Recasting the Past: An Early Modern Tales of Ise for Children (Brill, 2016)
ISBN: 9789004337138; List price: €59 / $65

http://www.brill.com/products/book/recasting-past-early-modern-tales-ise-children

In Recasting the Past: An Early Modern Tales of Ise for Children Laura Moretti recreates in image and text the unresearched 1766 picture-book Ise fūryū: Utagaruta no hajimari (The Fashionable Ise: The Origins of Utagaruta). The introduction analyses Utagaruta through a discussion of the textual scholarship relating to chapbooks and kusazōshi. It also contextualizes this work to shed new light on the reception history of the canonical Tales of Ise and to position Utagaruta within the realm of children’s literature. This is followed by the full transcription and translation of Utagaruta, with annotations to each image. Learned and visually rich, Moretti’s study permits the reader to enjoy the inventiveness and beauty of early modern Japanese literature.

This publication targets undergraduate and graduate students as well as specialists interested in early modern Japanese literature and the reception of The Tales of Ise. The book includes an introduction that discusses topics relevant to those working in the fields of textual scholarship, book history, popular print culture and children’s literature. The reproduction of the original picture-book, together with the integral diplomatic transcription of the text, is a valuable tool in the study of Japanese early-modern palaeography.