Photo/Illutration The cover of a book “Guri and Gura/ The Giant Egg”, an English translation from “Guri to Gura” series (Provided by Fukuinkan Shoten Publishers Inc.)

“Guri to Gura” (Guri and Gura), a popular series of picture storybooks for children about two eponymous field mice, starts with the duo going into the woods, saying, "We are Guri and Gura, those are our names, we love to cook, and we love to eat.”

In a climactic scene, a colossal “kasutera” sponge cake appears. I wonder how many young readers have been mesmerized by this moist, eggy confection of Portuguese origin that was introduced to Japan in the 16th century.

Yuriko Yamawaki, who drew the illustrations for the series, died on Sept. 29. She was 80.

Her older sister, Rieko Nakagawa, wrote the stories. The two made a great team.

Surprisingly, Yamawaki never received professional training in art.

“Being called an illustrator of children’s books makes me squirm,” she once told an interviewer. 

She studied French at university and later made her name as a translator who introduced medieval European versified animal tales to Japan.

From her exquisite translation of a novel about a family who fled to France during the Russian Revolution, I could sense her thoughts for peace as someone who was evacuated to Sapporo during World War II.

Her sincere personality was manifest in her meticulous observation of her art subjects. I understand she chose orange as the color of the bodies of Guri and Gura after studying specimens of mice at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo.

Beloved for their heartwarming illustrations and rhythmical narratives, the “Guri to Gura” series of books have been rendered into Braille--not only the text, but the pictures as well, using a Braille art system with bumps and dips on transparent sheets.

Incidentally, the story’s jumbo kasutera cake is difficult to make in a pan as pictured: It would turn out as a thin pancake, or get burnt.

My internet search yielded many recipes for “skillet-made Guri and Gura kasutera.”

Yamawaki’s works will remain a “tasty snack” for young readers, so to speak, and will also continue to appeal to the five senses of readers, including those reading them in Braille, of all ages.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 10

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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