Hokuetsu Seppu (北越雪譜 "Snow stories of North Etsu Province"; translation: Snow Country Tales: Life in the other Japan by Jeffrey Hunter with Rose Lesser, Weatherhill, 1986) is a late Edo-period encyclopedic work of human geography describing life in the Uonuma area of Japan's old Echigo Province, a place known for its long winters and deep snow.
First published in Edo in 1837, Hokuetsu Seppu was written by Шаблон:Nihongo (1770–1842), a textile merchant and leading townsman of Shiozawa, a settlement on the old Mikuni Highway. The work, an immediate best seller that eventually encompassed seven chapters when a second volume was published in 1841, covers a wide range of local topics from the varieties of snow to the customs, lifestyles, local dialects, industries, and folk tales of Japan's snow country. The text covers 123 themes from multiple angles and is also richly illustrated with detailed sketches.
Шаблон:Nihongo—a gesaku writer and brother of Santō Kyōden—assisted with publication of the text. He wrote the preface and drew the illustrations, which were based on Bokushi's originals.
Some of the material in the book is of scientific interest. For example, it contains
the first Japanese sketches of 86 types of natural snowflakecrystals. An 1840 edition included an additional 97 sketches that Doi Toshitsura made with the aid of a microscope during his 20 years as daimyō of the Koga Domain. Thereafter, the snow crystal became a popular design motif on kimono and on chawan, Japanese tea bowls.
Шаблон:In lang Yamaoka, Kei. Echigonokuni Yukimonogatari: Suzuki Bokushi to Hokuetsu Seppu (Snow tales of Echigo province: the story of Suzuki Bokushi and his Hokuetsu Seppu). Kobunsha. Tokyo, 1996. Шаблон:ISBN
Hunter, Jeffrey and Lesser, Rose, translators. Snow Country Tales: Life in the other Japan. John Weatherhill Inc. Tokyo, 1986. Шаблон:ISBN
