Original language:
Japanese Translated from: Russian
Authors: Inui, Tomiko
Translated by: Žemaitytė, Petrė
Full translated source bibliographical description:
Inui Tomiko, Pesni o chaikach, M., Detskaja literatura, 1968
Published in: Vilnius
Published on: 1982
Publisher: Vaga
The story of this book takes place in Kabushima island, Aomori prefecture. To this island, which is always full of herring and other fish, each year thousands of seagulls return to breed. In these places seagulls have long been considered sacred birds – messengers of the fish god. On this island temple of the fish god stands. Also, seagulls reserve was established.
This short story in details tells us about the 1960s events related to Kabushima island residents. One of the major characters in the book is Fuyuka. She moved from the village to the city into her grandparent house to attend the new school. Fuyuka has an injured right hand. In this novel the protagonist\’s grandfather – Kenzabura, works as a seagulls guard, guarding them against tourists and all kinds of abuse. When he is unable to protect grown up seagulls, Kenzabura raises their offspring.
In Fuyuka’s school there is engraving circle, which is led by a very dedicated teacher- Tanaka. There is a lot of attention for engraving circle in the book. One time teacher Ota decided to visit the island just to see seagulls. Herewith he visited the engraving circle. Students were inspired by his speech about seagulls. Children started creating the very first engraving album about seagulls. The name of the album was “The Song of the Stormy Petrel”. As the time passed on, children work has improved.
Also, the book reveals everyday life of the small fishing village. People struggle to survive and catch food. Everyone has to work in the family and it does not matter how old are you. In reality it is very easy to seduce girls from the poor families to work in the factory. In the factory they actually feel like princesses even though they have to work a lot.
This book tells us about true events. Majority of the events take place in Japan’s small school, engraving circle, which is led by a very dedicated teacher. The author writes about life of seagulls with great love.
Tomiko Inui was born in Tokyo in 1924. She joined a publishing house in 1950, where she began working as an editor, as well as writing books for children, winning prizes along the way. She was also runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen prize.