Kobayashi Jun'ichi's first anthology of 54 verses for children. Most of them first appeared in magazines such as Akai Tori [Red Bird], Kodomo no Kuni [Children's Land] and Kodomo no Hikari [Children's Light] as well as coterie magazines. Sixteen verses are from Kodomo no Kuni. Seventy percent of the verses are in a fixed form.
There are eleven sections beginning with "Otôsan no Komoriuta"
["Father's Lullaby"] and ends with "Funa o Sukuini"
["Going Out to Catch a Crusian"]. Although Japan's wartime society
is reflected in some verses like those in the section "Kotekitai"
["A Fife and Drum Band"], most of them are sensitive and lyrical
verses frankly describing children's emotions in daily life, such as "Byôki"
["Illness"], "Tomato" ["Tomato"], "Asu
wa" ["Tomorrow"] and "Chiisana Shokkô" ["A
Young Workman"].
The last verse "Funa o Sukuini" extends over 22 pages. It was broadcast on the radio. The simple illustrations by Wakita Kazu match the realistic verses. The book is one of few anthologies of verses for children published in the early 1940s. It heralded Kobayashi's active work in the field after World War II. The number of copies of the first edition was 5000 and the second edition 3000. |
