Pathway to Japanese Literature

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Original Title	剥製
Author	牧野 信一
Genre	Modern Short Fiction
Author Type	Male Author
Summary	In a dim attic filled with his unsettling bird taxidermy, a man plagued by a relentless heart condition and an agonizing sensitivity to touch monitors his own erratic pulse. His isolated existence, marked by bizarre dreams and a profound dread, is abruptly shattered by a letter from his estranged mother, demanding his return for ancestral rites. To reach her, he must embark on a treacherous mountain journey, a physical torment that resurrects his deepest fears: the suffocating grip of human touch, the terrifying prospect of moxibustion, and the oppressive pull of his own complicated lineage. As he battles his failing body, a hostile horse, and the ghosts of his past, will this harrowing pilgrimage bring him solace, or will he be forever trapped between life and the haunting stillness of his feathered specimens?