Tales of a Charcoal Burner narrates the day to day life of young Toshikatsu Ue, who, following family tradition, devotes himself to the hard labor of the titular profession in Wakayama Prefecture.<br /><br />The protagonist shows the laborious process of manufacturing charcoal in first person and strikes up a conversation with the reader through stories of his daily life and folk tales handed down in the region since antiquity.