Japanese Folk Tales - Peach Boy 日本昔話・桃太郎

This is the story of Momotarou, or…Peach Boy!

The story dates back from a waaay long time ago, so I decided to set it in Heian Era Japan (around 1000AD).  I have no idea what Heian Era Japan looked like, so it took awhile to dig up photos of the typical home interior, but its pretty awesome to learn about how they lived, and what they wore.

Once again an old, kindhearted couple make their appearance. This time around, they aren’t poor and starving, but they aren’t happy either, cause they’ve never been able to have kids. One day the old woman finds a bunch of peaches in the river, takes the best looking one home, and just before she cuts it open, it splits apart, to reveal a baby inside! Naturally they don’t find this freaky at all, and they happily raise the son as their own.

He grows up to save the village (with the help of a dog, a monkey, and a bird) from a clan of demons living on a nearby island, and they all live happily ever after.

Sketches of the gooey baby coming out of the peach to follow. Tomorrow perhaps?

Japanese Folk Tales - Kasajizou (2)

I did a quick mock up in pencil of the thumbnail I thought had the best composition (from my previous post) to see if it still held up when I did it almost full size. My goal is to eventually do this in watercolor without the help of the computer. I may be biting off more than I can chew.

And some more old man character studies.

Japanese Folk Tales - Kasajizou 日本昔話・笠地蔵

I’ve always loved old folklore, especially the stories from Japan. I’m going to try my best to do a series of illustrations based on some of my favorite stories. If its good enough, I may try to hold a gallery when I go back to Japan. I’m really excited about the cool illustrations that could come out of this, there are some wonderful stories to choose from.

These are my character studies for my first illustration, from the story Kasajizou. Kasa are those straw hats you often see Japanese farmers wearing, and a Jizou (or Ojizousama) is a deity that protects children (it’s a little deeper than that, but you can read about that here if you’re interested)

Some thumbnails of possible compositions.

My first choice starts off like most of them, with an old, poor, but kind hearted couple. On New Year’s Eve, the old man makes hats to sell at the market so he can buy food, but when he can sell none, returns home feeling defeated. On the way he runs into these six little Ojizousama statues, each with snow piled up on their heads. Feeling sorry for them, he brushes the snow off, and gives his straw hats to each of them. He only has five hats though, so to the sixth statue he gives the covering from his own head. In the end the statues return to his home while he sleeps, and leave a mountain of food at his doorstep.