Picture Book 'Guri and Gura' Author Rieko Nakagawa Passes Away

Rieko Nakagawa, the author of the picture book 'Guri and Gura's Bread Making,' passed away from old age on the 14th at a hospital in Tokyo, Japan, at the age of 89, according to Japanese media including the Asahi Shimbun.

Photo of Rieko Nakagawa (left) and the Korean edition cover of "Guri and Gura"/Photo by Yonhap News

She was born in 1935 in Sapporo and, after graduating from the Tokyo Metropolitan Higher Nursery School, worked as a childcare teacher at the 'Midori (Green) Nursery School' in Komazawa, Tokyo.

In an interview with the Asahi Shimbun last year, she said, "I loved working as a childcare teacher so much that I joined the nursery school, and every day was enjoyable," adding, "Children grow up while playing. After thinking about 'what is the unique joy of a nursery school,' I came up with picture books and stories."

She also told the Asahi Shimbun that after watching the British picture story 'Little Black Sambo' and creating a puppet play, she noticed that children liked the scene where they eat pancakes, which inspired her to write a story featuring even tastier castella cake.

She then conceived a story about eggs, an ingredient of castella, and after seeing a French picture book 'Pouf et Noiraud campeurs,' where two cats sing a song including the phrase 'Gurit Gurut Gurat' during camping, she invented the field mouse brothers named 'Guri and Gura.'

She debuted as an author in 1962 with 'I Don't Like Nursery School,' and in 1963 published the first work of her representative series 'Guri and Gura.'

The illustrations were done by her younger sister Yuriko Yamawaki (who passed away in 2022). 'Guri and Gura' has been translated into English, Chinese, Korean, and other languages. The cumulative circulation of the 22-volume series has exceeded 22 million copies.

In Korea, several volumes have been translated and published, including 'Guri and Gura's Bread Making,' 'Guri and Gura's Picnic,' 'Guri and Gura's Swimming,' and 'Guri and Gura and Kkotnim.'

She also wrote the lyrics for 'Sanbo,' the theme song of the animated film 'My Neighbor Totoro.'

Picture book critic Yukiko Hiromatsu told the Asahi Shimbun, "She utilized her experience as a childcare teacher to think about ways to delight children and created stories from a child's perspective," adding, "'Guri and Gura' contains elements that allow children to feel happiness."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.