Kitahara's first collection of verses for children. In 1918, with the foundation of a magazine Akai Tori [Red Bird], dôyô -- verses for children as an art - was born. Twenty-four out of twenty-eight dôyô in this collection were wrote for Akai Tori from 1918 to 1919. Kitahara was one of the important authors of dôyô at that time. Tombo no Medama was not only Kitahara's first collection, but a milestone in the history of dôyô. This book was called E-iri Dôyô-shu [Collection of Verses with Illustrations] Three painters drew 27 illustrations in total. To use many illustrations in a book of verses was a modern idea.
In the preface, Kitahara said that real dôyô should be written in the word of children; it should be a reflection of the child's mind; and it should also be worth reading for adults. The actual fruition of his idea was this collection.
Many verses, such as "Tombo no Medama," "Yûyake
Tombo" ["A Dragonfly in the Red Sky"], "Noroma no Oisha"
["A Dull Doctor"], were written in the style of traditional nursery
rhymes. Some of them like "Awate Dokoya" ["A Flurried Barber"],
"Monogusatarô" ["Lazy Tarô"] are narrative
verses. Many of them have a lively rhythm, which is the characteristic
of Kitahara's early work. |
