Sans famille (1878), one of the most well-known French children’s books written by Hector Malot, has been popular in Japan since it was first translated. More than 180 translations, including five manga versions, were published, and two animated television series were produced and broadcast in 1977 and 1996. The first two translations in Japan were published in the form of a serialized novel, in 1902 and 1911, both in sequential installments in major daily newspapers. This presentation will focus on these first two translations published in the Meiji era, “Mada minu oya” (1902–1903) translated by Sosen Gorai and “Ie naki ko” (1911–1912), by Yuho Kikuchi, and consider the source of their popularity in Japan.

Both Gorai and Kikuchi categorized the original as a “Katei shosetsu (home novel)”. Gorai observed moralities concerning parent-child relationships in the original and carefully translated the parent-child scenes. The depiction of the affection between the parent and child and the education aimed at building the child’s character in the original work were highly appreciated, while the translation also added the idea of gratitude of the child for the parent, which Gorai regarded as the basis of Japanese family morality. Similarly, Kikuchi, a best-selling author of “home novels” for female readers, appreciated that most of the female characters in the original sacrificed themselves and cared for their children, husbands, and parents. Kikuchi's translation emphasizes the virtues of the female characters’ devotion to their families. Therefore, both Gorai and Kikuchi adapted their translations to include moral values that were appropriate and acceptable to the Japanese ideal of “home” of the time.

This presentation will focus on “Kitaro,” the hero of Shigeru Mizuki's manga “Gegege no Kitaro” (1967-), known worldwide for its manga and animation. With “Kitaro” as the central character, this presentation traces how a character inspired by folklore became established as a hero for children in Japan and abroad, from picture story shows in the 1930s, to manga, to animation.

Kitaro, the character from the now widely known animation Gegege no Kitaro, is a young boy born from a graveyard, who, in cooperation with his fellow yokai (monsters), including his father, Father with the Eyeball, Cat Girl, Rat Man, and Nurikabe, acts as a hero who helps the weak. The character was inspired by a folklore in various parts of Japan called “Kosodate Ghost” (Child-rearing Ghost Folklore), in which a ghost woman who had given birth to a child in a tomb after her death bought candy to feed the orphaned child. Eventually, Shigeru Mizuki, who earned his living as a picture-story show illustrator after the war, wrote the original, picture-story show “Graveyard Kitaro” with the permission of the original author, and later became a rental book cartoonist and wrote the manga “Graveyard Kitaro” and “Kitaro Night Story”, adding such major characters as the eyeball father, mouse man, and cat girl. Mizuki's works were serialized in shōnen manga in the 1960s, stabilizing their popularity, and were made into an animated TV series in 1968. Around the same time, a book-length manga of Shigeru Mizuki's Gegege no Kitaro was also published in 1967. Meanwhile, in conjunction with the animated series, a series of reading materials for younger audiences was also published, and the image of Kitaro as a hero of justice became firmly established in the series. The animated series will be in its sixth season by 2020, and there are 11 animated films and two live-action films in theaters. The series has been developed in a variety of media, from radio dramas, novels, and stage productions to pachinko games.

In fact, the 100-year history of “Kitaro” is a model case in which a pre-modern voice story was reorganized into a modern written and optical story while the story was passed on. The story of the “ghost raising a child,” which had been handed down in various regions in the pre-modern age through the medium of voice, was reorganized with the addition of modern written, graphic (printed), and optical media, and spread to various regions through picture-story shows and rental manga. Over the course of 100 years, the same characters and their stories have been reorganized in different media, and the methods of transmission and reception have been transformed as the stories have been passed down through the generations. It also becomes clear that behind this model is a network of people connected by “inevitable coincidences,” as in the case of Shigeru Mizuki.

MIYAZAKI Hayao's “Spirited Away,” released in 2001, is an internationally acclaimed animated film that won the 75th Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film in 2003. A Japanese fantasy novel was influential in the process of creating this animation: KASHIWABA Sachiko's debut novel, The Marvelous Village Veiled in Mist published in 1975. In 1998, the possibility of adapting Kashiwaba's work into a film was discussed, but ultimately abandoned. However, the framework of Kashiwaba's story about “a girl who ends up working in a mysterious world” was incorporated into the production process of “Spirited Away”. Kashiwaba's work is a full-length fantasy in which the main character, a young girl named Rina, arrives in a mysterious town veiled in mist in the mountains during her summer vacation, and undergoes an inner transformation through working at stores in the town during her stay there. In this presentation, I will explore how Kashiwaba portrays the main character who transforms through her work experiences in the alternate world. Additionally, I will examine the potential of the children's literature genre in the written form by highlighting the differences with “Spirited Away”.