Japanese Handmade Cloth Picturebooks for Children with Disabilities

74 | BOOKBIRD J has a history of books for children with disabilities that are handmade by volunteers. Their attractions have been made known around the world by way of IBBY activities. The selection of these cloth picturebooks (nuno-ehon) as “outstanding books for young people with disabilities” by IBBY has greatly encouraged the efforts of people engaged in cloth book-making. The origin of these books is in private mini-libraries called bunko, where people keenly aware of the scarcity of books for children with serious disabilities undertook research and made cloth picturebooks by hand. They are not for sale. That a significant part of the production of picturebooks made for children with disabilities has long been supported by volunteers may be a unique aspect of Japanese culture. Cloth picturebooks consist of a mount that is made of cloth, onto which pictures made with a variety of cloth and felt fabrics are sewn. Some of the pictures can be removed or moved using Velcro, buttons, snaps and other fasteners, strings, and the like. These books are devised for play with the hands and fingers—fastening, removing, attaching, pulling, tying, untying, and otherwise manipulating their parts.