The birthplace of the fairy tale author "Gon the Fox" Nankichi Niimi

I visited the birthplace of Niimi Nankichi in Handa City. The volunteers gave me an easy-to-understand tour and I learned a lot. The children's story writer Niimi Nankichi, who is said to be the "Niimi Nankichi of the West" alongside the "Miyazawa Kenji of the East," was born in this house on July 30, 1913 (Taisho 2), as the second son of his father, Watanabe Tazo, who ran a tatami mat shop, and his mother, Rie. When Nankichi's mother Rie died at the age of four, he was adopted by his grandmother and took the surname "Niimi," but he eventually returned to this house and grew up. In the house with his stepmother, he was the only one who felt a sense of distance from his stepmother, and his life was by no means easy. He was not in good health, but his rich sensibilities could not be suppressed, and Nankichi's imagination ran wild in this house and the surrounding environment, which was sublimated into many of his works. In fact, it was the setting for the fairy tale "The Fox" and the novels "Sparrow" and "Return Home," and it is also where he wrote his final works, "Little Taro's Sorrow," while enduring the pain two months before his death at the age of 29 from a worsening case of laryngeal tuberculosis. The house was later rented and sold to others, but in 1983, the 40th anniversary of Nankichi's birth, it was purchased by the city of Handa and restored, and has been open to the public since 1987. #Tourism in Aichi Prefecture #Trip to experience history and culture #Nankichi Niimi