Ivy Gordon Edmonds was born and raised in Hillsboro, Texas. During World War II, he served in the South Pacific. After listening to a native chief's creation story, Edmonds became interested in folklore, and he began to collect folk tales in the countries he visited during his 23 year service with the Air Force. He began publishing folklore stories with "Solomon in Kimono," a tale of the 18th-century Japanese judge Ooka Tadasuke, which was published in Pacific Stars & Stripes in 1956. His first book, Ooka the Wise was published in 1961.