Seki Hideo's first anthology of fifteen stories for children. He had been contributing to the magazine Dôwa [Stories for Children] and developed his ability to write in coterie magazines. More than half of the stories collected here first appeared in coterie magazines which he joined in his teens and in his twenties. Most of the stories in the book are recollections based on childhood memories, such as "Kyokuba to Fune" ["The Acrobatic Horse and the Boat"] and "Hashi no Shita no Shônen" ["The Boy under the Bridge"] situated in a riverside town. Sensitive and quiet images of children and lyrical descriptions of the landscape differ greatly from the wartime situation in those days. Presumably, he resisted the wartime regime by choosing those subjects. However, some stories reflect the wartime situation at that time like "Aoi Fune to Sanrinsha" ["The Blue Ship and the Tricycle"] in which a Westerner's name is changed from the one which appeared in the magazine to the German name Adolph.
Due to the shortage of workers in the printing office, it took seven months to publish the book. The number of copies of the first edition was 5000, and it was reprinted twice. Ironically, during a period of state control over commercial publications, many high quality books, such as Hokkoku no Inu, were published which would not have appeared otherwise.
A contemporary review pointed out that Seki's distinctive feature lay
in his romanticism in contrast with the realism of Okamoto Yoshio and Shimohata
Taku. Another critic evaluated Hokkoku no Inu as being rather a novel for
grown-ups. It can be said that Seki tried to pursue a fusion of romanticism
and realism in the book. |
