An unpublished work by Satoshi Kako, a picture book author known for the "Daruma-chan" series and other works, who died five years ago at the age of 5, was found at his home in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture. In the story of a jellyfish struggling for a parent and child who have been widowed in the war, Kako's eldest daughter says, "I think it contains the feeling of a father's prayer that war will never happen again."
Picture book author Satoshi Kako, known for his work such as the "Daruma-chan" series and "Karasu no Panya-san," published more than 600 works, ranging from humorous works to science-themed picture books, and died five years ago at the age of 5.
The unpublished work was discovered by Kako's eldest daughter, Mari Suzuki, who manages Kako's work, when she was sorting through old manuscripts at Kako's home in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Titled "Jellyfish Papo-chan," it tells the story of a jellyfish that learns that a young boy has lost his father in the war and struggles to find the boy's father, who is submerged in the distant southern sea.
It is spelled out with a fountain pen on 1 sheets of manuscript paper, and from the date at the end, it seems to have been produced from Showa 14 to Showa 25 before making his debut as a picture book author.
At that time, Kako had just started reading picture-story shows to children, and it is believed that they were written to make them into picture-story shows because the number of pages is assigned to each scene.
Mr. Suzuki said, "It's not a scary story, it's a cute story, and yet it's a story that sticks in the heart. The war has brought something so sad to the boy's family that even Jellyfish feels like he has to do something for him. I think it's like my father's prayer that such a thing would never happen again. Now that conflicts are happening all over the world, I think we need to know that there was a war in our country in the past."