A children's story rooted in rural life and human feeling. As the title work of Meiji Kato's first collection, it centers a child's sensitivity within nature and community.

Within village life, a voice reaches the listening child.

A boy who believes in the lore of tiny people on a hill encounters them in a hidden place. Through secrecy, attention to nature, and friendship with unknown beings, the novel opens one of the classic worlds of Japanese children's fantasy.

On a secret hill, the door to a tiny country opens.

A critical study that reconsiders modern Japanese children's tales and asks what direction postwar children's literature should take. It examines views of children's stories after Mimei Ogawa and considers realism and narrative in literature for children.

It rethinks the starting point of postwar children's literature through a critique of modern tales.