Post by keetfursunderland on Apr 1, 2020 1:45:34 GMT
And Now for something Completely... .... .... Different.....!
Masakazu Kuwata's style is very Graphic, and very obviously Japanese.
I would describe it, if I were forced to , as a nod, an homage, or perhaps a direct descendant of;
the block-style illustrations of Hokusai and Hiroshige.
Not bad for someone who started by designing airplane engines.
He designed and illustrated more than 200 books, including Tragic Iconic writer
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's book Japanese Short Stories
(in which a short story, Rashōmon, was made famous by Akira Kurasawa , sort of)
{But that is an entirely different story!}
The Story one that deserves our uniquely focused special attention:
The Grateful Crane.
This book (english translation by Eric Sackheim) is a masterful, fully illustrated re-telling of the traditional Japanese Folktale,
Tsuru no Ongaeshi (鶴の恩返し, lit. "Crane's Return of a Favor",
sometimes modified into the alternate-ending tale Tsuru Nyōbō (鶴女房, "Crane Wife").
It belongs to that wonderful genre of Myth wherein the line between animal and human being is a bit... blurry.
Similar English folktales include the Tale of the Selkie and, and the Ballad of Reynardine,
Variant versions throughout Asia include the Fox Wife, the Fish Wife, the Clam Wife (that one has a twist I did not expect!),
the Bird Wife (here, she's a goose), and the Copper Pheasant Wife.
The book isn't hard to find used,
and often quite inexpensively. I purchased my 1963 1st edition for $15USD ( £12GPB, €13EUR, NZ$25~)
but only after searching used bookstores for years.
Advances in Online shopping has made finding a copy these days virtually (hah!) instantaneous.
Information on Masakazu Kuwata is sadly hard to find, in English.
(Ironically, his books are easier to locate than any in depth biographical data.
In example: no separate english Wikipedia article exists
[although he is mentioned in the full wiki page on Ryūnosuke Akutagawa )
This page seems to me to give the most complete snap-shot:
worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no99007174/
And now I'm off to track down a copy of his posthumously published
(and hitherto unknown to me
the illustrated 2001 edition of
The tale of Genji : a novel in six parts
Masakazu Kuwata's style is very Graphic, and very obviously Japanese.
I would describe it, if I were forced to , as a nod, an homage, or perhaps a direct descendant of;
the block-style illustrations of Hokusai and Hiroshige.
Not bad for someone who started by designing airplane engines.
He designed and illustrated more than 200 books, including Tragic Iconic writer
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's book Japanese Short Stories
(in which a short story, Rashōmon, was made famous by Akira Kurasawa , sort of)
{But that is an entirely different story!}
The Story one that deserves our uniquely focused special attention:
The Grateful Crane.
This book (english translation by Eric Sackheim) is a masterful, fully illustrated re-telling of the traditional Japanese Folktale,
Tsuru no Ongaeshi (鶴の恩返し, lit. "Crane's Return of a Favor",
sometimes modified into the alternate-ending tale Tsuru Nyōbō (鶴女房, "Crane Wife").
It belongs to that wonderful genre of Myth wherein the line between animal and human being is a bit... blurry.
Similar English folktales include the Tale of the Selkie and, and the Ballad of Reynardine,
Variant versions throughout Asia include the Fox Wife, the Fish Wife, the Clam Wife (that one has a twist I did not expect!),
the Bird Wife (here, she's a goose), and the Copper Pheasant Wife.
The book isn't hard to find used,
and often quite inexpensively. I purchased my 1963 1st edition for $15USD ( £12GPB, €13EUR, NZ$25~)
but only after searching used bookstores for years.
Advances in Online shopping has made finding a copy these days virtually (hah!) instantaneous.
Information on Masakazu Kuwata is sadly hard to find, in English.
(Ironically, his books are easier to locate than any in depth biographical data.
In example: no separate english Wikipedia article exists
[although he is mentioned in the full wiki page on Ryūnosuke Akutagawa )
This page seems to me to give the most complete snap-shot:
worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no99007174/
And now I'm off to track down a copy of his posthumously published
(and hitherto unknown to me
the illustrated 2001 edition of
The tale of Genji : a novel in six parts
