■ Explanation
This book is a calendar for 1902 (Meiji 35), and was published by Takejiro Hasegawa, who also wrote the text. Takejiro composed little verses to sketch the major event in each of the twelve months, and arrayed the days of each month in an illustration depicting that event. For the representative events, he chose New Year's Day in January, the Inari Feast in February, the Dolls Feast in March, the cherry blossoms at Mukojima in April, the Boys' Feast in May, the irises at Horikiri in June, the Feast of Lanterns in July, summer in Kyoto in August, the Chrysanthemum Feast in September, the Ebisu Feast in October, autumn at Momijiyama in November, and preparations for New Year in December. Each is beautifully illustrated.
In addition to this English version, our library has a French version that is basically the same in content. This is a translation from the English by Jules Adam, who wrote Japanese Story-Tellers, and was published in August 1901 (Meiji 34). Entitled Au Japon les douze mois de l'année, it contains exactly the same illustrations as the English version and French translations of the English verses, but omits the calendar. True to its title, it merely presents a typical Japanese scene for each of the twelve months. |