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042672

Spiritual SenseAuthor: Toyoshima Yoshio

Original Title霊感
Author豊島 与志雄
GenreModern Short Fiction
Author TypeMale Author
SummaryIn a quiet temple cemetery stands an ancient monument to Miroku, a forgotten ascetic, overgrown and ignored until Eguchi Widow and her daughter begin bowing to it out of habit. When misfortune shadows their lives, Eguchi confides in A Woman—a reclusive widow rumored to possess spiritual insight. Through cryptic rituals and whispered warnings, A Woman channels Miroku’s presence, averting a fire that nearly consumes Eguchi’s crowded home. The incident sparks reverence for Miroku as a guardian deity, though skepticism lingers among neighbors. \nA Woman’s hidden gifts draw others seeking solace: Murao, whose daughter’s family is plagued by illness tied to cursed land, and Koizumi, entangled in a restaurateur’s ambitions to revive a neglected shrine. Each encounter reveals fragmented truths—abandoned deities, restless spirits, and the weight of postwar neglect. Yet A Woman treads cautiously, balancing her mystical role with mundane life, wary of being reduced to a fortune-teller. \nWhispers of miracles intertwine with quiet struggles, painting a world where faith and doubt collide beneath the shadow of old stones and older secrets—a tapestry of resilience, mystery, and the unseen threads binding community to tradition.