The Animal Court: A Political Fable from Old Japan
by Ando Shoeki, Jeffrey Hunter
Category: Fiction

A parable from 18th-century Japan, The Animal Court recounts the proceedings of four tribunals of animals -- the birds, the beasts, the crawling creatures, and the fishes -- that gather to judge the follies of the human race. In a brilliant parody of human society, they decry humanity1s perverse lack of self-knowledge, and lament how we foolishly imitate the laws of their harsh realms, in which big eats small. Deftly translated by Jeffrey Hunter from Japanese author Ando Shoeki1s 3Tales of the World of Law,2 and illustrated with contemporary woodblock prints, The Animal Court is funny and thought-provoking, with a very topical ecological and political twist.