Pathway to Japanese Literature

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Funeral LocomotiveAuthor: Osaka Keikichi

Original Title	とむらい機関車
Author	大阪圭吉
Genre	Modern Short Fiction
Author Type	Male Author
Summary	On a tranquil train journey, an enigmatic former railway worker shares a haunting tale with a curious student. Each year, he travels to H City on March 18th, compelled by a sorrowful duty tied to a cursed locomotive known as the "Funeral Locomotive." Once a workhorse of the rails, this engine became infamous for gruesome accidents, each marked by a ritual wreath hung by its crew—a macabre tradition to appease restless spirits. But two years prior, bizarre incidents unfolded: livestock mysteriously appeared on the tracks, crushed repeatedly by the locomotive under eerie, identical circumstances. As railway officials investigate, they uncover a twisted thread linking the tragedies to a reclusive funeral director and his ailing daughter, whose desperate acts blur the line between devotion and madness. Layers of guilt, unspoken longing, and spectral vengeance intertwine, revealing how the living and dead collide along those iron rails. The old man’s voice trembles as the train nears its stop, leaving the student—and reader—to wonder what shadows linger in the Funeral Locomotive’s wake.