Princess Splendor, the Wood-Cutter's Daughter. Japanese Fairy Tale - Miller, Edward Rothesay 1843-1915; Takejirō, Hasegawa 1853-1938 (Tokyo Hasegawa, 1895)
Printed on double leaves of crêpe paper folded in Japanese style
The Japanese Fairy Tale Series (1885-1922) were illustrated books that introduced Western readers to traditional Japanese folk tales in a series of beautifully illustrated crêpe-paper children’s books put out by an enterprising Japanese publisher named Takejiro Hasegawa.
The beautiful coloured wood engravings are anonymous. One double leave illustration is loose, and has a different format.
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is a monogatari (fictional prose narrative) containing elements of Japanese folklore. Written by an unknown author in the late 9th or early 10th century during the Heian period, it is considered the oldest surviving work in the monogatari form.
The story of a tiny fairy found shut up in the stem of a bamboo by an old wood-cutter who lived all alone with his wife in a little cottage at the foot of a mountain. The tiny fairy grew up into a fair and noble woman of supernatural radiance who lived a sad life.
Keywords: 19th Century (1801-1900); Mythology; Folklore; Novel; Fine art; Japan