The Boy Who Drew Cats
Template:Italic title Template:Short description
Script error: No such module "Nihongo". is a Japanese fairy tale translated by Lafcadio Hearn, published in 1898, as number 23 of Hasegawa Takejirō's Japanese Fairy Tale Series.[1]Template:Sfnp It was later included in Hearn's Japanese Fairy Tales.Template:Sfnp
The original title in Hearn's manuscript was "The Artist of Cats".[1] Printing it on plain paper as in the rest of the series did not meet with Hearn's approval, and this book became the first of a five-volume set by Hearn printed on crepe paper.[1] Illustrations were by the artist Template:Interlanguage link multi.Template:Refn[1]
Origin
This tale was known from Tohoku to Chugoku and Shikoku regions under the title Script error: No such module "Nihongo"..[2] Some commentators trace the tale to the 15th century legends around Sesshū.[3]
It has been suggested that Lafcadio Hearn's version is a retelling, and has no original Japanese story which is an "exact counterpart".Template:Sfnp Thus "in his English edition, Lafcadio Hearn retold it with a thrilling ghostly touch. In the original story, the acolyte becomes the abbot of the temple after the incident, but in Hearn's version, he goes on to be a renowned artist".Template:Efn[4]
Analyses
The legends surrounding the eminent inkbrush artist priest Sesshū as a young acolyte has been compared to this folktale,[5] and it has been suggested the tale may derive from the legends around young Sesshū.[3]
Hearn stipulated that he would not contribute a story unless it would be "prettily illustrated" in publication,[6] and even though the choice of artist was not the author/translator's, Template:Interlanguage link multi drawing catered to the American readers' taste for the fantastical, as in the example of the illustration showing the dead giant rat-ghoul.Template:Sfnp
The tale is displayed as the second of 51 tales in the 1960 book, All Cats go to Heaven.
Explanatory notes
References
- Citations
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- ↑ Template:Illm (1925). Some New Letters and Writings of Lafcadio Hearn. Kenkyusha. p. 320. Cited by Template:Harvp.
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- Bibliography
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External links
- Audio recording of "The Boy Who Drew Cats" - Downloadable and streaming audio formats.