Abstract

A collection of 12 timeless masterpieces by Ogawa Mimei, including "Wild Rose" and "The Red Candle and the Mermaid," to share with you today.

◆A collection of 12 timeless masterpieces by Ogawa Mimei, marking the 140th anniversary of his birth.
◆Includes exquisite works that transcend time and comfort the weak, such as "The Red Candle and the Mermaid," "Wild Rose," "Moonlit Night and Glasses," and "Somewhere Alive."
◆Born in Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture, Mimei's fairy tales depict the nature of the snowy country and the transience of life, beautifully expressed by Hiiragi Yuka with bold and soft compositions.
◆At the end of the book, there is an explanation for each story and a section with photographs titled "Ogawa Mimei and the World of Literature," which allows you to learn about the author and the background of the stories.
◆Large format softcover for easy reading, all kanji have furigana (phonetic readings).
◆A book that can be enjoyed again and again throughout one's life, from elementary school students to adults.

This collection features 12 timeless masterpieces by Ogawa Mimei, including "The Red Candle and the Mermaid," "Wild Roses," "Moonlit Night and Glasses," and "Living Somewhere." Mimei's fairy tales, imbued with romance, humanism, the harshness of the snowy landscape, and the transience of life, are brought to life through the bold yet gentle illustrations of Hiiragi Yuka.

Each story includes an explanation and a section on "Ogawa Mimei and the World of Literature" (with photographs) at the end. All kanji characters have furigana (phonetic readings). A book that can be enjoyed repeatedly by everyone from elementary school children to adults.

Author’s Information

Mimei Ogawa (author) was born in Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture. Novelist and children's author. Born in 1882 into a family of former Takada domain samurai, he studied under Shoyo Tsubouchi while attending the Faculty of Letters at Tokyo Professional School (Waseda University). After graduation, he actively published children's stories while writing novels, publishing many such stories as "The Red Candle and the Mermaid" (1921), "Wild Rose," and "Sleepy Town." He is still read today as the "father of modern Japanese children's stories." By the time of his death in 1961, he had left behind approximately 1200 children's stories.

Yuuka Hiiragi (illustrator)
With the motto "Giving form to the invisible and delivering something to someone," she works across fields such as illustration, writing, and book selection. In addition to exhibitions both in Japan and abroad, she is involved in all aspects of craftsmanship that are close to people's lives, including cover illustrations for "Star Diary" (by Yukari Ishii/Gentosha Comics) and "Gentle Music" (by Maiko Seo/Futabasha), as well as event visuals, illustrations, textiles, and wall hangings.

Yuiji Ono (Supervisor) is a literary scholar. He majored in modern Japanese literature at the Faculty of Letters, Kanazawa University, and in the doctoral program at the Graduate School of Literature and Linguistics, University of Tsukuba. After serving as Vice President and Professor at Joetsu University of Education, he is currently a Professor at the Graduate School of Education, Joetsu University of Education. He researches novels and children's stories of the Taisho and Showa periods by authors such as Mimei Ogawa, Kenji Miyazawa, and Yukio Mishima, and is currently a specialist instructor at the Mimei Ogawa Literary Museum and the head of the Mimei Ogawa Research Society. His publications include "Getting to Know Mimei Ogawa" and "Children's Story Theory: Kenji Miyazawa--Purification and Cleansing" (both published by Sokyu Shorin), and he has also edited many other works.