Abstract

"Let's play again next time." "Next time, next time, and again, next time too." Yako met a little fox with a fluffy tail. She thought she would definitely go look for the fox again tomorrow. But then— Yako, a fourth-grader living in Hiroshima during wartime, was enjoying her modest and peaceful days as she gradually became friends with a little fox. These days were suddenly taken away by a single bomb. The loss of an ordinary life is the horror and sorrow of war, which involves even non-combatants. ~From the afterword~ A new starting point for children's war literature by the author of "The Missing Person," which was adopted into textbooks. Winner of the Japan Children's Literature Association Award and the Akai Tori Illustration Award. *This book is a new edition of "The Spider Lily is the Fox's Hairpin" (Gakken), published in 2008. In this new edition, the notation has been revised throughout, and some expressions have been added or corrected. ■Editor's Comment: The author is a second-generation survivor of the atomic bombing and has sincerely tackled the difficult theme of "how to share war experiences with children living today." While "The Visitor" has been included in textbooks (Elementary School Fifth Grade Japanese Language / Mitsumura Tosho) since 2020, this book, published in 2008, is the first work the author wrote as such "new war-themed children's literature," and can be considered its origin. It is a book that we would like you to read, especially on this milestone of 80 years since the end of the war.

Author’s Information

Sho Kutsuki was born in Hiroshima City. He is a second-generation survivor of the atomic bombing. His debut work, "Kawatare" (Fukuinkan Shoten), won the Children's Literature Newcomer Award, the Japan Children's Literature Association Newcomer Award, and others. He won the Japan Children's Literature Association Award for "Higanbana wa Kitsune no Kanzashi" (Gakken), the Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Award for "Kaze no Kutsu" (Kodansha), and the Shogakukan Children's Publishing Culture Award for "Hikari no Utsushie" (Kodansha). He won the Japan Children's Literature Association Award for "Ahiru no Tegami" (Kosei Publishing). He has also written many other books, including "Hachigatsu no Hikari Utsuwareta Koe ni Mimi o Sumasete" (Shogakukan). His novel "Tazunebito," which depicts Hiroshima, has been included in elementary school textbooks (Mitsumura Tosho) since 2020. In recent years, her work "Hikari no Utsushie" has been translated into English (and German in 2025), and in 2023 she became the first Japanese author to be invited to children's book festivals in the United Arab Emirates and Germany, further increasing her international recognition. / Yuki Sasameya was born in Tokyo. In 1985, she won the silver prize at the Domelhof International Printmaking Competition in Belgium. She has received numerous awards, including the Shogakukan Picture Book Award for "Gadolf's Lily" (Kaiseisha), the Kodansha Publishing Culture Award for Illustration for "If I'm Happy," the Japan Picture Book Award for "A Cat is Coming to Our House Tomorrow" (both published by Kodansha), and the Akai Tori Illustration Award for "The Spider Lily is a Fox's Hairpin" (Gakken). Other works include "The Chair - The Quantity of Happiness" (BL Publishing), "Chappy the Cat" (Komine Shoten), "One Day, One Time" (Nora Shoten), and "The Duck's Letter" (Kosei Publishing), among many other picture books, art books, and illustrations. Essay collections include "One-Fourteenth of a Moon" (Gengi Shobo) and "Returning to the Age of Gutenberg" (Kojika-sha).