This paper intends to examine how ancient Japanese narratives, namely folktales, were re-discovered as a device to promote nationalism in the Japan modern era. The correlation between the role of these traditional narratives and cultural shift during the Japanese mordern era, which was referred as the “Modern Period of Knowledge”, highlight how these texts were reintroduced in the height of the 19th century and played both political and social roles in the process of forming the modern nation-state One such relevant ancient narrative is Momotaro, which was one of the most well-known folktales written by Iwaya Sazanami. With research it can be concluded that Momotaro was reconstructed and reproduced in the Japanese modern era and helped establish a sense of nationalism and community sentiment during this period. As a result, Sazanami not only contributed to the advancement of children’s literature during the Meiji era through publishing of children’s megazines, but also through popularization of theater to build political nationalism through literary culture.

Iwaya Sazanami, traditional tales, fairy tales, modernity, Momotaro, imperialism