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Story origins - Alice-in-Wonderland.net

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T he story of Alice in Wonderland was inspired by many things out of Charles Dodgson's environment: the author of 'Alice in Wonderland' referred to people and places he knew in his books. On this page you can read about them.

Origins of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The White Rabbit

Dean Liddell, Alice's father, could very well have been the White Rabbit, for the Dean was always running late too.

When Alice was a child, there was no west entrance to the Cathedral and the Dean would normally have had to leave the Deanery, walk along Tom Quad, around the Cloisters and into the Cathedral through the south door. Therefore he was notorious for being late for services.

The present Cathedral Garden then belonged to one of the Cannons who subsequently gave permission to the Dean to use the door as a short cut to the Cathedral.

The rabbit hole

It is said that the 'Rabbit Hole' can be found in the dining hall in Christ Church, Oxford.

Alice's father would have dined at the High Table with other senior members of the college. After dinner the senior members did not drop down amongst the undergraduates but went through a panelled door to the left of the spot where Liddell's portrait is now hanging. Behind this door is a very narrow spiral staircase which descends to the senior common room, then to a corridor which emerges in Tom Quad. Dean Liddell would use the staircase and appear in Tom Quad on his way home to the Deanery. So it is said that it was the inspiration for the Rabbit Hole.

However, as the spiral staircase behind the High Table in Hall was built in 1906, this claim can be doubted.

Off with his head!

At the time Carroll wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", state-sanctioned executions were a subject of public controversy and heated debate in England. The Queen of Heart's impulsive and absurd calls for beheadings may therefore be a way of ridiculing this longstanding practice of executions, and represent Carroll's opinion on the matter ( Abate).

The door to Wonderland

The door from the Deanery garden to the Cathedral Garden in Christ Church, Oxford, must have been the little door behind the curtain in the hallway.

The Dean's Garden is the garden in which the Liddell sisters often played. The Cathedral Garden was a garden they were not allowed to enter - only the Dean was allowed to cross that garden, and so a young Alice would have seen her father disappearing through this door into a pretty garden, which she and her sisters could only see from the window of their nursery. This was a view also familiar to Dodgson from the period of time that he spent playing with the children in the nursery, and hence became the lovely garden Alice so desperately wanted to enter in the story.

On the far side of the Dean's garden is the rear of the library. It was from the windows of this library that Dodgson, then in his post of Sub-librarian, was able to look down into the garden and first saw Alice playing with her brother and sisters. Because of his interest in photography he later approached the Dean's wife and obtained permission to photograph the children.

The flower border along the Deanery Wall was planted with plants mentioned in 'Through the Looking-Glass'.

Pictures from the same door, from the side of the Cathedral Garden:

Why the White Rabbit is always late

In the Tom Tower hangs the bell called Great Tom. At five past nine every night the bell strikes one hundred and one times, which represents the original number of Undergraduates at the college. On the last strike all the Junior members were expected to be back in college.

The reason for ringing at five past nine is that Oxford is five minutes west of Greenwich. Therefore, five past nine (Greenwich Time) is in fact nine o'clock in Oxford time.

Time was only standardized in Britain with the coming of the railways and the need for reliable time tables. Christ Church obviously decided that change was a bad thing and that they would retain to the old Oxford time. Still to this day the services times in the Cathedral are five minutes past the hour and the Formal Hall is held at 7.20 whereas all the other colleges dine at 7.15.

Even as a child Dodgson had a great interest in the railways and invented railway games using the timetables. Perhaps that is why the White Rabbit was always running late; he was a Christ Church White Rabbit.

Ada and Mabel

After Alice has fallen down the rabbit-hole and ponders who she is, she mentions the girls Ada and Mabel. In the original 'Alice's Adventures Under Ground' tale, these names were Gertrude and Florence. Alice had two cousins with these names (Gertrude Frances Elizabeth Liddell and Florentia Emily Liddell) so this may have been a reference to them. Of course it wasn't appropriate to do this in a mass-published book, so that's probably why the names were altered ( Demakos, "Part I").

The Duck, the Dodo, a Lory and an Eaglet

At the end of the second chapter from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland it says: "There was a Duck, and a Dodo, a Lory and an Eaglet". This is a reference to the author, his friend, and Alice's sisters: all passengers who were with Alice in the boat when the story was first told to her. Lorina is the Lorry and Edith the Eaglet. The Duck is Canon Robinson Duckworth. The Dodo was Charles Dodgson, who had a slight stutter, which made him sometimes give his name as 'Do-do-Dodgson'.

The proof that these last two nicknames were actually used, comes from Dodgson's inscription in a 1886 facsimile edition of "Alice's Adventures Under Ground", which he dedicated to Robinson Duckworth. It read: "From the Dodo to the Duck".

"Où est ma chatte?"

Alice repeats the first sentence in her French lesson-book to the Mouse. Hugh O'Brien has found out that this lesson-book actually exists, and identified it as "La Bagatelle: Intended to introduce children of three or four years old to some knowledge of the French language" (1804) ( O'Brien).

The queer-looking party of animals

"They were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the bank"
The individuals in this party represent the participants in an episode entered in Carroll's diary on June 17, 1862. Carroll took his sisters, Fanny and Elizabeth, and his Aunt Lucy Lutwidge (the 'other curious creatures') on a boating expedition, along with Reverend Duckworth and the three Liddell girls.

This is what Carroll wrote in his diary:

"June 17 (Tu). Expedition to Nuneham. Duckworth (of Trinity) and Ina, Alice and Edith came with us. We set out about 12.30 and got to Nuneham about 2: dined there, then walked in the park and set off for home about 4.30. About a mile above Nuneham heavy rain came on, and after bearing it a short time I settled that we had better leave the boat and walk: three miles of this drenched us all pretty well. I went on first with the children, as they could walk much faster than Elizabeth, and took them to the only house I knew in Sandford, Mrs. Broughton's, where Ranken lodges. I left them with her to get their clothes dried, and went off to find a vehicle, but none was to be had there, so on the others arriving, Duckworth and I walked on to Iffley, whence we sent them a fly."

Within the original manuscript appear many more details relating to this experience: the Dodo takes Alice, the Lorry, Eaglet and Duck to a house where they can dry instead of doing a caucusrace. Carroll later deleted it because he thought it would have little interest to anyone outside the circle of the individuals that were involved ( Gardner, "Annotated Alice" 44).

The Mouse's tale

When the Mouse tells the driest thing he knows, he is quoting from Havilland Chepmell's "Short Course of History", 1862, pages 143-144. Chepmell's book was one of the lesson books studied by the Liddell children ( Gardner, "Annotated Alice" 46).

The caucus race

In England the term 'caucus' referred to a system of highly disciplined party organization by committees. It was often used as an abusive term for the organization of an opposing party. With the term 'causus race' Carroll may have poked fun at the committees, as committee members generally did a lot of running around in circles while they were getting nowhere.

The Lory and the Crab, and the Tweedle's chapter

There seem to be several parallels between the book "Holiday House" by Catherine Sinclair (1839) and the Alice stories. Selwyn Goodacre mentions amongst others the following similarities ( Goodacre):

Mary Ann

In Lewis Carroll's time, the name 'Mary Ann' was a euphemism for 'servant girl'. Which implies that the White Rabbit may not actually have had a housemaid with that name (Roger Green in Gardner, "Anniversary edition").

"Keep your temper"

The Caterpillar calls after Alice that he has something important to say, and then tells her: "Keep your temper". This appears to be somewhat strange advice, as Alice was not even irritated at that moment. Melanie Bayley suggests that the word 'temper' does not relate to an emotional state, but to another meaning of the word: "the proportion in which qualities are mingled". (According to Merriam-Webster: "the state of a substance with respect to certain desired qualities (such as hardness, elasticity, or workability" or ": a suitable proportion or balance of qualities: a middle state between extremes ".)

So the Caterpillar could be telling Alice to keep her body in proportion, no matter what her size. That would be a precursor to her eating from the mushroom and accidentally giving herself a long neck (or such a short torso that her head bumps her feet). Apparently Alice did not understand the Caterpillar's advice either ( Bayley).

Alice's long neck

In 'Alice in Wonderland', eating something causes Alice's neck to stretch. This fireplace in the Hall (the largest college dining hall in Oxford) could very well have been the inspiration for this. Why? Just take a good look at the 'firedogs'...

The Fish footman

In chapter 6 of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ('Pig and Pepper'), Alice meets a talking fish. It is believed that this idea originated from an attraction Alice Liddell saw when she was at a fair.

The Cheshire Cat tree

This is said to be the tree in which the Cheshire Cat was seated. It is a Horse Chestnut tree. It grows in the Dean's Garden of Christ Church, Oxford.

The Cheshire Cat

"To grin like a Cheshire Cat" was a common phrase in Carroll's day. Its origin is not known. However, it could have originated from a sign painter in Cheshire, who painted grinning lions on the sign-boards of inns in the area.

Another explanation could be that at one time, Cheshire cheeses were molded in the shape of a grinning cat ( Gardner, "Annotated Alice" 83).

Also, when you take a good look at the 'Alice Window' in Christ Church, Oxford, you can see 3 grinning animals at the top of the Liddell's family arms. Perhaps this is what inspired Dodgson.

Finally, the Cheshire Cat might be inspired by a carving in St. Peter's Church, in Croft-on-Tees, where Lewis Carroll's father was rector. It is a sedilia - a seat for the clergy built into the wall - at one end of which is a carved stone face of a cat or lion. Seen from a pew it has a wide smile. But if you stand up, the grin seems to disappear, just as it eventually does in "Alice in Wonderland". (discovery by Joel Birenbaum)

The Mad Hatter

Carroll might have based the Mad Hatter on Theophilus Carter, a furniture dealer near Oxford. Carter was known in the area as the Mad Hatter, partly because he always wore a top hat and partly because of his eccentric ideas. He invented for example an 'alarm clock bed', which woke the sleeper by tossing him out. Perhaps this is why Carroll's hatter is so concerned with the time and arousing the sleepy Dormouse ( Gardner, "The Annotated Alice" 93)?

However, according to Oxford local historian Mark Davies there is hardly any reason why the Hatter should be based on Carter. He thinks is more likely that the Hatter is Thomas Randall, a well-known local tailor who referred to himself as 'a hatter'. Randall gave tea parties in his garden for children. Alice Liddell knew him and sometimes took his retriever Rover out for a walk. She mentioned frequent visits to his house, with great fondness ( Davies, "Talk" 2).

Mad as a Hatter / Mad as a March Hare

The phrases 'mad as a hatter' and 'mad as a march hare' were also common in Carroll's time.

'Mad as a hare' alludes to the crazy capers of the male hare during March, its rutting season.

'Mad as a hatter' probably owes its origin to the fact that hatters actually did go mad, because the mercury they used sometimes gave them mercury poisoning ( Gardner, "Annotated Alice" 90).

However, there's another theory about the origin of the phrase 'mad as a hatter' ( snopes.simplenet.com):

[...] " here's the entry for " 'Mad as a Hatter' refers to madness or hatters " in the 1980 A Dictionary of Common Fallacies:

Lewis Carroll with his penchant for linguistic games presumably knew perfectly well that his "Mad Hatter' meant 'a venomous adder', but since his readers may have been misled by Tenniel's drawings, it should be pointed out that 'mad' meant 'venomous' and 'hatter' is a corruption of 'adder', or viper, so that the phrase 'mad as an atter' originally meant 'as venomous as a viper'.

Here's a much older citation of the same strip from a 1901 book:

"In the Anglo-Saxon the word 'mad' was used as a synonym for violent, furious, angry, or venomous. In some parts of England and in the United States particularly, it is still used in this sense. 'Atter' was the Anglo-Saxon name for an adder, or viper. The proverbial saying has therefore probably no reference to hat-makers, but merely means 'as venomous as an adder.' The Germans call the viper 'Natter.'" - Edwards's Words, Facts, and Phrases.

In simpler terms, "mad as a hatter" was a play on words (with "adder" becoming "hatter"). Though the mercury/hatters/crazy explanation appears to fit the term, it fits only retrospectively - at the time Carroll coined the phrase, "mad" meant "venomous," not "insane." "

The Dormouse

Victorian children apparently actually had pet dormice, and kept them in old teapots filled with grass or hay. The Dormouse from Alice in Wonderland may have been modelled after Dante Gabriel Rossetti's pet wombat, which had a habit of sleeping on the table. Carroll knew the Rossetti's and occasionally visited them ( Gardner, "Annotated Alice" 95).

Another possibility is that the Dormouse was inspired by Thomas Jones Prout. Prout was a Fellow of Christ Church from 1842, a Tutor from 1851 to 1861 and a Censor from 1857 to 1861, and lived at Christ Church for sixty-seven years. Prout was known for falling asleep in meetings, and apparently also had an interest in Frideswide's well (the treacle well): according to the inscription on the well head, he had it rebuilt in 1874. ( National Portrait Gallery)

The Mad Tea Party

In Victorian times, asylums opened their doors for 'therapeutic entertainment': events would be organized, including tea parties, that were open to visitors. It was thought to help with the re-socialisation of the patients, and it was a form of entertainent for the visitors. So the mad tea party scene may actually refer to a tea party with asylum clients!

Carroll must have been aware of this practice, especially because his uncle Robert Wilfred Skeffington Lutwidge was a Commissioner for the Commission in Lunacy, a state-supervised body for the inspection of lunatic asylums in Britain and Ireland. He appears to have visited such an asylum at least once.

As there were straw beds in some asylums, this may also explain the practice of drawing people with straw in on their heads (in this case, the March Hare's head) to signify them being mad ( Kohlt, "The stupidest Tea-Party" and Kohlt, "Alice in the asylum").

Melanie Bayley ( Bayley) believes that the Mad Tea Party is a reference to the work of mathematician William Rowan Hamilton:

"[H]is discovery of quaternions in 1843 was being hailed as an important milestone in abstract algebra, since they allowed rotations to be calculated algebraically.

[...] [Q]uaternions belong to a number system based on four terms [...]. Hamilton spent years working with three terms - one for each dimension of space - but could only make them rotate in a plane. When he added the fourth, he got the three-dimensional rotation he was looking for [...] "It seemed (and still seems) to me natural to connect this extra-spatial unit with the conception of time."

Where geometry allowed the exploration of space, Hamilton believed, algebra allowed the investigation of "pure time", a rather esoteric concept he had derived from Immanuel Kant that was meant to be a kind of Platonic ideal of time, distinct from the real time we humans experience. Other mathematicians were polite but cautious about this notion, believing pure time was a step too far.

The parallels between Hamilton's maths and the Hatter's tea party - or perhaps it should read "t-party" - are uncanny. Alice is now at a table with three strange characters: the Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse. The character Time, who has fallen out with the Hatter, is absent, and out of pique he won't let the Hatter move the clocks past six.

Reading this scene with Hamilton's maths in mind, the members of the Hatter's tea party represent three terms of a quaternion, in which the all-important fourth term, time, is missing. Without Time, we are told, the characters are stuck at the tea table, constantly moving round to find clean cups and saucers.

Their movement around the table is reminiscent of Hamilton's early attempts to calculate motion, which was limited to rotatations in a plane before he added time to the mix. Even when Alice joins the party, she can't stop the Hatter, the Hare and the Dormouse shuffling round the table, because she's not an extra-spatial unit like Time.

The Hatter's nonsensical riddle in this scene - "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" - may more specifically target the theory of pure time. In the realm of pure time, Hamilton claimed, cause and effect are no longer linked, and the madness of the Hatter's unanswerable question may reflect this.

Alice's ensuing attempt to solve the riddle pokes fun at another aspect of quaternions: their multiplication is non-commutative, meaning that x × y is not the same as y × x. Alice's answers are equally non-commutative. When the Hare tells her to "say what she means", she replies that she does, "at least I mean what I say - that's the same thing". "Not the same thing a bit!" says the Hatter. "Why, you might just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'!" [...]

When the scene ends, the Hatter and the Hare are trying to put the Dormouse into the teapot. This could be their route to freedom. If they could only lose him, they could exist independently, as a complex number with two terms. Still mad, according to Dodgson, but free from an endless rotation around the table."

The treacle well

At the tea party, the Dormouse mentions a treacle well. The idea of the treacle well originated from of the legend of St. Frideswide, a local princess. In an informative paper I received during my visit to Oxford, it said:

"This story of the well sounds like a piece of complete nonsense on the part of Dodgson, however it is, of course, complete logical, for one must always remember that when the story of Alice was first told, Dodgson was telling the story to a 10 year old girl. In order to keep her attention he had to talk about things that she knew and understood, as in the case of the treacle well.

The Frideswide Window tells the story of St. Frideswide and her flight from Prince Algar. [...] Alice Liddell witnessed both the making and the installation of the window and was also familiar with the story of St. Frideswide. [...]

The right hand of the window depicts the scene of Frideswide together with old women drawing water from a well, this water was then used by Frideswide to cure illness. This well still exists today (at St. Margaret's Church, Binsey) and has always been known as a treacle well. The word treacle is an Anglo-Saxon word which means 'cure all' and this explains why the sisters at the bottom of the well were very unwell - had they been well then they would have had no need to go there in the first place.

It is known that Dodgson and Alice had visited the well several times and there is little doubt that it was the inspiration for the story told by the Dormouse."

The sisters in the well: Elsie, Lacie and Tillie

The names of the three little sisters in the Treacle Well (Elsie Lacie and Tillie) also refer to the names of the three Liddell sisters: Elsie originated from the initials of Lorina Charlotte, Lacie is a transformation of Alice, and Tillie was short for Matilda, a name given to Edith by her sisters ( Gardner, "Annotated Alice" 44 and 100).

There are even more references to them: see Cathy Dean's text 'The Duck and the Dodo: References in the Alice books to friends and family'.

The Duchess's moral

The moral of the Duchess, "Take care of the sense and the sound will take care of themselves", is an adaptation of an old English proverb; "Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves".

"It's as large as life, and twice as natural!" comes from another common phrase in Carroll's time; "As large as life and quite as natural". Apparently Carroll was the first to substitute 'twice' for 'quite', and this is now the usual phrasing in both England and the U.S. ( Gardner, "Annotated Alice" 121 and 287).

Animal, vegetable or mineral?

When Alice meets the Duchess, the Duchess tells her:

"Flamingo's and mustard both bite."

Alice responds:
"Only mustard isn't a bird. [...] It's a mineral, I think."
In Through the Looking-Glass, the Lion asks Alice:
"Are you animal - vegetable - or mineral?"
"Animal, vegetable, mineral" was a popular Victorian parlor game. Players tried to guess what someone was thinking of. The first questions asked were traditionally: 'Is it animal? Is it vegetable? Is it mineral?' ( Gardner, "Definitive edition").

The Mock Turtle

The Mock Turtle's weeping may be based on the fact that marine turtles often appear to weep: it is actually a way of getting rid of the salt in the water. Lewis Carroll had an interest in zoology and was probably aware of this phenomenon.

"Hjckrrh"

The Gryphon's occasional exclamation may be a joke about silent letters. According to Denis Crutch, the letter 'j' was being used als 'i' in the Old English style. In 'rrh' the 'h' is silent as in the words 'myrrh' and 'catarrh'. So the sound 'hjckrrh' would effectively be 'hic', as in a hiccough, or 'hiccup' ( Carroll, "Elucidating Alice").

French, music and washing - extra

When the Mock Turtle talks about the courses he took, he mentions "French, music and washing - extra". This phrase often appeared at boarding school bills, meaning that there was an extra charge for French and music, and for having one's laundry done by the school ( Gardner, "The Annotated Alice" 128).

The Conger Eel

The Conger Eel that came to teach 'Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils' is a reference to the art critic John Ruskin. He visited the Liddell family on a weekly basis, to teach the children drawing, sketching, and painting in oils ( Gardner, "Anniversary edition" 115).

The date of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

When you read closely, you can discover the date on which 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' took place. The date of the book is 4 May; Alice Liddell's birthday.

We know that because of Alice's remarks in chapters 6 and 7:

`the March Hare will be much the most interesting, and perhaps as this is May it won't be raving mad-at least not so mad as it was in March.'

`What day of the month is it?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.
Alice considered a little, and then said `The fourth.'

Alice Liddell was born in 1852, so she was ten in 1862 when the story was told, but her age in the story probably is seven. We know that because Through the Looking-Glass appears to take place a half year later (see further on this page) and she's 'exactly seven and one half years old' in that book. The photograph which Carroll pasted at the end of the manuscript was also taken when she was seven ( Gardner, "The Annotated Alice").

Mathematics in the story

As Charles Dodgson was a mathematics professor, he incorporated some mathematical puzzles and jokes into the story.

When Alice is in the hallway, trying to figure out her identity, she tries to recite the multiplication table:
4 x 5 = 12
4 x 6 = 13
4 x 7 =...
She notices it fails and comments that she'll "never get to twenty at that rate".

This could refer to the fact that multiplication tables traditionally stop with the twelves, so if you continue the progression until 4 x 12, you'll only get to 19 ( Gardner, "The Annotated Alice").

A more complex theory, is that Alice's calculations are actually valid when you use a number system with a base of respectively 18, 21, 24, and so on (always incrementing the base with 3):
4 x 5 = 12 (base of 18)
4 x 6 = 13 (base of 21)
4 x 7 = 14 (base of 24)
4 x 8 = 15 (base of 27)
4 x 9 = 16 (base of 30)
4 x 10 = 17 (base of 33)
4 x 11 = 18 (base of 36)
4 x 12 = 19 (base of 39)
However, then the system breaks down. In a number system with a base of 42, 4 x 13 is not 20. Therefore, Alice will indeed never get to twenty this way ( Taylor).

For another example of possible mathematics in the story, see the section about the Mad Tea Party.

The number 42

The number 42 regularly appears in not only the 'Alice' books, but also in Carroll's other works, like 'The Hunting of the Snark'. It is not clear whether Carroll attached real significance to this number, or whether it was just a random number that he used as a recurring joke.

Examples of the use of the number 42 in the 'Alice' stories:

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" contains 42 illustrations. "Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice found there" was originally intended to have 42 illustrations as well. It must be noted, however, that initially Carroll commissioned Tenniel to only draw 12 illustrations for "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". Later this became 20, then 24, then 34, and only eventually he decided on 42 illustations (Demakos, "Part II").

It is the number of 'the oldest rule in the book', according to the King of Hearts.

Alice's exclamation that she'll "never get to twenty at that rate" can be mathematically explained if a number system with a base of 42 is used (see paragraph 'mathematics in the story' above).

The White Queen gives her age as "one hundred and one, five months and a day". This would be 37,044 days*. Assuming the Red Queen is the same age, the total of their two ages this is 74,088, which is 42 x 42 x 42 (Wakeling).* We know the date the story took place: November 4th 1859. Counting back 101 years, 5 months and 1 day means that the White Queen was born on 3 June 1758.

The number 42 appears in the total of horses and soldiers that the White King sent in Through the Looking-Glass: 4207.

Lewis Carroll would have been able to calculate the time it takes for a stone, dropped down a rabbit hole that happens to pass through the center of the earth, to reach the other side of the world. It would take... 42 minutes (Wakeling).

Repeating poetry

When Alice repeats poetry, like "How doth the little...", she crosses her hands in her lap. All Victorian children were taught to cross hands while sitting, and fold them while standing, when repeating lessons. It was supposed to help them concentrate and prevent them from fidgeting ( Carroll, "Elucidating Alice").
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Origins of Through the Looking-Glass

The opening scene

The opening scene in "Through the Looking-Glass" in which Alice ponders about the behaviour of her kittens, reflects a paragraph from an article in Blackwood's Magazine, published in November 1846 ( Tillotson, 1950):

'It was the kitten that began it, and not the cat. It isn't any use saying it was the cat, because I was there, and I saw it and know it; and if I don't know it, how should anybody else be able to tell you about it, if you please? So I say again it was the kitten that began it, and the way it all happened was this.

'There was a little bit, a small tiny string of blue worsted-no! I am wrong, for when I think again the string was pink-which was hanging down from a little ball that lay on the lap of a tall dark girl with lustrous eyes, who was looking into the fire as intently as if she expected to see a salamander in
the middle of it. [Meanwhile Huggs the old cat is watching through half-shut eyes] the movements of a smart little kitten [playing with a roll of paper, which pricks it]. And then the kitten put on a look of importance,
as if its feelings had been injured in the nicest points, and then walked up demurely to Huggs, and began to pat her whiskers, as if it wanted, which it probably did, to tell her all about it.'

[There follows a long game with the worsted, the tall girl's annoyance, and the intervention, in defence of the cat and against the kitten, of 'a little child' sitting on the other side of the fire.]

The Red Queen

When Carroll described his Red Queen in the article ' Alice on the Stage ', he described her as "formal and strict, yet not unkindly; pedantric to the tenth degree, the concentrated essences of all governesses". Also, in earlier editions of the book, the Red Queen was being described as "She's one of the thorny kind". In later editions this was changed to "She's one of the kind that has nine spikes, you know", which referred to the spikes on a queen's crown. Carroll may have decided to remove an in-joke: the Red Queen being the governess of the Liddell sisters, Miss Prickett. She was nicknamed "Pricks".

The Rose and a Violet

The Rose and a Violet that Alice meets in the Garden of Live Flowers may refer two her two younger sisters, named Rhoda and Violet ( Hunt, 69).

"It's my opinion that you never think at all," the Rose said, in a rather severe tone.
"I never saw anybody that looked stupider," a Violet said, so suddenly, that Alice quite jumped; for it hadn't spoken before.

Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday

`You couldn't have it if you did want it,' the Queen said. `The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam to-day.'
`It must come sometimes to "jam do-day,"' Alice objected.
`No, it can't,' said the Queen. `It's jam every other day: to-day isn't any other day, you know.'

In this passage, Carroll may be playing with the Latin word 'iam'. The letters i and j are interchangeable in classic Latin. 'Iam' means now. This word is used in the past and future tense, but in the present tense the word for 'now' is 'nunc'. So because you can never use 'iam' in the present, you'll never have 'jam to-day'!

It may also have to do with a second definition of the word 'jam'. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, 'jam' does not only refer to the fruit spread for bread, but can also mean someting more figuratively: 'something good or sweet, esp. with allusion to the use of sweets to hide the disagreeable taste of medicine ... something pleasant promised or expected for the future, esp. something that one never receives' ( Jylkka).

The railway carriage

Apparently, the passage about Alice travelling by railway carriage used to contain an old lady. Carroll dropped her from the chapter after he received a letter from Tenniel on June 1, 1870, in which he made the following suggestion:

"I think that when the jump occurs in the railway scene you might very well make Alice lay hold of the goat's beard as being the object nearest to her hand - instead of the old lady's hair. The jerk would actually throw them together.
[...]"

( Gardner, "The Annotated Alice" 221)

Railway jokes

There are two jokes in the railway scene that may be missed if you don't know the English phrases they are based on. "She must be labeled 'Lass, with care'" refers to the fact that packages containing glass objects are commonly labeled 'Glass, with care'. The line "She must go by post, as she's got a head on her" refers to the fact that 'head' was a Victorian slang word, meaning postage stamp (as stamps had the head of the monarch on them) ( Gardner, "Anniversary edition").

Snap-dragon-fly

In Looking-Glass world Alice encounters a snap-dragon-fly, who's body is made of plum-pudding, its wings of holly-leaves, and its head is a raisin burning in brandy. He makes his nest in a Christmas box.

This may seem a strange description, but it refers to 'snapdragon'; a parlour game played at Christmas time in which children would try to 'snatch raisins out of a dish of burning brandy and eat them while still alight' ( Jylkka).

Bread and butter

According to the American Edwin Marsden, some children are being taught to wisper 'bread and butter, bread and butter' whenever being circled by a wasp, bee, or other insect, to prevent getting stung. If this was also a customary in Victorian England, it may explain why the White Queen whispers this phrase when the is being scared by the monstrous crow.

The Old Sheep Shop

In 'Through the Looking-Glass' Alice meets an old, knitting sheep in a shop. There was (and is) an actual shop in Oxford on which that part of the story was probably based.

Carroll and Alice must have often went to this shop, and even Tenniel may have visited it ( Davies, 48). The shop was owned by John Millin and his wife Mary (nee Baker, 1802-1889) ( Davies, "Shopping around" 49), who is said to have had a very bleaty voice and was always knitting. That may be why Carroll changed her into a knitting sheep.

Tenniel's image of the shop shows it mirrored (although with fewer windows) - after all, Alice went through the looking-glass!

The sudden change of the shop into a river may be inspired by the occasional flooding of Oxford. The shop was one of the buildings prone to flooding. In December 1852, while Carroll was an Oxford undergraduate, there was a particularly severe flood. According to the London Illustrated News, there were numerous drowned carcasses, including those of sheep. ( O'Connor).

Nowadays the shop is a souvenir shop, where you can buy lots of Alice in Wonderland things. You can find it at 83 Saint Aldgate's Street, Oxford, which is directly across Christ Church.

The eggs from the Old Sheep Shop

The Sheep in Through the Looking-Glass tells Alice that if she buys two eggs, she has to eat them both. Alice decides to buy only one, for 'they mightn't be at all nice'. Undergraduates at Christ Church, in Carroll's day, insisted that if you ordered one boiled egg for breakfast you usually received two, one good and one bad ( Carroll, "Diaries" 176).

The Anglo-Saxon messengers

The messengers of the White King in 'Through the Looking-Glass', Haigha and Hatta, are the Mad Hatter and the March Hare from 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'. The Anglo-Saxon name 'Haigha' is pronounced as "Hayor", which makes it sound like 'hare'.

In his account of the Kings Messengers' approach (Through the Looking-Glass), Carroll was poking fun at the very earnest Anglo-Saxon scholarship practiced at Oxford in his day, and both his and Tenniel's renderings of the Messengers' costume and 'attitudes' were almost certainly taken from one of the Anglo-Saxon manuscripts in Oxford's Bodleian Library; the Caedmon Manuscript of the Junian codex.

Many of the words in 'Jabberwocky' are also related to Anglo-Saxon ones ( Gardner, "The Annotated Alice" 279).

Magic tricks

Lewis Carroll had a fondness for amateur magic, and therefore references to magic tricks may have been added to the 'Alice' books. The Sheep's standing up of eggs in the chapter "Wool and Water" was a common conjuring trick of the time. Also, Haigha's extraction of a sandwich from his bag was a variation of the so-called Egg Bag Trick ( Fisher 81).

"There's glory for you!"

Wilbur Gaffney argues that Humpty Dumpty's definition of 'glory' ("a nice knock-down argument") may have been derived from a passage in a book from philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1599-1679):

"Sudden glory, is the passion which maketh those grimaces called LAUGHTER; and is caused either by some sudden act of their own, that pleaseth them [such as, obviously, coming out with a nice knock-down argument]; or by the apprehension of some deformed thing in another, by comparison whereof they suddenly applaud themselves."

"I love my love with an H"

'I love my love with an A' was a popular parlor game in the Victorian time. The players recited the following lines:

"I love my love with an <A> because he's: ....
I hate him because he's: ...
He took me to the Sign of the: ...
And treated me with: ...
His name's: ...
And he lives at: ..."

At the end of each line the player had to make up a word beginning with the A, then the following player with a B, etc., until a player was unable to come up with a word. The wording of the lines varied ( Gardner, "Anniversary edition").

The White Knight

The White Knight represents Dodgson himself. This can be derived from the description ('shaggy hair', 'gentle face and large mild eyes'), his many inventions, and his melancholy song. Also, on the underside of a hand-drawn game board Carroll once wrote: "Olive Butler, from the White Knight", thereby identifying himself as the Knight ( Stern), and when Carroll wrote "Isa's Visit to Oxford" in 1888, he called himself 'the Aged, Aged Man', abbreviated as 'the A.A.M.' ( Guiliano).

Therefore, when the White Knight says good-bye to Alice, who is going to become a Queen, Dodgson might be saying good-bye to Alice who is going to become a grown woman.

The leg of mutton

Carroll often parodied Victorian etiquette. An example is the scene in which Alice is being introduced to the Leg of Mutton:

"You look a little shy. Let me introduce you to that leg of mutton," said the Red
Queen. "Alice-Mutton: Mutton-Alice."
The mutton got up in the dish and made a little bow to Alice; and Alice returned the bow, not knowing whether to be frightened or amused.
"May I give you a slice?" she said, taking up the knife and fork and looking from one Queen to the other.
"Certainly not," the Red Queen said very decidedly: "it isn't etiquette to cut anyone you've been introduced to."

One of the numerous rules which governed a proper Victorian lady's behavior was the admonition against "cutting." According to one etiquette guide, "A Lady should never 'cut' someone, that is to say, fail to acknowledge their presence after encountering them socially, unless it is absolutely necessary".

Clearly, Carroll is poking fun at etiquette here both through the punning of the term "to cut" as well as the ridiculous bowing of the leg of mutton ( Lim).

The date of Through the Looking-Glass

We can guess the date when the story 'Through the Looking-Glass' took place.

In the first chapter Alice says that 'tomorrow' there'll be a bonfire. That means that it is November 4, one day before Guy Fawkes Day. This holiday was annually celebrated at Christ Church with a huge bonfire in Peckwater Quadrangle. Alice also tells the White Queen that she's 'seven and a half exactly', so the continuation probably takes place a half year after the first story, which was dated on May 4th, and as the real Alice was born in 1852, the year must be 1859 ( Gardner, "The Annotated Alice").

Works cited

Abate, Michelle Ann. "Off with Their Heads!: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the Anti-Gallows Movement". Presentation as part of the session "The Endurance of Alice: Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland' at 150", Modern Language Association conference, Vancouver, 8-11 January 2015.

Bayley, Melanie. "Alice's Adventures in algebra: Wonderland solved". Newscientist.com, 16 December 2009, www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427391-600-alices-adventures-in-algebra-wonderland-solved/.

Carroll, Lewis. Lewis Carroll's Diaries - Volume 1. The Lewis Carroll Society, 1993.

Carroll, Lewis. Elucidating Alice. A Textual Commentary on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Introduction and annotations by Selwyn Goodacre, Evertype, 2015.

Davies, Mark. "Shopping Around for the (Woolly and Watery) Facts: 'Alice's Shop'". The Carrollian, nos. 35 & 36, December 2021.

Davies, Mark. Talk during the October meeting of the LCSNA. Described in: Morgan, Chris. "VirtuAlice 3: WCLD Radio Alice Is on the Air!" Knight Letter, Fall 2021, Volume III Issue 7, no. 107.

Demakos, Matt. "From Under Ground to Wonderland". Knight Letter, volume II issue 18, no. 88, spring 2012.

Demakos, Matt. "From Under Ground to Wonderland Part II". Knight Letter, volume II issue 19, no. 89, winter 2012.

Fisher, John. The magic of Lewis Carroll. Simon and Schuster, 1973.

Gaffney, Wilbur. "Humpty Dumpty and Heresy; Or, the Case of the Curate's Egg". Western Humanities Review, spring 1968.

Gardner, Martin. The Annotated Alice. Wings Books, 1998.

Gardner, Martin. The Annotated Alice. The definitive edition, Penguin Books, 2001.

Gardner, Martin. . 150th anniversary deluxe edition, W.W. Norton & Company, 2015.

Goodacre, Selwyn. Letter in "Leaves from the Deanery Garden". The Knight Letter, volume 2 issue 8, no. 78.

Guiliano, Edward. Lewis Carroll - the worlds of his Alices. Edward Everett Root Publishers, 2019.

Hunt, Peter. The Making of Lewis Carroll's Alice and the Invention of Wonderland. Bodleian Library, 2020.

Jylkka, Katja. " How little girls are like serpents, or, food and power in Lewis Carroll's Alice books". The Carrollian, issue 26, autumn 2010, published February 2015.

Kohlt, Franziska. "Alice in the asylum: Wonderland and the real mad tea parties of the Victorians". The Conversation, 31 May 2016, theconversation.com/alice-in-the-asylum-wonderland-and-the-real-mad-tea-parties-of-the-victorians-60136

Kohlt, Franziska E.. "'The Stupidest Tea-Party in All My Life': Lewis Carroll and Victorian Psychiatric Practice". Journal of Victorian Culture, volume 21, issue 2, 1 June 2016, pages 147-167.

Lim, Katherine A. "Alice-Mutton: Mutton-Alice: Social Parody in the Alice Books". Victorian Web, Brown University, English 73, 1995, www.victorianweb.org/authors/carroll/lim.html.

National Portrait Gallery, "Thomas Jones Prout". https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp03669, accessed on 4 July 2020.

O'Brien, H.. "The French Lesson Book", Notes and Queries, December 1963.

O'Connor, Michael. All in the golden afternoon - the origins of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The Lewis Carroll Society, White Stone Publishing, 2012.

snopes.simplenet.com/spoons/fracture/hatter.htm.

Stern, Jeffrey. "Carroll Identifies Himself at Last". Jabberwocky, issue 74, summer/autumn 1990.

Taylor, A.L. The White Knight. Oliver and Boyd, 1952.

Tillotson, Kathleen. " Lewis Carroll and the Kitten on the Hearth ", The Magazine of the English Association, Vol VIII, no. 45, Autumn 1950, p. 136-138.

Wakeling, Edward. "Further findings about the number forty two". Jabberwocky, vol. 17, no. 1 and 2, winter/spring 1988.
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T he story of Alice in Wonderland was inspired by many things out of Charles Dodgson's environment: the author of 'Alice in Wonderland' referred to people and places he knew in his books. On this page you can read about them.

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Set Design Inspiration

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Alice in Wonderland - PJ McEvoy: Theatre Design

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These Images may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from PJ McEvoy

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The conditions[4] seemingly illustrated by Carroll include eating disorders (reflected in Alice’s constant eating and drinking only to regret her consumption later on), borderline personality disorder (the Mad Hatter’s rapid and unsettling shifts in mood at the famous tea party) and even general anxiety disorder (the White Rabbit obsessing over punctuality and terrified of being late).

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Chris Golden was born in San Diego but grew up in the woods of North Carolina. Nestled amongst the flora of the natural world, you'd imagine his childhood spent amongst the trees to be more than idyllic - and undeniably the starting point to his psychedelic digital artworks, where flowers and tropical plants take centre stage.

After studying illustration at Ringling College of Art and Design, Chris went on to work at Shepard Fairey's Obey clothing brand, designing and art directing the graphics. The catalyst for what would later become a healthy career spanning art, design and digital technology, Chris then moved into the creative department for Cartoon Network and Adult Swim before spending a number of years working with artists, studios and agencies as a freelancer. To date, his roster of clients include Kanye West, MOCA, Nike, Snapchat, Tame Impala, Tate Britain, the V&A museum among others.

We last spoke to the artist in 2018 when he enlivened us to the process behind his colourful environments. And back then, the world was oblivious as to what was about to arrive: Covid-19. When the pandemic hit, Chris utilised the time over various lockdowns to take a step back and re-evaluate his work. "So it's taken the past two years to deeply explore my creative output and general philosophy - something that is constantly evolving and shifting," he tells It's Nice That. As a result, Chris' latest output span artworks that serve this new mentality: "a visual expression of new ways of being."

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Chris Golden's psychedelic environments elicit a sense of stillness and energy

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Chris Golden was born in San Diego but grew up in the woods of North Carolina. Nestled amongst the flora of the natural world, you'd imagine his childhood spent amongst the trees to be more than idyllic - and undeniably the starting point to his psychedelic digital artworks, where flowers and tropical plants take centre stage.

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Over the years, Alice in Wonderland has repeatedly been read as an ode to drug and substance abuse. The novel and its subsequent film adaptations feature a great deal of potion drinking, mushroom eating and hallucinations, to say nothing of the rapid changes in reality and even a hookah-smoking caterpillar.

This belief was only strengthened in 1967 with Jefferson Airplane’s release of the psychedelic song, White Rabbit, in which the lyrics include “One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small / And the ones that mother gives you, don’t do anything at all”.[14] The song proved enormously popular and inspired several artists to pursue the link between Alice and recreational drugs, such that Carrol’s character was essentially the mascot of drug culture in the 1960s.[14] So strong was the association that author Scott Parker points out that Alice had become a slang term for LSD.

The novel’s weird whimsy has led many to question whether Carroll was under the influence while writing the text, and despite the drug-driven elements of the narrative, no evidence has been found to support the claim.

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Drug and psychedelic side of story
Characters represent mental disorders

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Tiny table to go underneath the table.

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Flowers with faces.

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knitting bottle covers for the booze bottles to add more neon to the scene

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I spent a few hours on Saturday watching Make It or Break It and knitting this wine bottle cozy because I didn’t have an appropriately size...

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Alice in Wonderland Ride - POV - Blackpool Pleasure Beach

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Artist Daniela Cermenati creates hoop art that is brimming with vibrant colors and exciting textures. Using mixed media including sequins, beads, paint, and thread, she creates abstract scenes inspired by nature. The fusion of these elements creates highly tactile pieces that highlight how texture can be an important element that becomes its own character.

Daniela sells her work as original art on Etsy. To see her work in progress, follow her on Instagram.

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Virbrant Textured Hoop Art Is a Welcome Feast for the Eyes

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Artist Daniela Cer­me­nati cre­ates hoop art that is brim­ming with vibrant col­ors and excit­ing tex­tures. Using mixed media includ­ing sequins, beads, paint, and thread, she cre­ates abstract scenes inspired by nature. The fusion of these ele­ments cre­ates high­ly tac­tile pieces that high­light how tex­ture can be an impor­tant ele­ment that becomes its own character.

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knitting used for some aspects of the photoshoot, like maybe placemats?

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Subversive knitting. Radical crocheting. These phrases may sound contradictory, but marrying "craft" to "cool" has become commonplace in the last decade, as once-dowdy domestic hobbies have metamorphosed into trendy pastimes for the creative set. (Think knitting-focused Instagram accounts that draw hundreds of thousands of followers, and viral articles featuring knitted pajamas for chilly elephants.) In this atmosphere, the art world, too, has seen an uptick in the use of knitting and crocheting as a medium. But this is by no means a new phenomenon among artists.

As early as the 1970s and '80s, artists like Louise Bourgeois, Faith Wilding, and Rosemarie Trockel employed knitting and crocheting as both a material and a feminist tool, connecting the history of craft as "women's work" to that of repressive domesticity. Since then, countless contemporary artists have built on the work of these feminist pioneers, using knitting and crocheting to mine a wide range of themes. Below, we highlight eight creatives that prove knitting and crocheting can be boundary-pushing, politically charged mediums.

Yang builds her mesmerizing, delightfully absurd sculptures from everyday objects ranging from frosted lightbulbs to hair rollers to fake plants to hand-knitted cosies. While not all of her works incorporate knitted and crocheted elements, allusions to craft and homemade trinkets appear across her oeuvre. When paired with industrial materials and commercial products like clothing racks, Venetian blinds, and canned goods, they become icons for contradictory feelings of belonging and alienation, safety and suffocation that domestic life can inspire. These are dichotomies with which Yang, who splits her time between Seoul and Berlin, is intimately familiar, and they emerge in big, immersive works like Sallim (2009), an abstract reimagining of her Berlin kitchen, and Cup Cosies (2011), as well as a cohort of small plastic cups blanketed with knitted covers.

Genger's crocheted sculptures are most succinctly described as monumental. For a 2013 public installation in New York City's Madison Square Park, she looped and stitched 1.4 million feet of lobster-fishing rope into immense, meandering forms that, from afar, resemble outdoor sculptures by modernist male greats, like Claes Oldenburg or Richard Serra. But there is one key difference: Genger uses a technique traditionally associated with women and craft. This is the crux of the American artist's practice, which reimagines, enlarges, and subtly lampoons big, hard-edged works made by men. In this way, Genger draws an approach oft-described as "women's work" away from a domestic environment and emphatically plants it in the public sphere.

Goldrajch's crocheted masks investigate central themes of his practice: the impact of hierarchical terms like "insider" and "outsider," and "high" and "low," on the art world. The Israeli, Brussels-based artist fuses a technique traditionally associated with craft (one still struggling for art-world legitimacy) with subjects drawn from the paintings of celebrated artists, like James Ensor, whose work hangs on walls of big-name institutions. In this way, Goldrajch brings to light limiting prejudices-toward certain materials and artists-that institutions and traditions often reinforce.

Drain began knitting as a student at RISD in Providence, a city that was once the center of the American textile industry. Since then, he's incorporated both knitting and embroidery into his diverse sculptural practice in order to synthesize the history of craft and artmaking with contemporary culture and technology. Sweaters patterned to resemble pixelated 1980s video games and early computer iconography tap into the proliferation, and obsoletion, of new trends and innovations. Drain has also embedded knitted elements into multimedia sculptures. Their angular patterns, made from uniform webs of yarn, at once refer to the networked, viral nature of contemporary technology and the undying human desire for physical comfort.

The Polish, New York-based artist, who goes simply by Olek, has crocheted potent political messages-both overt and subliminal-across city streets since 2002. To underline the importance of expression and play, no matter the environment, she has covered bicycles and carousels in hand-crocheted, neon-hued sheaths, as well as dressing people up in her textiles. She also uses her work to communicate urgent social issues, from free speech to refugee relief to women's rights. Case in point: during last year's election cycle, she crocheted a 16-by-46-foot banner, which was tacked to a New Jersey highway billboard, depicting Hillary Clinton's face and the candidate's viral hashtag #imwithher. In the last month, she's also created anti-racism and feminist messages on public walls (a quote from Martin Luther King Junior in London's Shoreditch neighborhood) and on protest signs ("Love Always Wins" at the Women's March on Washington)-all with her trademark threads.

Brazilian artist Neto's immense installations resemble giant swollen body parts, aroused sexual organs, and gooey, dripping stalactites. And he achieves their organic, fluid contours by suspending sprawling networks of crocheted yarn, weighed down with heavy objects like glass balls, from tall ceilings. Across his body of work, loosely-woven, crocheted and knitted sheaths allude to cellular structures, human skin, or celestial constellations. Other sculptures draw on the history of craft and culture in his native Brazil by embedding objects from everyday life, like beer cans and green coconuts, into webs dyed to conjure the vibrant colors of Rio de Janeiro's streets. In this way, Neto explores the connections between molecular science, human life, and the overarching cosmos-from the micro to the macro.

Jackson is interested "in the role of objects in a good life," as she's explained. She makes "non-traumatized" objects that fuse craft mediums, like knitting and crocheting, with symbols representing nature, joy, and other calming, comforting forces. Both her materials and the images and garments she forges from them-blankets covered in icons of a waning and waxing moon, sweaters embedded with serene illustrations of the sea or baskets of fruit-allude to the soothing power of the natural world, one that contemporary cultures tend to ignore in favor of technology and industry. She also lends her self-taught knowledge of textiles and knitting to the collaborative furniture she makes with her husband, painter Chris Johanson. Like the rest of her work, these chairs and couches are meant to be lived with, worn, and nestled into.

Chandler uses the graphic quality of the crocheted technique (whose stitches create blocks of color and hard-edged patterns) in order to emphasize certain physical characteristics of her smiling, cartoonish subjects. In Rainbow Bright(2015), for instance, the thick, rainbow-hued lines that underline two red nipples signal that the character has undergone a double mastectomy, perhaps as part of a sex change. Observed closely, many of Chandler's figures proudly bear the marks of gender reassignment or joyfully resist rigid genders. Both the subjects in Erica (2015) and Under Construction (2015) are decorated with vertical lines where a penis or vagina might be, which could read as either, both, or simply a colorful undergarment. His use of crocheting, a hobby associated with female domesticity, further emphasizes her celebration of gender subversion.

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These Artists Are Giving Knitting a Place in Art History | Artsy

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Think knitting is just for grannies? These creatives prove knitting and crocheting can be boundary-pushing, politically charged mediums.

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From the Mylar Chamber, Ira's visual invention

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V&A · Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser - Exhibition at South Kensington

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Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser - Exhibition at V&A South Kensington · V&A

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This immersive and theatrical show charts the evolution of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland from manuscript to a global phenomenon beloved by all ages.

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Texas-based photographer Dennis Auburn shot a series of psychedelic portraits by overlaying projections of bright colors and forms on a model. The series, titled 'Aura', features mesmerizing photographs of a model in various poses where the cosmic lights seem to compliment her facial expressions and body language. In an interview about his work, the 22-year-old photographer says, "I don't ever try to convey a particular message with my work. When I take photos, it sparks some sort of feeling, and I hope that same feeling comes across through my work."
All images © Dennis Auburn / Projections by Ruslan Khasanov

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Psychedelic Portraits By Dennis Auburn - IGNANT

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Texas-based photographer Dennis Auburn shot a series of psychedelic portraits by overlaying projections of bright colors and forms on a model. The series, titled 'Aura', features mesmerizing photographs of a model in various poses where the cosmic lights seem to compliment her facial expressions and body language.

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Fashion is storytelling on a personal scale. We create personas and "read" people, in part, by what they are wearing, so essentially a dress is never just a dress. And that's doubly true when a frock is immortalized in Vogue. Some of the ethereal pieces captured in print document passing trends, others speak to a deeper narrative, touching less on individual wants than on shared fantasies or fears.

This is especially the case when the visual narrative follows the outlines of fairy tales, the subject of a new exhibition at The Museum at FIT. These wondrous folkloric tales combine magic and moral: The much-put-upon but deserving Cinderella gets her Prince; Beauty tames the Beast; Dorothy finds her way back home.

Following in the footsteps of Irving Penn and Lord Snowdon, who in 1946 and 1966, respectively, re-created children's tales in Vogue, the dream team of Grace Coddington and Annie Leibovitz have perfected the genre, putting their own contemporary gloss on familiar tales with fresh fashions and brilliant casting. What reader of Vogue can imagine Lewis Carroll's classic without conjuring Alice as Natalia Vodianova? Lady Gaga might have channeled Marilyn Monroe at the Golden Globes, but parents reading Hansel and Gretel will remember her star turn as the well-dressed witch bested by Hansel and Gretel. In this alternative world of fantasy, the Big Bad Wolf is trumped by Little Red Riding Hood's killer outfits (which you too can wear, details included in "In This Issue") and all is right with the world. The End.

Shop Vogue archival prints in the Condé Nast Store now.

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9 Retellings of Classic Fairy Tales in Glorious Fashion in Vogue

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Fashion is storytelling on a personal scale. We create personas and "read" people, in part, by what they are wearing, so essentially a dress is never just a dress. And that's doubly true when a frock is immortalized in Vogue.

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Christian Lacroix collections femme, lunettes, foulards, maroquinerie, Art de vivre

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Yoshiki Hanzawa

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Sm;)e book charts the divergent graphic design heritage of the smiley

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Compiled by DJ DB Burkeman and artist Rich Browd, the publication compiles dozens of visual interpretations of the symbol by artists such as Jeremy Deller and Norman Cook.

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It's no surprise to hear that Jinhwa Jang pulls her influences from the likes of Japanese black and white comics, anime and games she played in her younger years. Because, when observing her cartoonish creations, you start to notice how each and every one tells a detailed story in a single page. This can be anything from a neon-hued, sci-fi scene bubbling away with chaotic decorations and informative panels, suggesting that we may indeed soon be living in space. Other cases take you on similar journeys through varying metropolis, where fish offer you food and it's normal for the sky to be filled with planets.

Jinhwa's works are undeniably bizarre, but that's exactly what we like about them. And ever since we last heard from the illustrator, she's continued to stun us with her latest accomplishments and various editorial commissions for the likes of AIGA Eye on Design, Aliexpress, BBC Focus, Bloomberg Businessweek, Bloomberg Digital, FT Weekend, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Nike and Wired, to name a few.

Jinhwa is originally from South Korea and moved to Shanghai for a total of eight years, before moving to New York to study illustration. She's long been creating art and first picked up a pencil in her younger years - but she never thought she could specialise in the medium, let alone work in the field professionally. "My professor in the foundation course advised me to go to the illustration department rather than design," she tells It's Nice That. "The more I got used to it and learnt about the field, the more I became aware of many talented editorial illustrators who work with a fast turnaround, making editorial illustrations with their own visual languages and voices. I dreamt of being a good editorial illustrator like them."

As things turned out, Jinhwa was expectedly adept at this style, hence all the commissions in this field. Perhaps her success is due to the fact she's constantly surrounding herself with ephemera and publications of a similar ilk, attending art book fairs and collecting Risograph zines at any spare moment - a hobby that began after landing in New York. What's more is that, during her time in school, she started learning about Risograph printing and thus decided to dedicate her work to this craft, adhering to a more limited colour range for easy editing.

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Jinhwa Jang draws abstract figures, neon landscapes and dystopian futures

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It's no surprise to hear that Jinhwa Jang pulls her influences from the likes of Japanese black and white comics, anime and games she played in her younger years. Because, when observing her cartoonish creations, you start to notice how each and every one tells a detailed story in a single page.

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Whenever a book is having a cultural moment, I find myself looking at how the book's covers have been rendered. For books that are older, it's fascinating to see how covers have been reimagined over the course of time. Covers are a book's biggest, easiest selling feature; much as we say we don't judge a book by its cover, we do. Here's how 1984 covers, the classic by George Orwell, has looked over the years.

George Orwell's classic - a staple of high school classrooms everywhere - has been holding strong to the top of the bestsellers list for the last few months. I spent a little time looking at covers from previous eras, as well as foreign editions, and I found some interesting commonalities, rounded up and talked about below.

It's worth noting that 1984 has a curious placement in regards to its availability in the public domain. As I began pulling covers together, I kept seeing tons of English editions, and it didn't seem right - the book isn't old enough to be in the US public domain. And while that's true, it's also true that the book is out of the public domain in Canada, Australia, and South Africa.

The book is also not yet available in the public domain in the UK. That will happen in 2021, and I can only imagine what some of the remixes of that book might look like after the political era upon both the US and the UK.

Pulling together the precise provenance of covers is challenging. There's a lot of incomplete information about publishers, language of publication, and date of publication. So rather than trying to sort out the covers by those means, this round-up instead is taking a different approach: cover tropes.

Many of the covers could easily fall within many of the tropes. And some covers are baffling enough not to fit into any of the tropes below.
All Eyes Upon You
Both English and foreign-language editions of 1984 have featured eyeballs on their covers. Some of the foreign ones include the top left (Turkish), center row right (Spanish), center row center (Persian), bottom row left and bottom row right (both Spanish).

But wait! We've got more eyes on more covers, too.

Among these covers, we have foreign-language editions which include top center (Turkish), top right (from an Indian publisher, language unclear), center row left (Italian), center right (Portuguese), and bottom left (Spanish).

How about some more eyeballs?

Some of these feature some of the most excellent and creative designs, I think. Among the foreign-language editions here are top left (Indonesian), top center (Spanish), top right (Ukranian), bottom left (Czech), bottom center (Indonesian), and bottom right (Portuguese).
Surveillance Cameras
So many of these are the thing of nightmares. Among the foreign-language editions are top left (Portuguese), top center and top right (Norwegian), and bottom right (Finnish). Thanks for this, Scandinavia.

Creatively named, but the commonality here is that we're looking at the common people in some capacity. It's interesting to see the contrast between, say, the top right image and the bottom right image and what they say about the common person. Foreign-language editions include top left (Croatian), top right (Slovakian), center left (Korean), center middle (German), center right (Serbian), bottom left (Greek), and bottom right (Dutch).
Font-Driven Design
This one's pretty self-explanatory. It's the font, particularly the title, which drives the cover's design. Foreign editions include top left (German), top right (Greek), center middle (German), and bottom right (Danish).

Font-driven covers, which are still in vogue today - if not even more so today - are in abundance for Orwell's classic.

Foreign-language editions in the round-up of font-driven covers above include: top left (Dutch), top middle (Italian - isn't that pretty perky for such an unperky book?), center middle (Swedish), and center right (Thai).
The Big Scary Man
AKA: Big Brother.

It's interesting to see how some of the renderings of power here look like they might be inspired by some real-life dictators.

Foreign-language covers above include: top center (Greek), top right (Dutch), center left (Italian), center middle (Arabic), center right (German), bottom middle (Spanish), and bottom right (Danish).

Some more imposing leaders for your cover consideration. Foreign-language editions include: top left (Arabic), top center (Hungarian), middle left (French), middle center (German), middle right (Chinese), and bottom left (Spanish).
Frankenstein . . . Or His Monster
Less reminiscent of citizens or Big Brother. More reminiscent of Frankenstein and/or his monster. The left image is Persian (and you could so easily substitute that in for Shelley's classic!) and the center image is Bulgarian.
Straight-up Horror Vibe
These particular covers certainly convey horror, don't they? Foreign-language editions include top center (Lithuanian - so creative!), bottom right (Chinese), and bottom center (Polish).
Cities & Identifiable Objects
"Recognizable objects" felt like too broad of a category for these covers. Instead, I pulled together the identifiable objects that conveyed a feeling of governmental control and/or showcased cities themselves. Televisions and surveillance cameras that look like hanging lights could have gone in a few other categories, but they've been popped in here since they fit the feel of these. Foreign-language editions include top right (Ukranian), center left (Danish), center middle (Spanish), center right (Polish), bottom left (Serbian), and bottom middle (Indonesian.

And a couple more for the "objects/cities" broad category. The cover on the left is German (so good!), and the cover on the right is also German (and it's unsettling).
Miscellanea
Surely, some of the covers in this general "miscellanea" category could have fit into other tropes, but for the most part, these didn't fit neatly into one or another.

Not to mention, some of them are just weird. But perhaps that weirdness is the point.

Foreign-language editions include top left (Malay) top center (Danish), top right (Portuguese), center left (Polish), center middle (Finnish), center right (Russian), bottom left (Dutch), bottom center (Dutch), and bottom right (Arabic).

Just a few more, including foreign-language editions top right (Italian), middle right (Italian), bottom left (Italian), and bottom center (French). Also a big hello to Mr. Orwell himself in that bottom right cover.

Have a favorite? Find any to be more strange than another? I've personally found the center cover image in the collage immediately above to be the most jarring and strange. Admittedly, it's been many years since I've read the book, but I don't remember that scene or image.

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1984 By George Orwell, In Covers | BookRiot.com

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Whenever a book is having a cultural moment, I find myself looking at how the book's covers have been rendered. For books that are older, it's fascinating to see how covers have been reimagined over the course of time. Covers are a book's biggest, easiest selling feature; much as we say we don't judge a book by its cover, we do.

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Increasing tensions between the current U.S. President's administration and major news sources have jettisoned sales of George Orwell's dystopian classic 1984 through the roof. Whether you're an Orwell fan or not, the novel is certainly relevant in the era of "alternative facts" and "fake news."

In light of its recent popularity, I was inspired to delve into the iconic book covers that have come to represent 1984. As you'll see, many of the covers feature the famous "eye" of Big Brother, but others are more offbeat. The color evolution from green to consistent reds also speaks to the world's political perspective on the text.

Check out some of my favorites below, including both official covers and concept art. I've cited designers where I could find them, but some of them have eluded me. If you know any creators I've missed, let me know in the comments and I'll add them:

A Selection of 1984 Book Covers

First British Edition, Secker and Warburg 1949

was unable to find a cover designer credit for this edition of the book. If you know that information, kindly post in the comments below.

Secker & Warburg, Illustrations by Alex Williamson, 1999 Edition

Penguin Books UK cover by Shepard Fairey, 2008

Like much of Fairey's work, this cover reminds us of Fairey's cover for the Fall 2016 Issue of Print Magazine !

Nineteen Eighty Four Anniversary Edition, Penguin UK 2009

I'm particularly keen to learn the artist behind this gem. (Update: This book cover was created by the talented . Many thanks to Timothy O'Donnell .) The back is great too:

[Related: Power, Fists, Guns, Books: Black Power & Book Cover Design | The Resurgence of Yellow Book Covers | A Language of Images: Insights & Book Cover Design from Rodrigo Corral ]

Swedish Edition with Art by by Olle Eksell,1959

1984 60th Anniversary Edition designed by Jason Johnson

French Edition with Art by Michel Siméon

French Edition, 1980

Indonesian Edition, 2003

Slovakian Edition, 2009

1988 Penguin edition, featuring "The Soul of the Soulless City" by etcher and lithographer Christopher R. W. Nevinson.

Penguin "Great Orwell" Series Cover by David Pearson, 2013

And a closer look:

And here are a couple of intriguing unpublished 1948 book covers and concepts, sou
rced from the artists on Behance:

Proposed 1984 book cover design by Andy Liang

Typography 101: Letterform Design | Online Course

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Book Covers Are Watching You: A Selection of 1984 Cover Designs

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Increasing tensions between the current U.S. President's administration and major news sources have jettisoned sales of George Orwell's dystopian classic 1984 through the roof. Whether you're an Orwell fan or not, the novel is certainly relevant in the era of "alternative facts" and "fake news."

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Digicult | Digital Art, Design and Culture

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Rafaël Rozendaal è un'artista pionieristico che utilizza internet sia come fonte di ispirazione sia come piattaforma per la creazione. Il suo sito web, ricco di opere generate con programmi digitali che non sono solo belle da vedere ma anche stimolanti dal punto di vista mentale, vanta 50 milioni di accessi all'anno.

Facendo ricorso ad un'ampia gamma di mezzi espressivi, tra cui installazioni, arazzi, disegni e pittura lenticolare, e ancora haiku e altre opere d'arte basate sulla parola, l'universo di Rozendaal si estende anche al di là di internet fin nello spazio fisico.

Da un lato l'opera di Rozendaal può essere considerata come una riflessione sul ruolo dell'arte in una società ormai profondamente condizionata dal digitale e dai social network. Dopo essere state vendute, il nome del compratore viene affiancato al titolo delle opere che compaiono su internet, ma queste restano comunque accessibili per poter essere ammirate e apprezzate da chiunque abbia una connessione internet in qualsiasi parte del mondo.

Addentrandoci in profondità all'interno di una nuova epoca della storia dell'arte, abbiamo molto da imparare dalle astute intuizioni di Rozendaal sull'ambiguità tra pubblico e privato e l'essenza del lavoro artistico nell'era della post-riproducibilità tecnica. GENEROSITY, il titolo di questa mostra, è un gioco di parole che esprime l'essenza delle opere di Rozendaal, rese accessibili liberamente a chiunque e ovunque.

La mostra in corso costituisce la prima esposizione personale delle opere di Rozendaal in un'istituzione d'arte pubblica, non solo in Giappone, ma in tutto il mondo. Occupando tre gallerie del Towada Art Centre, l'universo unico di Rozendaal è presentato attraverso arazzi, haiku e istallazioni che offrono al visitatore un'opportunità preziosa per ammirare e sperimentare la visione e la percezione della creatività inspirata dai media contemporanei.

Il Towada Art Centre è impegnato attivamente nell'offrire "nuove esperienze" attraverso l'arte, supportando progetti che hanno come finalità quella di espandere gli orizzonti del significato che rivestirà la creatività nel futuro.

Il suo obiettivo è arricchire la vita quotidiana e spirituale dei visitatori organizzando mostre degli artisti più importanti e all'avanguardia del mondo, in modo da fornire uno spazio che stimoli la novità e le esperienze sorprendenti.

Il progetto attuale porta avanti questo obiettivo affrontando il tema di internet, che negli ultimi 30 anni ha rimodellato l'immaginazione umana e il nostro modo di creare e di pensare, attraverso le opere di Rafaël Rozendaal, una delle figure internazionali più originali e importanti nel campo della net art.

Rafaël Rozendaal (1980) è un artista olandese-brasiliano che attualmente vive e lavora a New York. La mostra è curata da Kodama Kanazawa (curatore indipendente/vice direttore senior del Curatorial Affairs del Towada Art Center).

Il supporto finanziario è fornito dal Mondriaan Fund e dall'ambasciata del Regno d'Olanda a Tokyo in collaborazione con Takuro Someya Contemporary Art, Nakagawa Chemical Co., Ltd and The Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions; e con il supporto speciale di The Chain Museum.
https://www.newrafael.com/http://towadaartcenter.com/

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Rafaël Rozendaal: GENEROSITY * Digicult | Digital Art, Design and Culture

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La mostra in corso nelle gallerie del Towada Art Centre costituisce la prima esposizione personale delle opere di Rafaël Rozendaal, una delle figure internazionali più originali e importanti nel campo della net art. in un'istituzione d'arte pubblica, non solo in Giappone, ma in tutto il mondo.

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Aesthetic Shock: Designer Tadanori Yokoo

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Exploring a body of work that created a new movement in Japanese graphic design.

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Last Updated on February 24, 2020

Style in various forms is evident in Japan. From shockingly vibrant posters to carefully landscaped gardens, Japan is without shortage of design elements. But even with all the intricacies and vastness of Japanese design, every form shares the same core: they are clutter-free, they evoke a sense of cal, and they are simple.

The Japanese style underscores the principle " less is more." This means clutter is an absolute no-no. The overall feel of a Japanese design is clean, straightforward, and structured. Any element without a clear purpose is considered clutter, something that should be discarded. It all boils down to the essentials, the elements that are truly needed in the design.

If you're starting a Japanese-inspired project, get rid of unnecessary elements. Instead, prioritize the basics.

Japanese design is all about subtle and effortless elegance. The style is attention-grabbing for the right reasons - and never about opulence. Even if the concept is chaotic, there is a subdued yet striking aspect within the chaos.

For your project, connect sophistication, artistry, and functionality to come up with a design that has an authentic Japanese feel.

Everywhere you go in Japan, there is a sense of calm, peace, and quiet. Even in the busy streets of Tokyo, the locals respect each other's personal space. This calmness is also very obvious in Japanese design and art.

The use of natural elements like wood, bamboo, and rock creates a relaxing ambience. On some design aspects, there is also a general sense of spiritualism, which is mainly reflected in Japanese architecture. This is where minimalism stems from.

Try to translate peace and quiet on your design to achieve this conventional Japanese detail.

Japanese style - especially for graphic designs - is often injected with life through vibrant colors. A quick color search for modern Japanese graphic design will lead you to a full spectrum of palettes. But the most common combinations include the colors red, gold, and black.

The three colors are simple yet elegant, minimal yet sophisticated - the classic Japanese style. The use of these colors is grounded intensely in Japanese culture. Just think of Harajuku or Shibuya. It just makes sense that the vibrancy of these places is translated to these powerful colors.

If you're doing contemporary Japanese design, these vibrant colors are the best options.

Floral patterns and Japan go hand in hand. The Japanese associates certain flowers with certain stories, symbols, and feelings. Because of how important florals are in the Japanese culture, they're often used in design both as a decoration and a symbol.

Floral patterns are great to incorporate emotions in your design project.

In Japan, traditions are respected the same way modernity is celebrated. The most amazing Japanese artworks are usually a combination of modern Japanese elements and some of their rooted, traditional attributes. In essence, Japanese design is the combination of its tradition (simple, calm, understated) and modernism (minimal, vibrant, man-made).

Mix the past and the present to get the best of Japanese design.

Inspiring Japanese Graphic Design

Here are 60 exceptional Japanese graphic design to help you with your project.

Tags: beautiful graphic design bright colors contemporary japanese graphic design floral patterns graphic arts magazine graphic design timeline graphic design tumblr japan design japanese design japanese graphic art Japanese Graphic Design japanese graphic design companies japanese graphic design history japanese graphic design posters japanese graphic design studio japanese graphic designers japanese modern graphic design japanese poster japanese poster design magazine cover ideas magazine design ideas magazine ideas modern japanese graphic design peaceful design pinterest tailwind popular inspiration articles simple japanese design tumblr graphics

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60 Examples of Japanese Graphic Design - Inspirationfeed

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Style in various forms is evident in Japan. From shockingly vibrant posters to carefully landscaped gardens, Japan is without shortage of design elements. But even with all the intricacies and vastness of Japanese design, every form shares the same core:...

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Click here to explore complete information about Katsushika Hokusai biography and get inspired by his prominent paintings and drawings.

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Byblos Fall 2019 Ready-to-Wear Fashion Show

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The complete Byblos Fall 2019 Ready-to-Wear fashion show now on Vogue Runway.

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Intro

Spirits of the moon, dragon kings, goblins without bodies, water imps, sun goddesses, animal spirits, an underworld for lost children, and a boy born from a peach. Japan's wondrous and eclectic folk tales are amongst the most imaginative, charming, and sometimes terrifying, found anywhere in the world and remain deeply embedded in the country's ancient culture and traditions. Visit Japan and you will have the chance to travel back in time to a land of monsters and magic, adventure and enchantment. We will show you where to find the locations of some of the greatest Japanese folk tales and how to get there with your JR Pass, while uncovering the stories behind these myths and legends and gaining a deeper understanding of what they mean to the people of Japan today. Get ready for an adventure of a lifetime.

Folktales of Japan

Japanese folklore and mythology dates back thousands of years and draws on influences from the country's two main religions, Shintoism and Buddhism, as well as stories from India, China and elsewhere. In particular, Shintoism can be seen as a direct influence on the wealth and diversity of magical creatures and spirits in Japan's folktales, for it is both an animistic and polytheistic religion in that it believes in a vast number of 'kami' (deities and spirits), which inhabit animals, the landscape and even objects. The Shintoshu, a Japanese mythological book regarding Shinto myths, further outlines the origin of Japanese deities from a Buddhist perspective.

However, because the nation's folktales draw on a range of influences beyond Shinto, there are many other supernatural creatures and spirits featured in the most famous stories, including yokai (monster spirits), kappa (river-child or water sprite), tengu (heavenly dogs), yūrei (ghosts) and many more. Japanese folklore was traditionally separated into a number of distinct varieties such as 'mukashibanashi' (tales of long-ago), 'namidabanashi' (sad stories), 'obakebanashi' (ghost stories), 'ongaeshibanashi' (stories of repaying kindness), 'tonchibanashi' (witty stories), 'waraibanashi' (funny stories), and 'yokubaribanashi' (stories of greed).

Japanese mythology also draws on ancient historical texts such as the 'Kojiki' (Record of Ancient Things), which is the oldest recognized book of myths, legends, and history of Japan, the 'Nihon shoki', and the 'Hotsuma Tsutae', an epic of Japanese mythical history. Japan's folktales and mythology were also inspired by the country's creations myths, which focus on two prime divine beings, Izanagi and Izanami, who gave birth to the islands and created the land's many gods and goddesses, such as Amaterasu, the powerful sun goddess of Japan.

Traditionally, there was also a strong oral tradition to Japan's folktales, and wandering storytellers would often travel across the country, from village to village, to tell their tales with illustrations on 'kamishibai' paper. A great resource for those who wish to read some of the country's most famous folktales is the recently published book Tales of Japan: Traditional Stories of Monsters and Magic. This wonderful book features new and original illustrations by Japanese artist Kotaro Chiba.

Japan has many incredible folktales, it is hard to list them all, but we've picked out four of the most famous:

Momotarō - Arguably the most famous Japanese folktale, this is the quirky story of a boy born from a peach who was discovered by an old childless couple when they split the soft fruit open. Momotaro jumped out and was raised by the couple. Later, as a teenager he set off on a long and dangerous quest with a talking dog, monkey and pheasant to battle a legion of demons and claim their riches.

Yuki-Onna - This is the tale of a 'snow woman' (yuki-onna) whose icy breath freezes her victims to death. In the classic tale, she comes across two woodcutters and spares one.

Kintarō - The tale of 'golden boy' with great strength and the ability to talk to animals, Kintaro is usually depicted as a sumo sized child who wears only a red bib with the kanji character for gold, holding a hatchet for a weapon and carrying a fish, normally a huge carp (one of his animal friends) under his arm.

Urashima Tarō, who visited the bottom of the sea - In this story, a fisherman who saves a sea turtle's life is transported to an underwater kingdom where he lives with a dragon princess. However, when he returns home, he discovers three hundred years have passed and everyone he knew has gone. His true age was locked in a box by the dragon princess, but when he opens it, he ages immediately and dies.

Even outside of its folktales, Japan has a long and rich literary history and is even credited with the world's first novel, The Tale of Genji, which was written by a Japanese noblewoman in the 11th Century. Today, Japan boasts a number of well-known contemporary authors, including Kawabata Yasunari and Oe Kenzaburo, who have both won the Nobel Prize for Literature, but perhaps the most famous is Haruki Murakami, who became a global literary sensation following the worldwide success of his novel, Norwegian Wood, in 1987. You can read all about the history and tradition of Japanese literature and where to go to experience contemporary literary attractions in A Literary Tour of Japan.

Legends of Tono

For more than 100 years, the rural town of Tono in Iwate Prefecture has had a reputation as being Japan's 'City of Folklore'. This was largely because of the publication of a book in 1910 entitled Legends of Tono by renowned folklorist Yanagita Kunio, which brought together many of the spoken word folktales that had surrounded the village for centuries.

These stories largely focussed on a magical water sprite or imp known as a 'kappa', which looks like a turtle or frog and which was known to lurk around ponds, rivers and lakes. Parents would tell their children to stay away from the water because the kappa might get them.

Kappa were said to represent the dangers of the water and were sometimes threatening and mischievous, but they were also beloved. Today, there are many statues and carvings of kappa throughout Japan, but especially in Tono.

Legend has it that Jogen-ji Temple in Tono was once on fire and a kappa extinguished the flames using water from his head. You can visit Jogen-ji Temple, as well as a number of museums and other sites in Tono with a connection to its history of folklore, such as Kappabuchi, which is a small pool near the Jogen-ji Temple. This is believed to be the home of the town's kappa, and you will often find visitors here waiting to spot one below the water. You can even hire a fishing rod with a cucumber on the end of the line (believed to be the kappa's favourite food) which you can dangle over the water in the hope of luring one out. Adjacent to the pond is a shrine dedicated to kappa, where women pray for breast milk for their children.

As to be expected in the 'city of folklore', Tono has even more to offer for enthusiasts of myth and legend. Gohyaku Rakan is a series of moss-covered carvings, created to pacify the spirits of thousands of villagers who died in famines centuries ago, while the Tsuzukiishi Stone is a massive boulder said to have been placed by a legendary warrior monk called Benkai who had extraordinary strength. While in Tono, you can also visit Fukusenji Temple, a large Shingon Buddhist pagoda and shrine in the northeast of the village. Finally, no journey to the 'city of folklore' would be complete without a trip to Tono Folklore Village (Tono Furusato no Mura), which is a collection of traditional farmhouse buildings populated by local artisans and craftspeople. You can visit Tono by train using the Japan Rail Pass. To reach the tow from Tokyo, take the bullet train to Shin-Hanamaki Station before changing to a local train for Tono Station.

Japan's most mysterious and magical locations

While Tono might be the 'city of folklore', Japan has a huge number of locations associated with its folktales and mythology. It also has many locations that are just downright mysterious and magical in their own right. We've put together a few of our must-see recommendations:

Yonaguni underwater ruins

The westernmost island of Japan, Yonaguni in Okinawa, is world-famous for sunken wrecks, incredible undersea ruins and, of course, amazing sea life including hammerhead sharks. The mysterious pyramid-like underwater structures are a wonder to behold, and remain unexplained to this day. Are they man-made, or natural? You might just think you're swimming past the lost city of Atlantis!

Jomon Sugi: The 7,200-year-old tree
Jomon Sugi - Japan's oldest tree and believed to be one of the ten oldest anywhere in the world - can be found in the heavily forested, atmospheric and beautiful Yakushima National Park, on the southern island of Yakushima, which is also home to the moss-covered and mysterious Shiratani Unsuikyo forest and ravine - the real-life inspiration for the landscape of Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke. This enormous cedar is believed to be an incredible 7,200 years old. To reach Yakushima, take the train from Tokyo to Kagoshima via the Tokaido, Sanyo and KyushuShinkansen, and then catch a high-speed boat to Yakushima. For more information on the Yakushima National Park, read Visiting Japan's National Parks.

Rabbit Island
Okunoshima, known as Rabbit (or Bunny) Island for its large population of the adorable furry creatures, is located in Hiroshima. To get there from JR Hiroshima Station, travel via JR Mihara Station using yourJRail Pass to JR Tadanoumi Station. It's then a short ferry ride from the station to Rabbit Island!

Sagano Bamboo Forest
The sounds of this singing bamboo forest near Kyoto are said to be the voices of spirits. The Japanese Ministry of the Environment has named Sagano Bamboo Forest as one of the country's most special soundscapes.

Kiyomizu-Dera Temple
This haunting 1,200-year-old temple near Kyoto features around 200 statues of the Deity Jizo and is dedicated to parents whose children have died. Parents place a token on one of the statues as a way of honouring and protecting their deceased children.

The Vine Bridges of Iya Valley
According to folktales, these stunning vine bridges and walkways located in the hidden Iya Valley in the Tokushima metro region were built by a mysterious band of outcasts who wanted to escape society.

Ise Jingu Shrine
The Mie Prefecture region is home to the Grand Ise Shrine, including Ise Jingu Shrine - one of the holiest of all Shinto shrines in Japan - and also Ishigami-san - the women's shrine. The coastal town of Toba, close to where these shrines are located, is the birthplace of Japan's ama divers (or women of the sea) who free dive for pearls and shellfish. The origins of this tradition are associated with Japanese mythology and creation myths, as well as the history of the sun goddess Amaterasu (mentioned above). You can read about it in our Deep Dive into Japan guide.

Sacred Animals in Japan

Japan boasts some of the world's most spectacular and unique wildlife. Thanks to the country's diverse landscape and varying temperatures from the cold north to the subtropical south, Japan's ecosystem has a huge amount of biodiversity. You can find out much more and exactly where to go to find your favourite animal by reading A Wildlife Tour of Japan. Much of Japan's wildlife is sacred to the Japanese people, although some animals have a particularly colourful story surrounding them and a special place in the nation's folktales and mythology. Here is a selection:

Tanuki
Essentially a 'raccoon dog' (although strangely it isn't closely related to the raccoon), Tanuki occupy a special place in Japanese folklore and culture, and you can find this distinctive animal in locations across the country. Tanuki feature heavily in Japanese folklore and were considered to be mischievous but friendly shapeshifters - you will see statues of them throughout the country.

You could also spot real-life Tanuki roaming wild in Hiroshima Prefecture and even in Tokyo's heavily populated Koenji district. Just keep your eyes peeled.

Fox (Kitsune)
In Japanese folklore, kitsune are legendary intelligent foxes with supernatural abilities. No two kitsune are alike and they can be both wise, mischievous and dangerous. They are often portrayed as wily and cunning tricksters. Kitsune sometimes had as many as nine tails and were said to be able to shapeshift into human form. Some were Inari Ōkami, the messengers of kami (spirits and deities), while others were believed to be yokai (monster spirits).

Sika deer
Traditionally a sacred animal in Japan, deer can be found in abundance throughout the country. For a particularly magical deer experience, try visiting Nara Park. As well as being the location of beautiful and serene temples, parks and shrines, Nara is also home to free-roaming deer - making this one of the best and most special places to visit if you would like to see deer up close. The best way to reach Nara from Tokyo using your JRail Pass is via the Shinkansen, at around 2.5 hours from Tokyo to Kyoto Station, and then about 50 minutes from there to Nara Station via the JR Nara Rapid Line.

Cats
Shapeshifting cats appear in several Japanese folktales and while you may struggle to spot a shapeshifter today, contemporary Japan has a couple of very rare cats amongst its wildlife. One of these is the Yamaneko wildcat. This mysterious and hard to find animal has been described as the 'Loch Ness Monster' of Japanese cats! The Yamaneko wildcat is related to (and somewhat similar-looking) to subspecies of leopard, crossed with a very slim and long domestic cat. One of the reasons it is so mysterious and hard-to-find is because there are so few left in the wild, with only 100-200 rumoured to remain in Japan.

Blakiston's Fish Owl
In Hokkaido, the Ainu people worshipped Blakiston's Fish Owl as a 'kamui' in the Shinto tradition i.e. a god or spirit, and believed that it protected their village. Blakiston's Fish Owl is one of the largest species in the world, and is so named because it lives entirely on a diet of fish which it catches from the water using its talons. Read more about Hokkaido and how to get there withJR Pass in our five-day Hokkaido Rail Itinerary.

Don't Forget

Japan's folklore and mythology often crosses over into the spiritual. If you want to include some of the country's beautiful shrines and temples in your itinerary, you should read A Spiritual Guide to Japan.

If you're unsure of Japanese customs while visiting the country to experience it's folklore, why not read Our Guide to Japanese Etiquette? We also have separate articles about Japanese table manners, customs around visiting a Japanese home and business etiquette.

If your folklore tour of Japan is about experiencing the country's history and culture, you could also try staying in a Ryokan - a traditional, Japanese-style inn. Find out why they are so special and our recommendations in The Best Ryokan in Japan.

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Spirits of the moon, dragon kings, goblins without bodies, water imps, sun goddesses, animal spirits, an underworld for lost children, and a boy born from a peach. Japan's wondrous and eclectic folk tales are amongst the most imaginative, charming, and sometimes terrifying, found anywhere in the world and remain deeply embedded in the country's ancient culture and traditions.

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illustrator: Sanchi Ogawa