Guri to Gura is a picture book story whose protagonists are two field mice, Guri who wears blue clothes and Gura red clothes. The most popular picture book in Japan, Guri to Gura consists of elements necessary for children’s stories such as personified animal characters, food materials, cooperation, and the joy to share things with others.
Guri and Gura are very fond of cooking and eating. One day, they go
into the woods and there they find a huge egg. They manage to bring it
home, cook it and make a huge sponge cake. All the animals in the wood
gathered to taste it, which is so good. Guri and Gura make a car out of
the eggshells.
Guri to Gura, written by Nakagawa Rieko (1935- ) and illustrated by Ômura Yuriko (1941- ), first appeared in the monthly magazine Haha no Tomo [Mothers’ Companion] no. 119 in June 1963 under the title of “Tamago” [An Egg], as a story for three-year-olds. At that time, Nakagawa had the experience of nursing children for fifteen years and had been writing in a coterie group. Nakagawa’s sister Ômura (now Yamawaki) with no technical education in art had been illustrating her sister’s works since she was in high school. The story of Nakagawa, who was well aware of children’s favorites and the unsophisticated touch of Ômura’s pictures, attracted the attention of the editor Matsui Tadashi. The title was changed to Guri to Gura and, after some revision, it was published as one of Fukuinkan Shoten’s monthly picture books Kodomo no Tomo [Children’s Companion], no. 93, Dec. 1963. It achieved great popularity, and after some minor revision, a hardcover version was published in 1967.
As of 1996 about 355 million copies of Guri to Gura have been published in total. The hardcover version reached the 151st printing as of August 2004. Several sequels to the book have been published, for example Guri to Gura no Okyaku-sama [Guri and Gura’s Surprise Visitor] (1966).
An English translation of Guri to Gura has been published by Tuttle Publishing.
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