaten.