Category: japanese literature

Kojiki: The Birth of Japan by Kazumi Wilds

Creation of the World but the Japanese/Shinto version.

I admit I bought the wrong book and this was not what I was expecting but it was a nice surprise to read it and I did enjoy it. It follows the creation mythology of Japan with the spirits. Very beautifully illustrated but at 32 pages long very short too -something I didn’t pay attention to.

For what it was I enjoyed it. It was nice to read the author/artists note too on the meaning of the Kojiki to them and how it relates to the place where they live and their life. Same with the process behind the illustrations in book.

I do intend on buying the comprehensive translation by Basil Hall Chamberlain to delve deeper into the subject

The Devil’s Flute Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

Its been a while since I read one of Seishi Yokomizo’s Detective Kosuke Kindaichi novels and I fancied catching up on the series with a new one due to be released this coming week.

This read was a great one and very readable and flows nicely. It was an interesting case involving a family and a locked room murder and the devilish apparition of an already dead family member. The plot was very cunning and I didn’t guess the culprit. There is a bit of incest in the plot which was a surprise and may be a trigger for some.

Though these are old books they aren’t dated and are very readable and enjoyable. I have the next one ready to read. The Little Sparrow Murders.

Attack On Titan: Volume 5 (Manga)

My first manga I have read for this year, I could be naive and say I am reading this to pad out my total books read but genuinely I am reading this to compare the manga to the anime. Last year I read the first 4 volumes and this is the first one I have finished for this year.

I enjoyed the anime very much and it is nice to read the manga, that said I do prefer the anime. There are some subtle differences between both versions.

This fifth volumes follows the scouts from Eren’s Titan reveal and introduction to the Scouts up to the Scouts expeditionary mission and the reveal of a new type of Titan…

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7394772797

Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata

This is a book I have read many, many times in the past, its a haunting novella focused around the Japanese tea ceremony and of a man who gets involved with his dead fathers mistress and the shadow of his fathers previous long term mistress hovers over him constantly. A very tragic novella and one where the past weighs heavily on the present.

Despite the bleakness of his works, I have yet to read a Yasunari Kawabata book that I did not like. His books are my gateway to Japanese literature in general. They are ones I come back to yearly especially this one and Snow Country. I do have five of his translated works yet to read, and I should get around to them soon. The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa, The Lake, The Old Capital, The Rainbow and Dandelions. I also want to read The Sound of the Mountain and The Master of Go again, having only read those once.

I notice this book is also newly re-published here (UK) as one of the 90 new Penguin Archive books. All short stories or novellas re-released with a beautiful minimalist new cover.

This makes it 10 books for the year so far, I was tempted to increase my years target to 50 but I think for now I will keep it at 25. I have plans for some longer books which I may get bogged down in.

Happy Easter.