Miyazawa Kenji and His Illustrators: Images of Nature and Buddhism in Japanese Children's Literature (Japanese Visual Culture)

231 Pages·2012·14.819 MB·English

by  Helen Kilpatrick

miyazawa kenji and his illustrators
japanese visual culture
Volume 7
Managing Editor
John T. Carpenter
Miyazawa Kenji
and His Illustrators
Images of Nature and Buddhism in Japanese
Children’s Literature
by
helen kilpatrick
Leiden – Boston
2013
Published by Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden,
BRILL The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the
Plantijnstraat 2 imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC
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Kilpatrick, Helen. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal
Miyazawa Kenji and his illustrators : images of nature use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the
and Buddhism in Japanese children’s literature / by Helen appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright
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p. cm. -- (Japanese visual culture ; v. 7) MA 01923, USA.
Includes bibliographical references and index. Fees are subject to change.
ISBN 978-90-04-24307-1 (cloth with dustjacket :
alk. paper) This work was published with the assistance of a grant
1. Miyazawa, Kenji, 1896-1933--Criticism and from the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
interpretation. 2. Miyazawa, Kenji, 1896-1933--Illustrations.
3. Illustration of books-- Cover image:
Japan--20th century. 4. Children’s literature, Japanese-- Detail of fi g. 99. Shimada Mutsuko (1937 – ); p. 3,
Illustrations. 5. Nature in literature. 6. Buddhism in Chūmon no Ōi Ryōriten; Kaiseisha, 1984.
literature. I. Title.
PL833.I95Z6947 2012
895.6’344--dc23
2012038890
For Richard, and for my beloved sisters, Joan and Robyn Masters,
both of whom departed this world too soon.
And for the children of Fukushima and a world now beset,
after Japan’s triple disaster of March 11 2011,
with challenges that make it ever more important
to understand the ideologies expressed through Kenji’s work.

Contents
Acknowledgements viii
introduction 1
1 the significance of miyazawa kenji’s ideals in (post-)
modern japanese children’s literature 9
2 reading japanese visual art and picture books 27
3 ‘the tale of ‘wildcat and the acorns’ (donguri
to yamaneko): self and subjectivity in the characters
and haecceitas in the organic world 41
4 beyond dualism in ‘snow crossing’ (yukiwatari) 75
5 kenji’s ‘dekunobō’ ideal in ‘gōshu, the cellist’
(serohiki no gōshu) and ‘kenjū’s park’ (kenjū kōenrin) 101
6 beyond the realm of asura in ‘the twin stars’
(futago no hoshi) and wild pear (yamanashi) 131
7 the threat of erasure through material
embeddedness in ‘the restaurant of many orders’
(chūmon no ōi ryōriten) 155
conclusion 183
Endnotes 188
Bibliography 205
Index 217
vii
Acknowledgements
There are numerous people who have of Munakata Shikō, while the artist’s grandson,
helped bring this book to fruition. The proj- Mr Munakata Ryo, kindly provided permission
ect initially began at Macquarie University, to use them. I am deeply indebted to all of these
after my supervisor John Stephens suggested that people.
I blend my understanding of Japanese language and On my visits to Japan, staff at the Miyazawa
culture with my newfound interest in children’s Kenji Museum in Iwate have always been ready and
literature by looking at Japanese picture books. willing to provide assistance. Kenji scholar, Nishida
With that spark, the concept for the project devel- Yoshiko, shared her knowledge and off ered much
oped and fl ourished. Without John’s intellectual advice and friendship in the early stages of the
curiosity and stimulation, the research may not project. She generously accompanied me on a trip
have reached its fi nal stages, and I still very much from Osaka to Iwate Prefecture and guided me
value his continued support and friendship. My around Kenji’s home town with an infectious en-
colleagues at the University of Wollongong have thusiasm. Endō Jun and Yasuko Doi at the IICLO
off ered much moral support and encouragement, have provided research assistance and much valu-
and special thanks must go to Paul Sharrad and able help and advice and friendship over many
Vera Mackie who have been ever-ready with practi- years. Suzuki Kenji has also provided assistance
cal suggestions and advice. My PhD examiners, along the way.
Tomoko Aoyama, Kerry Mallan and Orie Muta I would also like to express my sincere thanks to
have also continued to off er their encouragement the editors at Brill, Inge Klompmakers, Nozomi
and assistance, for which I am eternally grateful. Goto, who assisted in the initial stages, and Anna
I am completely humbled by the generosity Beerens, who took over from Nozomi in a remark-
and goodwill of the illustrators whose artwork is ably smooth transition. Their ever patient and kind
discussed in this book. They have all unhesitatingly guidance is much appreciated. Lajos Vermesi at
provided permission to reproduce their work. High Trade has also been incredibly effi cient in
I have also had the pleasure of personal contact handling the pictures.
with many of them, including the privilege of I am also greatly indebted to the institutions
spending time with Satō Kunio and Kobayashi which have provided fi nancial support for research
Toshiya at their respective studios. (The latter has a and for the book. The project began with a fellow-
stunningly beautiful, old Japanese ‘atelier’ in a ship from the International Institute of Children’s
mountain valley.) Both answer my sometimes out- Literature, Osaka (IICLO), and an Australian Post-
of-the-blue letters with prompt and cheerful graduate Award at Macquarie University. More re-
effi ciency. Lee Ufan and Kim Tschang Yeul have cently, the Australian Academy of the Humanities
also been generous in providing their permission awarded a generous publication subsidy to assist
for this book and other research papers. Other with the inclusion of the coloured illustrations in
permissions have been received with the kind help this book. The Faculty of Arts at the University of
and advice from offi cials at publishing houses like Wollongong also kindly granted funds for the
Kumon, Kaiseisha, Miki House and Fuzambō. publication.
They have all shown great goodwill and support for Finally, I wish to extend a huge thank you to the
the project. The Japan Folk Craft Museum many friends and family members who have
pro vided a digital version of the Kozakata prints seen me through the best and worst of times. I am
viii
acknowledgements
especially grateful to my dear departed sister, Joan Heartfelt thanks must also go to my husband,
Masters, along with Meredith Engel, Jennifer Richard Kilpatrick, for his unwavering love, end-
Taylor, Beatrice Trefalt, Ross Telfer, Claire Walker, less patience, and his fi rm support. He has been
Lyn Swierski and Martin Veres for reading early ever-ready with emotional and practical help, not
drafts of chapters and providing helpful sugges- only for the duration of this project, but for the du-
tions and editorial assistance. Thanks too, to the ration of my academic life which began well after
many long-suff ering friends who have generously we met. I’m sure he had no idea as to what he was
off ered their time and support by listening to and getting into when I embarked on this journey. With-
adding their thoughts to my (often rambling and out his devotion, this book would never have been
incohesive) ideas over good food, coff ee or wine. realised.
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