Pathway to Japanese Literature
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Misfortune with WomenAuthor: Kunikida Doppo
| Original Title | 女難 |
|---|---|
| Author | 国木田 独歩 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In the bustling streets of Ginza, a disheveled blind shakuhachi player captivates passersby with haunting melodies that carve pockets of serenity amid chaos. The narrator, drawn by his music, notes the man’s paradoxical dignity—his grime-streaked face and tattered clothes belying an air of quiet nobility. Months later, they meet again under a moonlit Kamakura sky, where the musician’s mournful tunes echo over deserted shores. Invited to the narrator’s home, he unravels fragments of a life steeped in sorrow: orphaned young, raised by a mother who warned of a curse—*misfortune with women*. His tale flickers with fleeting loves and betrayals—a childhood infatuation severed by fear, a manipulative romance that drove him to exile, and a final entanglement in Tokyo that cost him his sight and livelihood. Each heartbreak tightens the curse’s grip, leaving him a spectral figure adrift in darkness. His music, heavy with unresolved longing, lingers long after he vanishes—a testament to lives unraveled by forces beyond control. |
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