Takagaki's first book for boys in a beautiful binding. Jagâ no Me first appeared serially in Shônen Kurabu [Boys' Club], following his Ryujin Maru (1925).
The protagonist is Kuroda Morio, a boy whose father was a Japanese colonel
and mother was an offspring of the Incan Empire. He and Kyôshin'ô
(an offspring of Qing dynasty), Chôya (Kyôshin'ô's man),
Kinka (a daughter between Kyôshin'ô and a Japanese woman),
and an mixed blooded Indian confront the Jaguar and his soldiers, and seize
the treasure of the Incan Empire. This story owes much to action movies
that were imported and became popular in those days: the setting in San
Francisco and Arizona, a disguise, a kidnapping, a circus, cowboys, poisonous
gas, car and motorboat chases, hard action, quick change of scenes, and
so on. The use of handicapped people to add a grotesque atmosphere (a technique
Takagaki often used) is seen, too. The illustrations by Itô Hikozô
add a further mysterious atmosphere to the story.
After World War II, Jagâ no Me was published with a change of setting into Peru and the deletion of racially insensitive material. It was made into a cinema in 1956. |
