12: Fables
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Authors
No Author
Issue Date
1955
Type
Book, Whole
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
This is a typical Japanese fable book as I have come to know them. I am guessing that it is in a series of twenty-five books. They are listed on the last page, which for Western readers is where we look for the first page. This book is the twelfth in that series. A title-page is followed by two single-page colored pictures and, between them, a colored double-page. These depict The Man Who Lost His Axe, The Bat in the War Between Animals and Birds, and The Lion Against Three Bulls. As Teresa Johanson notes, these are in bright glossy colors. A T of C then lists the twenty-six fables and the afterword, which includes a detail from Velasquez' portrait of Aesop. Another colored page appears suddenly at 55; it seems to portray The Ass in a Wolf's Skin or perhaps The Ass in a Bear's Skin. There are mysteries here! Again there is an unusual depiction of GA in color on 83. Though the ants live in a human building, both the ants and the grasshopper are in animal rather than human form. Teresa counts 34 illustrations in black and white, all -- like the colored illustrations -- signed KUMA. I have several questions as I look through the book. What is that giant ball on 91? Might this be the story of Hercules and the mired wagon? Bright, clean pictorial binding. Kuma is especially successful at depicting the eyes of the mice in TMCM (42-50).