Gon the Fox

The story is small but it captures village life of Japan in brief. Narrative style is also as lucid as water.

Here Gon is a naughty fox who lives in a mountain by a village named Nakayama. The village is named after a feudal lord of the bygone era , Nakayama. His mischievous works on the farmland make the villagers angry but he is an expert in escaping from his follies.

The real story starts after a rainy day when the landscape and waterscape of village are blurred by the magic of torrential rainfall.The translation works touches the mood of story in brief without being disturbed by unnecessary spaces in story.Gon's movement and associated changes after a wet spell breaks the boundary between the Indian and the Japanese village.

Gon stole a fat eel from Hyoju which was caught to serve his ailing mother. The position of eel curled around the neck of Gon was symbolic of the bottle neck situation of his life also.

Eventually the mischievous fox realised his mistakes and changed his course of action to help Hyoju. But his helped , which was earned in dishonest way ,furthermore got Hyoju in trouble as villagers accused Hyoju of stealing. Gon changed his style of help. He gathered chestnut and mushroom by his own to cater to the poor and lonely Hyoju without showing his presence. Sudden gifts without the trace of giver amazed Hyoju. One day, on the way to deliver his gifts, Gon was discovered by Hyoju and was fired at. At last Hyoju realised the figure behind the gifts but it was too late and Gon was gone forever.

The end is unlike Indian literature made for children but its appeal is universal cutting across social boundaries. The socio-economic life of a village in Japan too was sketched ,from time to time, with its own characteristic features. The pictures of Harikiri net in a torrent to catch fish, the green pampas at the foothill of mountains, the practice of blackening of teeth by elite women in Japan, white kimonoes , ceremonials kamishino, call of well of people to not so well of standing beside the backdoor, sound of wooden gong , chant to Amida Buddha were used as mosaic to give a bigger picture at the end of the story.

The story is small but it lingers for days together after being finished. Translation captures the mood of the original story from end to end. Printed value is 150/- . The quality of the paper is good and prints are well checked. The given illustrations are not very colourful to give more gravity and space on narrations.

Title: Gon the Fox

Publisher: Spout

Original Author: Nankichi Niimi.

Translated in English by Nissim Bedekar .