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DysenteryAuthor: Ishikawa Takuboku
| Original Title | 赤痢 |
|---|---|
| Author | 石川 啄木 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In a desolate mountain village ravaged by dysentery, decay clings to every crumbling wall and stagnant ditch. Authorities patrol with disinfectants, but fear runs deeper than disease—villagers whisper that police intervention only hastens death. Amid this despair arrives Matsutarō, a timid Tenrikyo missionary whose faltering sermons attract outcasts like Jūbei, a gruff blacksmith seeking redemption, and Oyuu, a brash widow who shelters him despite her scorn for piety. As the epidemic tightens its grip, desperation fuels both fervent prayer and bitter skepticism. Matsutarō’s makeshift rituals offer fragile hope, yet his own doubts simmer beneath surface devotion. Shadows of old superstitions clash with newfound faith, while the stench of carbolic acid mingles with whispers of divine wrath. In this suffocating world where isolation wards overflow and trust erodes like rotting thatch, fragile alliances form—and fracture—between those clinging to tradition and others grasping at salvation. The village teeters on an edge, its fate entangled with the frail missionary’s resolve and the plague’s relentless march. |
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