Pathway to Japanese Literature

Discover Japan's stories—across time, across language.

LoyaltyAuthor: Akutagawa Ryūnosuke

Original Title	忠義
Author	芥川竜之介
Genre	Historical Fiction
Author Type	Male Author
Summary	In feudal Japan, a tormented lord plagued by debilitating nervous fits spirals into paranoia as his fragile mind fractures under unseen pressures. His chief retainer, torn between duty to his master and the survival of their noble house, devises a desperate plan to avert disgrace—only to be branded a traitor. When a compassionate wet nurse-turned-retainer inherits the crisis, he navigates a perilous tightrope: obeying his lord’s unstable whims risks catastrophic political fallout, while restraining him betrays decades of familial devotion. As madness crescendos during a fateful visit to Edo Castle, a violent act born of delusion triggers irreversible consequences, ensnaring loyalists in a web of honor-bound obligations and sacrificial choices. This piercing tale dissects the paradoxes of fealty in a world where preserving tradition demands destroying those sworn to uphold it—a haunting meditation on how devotion becomes its own executioner. (150 words)