Maegami Tarou

Here's a rarity: a 1979 TV Nippon Animation special called Maegami Tarou. It's based on a children's story by Matsutani Miyoko and was broadcast as part of Fuji TV's "Nissei Family Special" program. A raw was included in a stash of rare anime from Fabrebatella18. (The same stash provided the raw for the second version of King Fang.) Orphan is pleased to release the first version with English subtitles.

Maegami Tarou is structured like a classic Japanese folk tale. On New Year's Eve, a childless elderly couple offers hospitality to a wandering stranger. 

He turns out to be the New Year's Spirit, and he says that he will grant their wish for a child. The next day, the old man goes to the forest and finds a baby there.

He grows up to be a daredevil horseback rider, Maegami Tarou. (Maegami means forelock, indicating that he's young, and his hair has not been cut.)

Tarou's village lives in the shadow of a volcano called Doudou Mountain. The source of its eruptions in a legendary golden bird, the Firebird. Despite the villagers' fears, Tarou goes to the mountain and talks to the Firebird.

It has grown weak, unable to fly, and it triggers eruptions out of pain and desperation.

Tarou promises to search the whole wide world to find a cure for the Firebird. This resolution triggers a reappearance of the New Year's Spirit. He says that the Firebird needs the Water of Life. To help in the quest, he offers Tarou the use of a flying horse, Tsubametomi... if Tarou can ride it.

For a daredevil rider like Tarou, Tsubametomi is an irresistible challenge. He masters the horse and sets out to find the Water of Life.

First he lands by a lake and meets an Ushi-Oni (cow demon) child (calf?). It wants Tarou's food, which she shares, then his horse, when he refuses. The child throws a tantrum.

That brings out the Ushi-Oni mother, who is much bigger. Rather than angry, she's happy that Tarou tried to play with her offspring.

She grants him the power of double strength: whatever foe he faces, he can have twice the strength. But she knows nothing of the water of life. Tarou then flies off to find an ancient mountain spirit, who looks a bit like an Ent out of Lord of the Rings.

He doesn't know about the Water of Life either. Then Tarou meets a stranded whale, who has been lured up a river by a crafty salmon. 

Tarou uses his double strength to pull the whale back downstream to freedom. The whale promises to repay the favor when needed.

Finally, it's time for the main event. Tarou and Tsubametomi land at a village where everyone is wearing boats. 

They learn that a giant serpent in the nearby Mountain Palace unleashes floods whenever it's angry. The serpent has kidnapped the daughter of the stingy local lord, and his wife is distraught. 

Tarou promises to free the princess, and the lord promises the boy the princess' hand (and nothing else). 

But to fight the serpent, Tarou needs a special iron sword, only to be found in the Dragon Palace at the bottom of the sea. Tarou calls on the whale to help him, and it guides him and his horse to the palace under the waves. There, Otohime, the reigning princess, gives Tarou the sword. 

She also tells him that the serpent stole the Water of Life. Now by defeating the serpent, Tarou can kill two snakes with one stone (so to speak).

Tarou and Tsubametomi fly to the Mountain Palace and find the imprisoned princess. 

She is about to be married to the serpent, so Tarou takes her place at the wedding ceremony.  He fights a titanic battle with the baddie, with the expected outcome. 

Then it's back to the Firebird for the denouement and the inevitable moral lesson leading to a happy ending.

A few translation notes:

• Yuziriha leaf: the false daphne. Nursery rhymes about the descent of the New Year's god (Shogatsu-sama) riding on a yuzuriha tree can be found throughout Japan. The reason why the yuzuriha became the vehicle of the New Year's god is that, just as ancestral spirits pass on their legacy to new life, when the new leaves of the yuzuriha tree sprout in spring, the old leaves fall as if to pass on the legacy. Later generations believed that the ancestral spirits ascended to the heavens riding on these fallen leaves.
• Tarou's village is called Kazefukan, meaning windless. The collapse of Dodo Mountain allow the wind to blow, changing the village's climate and fortunes. 
• Doudou Mountain. Doudou means bold or straightforward. 
• Tsubametomi (つばめとび) means swallow-tailed kite.
• Awa, the name of the princess' family, means millet, which is the family trade. 

The seiyuu belong to an earlier era:

• Matsuda Tatsuya (Tarou) played Ryohei in Future GPX Cyber Formula, D'Artangan in The Three Musketeers, and Makoto in the Hiatari Ryokou movie, an Orphan release.
• Yada Minoru (Grandpa)  played Tamaranch (the IOC President) in Yawara!, Hemulen in Tanoshi Moomin Ikka, the elder in Bavi Stock II, and the village chief in Cool Cool Bye. The last two are Orphan releases.
• Asou Miyoko (Grandma) played Pinako Rockbell in Fullmetal Alchemist (both series), Machiko's aunt in Miss Machiko, Cologne in Ranma 1/2, Fune Isono in Sazae-san through 2015, Nozawa Mitsuko in It Rained Fire, the old lady in The Harp of Burma, and the store owner in Yamatarou Comes Back. The last thre are Orphan releases.
• Saikachi Ryuuchi (New Years' Spirit) played Han Zhongli in Akuma-kun, Matthew Cuthbert in Anne of Green Gables TV and movie, Mage in Legend of Lemnear, Tomeji in Notari Matsutaro, and Hacker in Roujin Z. He appeared in Sangokushi 2 movie, Sangokushi II TV special, and White Fang, all Orphan releases.
• Ikeda Masako (Tsubametobi, the flying horse) starred as Maetel in the Galaxy Express 999 franchise. She played Perrine's mother in Perrine Monogatari, the phoenix in the Hi no Tori movies, sister Nadoka in Ranma 1/2, Reiko in Ace wo NeraeI, Nanzi in Eiyuu Banka Koushi-den, and Kenkichi's older sister in Student Days. The last two are Orphan releases.
• Yokozawa Keiko (Princess) (Mei Lin) is probably best known for her starring role as Sheeta in Castle in the Sky. She played the title roles in Charlotte (1977), the Dorami-chan properties, and ESPer Mami, as well as a leading role in Legend of Lemnear (another Usushihara Satoshi OVA). She played the child mouse in Gauche the Cellist, title role in Charlotte (1977), Dorami in the Doraemon franchise, Misuzu in Lady Lady!!, Pandora in Akuma-tou no Prince Mitsume ga Tooru, Mei Lin in Plastic Little, and Yukari in Karuizawa Syndrome. The last three are Orphan releases.. 
• Tokita Fujio (Whale) played Uncle Pom in Castle in the Sky and Yutenji in Yawara! Live Action.
• Moriyama Shuuichirou (Firebird) played the title role in Porco Rosso and  Kublai Khan in The Adventures of Marco Polo.
• Aoki Kazuyo (Ushi-oni mother) played Huckleberry Finn in Tom Sawyer no Bouken, Hanae in Maison Ikkoku, and Gouda Yuriko in Ore Monogatari, as well as Baxter in Hitomi no Naka no Shounen: 15 Shounen Hyouryuuki, an Orphan release.
• Tsukase Norko (Ushi-oni child) played Natalie in Mon Cheri CoCo, Alphonne in Cutie Honey, Tera in Future Boy Conan, Tsuruu in Ginga Tetsudou 999, Emiko in Tokimeki Tonight, and Kaji's mother in Stop!! Hibari-kun!, an Orphan release.
• Yamaya Hatsuo (Narrator, Mountain Spirit) appeared in Kanashimi no Belladonna and Kaze o Mita Shounen.

The director, Saitou Hiroshi, directed Manxmouse as well as many World Masterpiece Theater series, including Heidi, Girls of the Alps, Katry, the Cow Girl, Lucy-May of the Southern Rainbow, and the first half of Perrine.

This show was in my list of unsubbed raws and caught Perevodildo's eye. He translated and timed. I edited and typeset. Paul Geromini and imatu QCed. The raw is from Fabretella18. The video has about ten seconds of garbage at ~9:30. I've elided this with ordered chapters, but the transition still looks a little wonky.

Maegami Tarou elicited split reactions from the staff. Some found it tedious, watchable only in chunks, while others thought it a decent kids' flick. Personally, I thought it played like a compendium (or pastiche) of classic Japanese folk tales, including The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, Urashima Tarou, and the legend of Yamato no Orochi. I liked that the Ushi-Oni was not the fearsome youkai of some Japanese legends but a harassed mother trying to cope with an unruly offspring. On the other hand, the plot beats are predictable: the Ushi-Oni's gift helps Tarou with the whale, the whale's gift helps Tarou find Otohime, Otohime's gift helps Tarou fight the serpent. Still, it's a decent watch, and I hope you'll enjoy it. You can get the show from the usual torrent site.