Years pass swiftly

The story of Momo's birthday gift, an umbrella, is told as a flashback from the gentle and wistful point of view of a parent. Of all her modest gifts, Momo is most enchanted by an umbrella, which she yearns to use. Sunny day after windy day, she tries to persuade her mother to let her use it. Finally, a rainy day comes, and Momo thrills. With her umbrella, she is growing up, conscious of achieving a lady-like posture, but she is also young still, captive to the rhythm and song of raindrops playing on her umbrella. Her parents, too, remember how Momo grew up that day, for she did not need to hold her parents' hands. In Umbrella, Taro Yashima gives us a beautiful essay about how the passage of time—at once swift and slow—is experienced and marked by parents and children. As for the images, think Goodnight Moon with the touch of impressionist Edgar Degas.



Taro Yashima

Umbrella

Viking, 1958