UPDATE | July 28, 2021
There are picture books that have been read for a long time in Japan and are still popular. The picture books are written in easy Japanese, so even beginners can read them and learn about the traditional Japanese culture and history. Some people may think that picture books are something that children read, but there are many Japanese who cherish their favorite picture books even as adults. Let's take a look at the world of Japanese picture books.
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There are many picture books in Japan.
The contents of the story, such as the story of the main character of a Japanese child today and the old tales that are still read in Japan before the Edo period, differ depending on the picture book.
Even if you were born and raised in Japan, you often don't understand the old Japanese life and culture.
It is very interesting for Japanese people to know it. The TV anime "Manga Nippon Mukashi Banashi", which was broadcast from 1975 to 1994, made old stories familiar, and now you can watch this anime on DVD.
Among the Japanese picture books, I have selected three particularly famous ones and ones that will be useful for studying.
If you read it, you will surely think that "Japanese culture is interesting".
When you think so, if you know the popular Japanese manga, you may be able to talk about it and make friends.
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Source:https://www.hisakata.co.jp/book/detail.asp?b=025026
When I come to Japan, I sometimes see Jizo. It looks like a monk living in a temple and has been in Japan since ancient times.
Jizo appears in the picture book "Kasajizo".
On a snowy day, as an old man walked down the road to sell an umbrella, there were six Jizo. The old man, who thought that Jizo would be cold, puts an umbrella on Jizo's head that he intended to sell.
However, I have only five umbrellas. The grandfather put his umbrella on the Jizo. It is a story that Jizo will come to thank Grandpa's house that night.
If you look at Jizo and wonder, "What is it?", Remember this picture book. You can see that the Japanese have cherished Jizo for hundreds of years.
Source:https://www.nagaokashoten.co.jp/book/9784522182048/
In 2013, the movie "The Tale of Princess Kaguya" was released at Studio Ghibli. Maybe some people have seen it.
A fantastic and beautiful picture. The content is sad, but it's a movie that you'll want to watch again and again.
This movie has an original. "Taketori Monogatari" was published during the Heian period (794-1185) in Japan, and now it has become a picture book with the title "Kaguya Hime" and is popular all over Japan.
One day, an old man who lived by cutting bamboo found a shiny bamboo and cut it, and there was a cute girl inside. The grandfather takes him home and raises the girl with his wife's grandmother.
After that, when the grandfather cut the bamboo, money came out from inside, and the grandfather and grandmother became rich.
Princess Kaguya grew up quickly. Some men say, "I want to marry Princess Kaguya," but Princess Kaguya never marries anyone.
Please read the picture book to know what will happen at the end.
Source:https://www.holp-pub.co.jp/book/b485984.html
"My" in "I am a cat" means "I" in old Japanese. In other words, it's a story about a cat looking at the world around him, but it's not originally a picture book.
If you went to Japan from 1984 to 2007 and had a 1000-yen note, look at the face on it. That was Soseki Natsume, the author of "I Am a Cat", and a novelist who wrote many other novels. An old man who lived from 1867 to 1916, he is still very famous in Japan.
"I am a cat" was published in 1905 during the Meiji era in Japan. I added a picture to it and made it into easy Japanese, "I am a cat (voiced words)" (Holp Shuppan). It is recommended to read aloud, so it is suitable for beginner students to study Japanese reading comprehension and pronunciation.
Also, if you are interested in reading this book, please read Natsume Soseki's long novel "I am a cat" for adults to read.
A culture unique to Japan that is difficult to imagine if it is just sentences. It will be very easy to understand if it is expressed in a picture.
For example, "Kasajizo" is a story that you do not know when it was made, but it is clear that it was before the Edo period. You can learn about the culture of "Kaguya Hime" in the Heian period and "I am a cat" in the Meiji period (October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912).
The sentences are also written in easy Japanese, so it is suitable for beginners' study before reading Japanese novels. Please read it once.
Free writer who likes reading. Born and raised in Osaka and moved to Tokyo in 2010. He writes articles, book reviews, and columns. Currently, while writing, she teaches Japanese to foreigners at a Japanese language school in Tokyo.
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