Houses with a Story by Seiji Yoshida, translated by Jan Mitsuko Cash (Amulet Books)

Seiji Yoshida is a former employee of a PC game manufacturer who became a freelance Japanese illustrator and background graphic artist in 2003. He has worked on a number of video games and recently has designed the cover of books. He is also a lecturer at the Kyoto Univeristy of Arts and Kyoto Seika University. 

Houses with a Story is the English translation of his second book which was originally published in the Japanese language with the title [ものがたりの家 吉田誠治美術設定集] (Monogatari no Ie : Yoshida Seiji Bijutsu Settei-shu) by PIE Books in 2020. It is a collection of his illustrations of imaginary houses.

Yoshida mentions in the Foreword that he has always been impressed by the buildings in the books and stories he’s read. He mentions “the hideout in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the hut in the Alps from Heidi, the Nowhere Hose Of Master Hora in Momo, and so many others”. He would read the stories and look at the illustrations over and over and would imagine the details of those various worlds. 

In Houses with a Story, he says, “To re-create my childhood self’s delight, I introduce unique homes within this book, all of which could easily turn up in stories of their own”. He has drawn more than thirty houses and the people that live in them. He also gave a lot of thought as to the location and time period for each building. 

Some of the houses featured in the book include the Kaidan-do Bookstore, a World Weary Astronomer’s Residence, the Meticulour Clockmaker, the Reserved Mechanic’s Cottage, the Post Office of the Dragon Tamer, and The Library of Lost Books to name just a few. Many of the designs of the houses were meticulously researched while others were purely drawn from inspiration. 

One page is a full color illustration of the house from the outside. The other page shows a cut-away so you can look into the interior as well. He has imagined the type of person who lives in the house and gives a little background of the person and the story. 

The bookstore owner is a young man who “quit his steady job in the city and moved to this town, following his dream of owning a used bookstore”. The house is located on a hilly road that leads to the ocean. As the house is built on a slope, “its defining feature is the multiple levels that make up the interior”. 

Yoshida has also included a panel story about the Reserved Mechanic’s Cottage titled The End of the Day. There is absolutely no dialogue so he leaves it up to the reader’s imagination of what might be going on in the mechanic’s mind as he makes dinner and feeds his dog. 

Yoshida includes an illustration of his work studio and explains in detail where he makes his drawings. It is easy to visualize him at work as he includes the top of his work desk and the equipment he uses and also shows a top view of the layout of the room which he shares with his wife. 

Towards the end of the book, Yoshida provides concepts and commentary about each house included in this collection. For example, we learn that the house of the Meticulous Clockmaker is located in Japan and was built sometime around the nineteenth century. The interior of this house is based on a stationary store called Takei Sanshodo which can be seen at the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum in Koganei, Tokyo Prefecture.. Although it is an old building, he believes it’s appropriate for the present. Even today many old homes are renovated and given new life in the present. 

The final section of the book is a full chapter on how one of his illustrations comes into being. It is titled Making of a Minor’s Engine House. He writes in step-by-step detail of how a drawing comes into being starting with “Creating the Rough Drafts and Sketches”, followed by “Color the Model Sheet”, and ending with “Color the Illustration”. 

Houses with a Story is more than just an art book. It is more than just a collection of unique houses. It is a book that will help you expand your imagination. Yoshida says, “The tale you weave for each house is entirely up to you, and nothing would give me greater pleasure than you finding yourself immersed in a wonderful story”. ~Ernie Hoyt