Pathway to Japanese Literature

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

The Rainbow BridgeAuthor: Hisao Jūran

Original Title	虹の橋
Author	久生十蘭
Genre	Modern Short Fiction
Author Type	Male Author
Summary	In the shadow of Tochigi Prison’s walls, Masayama Asahi enters a world stained by legacy—born to an inmate mother, branded a "homecomer" destined to inherit tragedy. Fleeing Tokyo’s judgment, she reinvents herself in Osaka’s underworld, drifting through nameless jobs and fleeting connections. A fateful encounter with Kitagawa Chiyo, a woman clinging to her own fractured past, unravels Asahi’s fragile stability. When Chiyo vanishes after a lovers’ suicide, Asahi seizes her identity, grasping at a chance to belong by caring for Chiyo’s blind grandmother in Tokyo. But borrowed lives come at a cost: haunted by Chiyo’s crimes and hunted by authorities, Asahi faces a harrowing choice—confess to sins she didn’t commit or lose the fragile family she’s forged. As pregnancy forces her to confront cycles of guilt and sacrifice, the line between truth and survival blurs. Will breaking free from her mother’s cursed legacy condemn her daughter to the same fate? A haunting tale of identity, redemption, and the chains we inherit unfolds in a world where mercy is scarce and second chances are written in shadows.