by Ivan Morris
Yet this haughty noblewoman of Kyōgoku was too proud to succumb to her fears without a fight, and she now summoned forth all the resources of her inbred ruthlessness. The Great Priest, she told herself, was bound to collapse sooner or later. She looked through the blind, thinking that by now he must be lying on the ground. To her annoyance, the silent figure stood there motionless.
Night fell and in the moonlight the figure of the priest looked like a pile of chalk-white bones.
The lady could not sleep for fear. She no longer looked through the blind and she turned her back to the garden. Yet all the time she seemed to feel the piercing gaze of the Great Priest on her back.
This, she knew, was no commonplace love. From fear of being loved, from fear of falling into Hell, the Great Imperial Concubine prayed more earnestly than ever for the Pure Land. It was for her own private Pure Land that she prayed—a Pure Land which she tried to preserve invulnerable within her heart. This was a different Pure Land from the priest’s and it had no connection with his love. She felt sure that if she were ever to mention it to him, it would instantly disintegrate.
The priest’s love, she told herself, had nothing to do with her. It was a one-sided affair, in which her own feelings had no part, and there was no reason that it should disqualify her from being received into her Pure Land. Even if the Great Priest were to collapse and die, she would remain unscathed. Yet, as the night advanced and the air became colder, this confidence began to desert her.
The priest remained standing in the garden. When the moon was hidden by the clouds, he looked like a strange, gnarled old tree.
“That form out there has nothing to do with me,” thought the lady, almost beside herself with anguish, and the words seemed to boom within her heart. “Why in Heaven’s name should this have happened?”
At that moment, strangely, the Great Imperial Concubine completely forgot her own beauty. Or perhaps it would be more correct to say that she had made herself forget it.
Finally, faint traces of white began to break through the dark sky and the priest’s figure emerged in the dawn twilight. He was still standing. The Great Imperial Concubine had been defeated. She summoned a maid and told her to invite the priest to come in from the garden and to kneel outside her blind.
The Great Priest was at the very boundary of oblivion when the flesh is on the verge of crumbling away. He no longer knew whether it was for the Great Imperial Concubine that he was waiting or for the future world. Though he saw the figure of the maid approaching from the residence into the dusky garden, it did not occur to him that what he had been awaiting was finally at hand.
The maid delivered her mistress’ message. When she had finished, the priest uttered a dreadful, almost inhuman, cry. The maid tried to lead him by the hand, but he pulled away and walked by himself toward the house with fantastically swift, firm steps.
It was dark on the other side of the blind and from outside it was impossible to see the lady’s form. The priest knelt down and, covering his face with his hands, he wept. For a long time he stayed there without a word and his body shook convulsively.
Then in the dawn darkness a white hand gently emerged from behind the lowered blind. The priest of the Shiga Temple took it in his own hands and pressed it to his forehead and cheek.
The Great Imperial Concubine of Kyōgoku felt a strange, cold hand touching her hand. At the same time she was aware of a warm moisture. Her hand was being bedewed by someone else’s tears. Yet when the pallid shafts of morning light began to reach her through the blind, the lady’s fervent faith imbued her with a wonderful inspiration: she became convinced that the unknown hand which touched hers belonged to none other than the Buddha.
Then the great vision sprang up anew in the lady’s heart: the emerald earth of the Pure Land, the millions of seven-jeweled towers, the angels playing music, the golden ponds strewn with silver sand, the resplendent lotus, and the sweet voices of the Kalavinkas—all this was born afresh. If this was the Pure Land that she was to inherit—and so she now believed—why should she not accept the Great Priest’s love?
She waited for the man with the hands of Buddha to ask her to raise the blind that separated her from him. Presently he would ask her; and then she would remove the barrier and her incomparably beautiful body would appear before him as it had on that day by the edge of the lake at Shiga; and she would invite him to come in.
The Great Imperial Concubine waited.
But the priest of Shiga Temple did not utter a word. He asked her for nothing. After a while his old hands relaxed their grip and the lady’s snow-white hand was left alone in the dawn light. The priest departed. The heart of the Great Imperial Concubine turned cold.
A few days later a rumor reached the Court that the Great Priest’s spirit had achieved its final liberation in his cell at Shiga. At this news the lady of Kyōgoku set to copying the sutras in roll after roll of beautiful writing.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
GIVEN HERE is a listing of selected translations into English of works by the authors included in the present anthology. Unless otherwise indicated, all the works are short stories. The authors are arranged alphabetically, with the works of each listed in the order of the first Japanese publication. Note that the stories of the present anthology have not been included. The following abbreviations of frequently cited works have been used:
EACJ—Eminent Authors of Contemporary Japan: One-Act Plays and Short Stories, eds. Eric S. Bell and Ukai Eiji. Kaitakusha, Tokyo, 1930–31 (2 vols.).
“Hell Screen”—Hell Screen and Other Stories, ed. W.H.H. Norman. Hokuseidō, Tokyo, 1948.
JQ—Japan Quarterly. Asahi Shimun-sha, Tokyo, since 1954.
MJL—Modern Japanese Literature: Anthology from 1868 to the Present, ed. Donald Keene. Grove Press, New York, 1956.
“Paulownia”—Paulownia: Seven Stories from Contemporary Japanese Writers, ed. Takemoto Torao. Duffeld, New York, 1918.
“Roshoman”—Rashomon and Other Stories, ed. Kojima Takashi. Charles E. Tuttle, Co., Tokyo, 1952 and Liveright, New York, 1952.
RTJ—Representative Tales of Japan, ed. Miyamori Asatarō. Sankō Shoten, Tokyo, 1914 (2 vols.).
SMJW—Selections from Modern Japanese Writers, ed. Arthur I. Sadler. Australasian Medical Publishing Co., Sydney, 1943.
SJSS—The Heart is Alone: A Selection of 20th-Century Japanese Short Stories. Hokuseidō, Tokyo, 1957.
“Tales Grotesque”—Tales Grotesque and Curious, ed. Glenn W. Shaw. Hokuseidō, Tokyo, 1930.
“Three Treasures”—The Three Treasures and Other Stories for Children, ed. Sasaki Takamasa. Hokuseidō, Tokyo, 1944.
WIE—The Writing of Idiomatic English, ed. S.G. Brickley. Tokyo, 1951.
“Young Forever”—Young Forever and Five Other Novelettes by Contemporary Japanese Authors, ed. Japan Writers’ Society. Hokuseidō, Tokyo, 1941.
RYŪNOSUKÉ AKUTAGAWA
RASHOMON (Rashomōn, 1915), tr. Kojima—“Rashomon.”
LICE (Shirami, 1916), tr. Shaw—“Tales Grotesque.”
MENSURA ZOILI (Mensura Zoili, 1916), tr. W. Norman—“Hell Screen.”
SENNIN (Sennin, 1916), tr. Sasaki—“Three Treasures.”
THE HANDKERCHIEF (Hankechi, 1916), tr. Shaw—“Tales Grotesque.”
THE NOSE (Hana, 1916), tr. Ivan Morris—JQ, II, 4.
THE PIPE (Kiseru, 1916), tr. Shaw—“Tales Grotesque.”
THE WINE WORM (Sakamushi, 1916), tr. Shaw—“Tales Grotesque.”
Yam Gruel (Imogayu, 1916), tr. Kojima—“Rashomon.”
TOBACCO AND THE DEVIL (Tabako to Akuma, 1917), tr. Shaw—“Tales Grotesque.”
Hell Screen (Jigokuhen, 1918), tr. W.H.H. Norman—MJL.
Jashumon (Jashumon, 1918), tr. W. Norman—“Hell Screen.”
KESA AND MORITO (Kesa to Moritō, 1918), tr. Howard Hibbett—MJL.
STORY OF YONOSUKE (Yonosuke no Hanshi, 1918), tr. Kojima Takashi—Pacific Spectator, no. 2, 1955.
THE MARTYR (Hōkyō
nin no Shi, 1918), tr. Kojima—“Rashomon.”
THE SPIDER’S THREAD (Kumo no Ito, 1918), tr. Shaw—“Tales Grotesque.”
THE STORY OF A FALLEN HEAD (Kubi ga Ochita Hanashi, 1918), tr. Bell and Ukai—EACJ.
MORI SENSEI (Mōri Sensei), tr. Shaw—“Tales Grotesque.”
THE DRAGON (Tatsu, 1919), tr. Kojima—“Rashomon.”
THE MANDARIN ORANGES (Mikan, 1919), tr. T. Yusa—Contemporary Japan, March 1938.
MAGIC (Majutsu, 1920), tr. Sakai, “Three Treasures.”
THE AUTUMN (Aki, 1920), tr. Bell and Ukai—EACJ.
The Ball (Butōkai, 1920), tr. Shaw—“Tales Grotesque.”
TU TSUCHUN (To Shishun, 1920), tr. Bell and Ukai—EACJ.
THE GOD OF AGNI (Aguni no Kami, 1921), tr. Sakai, “Three Treasures.”
FLATCAR (Torokko, 1922), tr. McKinnon—SJSS.
IN A GROVE (Yabu no Naka, 1922), tr. Kojima—“Rashomon.”
KAPPA (Kappa, novel, 1922), tr. Shiojiri Seiichi. Akitaya, Osaka, 1947.
OTOMI’S VIRTUE (Otomi no Teishō, 1922), tr. Nishida Kazuo, Asia Scene, I, 2, 1955.
THE THREE TREASURES (Mitsu no Takara, 1923), tr. Sakai, “Three Treasures.”
WHITIE THE DOG (Shiro, 1923), tr. Sakai, “Three Treasures.”
A CLOD OF EARTH (Ikkai no Tsuchi, 1924), tr. McKinnon—SJSS.
SAN SEBASTIEN: A SCENARIO (Yūwaku, 1927), tr. Arthur Waley, Horizon, September 1949.
THE BADGER (Jujina, 1928), tr. Shaw—“Tales Grotesque.”
OSAMU DAZAI
OF WOMEN (Mesu ni tsuite, 1936), tr. Edward Seidensticker—Encounter I, I (1953).
I ACCUSE (Kakemoni Utae, 1940), tr. Katayama Tadao—The Reeds, IV, 1958.
THE CRIMINAL (Hannin, 1940), tr. Kojima Takashi—English and American Literature, no. 2, Meiji University, Tokyo, 1956.
OSAN (Osan, 1947), tr. Edward Seidensticker—JQ, IV.
THE SETTING SUN (Shayō, novel, 1947), tr. Donald Keene, New Directions, New York, 1956.
VILLON’S WIFE (Villon no Tsuma, 1947), tr. Keene, MJL.
CHERRIES (Ōtō, 1948), tr. Edward Seidensticker—Encounter I, I (1953).
NO LONGER HUMAN (Ningen Shikkaku, novel, 1948), tr. Donald Keene, New Directions, New York, 1956.
FUMIKO HAYASHI
LATE CHRYSANTHEMUM (Bangiku, 1948), tr. John Bester—JQ, III, 4.
FLOATING CLOUD (Ukigumo, novel, 1951), tr. Murayama Ken—Pacific Spectator, Autumn, 1952.
TAIKO HIRABAYASHI
THE GODDESS OF CHILDREN (Kishimojin, 1946), tr. Murayama Ken—Pacific Spectator, Autumn, 1952.
MASUJI IBUSÉ
THE SALAMANDER (Sanshō-wo, 1923), tr. Katayama Tatsuo—The Reeds, II.
JOHN MANJIRO: THE CAST-AWAY, HIS LIFE AND ADVENTURES (Manjirō Hyōryū Ki, novel, 1938), tr. Kaneko Hisakazu—Hokuseidō, Tokyo, 1940.
A FAR-WORSHIPPING COMMANDER (Yōhai Taichō, 1950), tr. Glenn W. Shaw—JQ, I, I.
THE CRAZY IRIS (Kakitsubata, 1951), tr. Ivan Morris—Encounter, May, 1956.
SWAN SONG (Hakuchō no Uta, 1954), tr. Geoffrey Sargent—The Rising Generation, Vol. 102 (9–12), 1956.
NO CONSULTATIONS TODAY (Honjitsu Kyūshin, 1955), tr. Edward Seidensticker—JQ, VIII, I.
YASUSHI INOUÉ
THE HUNTING GUN (Ryōjū, 1949), tr. Yokoö Sadamichi and Sanford Goldstein—Tuttle, Rutland, VT and Tokyo, Japan, 1962.
THE AZALEAS OF HIRA (Hira no Shakunage, 1954), tr. Edward Seidensticker—JQ, II, 3.
YASUNARI KAWABATA
THE IZU DANCER (Izu no Odaoriko, 1925), tr. Edward Seidensticker—Perspective of Japan, New York, 1954.
SNOW COUNTRY (Yukiguni, novel, 1935, 1947), tr. Edward Seidensticker—Knopf, New York, 1955.
THE MOLE (Hokuro no Nikki, 1940), tr. Edward Seidensticker—MJL.
THOUSAND CRANES (Sembazuru, 1955), tr. Edward Seidensticker—Knopf, New York, 1955.
KAN KIKUCHI
THE MADMAN ON THE ROOF IKUCHI (Okujō no Kanatani, 1919), tr. Iwasaki Yozan and Glenn Hughes—MJL.
LAUGHING AT THE DEAD (Shisha wo Warau, 1918), tr. Michael Y. Matsudaira—SJSS.
THE SUPREME REALM BEYOND THE PASSION (Onshū no Kanatani, 1919), tr. Kenkyūsha, Tokyo, 1922.
TOJURO’S LOVE AND FOUR OTHER PLAYS (Tōjurō no Koi, etc.), tr. Glenn W. Hokuseidō, Tokyo, 1925.
LAUGHTER (Warai, 1920), tr. Frank Daniels—Adam, no. 261, 1957.
THE LOVE MATCH (Renai Kekkon, 1926), tr. Yonezawa Naoto—Contemporary Japan, March 1933.
VICTORY OR DEFEAT (Shōhai, novel, 1931), tr. Nishi Kiichi, Kairyūdō, Tokyo, 1934.
YUKIO MISHIMA
CONFESSIONS OF A MASK (Kamen no Kokuhaku, novel, 1949), tr. Meredith Weatherby—New Directions, New York, 1956.
DEATH IN MIDSUMMER (Manatsu no Shi, 1952), tr. Edward Seidensticker—JQ, III, 3.
TWILIGHT SUNFLOWER (Yoru no Himawari, play, 1953), tr. Shinozaki Shigehō and Virgil A. Warren—Hokuseidō, Tokyo, 1958.
FIVE MODERN NO PLAYS (Kindai Nōgakushū, 1950–55), tr. Donald Keene. Knopf, New York, 1957.
REVENGE (Fukushū, 1954), tr. Grace Suzuki—Ukiyo: Eleven Short Stories of Post-War Japan, Tokyo, 1954.
THE SOUND OF WAVES (Shiosai, novel, 1954), tr. Meredith Weatherby—Knopf, New York, 1956.
THE TEMPLE OF THE GOLDEN PAVILLION (Kinkekuji, novel, 1956), tr. Ivan Morris—Knopf, New York, 1959.
ŌGAI MORI
CUPS (Sakezuki, 1910), tr. Miyamori—RTJ.
HANAKO (Hanako, 1910), tr. Takemoto—“Paulownia.”
THE PIER (Sanbashi, 1910), tr. Takemoto—“Paulownia.”
THE WILD GEESE (Gan, novel, 1911–13), tr. Ochiai Kingo and Sanford Goldstein—Tuttle, Rutland, VT and Tokyo, Japan, 1959.
THE WILD GOOSE (Gan, extract from novel, 1911–13), tr. Burton Watson—MJL.
AS IF (Kano yō ni, 1912), tr. Gregg Sinclair and Suita Kazo—Tokyo People, Keibunkan, Tokyo, 1925.
SANSHŌ-DAYŪ (Sanshō Dayū, novel, 1915), tr. Fukuda Tsutomu—Hokuseidō, Tokyo, 1952.
TAKESEBUNE (Takasebune, 1916), tr. Garland W. Paschall—SJSS.
KAFŪ NAGAI
THE FOX (Kitsune, 1909), tr. Miyamori—RTJ.
THE RIVER SUMIDA (Sumidagawa, extract from novel, 1909), tr. Keene—RTJ.
THE BILL COLLECTING (Kaketori, 1912), tr. Takemoto—“Paulownia.”
THE TWO WIVES (Futurizuma, 1922), tr. Brickley—WIE.
A STRANGE TALE FROM EAST OF THE RIVER (Bokutō Kidan, extract from novel, 1937), tr. Edward Seidensticker—JQ, V, 2.
TATSUO NAGAI
THE WHITE FENCE (Shiroi Saku, 1952), tr. William L. Clark—Various Kinds of Bugs, Kenkyūsha, Tokyo, 1958.
TON NAKAJIMA
THE EXPERT (Meijinden, 1942), tr. Ivan Morris—Encounter, may, 1958, and Harper’s Bazaar, August 1958.
FUMIO NIWA
A TOUCH OF SHYNESS (Shūchi, 1951), tr. Edward Seidensticker—JQ, II, 1.
MIMEI OGAWA
A WINTER’S NIGHT’S EPISODE IN ECHIGO (Echigo no Fuyu, 1910), tr. Miyamori—RTJ.
ROSE WITCH AND OTHER STORIES, tr. Myrtle B. McKinney and Seison N. Yoshioka—Overland Publishing Co., California, 1925.
THE TIPSY STAR AND OTHER TALES, tr. Akiyama Yoshiko—Hokuseidō, Tokyo, 1957.
NAOYA SHIGA
THE RAZOR (Kamisori), tr. M.J. Mathy—Monumenta Nipponica, XIII (3–4), Tokyo, 1957.
AN OLD MAN (Rōjin, 1911), tr. Sadler—SMJW.
FUSUMA (Fusuma, 1911), tr. A.L. Sadler—The Far East, XX, 452.
HAN’S CRIME (Han no Hanzai, 1913), tr. Ivan Morris—MJL.
AKANISHI KAKITA (Akanashi Kakita, 1917), tr. Haneda Saburō—The Reeds, Vol. II.
ARAGINU (Araginu, 1917), tr. Bell and Ukai—EACJ.
AT KINOSAKI (Kinosaki nite, 1917), tr. Edward Seidensticker—MJL.
DEATH OF A HERMIT CRAB (Yadokari no Shi, 1917), tr. Brickley—WIE.
THE CASE OF SASAKI (Sasaki no Baai, 1917), tr. A.L. Sadler—The Far East, XXIV, 503.
THE PATRON SAINT (Kozō no Kamisama, 1920), tr. Michael Y. Matsudai
ra—SJSS.
A GRAY MOON (Haiiro no Tsuki, 1946), tr. Haneda Saburō—The Reeds, Vol. II.
JUN’ICHIRŌ TANIZAKI
A SPRING-TIME CASE (Otsuya-goroshi, novel, 1915), tr. Iwado Zenichi—Tokyo, 1927.
THE HOUSE WHERE I WAS BORN (Umareta Ie, 1921), tr. Brickley—WIE.
THE WHITE FOX (Shirogitsune no Yu, one-act play, 1923), tr. Bell and Ukai—EACJ.
SOME PREFER NETTLES (Tade Kuu Mushi, novel, 1928), tr., Edward Seidensticker—Knopf, New York, 1955.
ASHIKARI AND THE STORY OF SHUNKIN (Ashikari, Shunkinshō, 2 short novels, 1932, 1933), tr. Roy Humpherson and Okita Hajiime—Hokuseidō, Tokyo, 1936.
IN PRAISE OF SHADOWS (Inei Raisan, essay, 1934), tr. Edward Seidensticker—Atlantic Monthly, January, 1955.
THE MAKIOKA SISTERS (Sasameyuki, novel, 1942–48), tr. Edward Seidensticker—Knopf, New York, 1957.
THE MOTHER OF CAPTAIN SHIGEMOTO (Shōshō Shigemoto no Haha, extract from novel, 1950), tr. Edward Seidensticker—MJL.
THE KEY (Kagi, novel, 1956), tr. Howard Hibbett—Knopf, New York, 1961.
SHŪSEI TOKUDA
THE SHOIAGE (Shoiage, 1908), tr. Miyamori—RTJ.
RIICHI YOKOMITSU
SPRING CAME ON A HORSE-DRAWN CART (Haru wa Basha ni Notte, 1926), tr. Mary M. Suzuki—SJSS.
TIME (Jikan, 1931), tr. Keene, MJL.
YOUNG FOREVER (Seishu, 1937), tr. Japan Writers’ Society—“Young Forever.”
INDEX OF AUTHORS
SHOWING STORY TITLES AND DATES
Ryūnosuké Akutagawa (1892–1927): “Autumn Mountain” (Shūzanzu, 1921), 175.
Osamu Dazai (1909–48): “The Courtesy Call” (Shinyū Kōkan, 1946), 466.
Yoshiki Hayama (1894–1945): “Letter Found in a Cement-barrel” (Sementodaru no Naka no Tegami, 1926), 204.
Fumiko Hayashi (1904–51): “Downtown” (Shitamachi, 1948), 350.
Taiko Hirabayashi (1905–1972): “A Man’s Life” (Hito no Inochi, 1950), 366.
Masuji Ibusé (1898–1993): “The Charcoal Bus” (Noriai Jidōsha, 1952), 211.
Yasushi Inoué (1907–1991): “Shotgun” (Ryojū, 1949), 418.
Einosuké Itō (1903–1959): “Nightingale” (Uguisu, 1938), 257.
Yasunari Kawabata or Kōsei (1899–1972): “The Moon on the Water” (Suigetsu, 1953), 244.