“Features on a Quince” (original Japanese title: “Marumero ni me hana no tsuku hanashi,” 1920) remains something of a hidden gem among short stories by Izumi Kyōka (1873–1939), a writer known for his tales of fantasy and beauty and admired by many of the most famous names in modern Japanese literature, such as Akutagawa Ryūnosuke (1892–1927), Tanizaki Jun’ichirō (1886–1965), and Mishima Yukio (1925–1970). The story is set in the neighborhood of Kanazawa City where Kyōka grew up, and through depictions of real-life sites like the Kuboichi Ototsurugi Shrine, where Kyōka would play as a child, and the Kuragari-zaka or “Slope of Darkness,” a gloomy path down the hill behind the shrine leading into the pleasure quarters along the southwest bank of the Asano River, we sense Kyōka drawing on his own childhood memories as he shows us an adult realm of sexual desire through the eyes of the protagonist, the boy Kenzō. The story’s title refers to the fruit of a quince to which Kenzō has given eyes and a nose in the form of little bite marks; accordingly, the face on the quince takes on a striking resemblance to the features of the local beauty, Otowa, and seems to cast a spell on all the boys around. This quince, and the exquisite fragrance that envelops it, emits a seductive allure—a forbidden fruit threatening to put an end to Kenzō’s age of innocence as a boy yet to experience his sexual awakening.
Kyōka was an author who excelled at stirring up the reader’s imagination through various suggestive hints in his prose, thereby using a sort of alchemy to share with his reader the distinct experience of a world unseen. The fruits of such talents, however, are not limited to his so-called “fantastic” or supernatural fiction. Nakagawa Gaku, illustrator of Features...
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“Features on a Quince” (original Japanese title: “Marumero ni me hana no tsuku hanashi,” 1920) remains something of a hidden gem among short stories by Izumi Kyōka (1873–1939), a writer known for his tales of fantasy and beauty and admired by many of the most famous names in modern Japanese literature, such as Akutagawa Ryūnosuke (1892–1927), Tanizaki Jun’ichirō (1886–1965), and Mishima Yukio (1925–1970). The story is set in the neighborhood of Kanazawa City where Kyōka grew up, and through depictions of real-life sites like the Kuboichi Ototsurugi Shrine, where Kyōka would play as a child, and the Kuragari-zaka or “Slope of Darkness,” a gloomy path down the hill behind the shrine leading into the pleasure quarters along the southwest bank of the Asano River, we sense Kyōka drawing on his own childhood memories as he shows us an adult realm of sexual desire through the eyes of the protagonist, the boy Kenzō. The story’s title refers to the fruit of a quince to which Kenzō has given eyes and a nose in the form of little bite marks; accordingly, the face on the quince takes on a striking resemblance to the features of the local beauty, Otowa, and seems to cast a spell on all the boys around. This quince, and the exquisite fragrance that envelops it, emits a seductive allure—a forbidden fruit threatening to put an end to Kenzō’s age of innocence as a boy yet to experience his sexual awakening.
Kyōka was an author who excelled at stirring up the reader’s imagination through various suggestive hints in his prose, thereby using a sort of alchemy to share with his reader the distinct experience of a world unseen. The fruits of such talents, however, are not limited to his so-called “fantastic” or supernatural fiction. Nakagawa Gaku, illustrator of Features on a Quince, has been known till now for his reimaginings of Kyōka’s more “fantastic” stories in picture-book form: first “Of a Dragon in the Deep” (“Ryūtandan”), a story from 1896; then “A Bird of a Different Feather” (“Kechō”), a story from 1897; and then “The Vermillion Diary” (“Shu nikki”), a story from 1911. But with Features on a Quince, we see Nakagawa turning his attention to a tale that explores themes of sexual desire, and the experience of awakening to that hitherto uncharted world, head-on. Using a clean, “pop” visual style that suggests a boy’s vantage point, Nakagawa has succeeded in breathing new vitality into a work that has till now received scant critical attention. This is, indeed, a picture book meant for adults—for anyone who can remember what it was like to stand on the borderline of childhood with a presentiment toward what lies beyond.
■Book design data for Features on a Quince:
Special Commemorative Edition (limited to 500-copy print run)
・120 pp. total
・Bookbinding: hardcover (main body dimensions 200 mm by 200 mm), 6/6 (12-page Z-fold); Smyth-sewn; yellow-painted paper edges (fore-edge, head, tail); cover margins 2 mm
・Includes commemorative ex libris, bookmark, card (1 each)
・Signed by Nakagawa Gaku (illustrator)
・3,300 yen plus tax
・Main-body paper produced by Hokuetsu Kishū seishi (Hokuetsu Corp.)
・Offset printing (full color)
・Jacket design augmented with matted gold leaf
■Points of Interest:
・Book size is square (200 mm by 200 mm). Yellow paper edges (fore-edge, head, tail) accentuate “yellow” theme that connects with “quince” imagery and ties visual design elements together.
・Book jacket is made with special textured paper, adding tactile appeal as a physical object.
・Jacket title printed with matted gold leaf. Barcode omitted from back cover to emphasize visual design elements.
・Ink-colored endpaper (vs. bamboo-green in normal version); cream-colored paper used in main body; illustrations printed in full color.
・Japanese text reproduced following historical orthographic conventions. Care has also been given to recreate the feel of historical printing methods via individual letter placement on the page.
・Hardcover binding (Smyth-sewn) is hand-bound.
・Choice of 2 mm cover margins over more common 3 mm prioritizes feel of book in one’s hands as a physical object.
・Attention to details like jacket flap design—the jacket flaps can be brought together to form a special “hidden” image that resonates with the content of the book.
・Calligraphic elements in main body done by calligrapher Ueta Hiroshi.
・Includes essay by artist Yamamoto Takato.
・Signed by Nakagawa Gaku (illustrator).
・Includes commemorative ex libris, bookmark, card (1 each).
・This special commemorative edition limited to 500-copy print run.
For your reference
Izumi Kyoka : https://www.kanazawa-museum.jp/kyoka/english/index.html
Nakagawa Gaku : https://www.kobouzu.net/
iD. (Izumiya Design Office) : http://www.id-izumiya.jp/
Ueta Hiroshi : http://www.uetahiroshi.com/
Editions Treville Co., Ltd : http://uptight-m-shop.ocnk.net/product/353
Promote animation : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyjYRXLj3Ms&t=5s
