Nippon Post Japanese Folk Tale Series - "The Crane's Return"

NIPPON POST on 20 February 1974 issued  a series of stamps dedicated to "Tsuru Nyobo" or Japanese folk tales. One of those stamps was entitled "The Crane's Return".

The story goes like this. Once upon a time, there lived an old couple. One snowy winter day, the husband went to town to sell firewood and on his way back, he found a crane caught in a trap. Feeling sorry for the crane, he set the crane free from the trap.

That night, as the snow was falling heavily, a beautiful young woman came to the couple's house. She was lost and asked to stay the night, and the couple gladly let her in. The snow continued to fall the next day and the day after that, so the young woman stayed at the old couple's house.

During that time, the young woman looked after the couple diligently, making them very happy. One day, the young woman asked the old man to buy some thread because she wanted to weave cloth, so he bought some thread for her. When she started working, the young woman told the old couple, "Please don't look into my room under any circumstances."

When she finished weaving a bolt of cloth, the young woman entrusted the couple with the request to sell it and buy more thread. The cloth the young woman wove was so beautiful that it quickly became famous in the town, and the old couple became rich.

At first, the old couple patiently kept their promise, but finally their curiosity got the better of them and they took a peek. There they expected to see the young girl, but instead they saw a crane. The crane had been weaving its own feathers into the cloth, which the old couple sold to them.

After the young girl finished weaving, she confessed that she was the crane the old man had saved, spread her arms wide, transformed into a crane, and returned to the sky as the old couple sadly saw her off.

It is said that this is also the model for the Evening Crane.