Pathway to Japanese Literature
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WatermelonAuthor: Okamoto Kidō
| Original Title | 西瓜 |
|---|---|
| Author | 岡本 綺堂 |
| Genre | Detective & Mystery |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | During a summer visit to his friend Kurasawa’s ancestral home in Shizuoka, a student named M-kun stumbles upon a centuries-old manuscript detailing a bizarre Edo-era incident. A servant tasked with delivering a watermelon is halted by guards who claim the fruit transforms into a woman’s severed head—a vision witnessed by multiple onlookers. When the servant returns home, the grisly apparition recurs, leaving his master’s household unsettled. The manuscript hints at eerie connections to a local samurai’s cursed fields, where watermelons allegedly harbor vengeful spirits. \nKurasawa dismisses the tale as mass hysteria, yet reveals his family’s own superstition: a generations-old taboo against consuming watermelons due to a lethal curse. Though he scoffs at such beliefs, his casual defiance of the legend takes a sinister turn. As M-kun departs for Kyoto, Kurasawa extracts a promise to return by month’s end—a pledge that collides with an unforeseen tragedy. Blending historical mystery and creeping dread, the story weaves past and present through unsettling parallels, leaving questions lingering like the shadow of an unquiet ghost. |
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