Pathway to Japanese Literature
Discover Japan's stories—across time, across language.
← Back
FurumujinaAuthor: Izumi Kyoka
| Original Title | 古狢 |
|---|---|
| Author | 泉 鏡花 |
| Genre | Popular Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In a mist-shrouded market where vendors hawk sea bream and lotus roots, a traveler in a weathered black coat reunites with O-machi, a spirited yet enigmatic woman tied to the local pleasure quarter. Their stroll through the bustling stalls reveals more than commerce: auctioneers chant prices with theatrical fervor, wheel-shaped wheat gluten dangles ominously from ceilings, and whispers of spectral lore linger. Tales of the Old Mujina Woman—a shape-shifting hag said to spin fate’s threads—haunt the crumbling chinquapin grove nearby, while ghostly echoes of O-mosho, a disfigured beauty wronged by a callous lover, seep into conversations like winter fog. \nAs rain flickers into sunlight, the pair navigates earthen floors and shadowed alleys where reality blurs. Strangers materialize—a hunched crone at a yuba shop, a brooding figure from the traveler’s past—hinting at unresolved karmic debts. Between sips of beer and roasted arrowhead tubers, O-machi’s laughter masks unease, her kimono hem brushing against secrets best left buried. The market thrums with life, yet every transaction, every rustle of pampas grass, hums with the uncanny—a world where drowned faces resurface in steam, and lanterns glow like unquiet souls. Here, even lotus roots hold memories, and the line between folklore and flesh grows perilously thin. |
← Return to List← Return to TOP