Meet the tengu.

Long nose, red face, the robes of a mountain ascetic, and a fan that raises a great wind. He guards the deep mountains, flies, disappears under a straw cloak, and taught the ninja everything they know. His name is also what a Japanese speaker reaches for when someone has grown too pleased with himself.

This second volume of Learn Japanese with Yokai.

First, a guide to the creature himself. What a tengu looks like, the mountains he lives in, the powers he is said to have, and the scroll he hands a student who finishes training. Then the question of where he came from, which is stranger than it sounds. The word once meant a shooting star, and the theories run from a long-nosed deity in the oldest Japanese chronicles to travelers from far away whose dress and headwear resembled a mountain priest's. And finally three tengu tales: a boy at a Kyoto temple who learned swordsmanship from one and grew up to be Japan's best-loved tragic hero, a child lost on a mountain in Ehime and home again in an instant, and a cedar on the edge of Tokyo that moved its own roots overnight rather than be cut down. You can still go and see that tree.

Every part is taught in seven passes, so your understanding builds one layer at a time.

1. Story introduction. A short English preview so you know where you are headed.

2. Vocabulary. The key words in Japanese, then English, with room to repeat after a native speaker.

3. Slow speed. The full text read slowly and clearly, every word catchable.

4. Line by line. Each Japanese sentence broken into bite-size phrases with their English meanings, then rebuilt.

5. Normal speed. The same text at natural pace. Hear how much more you catch the second time.

6. Comprehension questions.

7. English version.

Japanese narration is by native speaker Yumi Boutwell, with the English read by Clay Boutwell, from the family behind TheJapanShop.com, helping people learn Japanese since 2002.

Perfect for upper beginners at JLPT N5 to N4.