I am a huge believer in the power of a story. We all have our own stories to tell but it's easy to forget the magic and beauty of tales told, and retold, many times over the centuries.
I have started to explore some of these stories and use them as inspiration for my image processing. Maybe I am a budding illustrator, but that's not for me to determine. It takes many months for me to think about how to create pictures to support the words so some of my imagery is not yet complete. These pages will set out tales that have caught my imagination.
Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
Focusing on images taken while visiting the beautiful Arashiyama Bamboo Forest in Kyoto I looked for a story to tell. After a bit of research, I came across the most beautiful fairy tale, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.
This tale is considered to be the oldest surviving monogatari, a fictional prose narrative which contains elements of Japanese Folklore. A manuscript dating back to 1592 has been found although the author is unknown.
I set out the story in a summarised form along with images depicting scenes as I visualise them to be. The story is incredibly rich in mystery and imagery (hence the summarisation) and has been a joy to work with. I hope you enjoy both the tale and my accompanying interpretations.
