Takekurabe

, English titles Growing Up and Child's Play, is a Japanese novella written by Ichiyō Higuchi, first published in 1895–96. It depicts a group of youths growing up in Shitaya Ryūsenji-chō, Yoshiwara, Meiji era Edo's red light district, over a span of four months.
Plot.
In Edo's Shitaya Ryūsenji-chō quarter, a group of youths find themselves assuming their family professions and losing the freedom they enjoyed as children. The main characters include 15-year-old Nobu (also referred to as Shinnyo), son of a buddhist priest whose profiteering he resents, and 14-year-old Midori, daughter of a family who lives in the Daikokuya brothel, where her older sister Ōmaki works as a popular courtesan. Other protagonists are the bullying Chōkichi, leader of the "back-steet gang", and Shōta, the well-educated son of the local pawnbroker, leader of the competing "main-street gang" and best friend of Midori. Midori takes an interest in Nobu, who hides his shyness behind a dismissive behaviour towards her, which repels her. At the end of the Ōtori fair days, Midori is prepared to become a courtesan like her sister, and Nobu becomes a novice, following into his father's footsteps.
Publication.
Higuchi's novella was first published in the literature magazine "Bungakkai" in seven installments between January 1895 and January 1896.
Translations.
"Takekurabe" was translated into English as "They Compare Heights" by W.M. Bickerton in 1930, as "Growing Up" by Edward Seidensticker in 1956, and as "Child's Play" by Robert Lyons Danly in 1981. A translation under the title "Teenagers Vying for Tops" was provided by Seizo Nobunaga in 1953 or 1960, depending on the source.
Adaptations.
An animated adaptation was released in North America by Central Park Media, titled "Growing Up" in the English release.