The first collection of stories for children written by Ogawa Mimei, a representative author for children from 1910 to 1950's. "Akai Fune" and "Otogi Shôsetsu Mori" [Fairy Tale-Like Story: A Wood] are stories for children (dôwa), and others are literary fairy tales (otogibanashi). It also contains five verses resembling traditional nursery rhymes.
"Akai Fune" describes the mind of a girl who is fascinated
by beautiful music and foreign countries where organs and other musical
instruments are from. When she sees a ship with a red line on its body,
she can never forget it, imagining it might go to far away countries. Her
fragile longing for abroad is written in symbolic style. "Otogi Shôsetsu
Mori" is the boy's version of the same story. A boy named Kotarô
is fascinated with mystic things and goes into a moonlit wood, but his
grandmother prohibits him to go out after dark. When a strange boy comes
to his window and asks him to go to the wood and play harmonicas together,
Kotarô follows the boy. A month later, Kotarô dies of a disease.
This story shows Ogawa's longing for his young days, and it reflects how
he thought about novels and dôwa at that time. It is characteristic
of Ogawa's early work, such as the imagination of children, and the bond
with nature in his home country. A reprint of the original was published
by Holp Shuppan in 1971. |
