Kamis力 ′baFis coo‖

The appeal of々 a爛 ′5わ ′baF

appea of々 a″ lshiba,,we beheve
κ′Kyokan
一l.・わ力al a StO「 ytemng med um wh ch a‖ 」apanese areramn ar wnh frOm ch‖ dhood, s now ganng fo‖ owers

abroad,wheres seen as a・ coOr'and appea‖ ng art

form

An empathy that knows no borders

Th s report s by Etsuko Nozaka′

Fostelng ths senЫ Ы‖ty of κaη も the secret ot/ο 々''l have boon part of th s export da trans atorぃ /ho vAlrites about ch‖ dren's lterature outside」 apan andpresents々 am′ sん rba′ ′a unique part of」 apan′ s cu tural herta9e′ tO an international audienceve, perform ng anddesclbingね
めa′ n Engnsh and French at events"lsわsuch as the Boogna ch‖ dren's 8ook Fair and thelnternanonal BOard on Books ior Young People mBBY)sWo日 d Congressin Macao
・What a splend d idea,lam den雨 te y go ng io use that nc ass'Th s comment typried the admヤ ing reac10n Of
French spectatOrs at one such functon

・li this is絡 mlsh′ ba,,l want to know副 l about n,"sad a Spaǹh,￨こ 1paruc Pant Mutte商 ng.aBnlshparicipantqu eJywondered

hOw n drfered frOm p cture bOOks There are vanous
reasons ior the pOpulattty Ofた′a′ ηsわ ,ba′ For peop eoverse as,who have never expelenced

before,th s art

form has the appeal or noveny SO where does that appea
comef「 om?

Working with internationai Kam′

Whatis kam′ s力 ′わa′ ?
κalsわ jba′

sh′ わa′Association of Japandrfers frOm picture books tt has ns own

The nternalona′ 〈a"Isわ ′ba′ Assoc a輛 on Of」 apan oKAJA),

ind spensable,d suncuve Fo「 matwh ch th s yearcelebrates nstenth ann versary,s concerned・′(amた わ′ba′ texts are not bound:they cOnsist of a certa nwnh the theOreical aspects of b"ls力 ,ba′ ,and aranges

number oFseparate sheets orth ck paper wlh pictures onectures and workshoPs wnh periOrmance of the best

the front hvo movements areimporlant n the process ofぬmた わlba′ works a‖ Over」 apan and throughoutthe wondsわ ′baた s‖ dingka′

the p ctt,re out and snding n backin

Th s Assoc a6on,represented by Nolko Matsu,a P oneeroF"′

一覆一・ １︲﹁﹃臨一７

簗■・The storyls wltten on the back olthe p ctu「 es,and thep cture books and々 amお わlba′ and autho「 of theorelcal

performer d sp aysthe scene on one board and reads theworks on κamjsわ ,ba′ ,began re as a 22‐ person stee門 ∩9accompanying text oul oud from the board backs The

comm"tee nc udlng overseas members,n has grOwn ntOperFormer te‖ s the story wh‖ e Facing the audience

an associaloo ofover 700 members Ovef100 oFthem a「・To make each separate sheetstand Out,and tO faclnate

overseas, FrOm 33 countles around the wodd As

the perfo「 mers reading ofthe text on the back,a stage

international prolect C00「(Or m n卜 theater)haS been used The stage has three‐woddt argest ttmた わlba′ associapart doors on the frontlKA」 A fo「 10 years

dinator for this orclanizat on,theon l hat7e worked wnh

That s the Format oF ttmlshlbal The spec a features ofkamjsハ ルa′ are dettved from th s iOrmat,as fo‖

ows

・ The story‐ wor d expands outinto the space ofthe real

woHd・Through cOncentranOn and cOmmun catioǹthe kyokan
01era y・ shared Feeing")ofthe stOry wO‖ d is bOrn andsp「 eads

between the perFormer and the aud ence・ Through kソ okan, the stor"wond becomes theaud ence's own wond The de‖ ght ch‖ dren fee reiects
the ar sing of kyο kanlKA」 A member countries outside Japan

Argenuna.Austra a.Be9um,canada,Ch na,
Coomba,Denmark,F n and,France,Germany.
lndia,lndonesia,lreland, srael, La y,SouthKorea,Ma ays a,the Nethenands,New Zeaand
Nicaragua,Nor/・ ay Peru,Portugat,Puelto Rico,

S ngapore,South Af商 ca,Spain,Sweden,
Switze‖ and.Tha‖ andV etnamethe UK the USA and