Niimi Nankichi's third anthology of stories for children which was published posthumously. It includes both contributions to the magazine Akai Tori [Red Bird] in his late teens and folktale-style works in his late years. His starting point as well as his accomplishment as a children's writer can be seen here. Among the seven stories collected, "Gon Gitsune" ["Gon the Fox"] has been read to the present day. It was adopted in elementary school textbooks and most Japanese children have read it at least once. It is a heart-warming but sad story of relationship between Gon the fox and a man.
Many of the stories appeared in Akai Tori had been revised by the editor.
Texts in the book are just as they appeared in the magazine for the most
part.
The number of the copies of the first edition was 5000. A revised edition
was included in Shin Nippon Shôkokumin Bunko [New Series for Japanese
Young Nationals] series in 1946. A reprint of the first edition was published
by Holp Shuppan in 1974.
Niimi's texts, including "Gon Gitsune," were defective for a long time after World War II. Differences of the text among the magazine version, the first edition, and the postwar edition can be traced in Volume Three of Kôtei Niimi Nankichi Zenshû [Works of Niimi Nankichi with Complete Text Critique] published in 1980. |
