SOURCE: A foreword to Winds From Afar, by Kenji Miyazawa, translated by John Bester, Kodansha International Ltd., 1972, pp. 7-9.

In the following foreward to his translation of Miyazawa's children's tales entitled Wings from Afar, Bester summarizes the "charm and inventiveness, " humanism, and "intense nostalgia for innocence" that characterize Miyazawa's short stories.

Of the sixteen tales translated [in Winds from Afar] six have appeared previously in a small volume entitled Winds and Wildcat Places. The previous collection was produced essentially as a book for children. In increasing the number of stories and publishing them in the present format, the aim has been not only to create a definitive edition of the best of Miyazawa but also to produce a book that can be enjoyed at least as much by adults as by children.

To do this implies a considerable confidence in the value of Miyazawa's children's stories. To translate...