Pathway to Japanese Literature
Discover Japan's stories—across time, across language.
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Journey's StartAuthor: Toyoshima Yoshio
| Original Title | 旅だち |
|---|---|
| Author | 豊島 与志雄 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In postwar Japan, twenty-four-year-old Toshiko navigates a world caught between tradition and newfound freedom. Pressured by her mother and Aunt Soejima to consider a marriage proposal from Tsutsui Naosuke—a respectable yet rigid man described as "neatly put together as a doll"—Toshiko feels detached, her heart unmoored by societal expectations. The war’s end has left her yearning to breathe deeply of liberation, resisting the confines of matrimony. A chance reconnection with her spirited friend Yōko introduces her to a radical artistic collective determined to reinvent culture, sparking memories of Hoshina Tetsuo, a enigmatic poet from her youth whose whispered declarations of love on a snowbound sled still haunt her. As Tsutsui’s proposal lingers unresolved, Toshiko’s restlessness grows. She plans a solitary journey to the countryside, clinging to May 5th as a symbolic threshold between obligation and self-discovery. Amid fading traditions and avant-garde dreams, Toshiko’s quiet rebellion unfolds—a delicate dance between past ghosts and an uncharted future. |
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