colour illustrations throughout; an unusual item with all of the text in Japanese (which I am unable to translate resulting in an incomplete description); the front end-paper is inscribed (in English) - "To Jan and Sheila - S. Tonomura - July1990" and I am assuming that this is the author/artist & not some random gift inscription; also, loosely inserted , are several typewritten explanations in English (printed on good quality paper) - one giving a Japanese folk tale that relates to a picture, and another is reproduced here: "Book of Jizo: Jizo is a Buddhist image, Bodhisattva--Ksitigarbha. But, here, he is worshipped as a guardian deity of children and wayfarers. Indeed, in Japan, you come upon the statues standing singly or in groups almost everywhere, at the foot of mountains, riverside, lakeside, roadside, or sandwiched between old houses or very modern buildings, always with fresh flowers offered by neighbouring people.".