Rieko Nakagawa, a children’s literature author known for her “Guri to Gura” picture book series, has died. This is an interview with Mr. Nakagawa where he talks about his family. I pray for the repose of Mr. Nakagawa’s soul. (First published in the morning edition of Tokyo Shimbun on September 17, 2000. Age etc. at the time)
[Labhraímis faoin teaghlach]
Rieko Nakagawa created many picture books and old stories that were passed down from generation to generation, such as “Guri go Gura” and “Sorairo no Tane.” Yuriko Yamawaki’s real sister is the illustrations, growing up in?
I have five siblings: an older sister, a younger brother, Yuriko, and another younger sister. When I was born, my father was still working as an assistant in the research laboratory at Hokkaido University’s Faculty of Agriculture. Later, I moved to Tokyo with my family to work at a silk testing center. My father is a man who takes care of his family. Although he was dignified, he often helped my mother and took care of the children and played with them.
Picture book author Rieko Nakagawa talks about the secret story behind the birth of “Guritogura”
This is because when my father was a student, he boarded in the home of an educator who took in young offenders and raised them alongside his own children. They probably inherited the idea that the family is the most basic place for people. I think he valued the warmth and joy of family life more than most fathers. My mother also listened to one of his lectures and enjoyed it very much, so she visited his home and they got married.
So all my parents had a consistent idea of what a family is. I believed that emotional education is the most important thing for people, and I did everything in place for emotional education. Surround your child with good things. I made sure to put the best things in there, be it books, pictures, or music.
Part of her emotional education is helping her mother weed, and inviting guests to eat her mother’s simple home-cooked meals. Not a luxury. My father said he was a poor student, and he had no money.
But surprisingly, there were many books. Soseki, Shiga Naoya, everything was there. People in the past read books, even if it meant cutting back on food and clothing. The things I bought were piled up all over the house. All my brothers loved books and read them often.
◆ Books are a common subject for families
No matter how much I love books, my father always says, “Don’t read nonsense. It’s more emotionally helpful to weed than to read.”My mother hated sentimental girls’ novels, saying , “There were no smart women in them.”Instead, before I knew it, my mother was reading books like Iwanami Shonen Bunko and other books that children talked about so interestingly. The whole family understood the story of the book.
We often fought over books and had many sibling fights. However, my mother believed that it was better for siblings to get along, and my father believed that there was nothing uglier than fighting between flesh and bones, so we used to fight in secret. My mother said, “I want to raise each child as if they were one.”I think I had a different relationship with my sister and my mother, and my sister and my mother. I didn’t treat her like a younger sister because she was my older sister, and I didn’t compare her. I don’t know what conflict my older sister and younger sisters had with their parents, even though they lived under the same roof.
It was a difficult time during and after the war, but I think my parents worked hard to raise and protect their family. Even without things, we had fun, and thanks to that, we got on well with siblings and grew up without bending.
◆ Create to encourage happy kindergartens
Influenced by books, I started working in a nursery school at the age of 20. It was fun thinking about how to have fun playing with the kids every day.
Part of that is reading lots of picture books and coming up with stories. I am creating with the only motivation how to please the cute kids in front of me. We also raised our son together in the same nursery.
When I published the first book I wrote, “Iyaiyaen,” in doujinshi, I was wondering what to do with the illustrations, so I asked Yuriko, who was a a high school student at the time and who loved drawing. of chocolate. Of course, this is Yuriko’s first work. Since then, we were lucky to have a good relationship, but my parents didn’t seem particularly aware of this. They are individuals.
Although my parents have passed away, their emotional education and the idea that “family is important” continues to enrich me.
Rieko NakagawaHe was born in Sapporo in 1935. A fairy tale writer. After graduating from Tokyo City High School Kindergarten in 1955, she worked in a kindergarten until 1970. In 1962, he won various awards, including the Minister of Health and Welfare’s Award, for his collection of children’s stories. “Iiyayaen” (Fukuinkan Shoten). Many products have been sold for a long time such as the series “Elta the Frog,” “Lion Midori’s Day,” and “Guritogura”. In March of this year, the first new work in the same series for 13 years, “Guri go Gura and Sumire-chan” was published. Her husband, the artist Soya Nakagawa, illustrated many of her works, such as “Momoiro no Giraffe” (see above). His eldest son, Gata Nakagawa, is also a painter. Lives in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo. 64 years old.
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