The Old Bamboo-Hewer's Story. By F. Victor Dickins. (Triibner and
Co.)—" The Tale of Taketori," the earliest of the Japanese romances of the tenth century, is, we have no hesita- tion in saying it, a charming and graceful idyll. We can well believe Mr. Dickins when he draws a comparison between this, the first of the " monegatari " and the " Genji-monogatari," much to the advantage of "The Tale of Taketori." Both in construction and poetical imagination, it is of a high order of literary art. What it has suffered in translation must, of course, be great, though Mr. Dickins has done his best. We are not sure that a less archaic style would not have suited the Japanese equally well. We have, besides the Japanese text, a commentary, notes, a vocabulary, and three chromo-lithographs from pictures on rolls, or makimono. Mr. Dickins has done well in translating this delightful old Japanese tale.
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