Pathway to Japanese Literature

Discover Japan's stories—across time, across language.

Until the Day We SingAuthor: Makino Shinichi

Original Title	歌へる日まで
Author	牧野信一
Genre	Modern Short Fiction
Author Type	Male Author
Summary	In a remote village tavern named Auerbach, a raucous ensemble of misfits—charcoal burners, a disgraced Village Chief, a novelist in tattered garb, and two fiery students—gather nightly to drown sorrows in improvised songs. Their boisterous choruses echo with the refrain “Like one tormented by burning love,” masking deeper yearnings and regrets. The narrator, a writer haunted by an inability to sing, spins tales of Tetetsukusu—a mythical cicada serving Apollo, tasked with observing human folly—while wrestling with his own creative paralysis. Between fencing practice on a borrowed mare and philosophical debates over Greek etymology, he navigates a world where reality blurs with legend. As tensions erupt into duels and drunken confessions, the tavern’s rituals reveal both camaraderie and quiet despair. Yet beneath the chaos lies a shared hunger: to transform life’s chaos into art. With lyrical prose and wry humor, this tale weaves myth and mundanity, inviting readers into a realm where every laugh hides a sigh, and even cicadas might carry divine secrets.