An extremely rare, early example of illustration work by Kawakami Sumio (1895–1972).
The booklet itself is a superb collaboration between artist, musician and poet. The publisher, Yamano Gakki-ten ('Yamano music instrument shop') produced a series of 25 song books for children, of which the present copy is no. 24. Each book contained two to four songs with music by composers Nakayama Shinpei (1887-1952) and Yamamoto Sanpei (dates unknown), with lyrics by a range of contemporary songwriters. The present copy contains three songs: Ike no makomo ni [In the Wild Rice Plants of the Pond], Keshi no ha [Mustard Leaf] and Kudarite kureru-na [Don't come down]. The first half of the book shows the musical score alongside the lyrics, and in the second half we see the lyrics alone, written out as poetry. It is one of nine songbooks featuring lyrics by Kitahara Hakushu (1885-1942), who is still regarded today as one of the most important Japanese poets of the twentieth century. He is well known both for his tanka poems as well as the children's songs he wrote.
Kawakami Sumio's cover design is slightly unusual compared to his more well-known works. Here he uses finer lines and a collage-like composition. Stylistically, both the scenery and main figure are a nod to Art Nouveaux. This book is not present in the Kawakami bibliography (Kawakami zenshu, 1979), but prints in a similar style are recorded. Kawakami's cover illustration draws inspiration from all three of the songs in the book, with the wild rice plants, mustard leaves and falling snow.
Extremely rare. No copies in OCLC. Searches for 'Ike no makomo ni' do, however, bring up an exhibition catalogue for a joint show of Kawakami Sumio's work and the nihonga artist Takehisa Yumeji, where the illustration of the present booklet is reproduced on the cover of the catalogue.
