Pathway to Japanese Literature

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

Path of CloudsAuthor: Hisao Jūran

Original Title	雲の小径
Author	久生十蘭
Genre	Modern Short Fiction
Author Type	Male Author
Summary	Shirakawa Kojiro’s life unravels in the liminal space between grief and obsession. Three years after Kazuko—a woman entwined with his past in unspoken longing—dies in a mysterious accident, he seeks solace through mediums to commune with her spirit. Their ethereal dialogues blur into an unsettling intimacy, her presence lingering like a phantom limb. But when Kazuko’s resentful stepdaughter, Yuzu, appears on a turbulent flight shrouded in endless clouds, she taunts Shirakawa with revelations of deceit: Was his spiritual connection genuine, or a cruel illusion conjured by wandering souls? \nAs propellers groan and shadows shift in the milky haze, Yuzu claims her own mediumistic powers, dredging up buried truths about Kazuko’s desperation and Shirakawa’s unwitting role in her demise. The boundaries between worlds thin—visions of mist-cloaked mountains, cryptic mediums, and Kazuko’s pleading voice haunt him, demanding he cross into the afterlife. Yet reality fractures: Is the spectral plane beckoning, or is Shirakawa spiraling into madness? \nEerie and introspective, this tale weaves psychological tension with supernatural ambiguity, leaving readers adrift in a fog where love, guilt, and the unknowable collide—and every whispered truth may be a lie.