Modern Japanese Short Stories: Twenty-Five Stories by Japan's Leading Writers

By Ōgai Mori, Shūsei Tokuda, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, et al.

Book Overview

Modern Japanese Short Stories is a remarkable collection of Japanese stories from the pioneers of contemporary Japanese literature. This volume's twenty-five stories by as many authors display a wide range of style and subject matter--offering a revealing picture of modern Japanese culture and society.

The stories in this anthology include: "Tattoo" by Junichiro Tanizaki--a large spider tattooed on the back of a young woman results in unexpected changes"Autumn Mountain" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa--vivid memories of a beautiful painting leads a man to wonder if the it ever actually existed"The Priest and His Love" by Yukio Mishima--a Buddhist priest finds his path to enlightenment challenged after falling in love"The Moon on the Water" by Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata--a young woman who cared for her ailing first husband through most of their marriage regrets remarrying after his death Featuring a new foreword by Japanese literary scholar Seiji Lippit and striking woodcut illustrations by Masakazu Kuwata, the stories are translated by the editor, Ivan Morris, and Edward Seidensticker, George Saito, and Geoffery Sargent. This collection of short stories shows why Japanese literature is so highly valued today--it teaches not only about Japan, but about the human condition and the possibilities of art.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 4805315245
• ISBN13: 9784805315248
• Release Date: July 2019
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A Fine Mix of Short Stories

This is one of the first if not THE first anthology of modern Japanese literature published in English, back in 1962. Don't let this fact make you think this fine book is outdated, though; these are top-notch translations, accurate and literary in quality, of short stories by some of the most important 20th-century Japanese authors. While I like the vintage feel of the original hardcover edition, I am very glad to see that Tuttle has reprinted this excellent anthology in paperback recently. One thing especially good about this work as an anthology is the wide variety of writers included; Romanticists, Naturalists, Modernists, Marxists, Decadents, Nihilists, Conservatives, and Category-defying Misfits all find a place in this collection, giving the reader a vivid sense of modern Japanese literature's great variety and multivocality. Some of the featured authors are perennial favorites of English translation like Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, while some are important but under-represented in translation like Kikuchi Kan. All have some great stories to tell. The stories include "Under Reconstruction" by Mori Ogai, "Order of the White Paulownia" by Tokuda Shusei, "Hydrangea" by Nagai Kafu, "Seibei's Gourds" by Shiga Naoya, "Tattoo" by Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, "On the Conduct of Lord Tadanao" by Kikuchi Kan, "The Camellia" by Satomi Ton, "Brother and Sister" by Muro Saisei, "The House of a Spanish Dog" by Sato Haruo, "Autumn Mountain" by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, "The Handstand" by Ogawa Mimei, "Letter Found in a Cement-Barrel" by Hayama Yoshiki, "The Charcoal Bus" by Ibuse Masuji, "Machine" by Yokomitsu Riichi, "The Moon on The Water" by Kawabata Yasunari, "Nightingale" by Ito Einosuke, "Morning Mist" by Nagai Tatsuo, "The Hateful Age" by Niwa Fumio, "Downtown" by Hayashi Fumiko, "A Man's Life" by Hirabayashi Taiko, "The Idiot" by Sakaguchi Ango, "Shotgun" by Inoue Yasushi, "Tiger-Poet" by Nakajima Ton, "The Courtesy Call" by Dazai Osamu, "The Priest and His Love" by Mishima Yukio.