Pathway to Japanese Literature

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

Ivory TabletAuthor: Watanabe On

Original Title	象牙の牌
Author	渡辺温
Genre	Modern Short Fiction
Author Type	Male Author
Summary	In a sunlit Tokyo office, young lawyer Nishimura Keikichi meets his first client: Shimizu Shigeru, a charismatic film actor with a haunted past. Shimizu arrives not for legal counsel but to draft his will, convinced he’ll be murdered by nightfall. His fear stems from a recent studio tragedy—a colleague fatally shot with a prop gun meant for him—and a cryptic phone threat echoing one he received seven years prior in Shanghai. \nAs autumn light filters through the windows, Shimizu unravels a tale of dissolute nights in 1920s Shanghai: gambling dens, a shadowy secret society called the Ivory Chrysanthemum Club, and a cursed ivory tablet adorned with blood-red rubies. The artifact, stolen from the club, allegedly triggered a chain of violence, including the grisly murder of an acquaintance mistaken for him. Now, Shimizu believes the club’s vengeance has finally found him. \nNishimura listens with growing unease, torn between skepticism and the actor’s palpable terror. But as shadows deepen in the room, a chilling revelation looms—one that binds lawyer and client in a web older than either realizes. The ivory tablet’s curse, it seems, demands more than a will; it demands blood.