Takekurabe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Takekurabe, translated by Edward Seidensticker as Growing Up and by Robert Danly as Child's Play, is a Japanese novella written by Higuchi Ichiyo in 1895-96. The main characters are children living on the edge of Yoshiwara, the only district of Edo (later Tokyo) that was licensed for prostitution. As they grow up, they find themselves assuming their family professions and losing the freedom they enjoyed as children. A movie based on the novella was produced in 1953.