Pathway to Japanese Literature

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

DelusionAuthor: Mori Ōgai

Original Title	妄想
Author	森鴎外
Genre	Modern Short Fiction
Author Type	Male Author
Summary	On a windswept sand dune overlooking the Pacific, an aging scholar inhabits a solitary house shrouded in pine groves. Once a fervent student of Western science and philosophy in Berlin, he now contemplates the ceaseless waves and the enigma of existence. His youth was marked by restless inquiry—debating German thinkers, confronting mortality, and grappling with the void between Eastern traditions and imported knowledge. Yet decades of intellectual pursuit have left him adrift, detached from societal reforms and scholarly circles alike. As autumn mists veil the horizon, he pores over books and microscopes, neither fearing death nor embracing it, but haunted by unanswered questions that ripple like the tides. In this liminal space between land and sea, memory and oblivion, his quiet defiance against life’s illusions unfolds—a testament to the enduring ache of a mind that sought truths beyond reach.