Occupation Writer, folklorist Period 20th century | Genre Children's literature Name Grace James | |
Grace Edith Marion James (11 November 1882, Tokyo — 6 February 1965, Rome ) was an English writer of children's literature and a Japanese folklorist. Her Japanese Fairy Tales (1910) collected and retold stories from the Japanese folk tradition. It was illustrated by Warwick Goble.
Green Willow and Other Japanese Fairy tales and The Moon Maiden and Other Japanese Fairy Tales are other editions of the original collection. The Three Dwarf Trees is based on a Japanese play. Japan: Recollections and Impressions, a memoir of her experiences in Japan, was first published in 1936.
Grace James also wrote the John and Mary children's adventure series, one of which, John and Mary's Aunt, is about the author's upbringing in Japan. Her father Thomas was a British Naval officer, who was a member of one of the Naval Missions which visited Japan (probably the Douglas Mission, as the dates coincide). Her parents went there around 1873 and she was born in Tokyo seven years later (to be followed by a brother and a sister). The family lived in five houses in and around Tokyo during this period, and spent their summers at Nikko, Kamakura and Karuizawa. When Grace was twelve, the whole family moved back to England.