10 of the Best Stories from Kenji Miyazawa & Nankichi Niimi

by Kenji Miyazawa, Nankichi Niimi, Paul Quirk (Translator)

Tales from Japan Book 5 combines all of the works from Tales from Japan, Books 1 - 4. The Tales from Japan series was produced by Little J Books to provide readers with a sample of the best works of Nankichi Niimi & Kenji Miyazawa, authors of fantasy fiction that has been loved by children and adults throughout Japan for more than 70 years. Both of these authors have had a significant influence on the fiction and animation that was produced in Japan post-WWII. Ame-ni-mo-makezu, a prayer composed as a poem, and The Restaurant of Many Orders are two of Kenji's most famous works, while Gon the Fox and Buying Mittens are two standout stories from Nankichi Niimi.This version contains the following the CellistThe Restaurant of Many OrdersWild Pear (Yamanashi)The Nighthawk StarKenju's Forest PlaygroundAme-ni-mo Makezu Nankichi the FoxBuying MittensWhen the Thieves Came to Hananoki VillageGrandpa's LampThe Story of the GiantGauche the CellistGauche is a hopeless musician and he's always being yelled at by the conductor. It's not because he doesn't try, it's just that there is something lacking in his music. With a big concert approaching, Gauche receives some special music lessons from some close neighbors. The Restaurant of Many OrdersThis is perhaps the most famous of Kenji's short stories and one of his personal favorites, as it was the title story of his one and only self-published collection of short stories. Two hunters go on a hunting trip in the country and end up completely lost. Luckily they come across what appears to be an extremely popular restaurant…but everything is not as it seems.Gon the FoxGon is a cheeky fox who loves to play pranks on people. But one day he plays a prank that has unexpected consequences. So he decides to make amends.Niimi wrote this story when he was only seventeen years of age, and more than seventy years after his death, it remains one of the best known and loved Japanese short stories of all time. The Story of the GiantPeople are terrified of the giant because he is enormous and he is the son of that horrible old witch. But is it possible that they may have misjudged him? Buying MittensMama fox only wants the best for her little one, so when the snow arrives and her precious boy needs some mittens, then she knows what she needs to do. The only problem is that she is afraid and her legs won't take her any further. So her son must go on his own. This delightful children's story contains beautiful descriptions of the foxes' journey through the snow-covered woods during the night. About the AuthorsNankichi Niimi was born Shohachi Watanabe in what is now Handa City, Aichi Prefecture, on July 30, 1913, with the year 2013 marking 100 years since his birth. It was recently estimated that over 60 million people have read Gon the Fox, a story he penned at just 17 years of age. Niimi went on to write a large number of poems and short stories, such as Buying Mittens, Grandpa's Lamp and When the Thieves Came to Hananoki Village before his death from tuberculosis at age 29.Kenji Miyazawa is one of Japan’s best known and well-loved writers and poets. He was born in what is now Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, in 1896. Although the eldest son of a wealthy pawnbroker and landowner, Kenji was a deeply spiritual person and refused to take over the family business for moral reasons.

122 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 12, 2013

About the author

His name is written as 宮沢賢治 in Japanese, and translated as 宮澤賢治 in Traditional Chinese.

Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933) was born in Iwate, one of the northernmost prefectures in Japan. In high school, he studied Zen Buddhism and developed a lifelong devotion to the Lotus Sutra, a major influence on his writing. After graduating from an agricultural college, he moved to Tokyo to begin his writing career but had to return home to care for a sick sister. He remained in his home in Iwate for the rest of his life. One of his best-known works is the novel Night on the Galactic Railroad, which was adapted into anime in the late twentieth century, as were many of his short stories. Much of his poetry is still popular in Japan today.

Reviews

[Manuel Alfonseca]

ENGLISH: 5 short stories by Kenji Miyazawa and 5 more by Nankichi Niimi. Some of them are amongst the best-known by these authors: Gauche the cellist by Kenji, Gon the fox by Niimi. Although these are not the stories I best liked, which were The restaurant of many orders by Kenji, plus Grandpa's lamp and When the thieves came to Hananoki village, by Niimi.

ESPAÑOL: 5 cuentos de Kenji Miyazawa y otros 5 de Nankichi Niimi. Algunos están entre los más conocidos de estos autores: Gauche el violonchelista de Kenji y Gon el zorro de Niimi. Aunque estos no son los que más me gustaron, que fueron El restaurante de muchos pedidos de Kenji, y La lámpara del abuelo y Cuando los ladrones llegaron al pueblo de Hananoki de Niimi.

[Mariangel]

Miyazawa's stories are:
-Kenju's forest
-Gauche the Cellist
-Nighthawk
-Wild Pear
-The restaurant of many orders

Niimi's stories are:
-Buying mittens
-Gon the Fox
-Grandpa's Lamp
-The story of the giant
-When the thiefs came to Hananoki Village

My favorites were Grandpa's Lamp, the Thiefs story, and Kenju's forest.

[P.J. O'Brien]

This little book of stories, tales, novellas, and an iconic poem was compiled and published by a very modest translator who seems most interested in ensuring that they are known in the broader world. In fact, other than knowing from the endnotes that his name is Paul and that his little publishing company, Little J Books, has the noble but herculean goal of making sure that all the works of Kenji Miyazawa are translated into English and available forever, he doesn't promote himself in any way. He doesn't even give his last name. He also has hopes for translations of the works of Nankichi Niimi and Ryonosuke Akutagawa. In the meantime, he's distributing free ebooks of those he's finished on his website and Smashwords, which is where I first discovered him.

This particular collection includes most well-known works by Miyazawa and Niimi. I was more familiar with Miyazawa, having been given a translation of Night Train to the Stars and Other Stories years ago. His stories have an earnest, outside-looking-in kind of feel to them, and his "Restaurant of Many Orders" hit me a little like a fairy tale retold by Stephen King after binge-reading Poe. I liked them all, particularly his most famous poem, Ame-ni-mo makezu, which I'll put at the bottom of this review.

Even though I liked the Miyazawa stories, I found myself particularly drawn to Niimi's, which made up the second part of the collection. I'd stumbled across Niimi a while back, when doing one of my regular browsing through the hodgepodge of offerings at Smashwords. I was reading Mike Stoner's Jalan Jalan and was looking for something a little more light-hearted to read between the sadder chapters, but still in the vein of a stranger in a new cultural classroom environment. I'd found both in Niimi's The Fart. That led in turn to Little J's website and to this collection of stories. More so than "The Fart" which seemed very grounded to earthy-reality, Niimi's stories in this collection are fairytale-like in style and essence. There are foxes that talk and show compassion. There are giants and curses and magic spells. There are bittersweet moments of unlikely heroes sacrificing themselves for others.

There are some formatting anomalies here in this ebook edition where font sizes and type suddenly change and the table of contents links don't always match up to where stories start. In fact, the last story, the delightful little "Buying Mittens" wasn't even listed in the TOC, and so was a nice bit of serendipity to discover. But considering everything, I think this a wonderful find and wish all success to Little J and the goal to keep classic works from disappearing forever and available across languages. And so, in that spirit, I will end with Paul of Little J Books' translation of Miyawawa's "Ame-ni-mo makezu" (I Won't Be Beaten by the Rain":

I won't be beaten by the rain
I won't be beaten by the wind
I won't be beaten by the snow, nor the summer heat
because I'll be strong and healthy
without greed
never angry
always laughing to myself
I'll have four servings of brown rice
with miso-soup and a few veggies each day
I'll listen and observe carefully
and take in everything
never thinking of myself
and I won't forget
I'll live in a small thatched-roof hut
in a field beneath the shadows of a pine forest
if there’s a sick child to the east
I'll go and look after them
if there’s a tired old woman to the west
I'll go and carry her bundles of rice
if someone lies on their deathbed to the south
I'll go and tell them they have nothing to fear
if there’s an argument or dispute to the north
I'll tell them to stop being foolish
I'll shed tears when there is drought
I'll wander restlessly when the summer is cold
people will call me a blockhead
I won’t receive any praise
and I won’t worry
that's the kind of person
I want
to be

[Rohit Bhasin]

Some of the best short stories I've ever read. Highly highly recommend.