Pathway to Japanese Literature

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

VagrancyAuthor: Kasai Zenzō

Original Title	浮浪
Author	葛西善蔵
Genre	War & Social Literature
Author Type	Male Author
Summary	A struggling writer leaves his young son in Kamakura, promising to return after finishing a manuscript that haunts him—a confession to his deceased cousin’s spirit. Chased by debts and self-doubt, he drifts through snowy coastal towns, bargaining with innkeepers and pawnshops, drinking to numb his failures. Memories of familial neglect and a fractured friendship with Uchida, a resentful merchant, tighten like a noose. Each attempt to write collapses under financial desperation or drunken inertia. Letters to Tokyo go unanswered; borrowed time runs out. As inns expel him and allies turn hostile, he clings to fleeting resolve, scribbling pages between binges. Meanwhile, his son waits in a temple room, reliant on strangers. The sea’s relentless waves mirror his turmoil—a man adrift between artistic guilt and paternal duty, chasing redemption through ink-stained drafts and hollow promises. Will he reconcile with his past or sink deeper into ruin? A raw portrait of creative anguish and human frailty, where every page written is a battle against the self.