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Sunny Seki, author-illustrator,
Yuko-Chan and the Daruma Doll: The Adventures of a Blind Japanese Girl Who Saves Her Village
Tuttle, 2012.

Age: 5 and up

Sunny Seki’s latest children’s book is set 200 years ago in the village of Takasaki, 90 miles from Tokyo, just after a devastating volcanic eruption of nearby (and still active) Mt. Asama. Yuko-chan, Seki’s spunky little fictional heroine, is a blind orphan, cared for by the monks at Daruma Temple there.

Yuko-chan’s intelligence, compassion and complete lack of self-pity are evident early in the story. She knows all about how Daruma (Bodhidharma to westerners) brought the Buddha’s teaching to China. Daruma was famous for continuing to meditate even after his arms and legs became numb. He exhorted followers, “If you fall seven times, you must pick yourself up eight times! You need strong faith, and the belief that you can accomplish your goals!”

The indomitable Yuko-chan, inspired by Daruma’s words, helps deliver food to bereft villagers who have lost their homes and farms. One day, she notices that her tea gourd always returns to upright after being dropped, and she likens it to Daruma, never giving up. She gets the villagers to begin painting gourds with Daruma’s famously fierce face. The Daruma dolls quickly gain popularity. Her ingenious idea provides a new livelihood for the community.

Takasaki is in fact famous today for its Daruma dolls. Visitors purchase the dolls with the eyes blank. They paint in one eye when they make a wish or vow and add the other when their goal is achieved. Actually an old tradition with a murky history, the eye painting has been criticized in recent years by Japanese organizations for the blind. Perhaps their protest inspired Seki’s story; it’s poetically appropriate that his vision-impaired little girl would resolve a village crisis with goal-inspiring, blank-eyed Daruma dolls.

Award-winning author-illustrator Sunny Seki brings the feisty and adorable Yuko-chan vividly to life in word and image. He captures the simple beauties of nature and the rustic built environment of the time as well. A Japanese translation follows the English text on each page, with hiragana (phonetic) symbols printed in superscript so novice Japanese readers can more easily follow the story. The back matter gives additional information about Daruma and the Daruma doll tradition. Tuttle’s expert design and high production quality further enhance the experience of Yuko-chan and the Daruma Doll. Its impact will deepen with repeated reading.

Charlotte Richardson
April 2012

Setsu Broderick and Willamarie Moore, illustrated by Setsu Broderick,
Japanese Traditions: Rice Cakes, Cherry Blossoms and Matsuri
Tuttle Books.

Ages: 8-12

This delightful picture book of months shows Japan’s traditional customs and practices over the calendar year. Using a family of cats whimsically and colorfully drawn in a beautiful countryside setting, the authors explore the various customs and festivals engaged in by the residents through a typical Japanese year. The book is laid out in months, showing the festivals, games and foods associated with that season. This is the kind of book that one could read over the span of a year, enjoying what a typical country family in Japan would experience in their daily life. The seasons, after all, are somewhat universal and some of what appears in the book would be familiar to readers in many other parts of the world. I especially liked the spring time to early summer period –March to June – when all the fruit trees begin to blossom starting with the plum and ending with the hydrangea, and of course, including the ever symbolic cherry blossom which typically blooms in April.

The illustrations by Setsu Broderick are what make this book a real pleasure to read. As the preface indicates, this book is a look back by the illustrator Setsu, at her childhood memories of the Japanese countryside of 50 years ago. There’s a cozy familiarity to the images that are nonetheless finely detailed renderings of what a country house or yard might look like at any given season in the year. From the communal kotatsu – low table with a wraparound blanket around it with a heat lamp underneath — present in the winter households to the presence of the ubiquitous uchiwa fans in summer, each of the seasons contains nostalgic images from Japan’s more rural areas. For each of the months depicted, there is a question at the back about the activities the kittens are involved in or are doing. These questions are designed to make the reader look closer and enjoy the details – something that I know my daughter likes doing with picture books.

Japanese Traditions is exactly the kind of book worth curling up with in a warm place with your child. It’s a friendly, nostalgic look at the country, filled with the bustling details of the everyday life of Japanese families in the countryside as they experience it twelve months of the year.

Sally Ito
March 2012