Issun Boshi was a tiny hero. his parents were childless for many years and they prayed for a child even if was only the size of the end of a finger. Oddly enough they got what they asked for in a rather literal sense.

At the age of fifteen Issun Boshi decided he wanted to visit the capital. He had attained some semblance of normal size by this time though he was still tiny. His parents gave him a rice bowl, a pair of chopsticks, and needle to use as sword, and a hollow straw to use as a scabbard. Part of the journey to Kyoto (the capital at the time) was by river. Issun Boshi made this part of the trip by using the rice bowl as a boat and the chop sticks as paddles.

Despite his small size Issun Boshi was able to find work with a noble family. He was a hard work and was able to endear himself to the household particularly the daughter. One day he was escorting the daughter to pray at the temple of Kwannon when two oni blocked their way. Issun Boshi leapt about and tried to distract the oni from the daughter. One of the oni spotted him and swallowed him whole. He immediately drew his sword and began cutting away the stomach. He climbed his way back up the oni’s gullet slicing the whole way. As soon as it was able the oni spit Issun Boshi out. The other oni picked him up, but Issun Boshi managed to jump free and put his sword to good use against the oni’s eye. The oni turned tail and fled, and Issun Boshi tumbled to the ground unharmed.

In their haste the oni dropped a mallet that the girl recognized as lucky, a capable of granting wishes (much like Daikoku’s mallet.) The pair together lifted the mallet and brought it down and Issun Boshi was instantly transformed into a normal sized man dressed as a Samurai. The noble allowed the the marriage of his daughter to Issun Boshi.

Issun Boshi proved himself deserving of the distinction granted by the mallet. Later he brought his parents to Kyoko and cared for them in their old age.