Once and Forever: The Tales of Kenji Miyazawa (New York Review Books Classics)

The worlds of fairy tales, folk tales, and fables spring from a picturesque and poetic association between imagination and nature as scribbled on a mind tablet of the visionary, the dreamer, the innocent, and the humanitarian in the embodiment of the Writer who manifests a continual fugue of dreamscapes, visions, imagery, and nature in a phantasmagorical display of such fancy worlds. In this peculiar context of regarding the fairy tales or folk legends anchored in reality, Kenji Miyazawa’s tales are full of imagery that bestows a touch of magic on every thing however trifle and insignificant it may seem to the eyes of the melee. The result is a riveting twilight world of legends and folk tales where nature becomes primary world, Reality in a very mystifyingly pretty way.Notwithstanding the subject of the book, it merits a classic literature aisle in nationwide booksellers because it contains all the characteristics of profound yet catholic themes of nature of humanity that are illustrated in the works of Hans Christian Anderson, The Grimm Brothers, and Aesop. In fact, this book is strikingly scarcely a false or childish note but strangely not depressing. If Miyazawa does not provide the reader with a sense of jostling braggadocio or a promise of ever optimistic view on reality of the world that are accustomed to and taken for granted as literary license in the Western minds, he presents a prospect of innocence, so ethereal and quaint that it almost feels physical when reading. This tangible feeling of the visions is delivered by Miyazawa’s wonderful story-telling skills enveloped in poetic expressions devoted to evoking the images of a rural Japan prior to the Meiji Restoration in the mid- 19th century that no longer exists.Kenji Miyazawa (1897-1933) was a Japanese writer who was first and foremost poet at heart concerned with particular beauties and universal truths transcending time and culture. This book, translated by the late renowned English professor John Bester, is collection of short folk tales of the bygone eras that Miyazawa seems to fantastically incorporate with his contemporary world of reality in which whims, inconsistencies, and follies of humans are everyday occurrence. The tale of “The Earth God and the Fox” shows how love and friendship are destroyed by betrayal and misunderstanding in a blight of jealousy and fury, which then eventually leads to destruction. In the case of “Wildcat and the Acorns,” Miyazawa pokes fun at parvenus and upstarts who suddenly found themselves in the wealth of western-influenced cultural artifacts in denigration of the traditional Japanese customs and values regarded as outdated and culturally backward. However, even such acerbic, poignant criticism of the Nouveau Japan is enticingly swiveled in poetic prose with musicality and choice of the language – simple but visionary- he employs.The tales seem to speak to our world of confused syllogism bloated with inordinate wantonness and inflated egotism, decorated with selfies in Facebook and Instagram, and vehement subjectivities, all fragmented and adrift, full of sound and fury. The tales bring the reader to another time out of this evolutionary scale and 24-hour clock, and they can take the reader to a different place of innocence that seems to be out of touch in this existential world of reality. In this regard, this book is a quaint pretty – or twee even – marionette play, fusing Miyazawa’s poetic words with his cast of interesting characters ranging from a beautiful birch tree to wise foxes, to graceful fawns, to talking acorns, and to deities living in streams and mountains and everywhere, all in the beautiful rural landscapes as picturesque stage backgrounds. It is a fascinating read that matches its fanciful title.

This is a book of 24 stories; I read only six of them. Usually I read a lot, but these did not appeal to me. My problem with the stories is that their strangeness seems random, with no point about it; characterizations are thrown in as if the author (or translator) did not care whether it makes sense. The first story is about a birch tree who has two friends, an earth god and a fox; the earth god is jealous of the fox, and kills him, only to discover afterwards that the fox was poor, and all the books, scientific instruments, and artwork that the fox told of he did not have. But why is the birch tree described as "with a glistening black bark"? Birch trees have white bark. There are many such mischaracterizations, which to me are really irritating. "Two young gentlemen dressed just like British military men, with gleaming guns on their shoulders and two dogs like great white bears at their heels, were walking in the mountains [...]" The image does not work, even around 1920, when this was written, I would not expect british military men walk with gleaming guns on their shoulders and bear-sized dogs at their feet. So why make it british military men? Details are thrown in, but without checking whether they fit. The two men are walking in a mountain forest, lost in its depth; in the next sentence the Pampas grass is rustling all around them.

Some of these stories could fit into any western anthology, but most have a "twist", that forces you to see things from a slightly different angle, or perhaps an unexpected angle.

I didn't *love* this collection of Miyazawa stories, but I'm really glad I read them. Often whimsical or odd & sometimes both, the stories often end up in unexpected places. Sometimes, though not always, in a satisfying way.

These books were gifts and were sent well protected and rainproof. Book quality for both was fresh and new which adds to the pleasure in reading well- translated stories from a master tale teller.

These fairy tales captivate with their unique charm. Whether the protagonist is a young hare, a crab or a human child, the story is told charmingly and touchingly.

Found this book in the antiquarian section, but wasn't sure I wanted to spend that much on a writer I wasn't familiar with. Found this edition. Fast shipping and beautiful paperback. Cover is thicker than normal. I haven't read all the stories yet, but charming fairy tales.

entertaining read even for adults.

The stories are often confusing, but usually satisfying. My favourite is "The Bears of Mt. Nametoko."

プレゼント用に買って、時間がかかった挙句、微妙に汚れたものが届いて、注文したことを後悔しています。