The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter was my introduction to Kawabata and I loved it. Yasunari Kawabata was the first Japanese writer to be honored with a Nobel Prize. Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) is an extremely old Japanese story, credited to around the late ninth or early tenth century under disputed authorship.

Donald Keene has done a wonderful job of translating Kawabata. This is a fast paced fable beautiflly presented in an oblong book. Physically it is one of the most attractive books I have ever purchased.

This translation of Tale of the Bamboo Cutter had been delayed by twenty years before the translator Keene came across a brilliant series of paintings done by Miyata Masayuki of the same story. The elements finally came together to create one of the most beautifully presented books I've come across.

The book is 176 pages long, presented with Japanese and English on opposite pages. Don't expect a long read here, perhaps only a day or so's worth, but you won't be disappointed. This is truly a beautiful story that I hope you, like me, will return to from time to time to enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter was my introduction to Kawabata and I loved it. Yasunari Kawabata was the first Japanese writer to be honored with a Nobel Prize. Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) is an extremely old Japanese story, credited to around the late ninth or early tenth century under disputed authorship.

Donald Keene has done a wonderful job of translating Kawabata. This is a fast paced fable beautiflly presented in an oblong book. Physically it is one of the most attractive books I have ever purchased.

This translation of Tale of the Bamboo Cutter had been delayed by twenty years before the translator Keene came across a brilliant series of paintings done by Miyata Masayuki of the same story. The elements finally came together to create one of the most beautifully presented books I've come across.

The book is 176 pages long, presented with Japanese and English on opposite pages. Don't expect a long read here, perhaps only a day or so's worth, but you won't be disappointed. This is truly a beautiful story that I hope you, like me, will return to from time to time to enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: This is a wonderful story beautifully told. The excellent translation brings across Kawabata's style. The pictures are gorgeous. It is short, but wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: This is a wonderful story beautifully told. The excellent translation brings across Kawabata's style. The pictures are gorgeous. It is short, but wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: A subtle blend of story and art
Review: This is an elegant package. The story is a classic Japanese folktale interpreted by one of Japan's greatest writers. A cautionary tale about love between humans and spirits, it is a well paced story, calm and quiet like a new moon. The text is balanced with the original Japanese script on one side and the English translation on the other. Interspersed though out are beautiful paper-cut illustrations. "Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" is very much a piece of book art.

The only drawback of this edition is the size. It is small, and would have benefited from a hard-backed coffee table edition. As it is, it is too fragile to be a child's book.

Rating:
Summary: A subtle blend of story and art
Review: This is an elegant package. The story is a classic Japanese folktale interpreted by one of Japan's greatest writers. A cautionary tale about love between humans and spirits, it is a well paced story, calm and quiet like a new moon. The text is balanced with the original Japanese script on one side and the English translation on the other. Interspersed though out are beautiful paper-cut illustrations. "Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" is very much a piece of book art.

The only drawback of this edition is the size. It is small, and would have benefited from a hard-backed coffee table edition. As it is, it is too fragile to be a child's book.