Culture: Do you know “A Dog of Flanders”?
June 3, 2006
If you ask Japanese people what they know about Belgium, they will probably reply: “Oh yes, beers and chocolates”. But you would notice their somewhat quizzical look, indicating they do not really have a clear image of the country.
Then try this: “Do you know about Flanders?”
This time their reaction would be different. Their eyes would light up, and nodding strongly, they may start talking about Antwerp, not realising that the city is actually located in Belgium. They may start praising the beauty of its cathedral and to your astonishment, even embark on a precise description of the famous paintings by Peter Paul Rubens which can be admired inside.
Some of them might even begin to cry. By now you would feel totally confused, having no idea what caused them to become so emotional.
The name “Flanders” (Vlaanderen in Dutch, Flandre in French) refers to a region in northern Belgium and a constituent part of the federal Belgian state. But the word instantly reminds Japanese people of a particular story called “A Dog of Flanders”. In Japan, everyone, both young and old, knows exactly what happened to Nello and Patrasche in the cathedral of Antwerp on a cold winter night.
A beautiful and sad story
The original story “A Dog of Flanders” was written by a British-French author named Ouida, also known as Marie-Louise de la Ramée (1839-1908).
The book tells the story of Nello, an orphan boy who lived in a hut in the suburbs of Antwerp with his ailing grandfather and a dog named Patrasche. Nello earned money by selling milk in Antwerp, and Patrasche pulled the milk cart everyday. Despite poverty, they were the best of friends and very happy.
Nello was a naturally talented artist. He could not buy any painting tools but wanted to become a famous painter like Rubens, whom he admired very much. His dream was to see Rubens’ paintings in the cathedral one day. But these paintings were covered by heavy curtains, and he could not afford to pay a silver coin to see them.
Happiness did not last long. After his grandfather died a week before Christmas, Nello was falsely accused of causing a fire. Driven out of the small hut with no money, he went to the cathedral on Christmas Eve. Patrasche ran after him. The door was open by chance, and Nello saw Rubens’ paintings at last. On the following morning the young boy and his faithful dog were found frozen to death, tightly hugging each other in front of the paintings.
A tremendous success in Japan
This beautiful story itself follows a strange destiny.
Ouida spent only a few days in Antwerp in 1871. Her book was published the following year in Great Britain, and later went across the Atlantic to be distributed in the United States.
When she died in 1908 in Italy, the New York Times ran a lengthy obituary about her life and work. Ouida was depicted as a lover of dogs who spent most of her earnings on her beloved pets.
A Japanese diplomat, Masujiro Honda, who was stationed in New York, was touched by the article. He was fond of dogs too.
So he sent the English-language book titled “A Dog of Flanders” to his friends back in Japan. In his letter, he wrote: “This story is a masterpiece and the Japanese will love it.”
And they surely did after Honda’s friends translated the book that same year. It became one of the most well-known children stories for many generations.
Nippon Animation made an animation series based on the story in 1975. It was broadcast on national television, and children watched it at home every Sunday evening. As the story was nearing its end, the television station started receiving thousands of telephone calls and letters from children viewers, pleading: “Please don’t let Nello die!”. An emergency meeting was held, but after a long debate, the producers finally decided to be truthful to the original plot.
The series was a tremendous success, and since then, it has been shown on Japanese television again and again.
Jan Corteel’s mission
In 1982, Jan Corteel was working in his second year as a tourist officer in Antwerp. He can clearly remember the day when a young, tall Japanese boy came into his office at the Central Station. The boy asked him a question which would eventually change the rest of his life.
“A Dog of Flanders, do you know?” the boy inquired in odd English.
Jan was born and bred in Antwerp but had never heard of it. “You mean the Lion of Flanders?” he said, referring to the symbol used by the Flemish army on 11 July 1302 when they defeated the French army during the landmark Battle of the Golden Spurs.
“No, no. Not lion. Dog!”, the boy insisted.
Jan had to admit that he could not help him.
Later, Jan asked his colleagues at the tourist office. “Oh yes, they are looking for the dog for some reason, the Japanese tourists,” replied one colleague with a certain nonchalance, adding: “I think there is a book about it in the library.”
So Jan rushed to the library and indeed found an old book written in English. There were no Dutch or French translations. On the record of borrowers on the side of the book cover, Jan noticed that he was the fifth reader in a century.
He read the book over and over again. It was a story of Antwerp, Rubens, and the cathedral. He felt ashamed of not knowing the story. “It was about us. I felt like the world was collapsing on me,” he remembers.
Jan was so devoted to studying the book that everybody thought he was mad.
He wanted to gather all the information available. So, when he would see Japanese tourists in town, he would ask them: “Do you know “A Dog of Flanders”?”
“Of course we know. Why don’t you know?”, they all replied. Jan asked them to send him books and magazines from Japan, and soon his office was filled with Patrasche books. It was natural for him to decide to learn Japanese.
Jan’s findings
Then Jan began to wonder where Nello and Patrasche had actually lived. Ouida did not mention the name of the village, but did write that their hut was “a league from Antwerp.” A league was an old unit of distance used in Europe and equalled about five kilometres. “…on the edge of the great canal”: well, there is only one canal in Antwerp, the Scheldt (or Schelde in Dutch). And from the hut, the spire of the cathedral should rise “in the northeast.” It took him a year and a half of research to reach a conclusion.
It was Hoboken.
Hoboken used to be a village but is now part of an industrial area. Jan discovered that there used to be a large windmill in Hoboken. In the book, it was the place where Nello’s girlfriend Aloise lived with her family. According to local records, the miller who leased the mill had a daughter. She was the same age as Aloise, 12, when Ouida visited the village back in 19th century.
Thanks to Jan’s efforts, a small statue of Nello and Patrasche now stands in front of the information centre in Hoboken. Visitors can enjoy a walk to a rebuilt model of a six metre-high windmill and to a church where according to the book the boy and his dog were buried together. Many Japanese tourists take the 20 minute tram ride from Antwerp to see where their favourite story took place.
In the cathedral of Antwerp, tourists can now see the famous paintings by Rubens, “The Elevation of the Cross,” and “The Descent from the Cross”, without paying any additional coins (but they still need to pay an entrance fee).
Recent statistics prove Japan’s enthusiasm for the city. A total of 22,000 Japanese nationals visited Antwerp in 2003, ranking only second after Americans among non-EU tourists.
After 24 years of devotion to the story, Jan is now widely respected as an expert on Nello and Patrasche. Nobody thinks Jan is crazy anymore. Jan now has a Japanese wife, Yoshimi, whom he married five years ago. Having visited Japan 15 times, he can even explain the story to Japanese tourists in their own language.
When the Dutch translation of the book was published in 1985, Jan wrote in its foreword: “This story has been a ’secret ambassador’ for more than 100 years.”
“The story has come back to Antwerp at last. It travelled all around the world for 100 years. The Japanese people brought it back to us,” Jan says, smiling.
A true Belgian story?
However, the introduction of the story into Belgium proved no easy task.
In the tale, Nello was born in the Ardennes, and Patrasche was a Flemish dog. Wallonia and Flanders become friends, live in harmony. “It’s a perfect Belgian story,” Jan thought.
So he brought the Japanese animation series to local television stations for broadcasting, but they all rejected it, pointing out that the clothing and buildings looked too Dutch and that they did not really depict “Flanders”. These differences might seem only small details to Japanese animators, but they were too big for the people in Antwerp.
In 1997, Nippon Animation and Japanese film producer Shochiku created an animated movie which was a remake of the successful television series. But this time, the staff first came to Jan for advice because they wanted to be accurate in every detail, so that the new production would also be accepted in Belgium.
After long talks, Jan finally succeeded to convince Belgian national television to broadcast the film. Since 2000, it has often been shown on Christmas Eve.
So may we conclude that Belgian people know the story now and that they too are deeply touched by its sad but heart-warming ending?
No. It is not that simple.
I will tell you why in my next article.
By Masaki Takakura
Masaki Takakura, a staff writer for Japanese national daily newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, is currently doing an internship programme at the European Journalism Centre’s office in Brussels. His speciality is child welfare.
Update 25 January 2008:
Jan Corteel has been arrested for the murder of his Japanese wife Yoshimi.
The Belgian daily Het Belang van Limburg reports that Jan Corteel has been arrested on Wednesday (23 January 2008) for the murder of his Japanese wife Yoshimi in their flat in Antwerp. Neighbours heard the couple fighting early in the morning but were unable to intervene on time. The police did not give any details about the exact cause of death but it seems that a knife was used. Yoshimi Ishii had been working for the past two years as a cleaning lady at the cathedral of Antwerp. (see article)
Update 9 July 2006: Crossroads articles published in Kosovo newspaper
We are pleased to inform our readers that Masaki Takakura’s feature articles about “A Dog of Flanders” have recently been published in Bota Sot, a leading Albanian-language Kosovo newspaper.
Masaki: “It’s fun to act as a bridge between Eastern and Western Europe. Helping to understand each other is something I always dream as a journalist, not just for Europe but for all over the world. I think it is one of the best part of being a journalist. The Patrasche article might help people understand more about Japanese culture and how we think. I found it really meaningful since Japanese people have never been very good at speaking about ourselves.”
Here are the articles: “Do you know ‘A Dog of Flanders’?” and “A Dog of Flanders revisited” (in Albanian, pdf format).
Arigatou Masaki-san. Thanks to your article I’m now reading with the children this wonderful story. Being born and raised in Limburg, I first did not understand why I had never heard of a “Hond van Vlaanderen” in elementary school. But when we came in the book to the passage where Nello is thrown out of the cathedral because he could not pay the clergyman… I suddenly understood it very well. Even in the late sixties when I visited elementary school, almost all schools were very roman-catholic…
The other day I saw a very moving Japanese home-drama about a nine-year old girl. She had just read in school “Flanders no inu” and now they were reading “Aoi Tori”: the blue bird. This story appears to be a free adaptation of Maurice Maeterlinck’s piece “L’oiseau bleu”. Maybe we should - as Jan Corteel did - learn some Japanese in order to understand better the culture of the “Low Countries”.
I remember very well watching the series when it was first shown on Japanese television back in 1975. I watched it every week with my younger brother and sister and both my parents. We all cried when in one of the final episodes, Nello lost a drawing competition that he had so much hoped to win. Poor Nello could not afford beautiful colour paints like the other candidates and was only able to submit a drawing made with charcoal. But it was such a beautiful drawing and he had put so much effort into it that it seemed terribly unfair that he did not win the prize. Nello was overwhelmed with sadness and only Patrasche was able to comfort him…
Now, more than thirty years later, my family and I still think back with nostalgia about “Furandasu no Inu” (”A Dog of Flanders” in Japanese) and many other beautiful Japanese animations series and still know their opening and end theme songs.
I remember that one day my father, who was working as a cultural attaché at the French embassy in Tokyo at the time, was invited to visit Fuji TV, the television station that broadcast most of the animation series that we watched, including “A Dog of Flanders”. During his visit, he told one of the managers there how much not only his own children but also all the foreign children at the French Lycée in Tokyo loved their programmes. He casually added that he would not be surprised if the animation series were to become a big commercial success in Europe if they would be marketed there. So when about two years later, French television first started broadcasting Japanese animation series like “Candy” or “Goldorak”, my father made us all laugh when he proudly exclaimed: “This is thanks to me! My comments must have fallen onto listening ears!”.
It looks like “A Dog of Flanders” was born and has been kept alive thanks to more people with listening ears: first Marie Louise de la Ramée, who originally must have heard something that inspired her during her short stay in Flanders, then Masujiro Honda who introduced the story to Japan, and finally Jan Corteel who brought it back to Flanders!
This is in response to Sueli’s comment: I was thrilled to read this crossroads article, here in Brazil, and my daughter Marcia (Sueli´s sister) as well. Marcia says “Flanders no Inu”, that she watched in Japan in 1975 when she was seven years old, was in fact her introduction to art.
The next step is to suggest to Globo TV (the main Brazilian media empire) to translate Flanders no Inu in Portuguese, for the pleasure of millions of Brazilian children (and adults).
The Scheldt - l’Escaut - is not a canal, it’s a major river.
Flanders no Inu was a big success even in the german-speaking countries. The series was not cut but it has a alternative ending with a voice-over in the very last episode. I think it is THE highest rated Meisaku-Series because of the death of Nello and Patrasche. I would like to say that the movie from the year 1997 is also cut on DVD in the US by Pioneer, nevertheless there was a limited release of the uncut-version on VHS with the Soundtrack from Taro Iwashiro.
However, I must say that the japanese opening song by Kumiko Oosugi doesn’t fit into the series.
On my last few visits to France, I watched several episodes of the Japanese animation series “Heidi” on French television, and noticed that many of the songs within the episodes had been kept in their original Japanese version. Only the opening and end themes had been given a French version. I thought it was really nice to hear the Japanese songs, undoubtedly because of my own Japanese background and also because I was happily surprised to realise that I still remembered many of the songs. (I watched the series as a child in Japan, more than thirty years ago).
But how do other people react to these Japanese songs? I found Zak’s last comment very interesting in this respect. Zak, could you maybe explain why in your opinion the opening song does not fit in the series?
I must say that I can’t speak or even read Japanese very well, on the other side I listen the most time Japanese music from all genres. But when I’m hearing Yoake no Michi… well, it sounds extremely happy to me if I compare it with the German opening theme. There’s no doubt that I prefer my native language in this case. It’s hard to explain how the German one sounds but the lyrics concerns a boy who’s living in Antwerpen and has good and bad times. Well, the Japanese one contains something with little butterflies and a unforgettable road or something and often yelling “Patorasshu” (it’s quite interesting how Japanese people are spelling foreign names) :). It’s quite nice but the series is a dramatic one and I think there should be a more serious song.
How do people react to Japanese songs? Well, most of the Anime-Fans actually love Japanese music, because it’s absolute different from the world. After I watched a series which contains 2 songs from the famous Japanese band “OFF COURSE!” I really was impressed, because it is really different. It doesn’t matter if we can understand it or not - even the English written songs from Japanese composers are something interesting. Try to listen to Jun Senoue and his famous Sonic-Songs from Sega.
Here is the opening theme of “Furandasu no Inu”.
I agree with Zak that the opening theme sounds happy. It looks like the Japanese animators chose to focus mainly on the friendship between Nello and Patrasche, rather than on their tragic fate. It would be interesting to hear the German version of the song..
The lyrics (and their English translation) can be found here. I only discovered last week that the refrain is in Dutch! (Masaki told me).
“La la la la la la zingen zingen kleine vlinders…”
I had always thought that these words (which were incomprehensible to me until now) only tried to imitate the sound of the bells of the Cathedral of Antwerp!!
Masaki added that this part of the song is performed by a boys’ choir in Antwerp, which was very interesting to learn. These words in Dutch probably sound really “exotic” to the Japanese audience and certainly add a lot of “couleur locale” to the series.
I was on vacation. To make it short for today: I’ll look forward for a german opening video of the series
Hi Sueli,
you asked for the german opening theme of the dog of flanders series. You can listen to it on my homepage. I did a little section about the dog of flanders. I saw it maybe 15 years ago when I was a child. It touched me very deeply, so I decided to bring the story a bit closer to the rest of the world.
Here is the direct link to the german song.
My homepage is completely written in german, so you can only watch the pictures. Sorry.
Thanks a lot Klaus, the German opening theme is indeed more subdued than the Japanese one. I now understand why Zak feels that it corresponds better to the spirit of the story. It was nice to see that you dedicated a whole section of your website to A Dog of Flanbers, I am sure that a lot of German speaking visitors (and others too) appreciate it very much.
I saw the japanese animated series of the story back when I was young. The story was really great yet depressing, but still, it drives home its message of innocence amidst hardships.
I have seen Nello again on tv as I and my son were watching the movie (1999 movie) over satellite tv here in the middle east. My husband was the one who told me that A Dog in Flanders was actually the one we watched in an animated cartoons translated in Filipino way back the ’90s named ‘Nello’ as i might recall. I was really moved by the cartoon series and i consider A Dog of Flanders aka ‘Nello’ as one of my favorite cartoons. Nello and Patrasche has really touched my heart.
i find the animation series too heart-warming. It is perfect for viewers at all ages. I conclude that the series “dog of flanders ” is the most touching story i have ever known…. =)
i love it.
i hope i could have that book…
i’ve seen this anime way back during my early college year, if i’m not mistaken that was 1994. the entire class would huddle up in one of the canteens outside the school and skip class just to watch it. a wonder full heart-warming story, perfect for kids. my kid (about to be born this october 2007) will surely love this.
It certainly wasn’t a boys’ choir because I was in it and I was definitely a little girl at that time! There were a few boys but most of us were girls.
More information on the first ‘A dog of Flanders’ Documentary can be found on:
http://www.dogofflanders.be
The documentary gives an insight on the book, the writer, the American film adaptations the Japanese Anime series and the cultural implications in Flanders and Japan
I don’t know about Belgium very well, but I know “A dog of Flanders” very well. I was surprised that every Japanese knows the story, but Europeans don’t. I think because of aesthetic reason between Japanese to European.
In 1975, I watched “A dog of Flanders” animation. I was a kid at that time, but I was very moved and cried and cried….. this article reminds me my infanthood.
Nello and Patrasche are living in my heart forever and ever.
I have seen this anime when i was still a young boy. Every week, me and my younger sister and brother huddled up just to watch how this kind boy (Nello) be able to survive the hardships he faced early on his life. The value of having someone to relate to, to share your emotions and the feeling that you have a companion, no matter what happens, still remains in our hearts because of this beautiful but tragic novel.
I hope i will be able to show this to my future kids.
When I saw the picture of Jan and Yoshimi, without reading the title, my first thinking was ‘does he at last gets the appreciation he deserves’? But before I could even end my thinking, I got a real cold shower.
My oldest daughter was about 12 I think when we first met Jan in his little cabin for tourism right outside Central station of Antwerp. They shared the interest for Japan, and…Nello and Patrache.
We did bump into each other from time to time, did some talking, however, never got really personal. We knew them, but I doubt if they would remember us. My daughter now lives in Japan with her Japanese husband. Skyping yesterdaymorning, we could share our sad feelings.
What happened doesn’t fit at all into the picture we have from Jan. Was it cropped-up anger, or a moment of insanity about something?
So many questions in trying to understand.
But killing someone never can be an answer, and it cannot be undone. Staring through my window upstairs, I look in the direction where they lived, about 500 meters to fly for a bird, passing the scenic area of the ‘Old lands’, where spring is already showing. But driving through, crossing the red lights at the end, passing the first building, there will be a wintry feeling for a long time.
We empathise with the close friends and families of Jan and Yoshimi.
J. and L. …Tokyo-Merksem.
I am going to risk coming across as morbid; but you do appreciate the bitter irony don’t you? All those debates about happy or sad endings… and now look at the result. As for the story, it is indeed touching… odd part is; people rarely give their own culture the credit it deserves as they take it for granted, usually takes an outsider’s perception to inform them about it’s value.
Reading the whole article… I was very astonished… I have watched the anime remake of “A Dog of Flanders” here in the Philippines (”not” the NIPPON productions version)… As a kid it did touched my heart, and reminiscing the whole story, again and again by reading the article, I did cried… If only we could have the childlike innocence of Nello and his loving dog Patrasche, their unselfish love, I do think that we could certainly have and achieve WORLD PEACE… I was even amazed with the rich background history of this novel… That it traveled thousands of miles, in three continents, for almost a hundred years… and binded two different cultures… If only I could be childlike forever… Hehehe… “,)