Keiko Sena, a picture book author known for books such as “Nenaiko Dareda”, has died. Previous interviews will be posted. I pray for Sena’s soul. (First published in the morning edition of Chunichi Shimbun on June 5, 2006. Age etc. at the time)
◆ Support from children, not parents
Many people may be familiar with ghosts and keen-eyed rabbits. He is known as the author of picture books with a wide variety of ghost stories, including “Nenai Kodarada”, “Sena Keiko Ghost Picture Book”, and “Glasses Usagi”. “Nenai…” has been printed 134 times since the first issue in 1969.
“Bought paper alone doesn’t make it interesting,” said Keiko Sena, who showed us her “Treasure.” “I only draw what I like” = 2006 in Zushi City, Kanagawa Prefecture
Tetsu Miwa, who has run the children’s bookstore Fairy Tale House in Nagoya’s Chikusa Ward for many years, says, “In the end, books will not survive if they are not supported by children, not parents. ” “It feels like being born rather than being created. There are sayings like “Turn into a Ghost and fly with you”. But children love it.”
◆ My mother is strongly against becoming a picture book author.
The person in question had decided to become a picture book author since high school.
Born in Tokyo. A connection with Ochanomizu University came from primary school. My favorite since I was 1 year old, I fell in love with the modern illustrations in the book “Toy Box” by the artist Takeo Takei. I was very interested in the form of the book and above all in the world of Takei. My mother was completely against it. When I graduated high school, I said, “I won’t need a penny tomorrow.”
While working in a bank, he studied stylistic drawing, attended a copywriting and design school, and was apprenticed to Takei at the age of 19. The composition is bad, the drawing is crazy, and the colors are dirty. It was tough. “But if I succeeded, I wouldn’t be able to face my parents who were against it, so I stayed.”
◆ Hari-e is the expression I was looking for
I learned scissors and glue techniques from my brothers and sisters. Although it is difficult to express in detail, the easiest technique to decide on paper machining was the expression I was looking for more than using paint. Three types of scissors are used, including straight lines and details. Trace the outline of the rabbit with a compass needle and tear it out with your finger to create soft fuzzy lines. My master also said, “What is the purpose of cutting?”
I was busy working on magazine back covers, illustrations, and copywriting, but work on books never came. My friends and I argued, “It’s the publisher’s fault for not understanding!” draw only when she was in the hospital.
I wrote my first picture book at the age of 36. The “carrots” she made in the background in an advertisement for her 3-year-old son, who loved the “Usako-chan” picture book, caught the editor’s attention. “It’s a world where you can do what you want even if you study hard, you might not see anything.
The following year, his “Iyadai Ida Picture Books,” which he published in four books, including “Carrots” and “Nenai Kodarada,” won the Sankei Children’s Publishing Culture Award. After receiving the award, he continued to publish several books a year, and has written about 150 books.
◆“Do children like ghosts this much?”
My son watches the anime “GeGe no Kitaro” even though he is afraid of it. “Do children like ghosts much?” A relationship with a ghost has begun. Due to her husband’s influence, she also liked Kunio Yanagita from an early age. I attended folklore courses and researched many foreign ghosts. It took 10 years to complete “Usatarou’s Ghost Diary,” a rewrite of the Edo period “Inoumonokeroku.” we have to pass them on as they are.”
Mr. Takei’s greatest lesson was, “Don’t copy others, but draw pictures that you can tell by looking at them.”The style has hardly changed in 35 years. since it was first published.
◆ Two “special” books.
His home in Zushi City, Kanagawa Prefecture is overflowing with reference books. The box full of papers with different patterns is amazing. Save leaflets and wrapping paper too. The third work in the Megane Usagi series, released in 2002 after 27 years, features the same paper clothes as the previous work.
I still watch children’s programs on NHK. He even confronts his editor, saying, “The background of the show must be black.” But don’t use grim stories or stories that leave a bad taste in your mouth. “Picture books are a world where you can have fun. They’re not about memorizing letters or making you smarter.” Among them, there are two picture books called “This is special.” “Ijiwaru” was inspired by the Vietnam War, and “The fight between the Sun and the Moon” was inspired by the Iraq War. “How many children in that country are sacrificed? There is no such thing as a good war. The weak are always sacrificed. I wanted to emphasize that.”
◆ Study more than useful things
Children’s literature, poetry, haiku, foreign language classes … the amount of lessons, reading and studying is incredible. “I don’t study like normal people,” he says. “Learn about things that are not immediately useful, and see all kinds of things that become the basis of the soup.
There are countless ingredients that go into the taste that have attracted people for years. (Yumiko Nomura)
If I don’t have something special to do, I like to go out. It is not my nature to be small at home. I’m only at home one or two days a week. When I went to Ginza, I went for a massage and visited some used bookstores. I have loved visiting used bookstores since I was a teenager. When I go out, I usually leave early for errands. Sometimes I end up buying a book that I have already bought. If you think how it was, you end up buying it. After all, there’s no guarantee you’ll come across that book next time. There aren’t really any old magazines.
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