During the late Kamakura period, there lived a famous swordsmith known as Masamune whose renown as a swordsmith was so great that even long after his passing the term “Masamune” was used to describe any fine sword. Even today, the Masamune Prize is awarded to swordsmiths of outstanding skills in their craft. In Yasuji Murata’s cutout a...

A baseball game between the rabbits and tanuki (raccoon dogs).

Norakuro is now a corporal. On his day off-duty, he goes to eat chicken on the stick. On his way home, he falls into a slumber and dreams of fighting with the Monkey Corps, his enemy.

Once upon a time, the birds and the beasts fought each other in a war. It was a terrible conflict, and the clever bats would side with the birds when the birds were looking victorious, and then they would become allies of the beasts when that side was winning battles. At last the war came to an end, the two parties reached an amicable ...