The collection got its name "Ten Evenings" from an unusual tradition: in Japan, fairy tales have always been a rest after a hard day's work, and what could be better than basking in the evening by the hearth and listening to wonderful and funny stories. The fairy tales presented in the book tell about cunning practical jokes and mythical exploits, about the struggle of good against evil and the triumph of justice, about the magical deeds of a wonderful wife and about the cruel war of an insidious monkey with crabs. And the heroes of these stories – playful foxes and poet badgers, beautiful bird maidens and snake women, crafty goblin tengu and mischievous ghosts - will remain in readers' memories for a long time. All the stories included in this edition have been selected and translated by Vera Nikolaevna Markova, a well-known Soviet philologist and researcher of classical Japanese literature. The book also contains her preface and commentary.