Maki Eguchi
Resources and Information Division
International Library of Children's Literature

This article is a translation of the article in Japanese of the same title
in NDL Monthly Bulletin No. 602 (May 2011).

Photo 1: Front cover of Oyakoguma

Have you ever seen a children's book published around 1945, right after WWII? Unfortunately many of the children's books of this period are not extant in Japan. Though the National Diet Library (NDL) broadly collects publications issued in Japan based on the Legal Deposit System which mandates publishers to deposit their publications with the NDL, the system had not been established at that time and many publications were not collected, including children's literature. On the other hand, there is a major collection of publications of the period in the U.S., namely the Gordon W. Prange Collection.

Japan was occupied by the Allied forces from 1945 to 1949 and all publications issued in Japan (books, magazines, newspapers including wall newspapers) were censored by the Occupation force. Dr. Gordon W. Prange, a professor of history at the University of Maryland, who worked in the Occupation force, recognized the value of publications submitted for censorship, and transferred them to the U.S. at his own expense. The collection was named the Gordon W. Prange Collection, and is held by the University of Maryland.

The Prange Collection contains many publications currently unavailable in Japan. It includes about 71,000 titles of books, and among them are about 8,000 children's books including picture books, reading materials, comics, coloring books, karuta (Japanese playing cards) and sugoroku (Japanese backgammon). Most of the children's books have censor's stamps and notes on their cover, and there are 84 titles containing deletions or banned on publication due to the censorship. The most ubiquitous picture book is Momotaro, 29 volumes, and the reading materials are Eventyr og Historier by H. C. Andersen and Aesop's Fables, 20 volumes each. The International Library of Children's Literature holds and provides microfilms of the collection.

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Even the Prange Collection does not have many publications issued in 1945, the year the War ended: There are only four picture books, and Oyakoguma (photo 1-3) is one of them. The author is Ryu OSANAI, a cartoonist and picture book artist, who was active during and after the War.

Photo 2: Oyakoguma (page 1-2) *Click on the figures for a larger image

Photo 3: Oyakoguma (page 13-14) *Click on the figures for a larger image

Osanai (real name: Tetsusaburo SAWADA) was born in Hakodate, Hokkaido, in 1904; moved to Tokyo after working in a geta (Japanese wooden sandal) factory and as a sailor; and started drawing on his own. He is a master of animal and insect comics and created several picture books featuring a bear, e.g. his first picture book, Genki na koguma (lively bear cub) (Asahi Shimbun Company, 1941). He created in various styles, realistic and precise in the insect picture books, and humorous and warm with simplified animals drawn with thick lines.

In July 1945, Osanai evacuated to Hokkaido with his family and published Oyakoguma in December of the same year. He died of illness at the young age of 42 in November 1946. Kitsune to tanuki (fox and racoon) (photo 4), which is also in the Prange Collection, was completed half a year before his death.

Photo 4: Front cover of Kitsune to tanuki

Kitsune to tanuki, Manga sha, 1946, 13 x 19 cm
NDL call no.: VZ3-10076 (microfilm)

Osanai was described as a "genius" by Ryuichi YOKOYAMA, a famous cartoonist known for the work "Fuku-chan," and is frequently mentioned as a representative picture book writer of Japan. His activities were placed under wartime control for ten years before he died and he is sorely missed as a result of his early death.

Ryu Osanai, Oyakoguma, Hounsha, 1945
Size: 19 cm
NDL call no.: VZ3-10074 (microfilm owned by the International Library of Children's Literature)
Note: Children's literature of the Prange Collection is available in color microfilms. To search materials, there are title lists in five categories: picture books, reading materials, comics, other materials (coloring books, etc.), and galleys and manuscripts. The link to the lists is as follows:
http://www.kodomo.go.jp/search/collection/special01.html

• For further understanding of Ryu Osanai (only in Japanese):
  • - Yukio Omi, Osanai Ryu: Kita no ehon sakka, Sapporodo shoten, 2009, NDL call no.: KC486-J90
  • - Yukio Omi, Kita no ehon sakka Osanai Ryu noto: Zuiso, shosetu, manga, sotei, sashie, 1999, NDL call no.: KC486-G493
  • - Teiji Seta, Juni-nin no ehon sakka tachi, Subaru shobo, 1976, NDL call no.: KC511-8
  • - Shin Torigoe, Hajimete manabu nihon no ehonshi: 2. Jugo-nen sensoka no ehon (Sirizu nihon no bungakushi (3)), Minerva shobo, 2002, NDL call no.: KC511-G98
  • - Shin Torigoe, Ehon no rekishi o tsukutta niju-nin, Sogensha, 1993, NDL call no.: KC511-E74

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