UK Trailer for "The Tale of Princess Kaguya" (Coming to UK Theaters in English & Japanese March 20)

What lucky folks our British friends are! The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is coming to theaters on March 20, 2015, and can be seen with either the English dubbing OR in the original Japanese! #slightlyenviousoverhere

The trailer is the first proper English trailer I've seen and is wonderful, and a very different presentation from what we've seen to date. (I don't understand why this didn't get advertised like this in the US - it would have drawn a huge audience.) If you were on the fence about seeing it before this will likely to change your mind to a "yes - gotta see that!".

For the rest of us, we'll have to be content to watch on DVD and Blu-ray, though we still won't have the original Japanese language, with English subtitles option. (Why?)

I'm hoping to have a "home viewing" of the movie myself (finally!) this weekend. And if I do, I will review...

In the meantime, enjoy - and be inspired:

In Memorium: Miyoko Matsutani - Thank You For All The Tales

On February 28th, 2015, one of Japan's leading folktale scholars, collectors and writers, passed away. We lost a fairy tale hero that day  - a woman who made it her mission to preserve the folktales of Japan before they were lost to memory - and whether you know her name or not, we fairy tale folk have benefitted greatly from her life's work. I feel it's only right that I pay tribute to her memory and help her name be remembered.

She began writing fairy tales after graduating high school and wrote over 300 books (picture books, children's and juvenile literature) and was the first Japanese author to make the Hans Christian Andersen honor list (Award of Excellence) for Taro the Dragon Boy and won numerous awards before and since. A committed peace activist, her original works often used themes of war and peace.

She was also the head of, what I've seen described as "a folklore laboratory" which, although is probably only due to a weird translation, sounds awesome. (The real name of the organization is The Miyoko Matsutani Folklore Research Center.) Matsutani herself traveled all over Japan collecting folktales from ancient storytellers, as well as being a storyteller herself - something which, she seems to have done right up till she passed away. She has been instrumental in reviving the fading practice and art of storytelling in Japan, which diminished greatly when the Industrial Age began. Due to her traveling, storytelling, publishing and working with community centers, women's groups, schools and more, the practice is coming back, and although she alone can't take credit for it, she has been one of the key instruments in making that happen.

Her work hasn't been restricted to Japanese fairy tales and folktales either. She worked with Asian tales in general (in addition to her Japanese focus), publishing retellings of Chinese tales and fables as well as Korean, Vietnamese, Philippine, Indonesian and World Folklore collections. (Busy lady!)

Cover by Piotr Fąfrowicz

Here's a little summary extract on her scholarship contribution, from Books of Japan:

As head of the Miyoko Matsutani Folklore Research Center she collects and retells folktales from throughout Japan, and her Gendai minwa ko (Thoughts on Modern Folklore; 12 volumes) has earned praise for its compilation of folklore from the Meiji period (1868–1912) on. She is one of the true giants of contemporary children's literature in Japan, and her complete works have been published twice.

One thing I noticed in trying to search for her books, is that many of her picture books ended up being translated to Russian but are unfortunately difficult to find in English (apart from Taro the Dragon Boy).  You can however, see a whole lot of her Japanese covers HERE. It also seems like tracking down her multi-volume works and her collections of ghost stories and folktales isn't very straight forward either - something I hope will be remedied in the near future, especially since her passing has made it clear how valuable her work was.

There is a new book of hers due to be released in April, titled Shinano of Folklore (honestly - I haven't a clue how to read Japanese so I'm completely at the mercy of an online translator here. I'm not certain this title is correct..) Here's the synopsis, which sounds like a wonderful edition to looking at modern use of folklore and fairy tales in modern Japan and I'm not even going to try moving words around so it makes more sense to our English sentence construction. It has a wonderful charm reading it as is:

Japanese mind hometown revives now of the response with former TBS TV anime "Manga Japan Folk Tales" Mirai Inc. version proven caused a "folklore boom" and "Japanese folklore" series to many years of requests, outfit new We will. Illustrations are intact, the Kuminaoshi the print. "Shinano of folklore" is located in the knot of east and west, folklore that has been handed down among the natural Shinshu which is said to be Japan's roof. Crystal of wisdom, desire ancestors gave birth natural and human battle. 

A knot of East and West. I like that. We're all knots really...

I've done my best to track down the titles of the twelve volume series Thoughts on Modern Folklore (or Modern Folklore Considered) and have listed what I could find/understand below, along with most of the cover pictures. It will give you an idea of how wide her range of study and thinking was, which is pretty wonderful, especially when you realize in order to do this she was tracking the same thing we are here: fairy tale news and use of fairy tales in pop culture and entertainment.







1 Kappa Tengu - God hidden
2 Military conscription inspection and recruits of time
3 Laughter of ghost train, ship and automobile and ghost stories
4 Dream of news fireball missing out soul
5 Story went to news - underworld
6 Home front, thought suppression, air raid, Battle of Okinawa
7 Schools, laughter and ghost stories
8 Laughter of radio, television and ghost stories
9 Echo snake, tree spirits, war and wood
10 Wolf jackals, cats
11 Raccoon mujina
12 Photos of Kai civilization

Here's link to the WHOLE SET.

Here are some other folktale books:

                            

                         Modern Folklore:
                        You Narrator, I Also Narrator

Folklore of the World

Japanese Mythology

Just a few of her "Momo-chan" (peach-chan) books, so beloved by Japanese parents and children. They were based off of her motherhood diary she began keeping when she had her first child.

These don't even begin to cover her books for children and teens with series such as "Story Gems", "Once Upon A Time", a "Thriller Restaurant" series for teens, illustrated folklore collections for children and babies (yes, babies), a huge Japanese folklore series and many, many more. Have a look HERE to see a massive range of titles at Amazon Japan.

Rest in peace Miyoko Matsutani.

Thank you for all the tales.

Additional sources: HERE & HERE

Fairy Tale & Folklore Oscar Watch 2015 (Summary)

The three biggies this year were all in the Best Animated Feature category:

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya - the oldest recorded Japanese fairy tale

Song of the Sea - selkie tale based on Celtic folklore

The Boxtrolls - Jungle Book related tale of a boy raised by 'monsters' finding his way (based on Here Be Monsters)

These three were up against industry giants Big Hero 6 (Disney) and How To Train Your Dragon 2 (Dreamworks).

_______________________________________________________________

BIG HERO 6 won for Best Animated Feature

________________________________________________________________

Nominated in other categories:

Into The Woods - Best Supporting Actress (Meryl Streep lost to Patricia Arquette for Boyhood)
                           - Best Production Design (lost to The Grand Budapest Hotel)
                           - Best Costume Design (lost to The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Maleficent          - Best Costume Design (lost to The Grand Budapest Hotel)

The Lego Movie - Best Song "Everything Is Awesome" (lost to Selma's "Glory")

It should also be noted, mythic storyteller and master animator Hayao Miyazaki, known for My Neighbor Totoro, The Tale Of Princess Mononoke and the Oscar winning Spirited Away, was also awarded an Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award (finally!).

I'm completely tickled that the audience were hanging onto their Lego Oscar statues as a tribute to The Lego Movie which deserved to be nominated but wasn't. (That's the Jack-like story, complete with giants of many kinds, that I think is more fairy tale than most people realize.)

"The Crane Wife" by Patrick Ness Named Notable Book by ALA

The Crane Wife by Katrina Pallon

I will admit I know very little about Patrick Ness, not having read any of his books, but Heidi has mentioned him on SurLaLune a couple of times so I thought I'd bring you notice of his latest folklore-based novel, especially since it was just named as one of ALA's Notable Books for 2015.

(And, as a bonus today I'm adding some lovely illustrations, some of which I hadn't seen before today. Credit is under each image.)

The Crane Wife by Kat Leyh

Refreshingly, this story is based on a little-known-to-the-Western-world romantic Japanese fairy tale (one of the better known ones that's usually included in multicultural collections) and was written by a man, both of which make it notable as well.

The Crame Wife by Janey-Jane

The Crane Wife is based on the fairy tale of the same name and seems to follow key aspects of the plot (at least to a certain point), though the setting is more urban and more modern.

The Crane Wife by Eno Keo

Two critically acclaimed authors who draw on folklore and fairy tales, Eowyn Ivy (The Snow Child) and Ali Shaw (The Girl With Glass Feet), both praise the book, which, despite other mixed reviews, is more than enough for me to put it in my shopping cart straight away!

Here's the synopsis, care of Penguin Press:

A magical novel, based on a Japanese folk tale, that imagines how the life of a broken-hearted man is transformed when he rescues an injured white crane that has landed in his backyard. 

George Duncan is an American living and working in London. At forty-eight, he owns a small print shop, is divorced, and is lonelier than he realizes. All of the women with whom he has relationships eventually leave him for being too nice.  

But one night he is waked by an astonishing sound—a terrific keening, which is coming from somewhere in his garden. When he investigates he finds a great white crane, a bird taller than himself. It has been shot through the wing with an arrow. Moved more than he can say, George struggles to take out the arrow from the bird’s wing, saving its life before it flies away into the night sky. 

The Crane Wife by pageboy

The next morning, a shaken George tries to go about his daily life, retreating to the back of his store and making cuttings from discarded books—a harmless personal hobby—when a woman walks through the front door of the shop. Her name is Kumiko, and she asks George to help her with her own artwork. George is dumbstruck by her beauty and her enigmatic nature and begins to fall desperately in love with her. She seems to hold the potential to change his entire life, if he could only get her to reveal the secret of who she is and why she has brought her artwork to him. 

The Crane Wife by Gennady Spirin (retold by Odds Bodkin)

 Witty, magical, and romantic, The Crane Wife is a story of passion and sacrifice that resonates on the level of dream and myth. It is a novel that celebrates the creative imagination and the disruptive power of love.

And here's the author introducing us to his novel:

Has anyone read this? I'm very curious now!

"The Tale of Princess Kaguya" Is Coming to the US This Fall - Yay! (In the Meantime, Enjoy the 'Art Of' Book)

Kaguya Hime by doll artist Wakatsuki Mariko* (who adores fairy tales from all over the world)

Distribution for this reportedly gorgeous animated film of Japan's oldest fairy tale, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (aka The Moon Princess), has been picked up by GKIDS. (You may want to take note of the name since they'll also be bringing us Cartoon Saloon's Song of the Sea when it's ready.)

From Cartoon Brew:

Studio Ghibli is producing an English-language version of the film... 

Kaguya, which is based on the folktake “Tale of the Bamboo Cutter,” has been a modest success in its home country of Japan, grossing $22.7 million to date (or less than a fifth of the box office gross of Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises). The film will be released in the U.S. this fall and will be submitted for Oscar qualification.

With the US distribution happening later in the year, it's likely other English speaking countries will see it soon after as well. (Here's hoping, anyway...) 

I know more than a few animation buffs who are well primed for this and, knowing the ending isn't all sugar and sweetness but is more true to the original tale, I can't wait to see how the film resolves as well. I'm really glad we'll be getting the chance to see it in theaters. Here's a quick write-up of the artistic achievement by director Takahata on this film:

The visual expressions of director Isao Takahata’s “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” were groundbreaking. Up until that point, animations had been made with separate drawing styles for background and cell images, but Takahata paved the way for a new animation, telling a story that existed on a single page. This exhibition presents several illustrations unique to Takahata’s style of lightly colored animation, while also introducing Japanese art in the forms of folding screens, hanging scrolls, and picture scrolls.

In the meantime, for those net savvy international buyer people, there is a new book: The Art of The Tale of Princess Kaguya (images in this post are from the book). While the text is Japanese (as it has been for other Ghibli "art of" books) most of the presentation is visual, so it will still be a good addition to your Art Of library.

There is also a storyboard art book as well, which you can find HERE. You can see more artwork, some merchandising and a theater pamphlet HERE.

*  Wakatsuki Mariko may be Japanese, but her work is quite similar to that of Western artists. She opened her studio, Atelier La Lune, in Japan in 1989 and has produced lines of porcelain fairy dolls in large editions. She also exhibits one-of-a-kind or small-edition porcelain dolls at solo exhibitions. Before studying dollmaking at Ecole de Simon, Mariko did not have any experience with dolls. She was inspired by Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolism paintings, and she decided she would create works in three dimensions, rather than two. She believed dolls to be somehow similar to paintings because they express the world through imagination. Mariko is a bibliophile, and books are the root of her creations, so she seeks literary essence in her dolls. She is especially fond of Danish author Hans Christian Andersen and Japanese author Ogawa Mimei. Through their tales, she learned about good will and the meaning of happiness. Through her dolls, Mariko hopes to deliver love, dreams and hope to all who enjoy them. (From Dolls Magazine)

Princess Kaguya Preview Looks Like An Animated Picture Scroll. Also, Amazing.

I've seen quite a bit of excited reaction to the newly released preview of The Tale of Princess Kaguya today!

If you're a regular reader here, you'll know that this is Studio Ghibli's next fairy tale and a very important one, being the oldest recorded folktale for Japan (we're talking REALLY old, like 10th Century!).

I love the juxtaposition of the music against the images here, not to mention the raw feeling the images convey.

Take a look:

Although the publicity to date has been on the quiet side, perhaps with people wondering if the director, Isao Takahata, could pull off a fairy tale as beautifully as Miyazaki does (since Takahata is known more for using an off-beat and gritty approach than for pretty tales), fears and doubts are being put to rest with this preview.

I'm sensing very excited stirrings in the animation community too.

Takahata is using a very different technical approach as well, which no doubt will add much to the charm of the (re)telling of this tale, apart from being a different form of storytelling for big screen animation. The technique is called emakimono, which is a horizontal illustrated narrative (aka a picture scroll). Some believe emakimono to be the earliest form of Manga, as in, from the 11th century (!) which adds another layer of interest to the project. (Bet you never knew how far back Manga went! I certainly didn't.)

You can also see a little from behind-the-scenes, or "making of" in the video on this page HERE. If you're interested in animation or the tale it's worth taking a peek, as short as it is.

Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya) is set to open in Japanese theaters on November 23rd, 2013. No word yet on when it will be distributed it in the US, though Disney have picked up the contract to do so. Hopefully we'll see it in time for the Xmas holiday period.

PS Aren't the horizontal layout posters beautiful? I had to include them all...

UPDATE ADDED 9:30pm WEDNESDAY 10/23:

Oh look! I didn't even realize iO9 is raving all about this today!

Heh. Told you people were excited now. ;)

Check the happy-dancing at iO9 HERE.

* News Source: Crunchyroll

Miyazaki-sama (aka "Japan's Walt Disney") Announces Retirement

Miyazaki made out of his movies - portrait by ~C3nmt

Although Miyazaki is indeed known as "Japan's Walt Disney" for reasons of his animated features and whimsical, fantastical and family-friendly storytelling, he is very much his own person and visionary. The news of his retirement from feature films is, though, as big a deal worldwide as if Walt were alive and announced a similar retirement of his own.

As such, I don't really know how best to present this news:

• sadness that Hayao Miyazaki is retiring from feature film directing?
• hopefulness for other projects he will no have time to give his attention to?
• gladness that he'll be able to enjoy some of his retirement and family without the pressure of giant films?
• gratefulness that I was as aware of his Mastery as I was and took note of the films he made after Princess Mononoke onward?
• honored to have shared the planet with such a visionary of both filmmaking and fairy/folk tales?

I have to choose all of the above. And I would add that I feel we are privileged in this age to have the technology we do to share his work worldwide right now. (Remember when we had to wait 7 years for a Disney feature to come back to the theater to see it?!)

Totoro with his Dad

Update: Hayao Miyazaki's Official Retirement Press Conference to be Streamed in English (as well as Japanese) today, Friday Sep 6th, at 2pm JST, on Niconico HERE.

Here's a summary of the initial brief announcement by Studio Ghibli head, Hoshino, on Sunday September 1st, 2013:

✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ 

Release Date Announced for Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya)

Studio Ghibli's next film, “Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (かぐや姫の物語)”, has just received a release date for Japan: November 23, 2013. (Teaser trailer shown HERE, short production stills presentation HERE.)

The title approximately translates in English as The Tale of Princess Kaguya and is a retelling of Japan's oldest known (and recorded) fairy tale from the 10th century.

Here's some of the tale, though I'm not sure if this is a student-writer retelling (and translation) of the story, or a copy of the text from one of the many Japanese books.

It's generally known as The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, The Moon Princess or The Tale of Princess Kaguya:

Color test for Kaguya Hime by Ryan Andrews
(Not for Ghibli)

A really long time ago, in some countryside, there was one old couple that had no children. They lived by cutting and selling bamboos. One day, the old man went to a forest to get bamboos as usual, and found the bright bamboo. He thought the bamboo could be sold for a good price and he tried to cut soon. But, he couldn’t do that, because he noticed there was a pretty little girl into that. It made him very surprised, but the old couple wanted their child for so long. Then he decided to take her his home and raised her as their real child with his wife. Of course, when he came back to home with the girl, the old woman was surprised but really happy. They named her Kaguya and took care of her. They became a good family and were satisfied with their lives. Such happy lives had continued until Kaguya rose as marriageable women.  

Kaguya Hime by Ryan Andrews
(Not for Ghibli)

She became awfully beautiful lady. Her beauty was not like human, but a fairy or pretty flower. Her hair was extremely long and jet-black like a wing of a black bird. Her eyes were deeply dark as a sky of night, nose was as tall as a mountain, and mouth was pink like a cherry. The skin was similar to pottery and all her actions are elegant. All men who knew about Kaguya wanted to marry her. However, she didn’t want to marry anybody. Still, five rich men seriously wanted to marry with her, and they dangled after her loudly. Finally they became like stalkers, Kaguya said that she would marry whoever could gain what she wants. Of course, they agreed with this idea. She showed five different things as she wanted individually; the bowl of Buddha, the branch with the ball of the water lily, the far of the fire mouse, the bead of the dragon, and the swallow’s talisman. It was almost impossible to get all those things, and they tried as hard as they could, but couldn’t. 

You can find the rest of this version of the story HERE.