Pathway to Japanese Literature

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

Cliff’s IllusionAuthor: Dazai Osamu

Original Title	断崖の錯覚
Author	太宰治
Genre	Modern Short Fiction
Author Type	Male Author
Summary	A timid young man yearns to become a renowned writer but believes his sheltered existence denies him the raw experiences necessary for greatness. Desperate to shed his insecurities, he adopts the identity of an established author during a solitary retreat at a coastal hot spring. Embraced by the inn’s staff as a literary prodigy, he revels in the unearned admiration—until a chance encounter with Yuki, a mysterious café waitress, upends his fragile facade. Drawn into a whirlwind romance, he crafts elaborate fictions to sustain her devotion, blurring the lines between art and reality. Yet as their bond deepens, his borrowed identity becomes a tightening noose. Haunted by guilt and the specter of exposure, he spirals into a labyrinth of deceit where every whispered lie edges him closer to irreversible ruin. Beneath the glittering sea and mist-shrouded cliffs, a single act of desperation seals a tragic fate, leaving him forever entangled in the illusions he sought to conquer.