Pathway to Japanese Literature

The Explorers' Unconsciousness.

“What do we do?” No sooner had this thought formed than the Shōjū aerial airship—carrying six Moon World explorers—plunged downward at tremendous speed and crashed onto the lunar surface. The violent shockwave that followed resembled an earthquake’s tremors, leaving every member of the party unconscious. To begin with, this expedition had been spearheaded by two luminaries: Dr. Keiden Keiji—a Doctor of Engineering now celebrated worldwide—and his counterpart Dr. Tsukino Kiyoshi—an equally distinguished Doctor of Physics. Their team included two assistants alongside Hoshioka Mitsuo and Sorachi Harutsugu—both fourth-year middle school students—all embarking on humanity’s first trial voyage to Earth’s nearest celestial neighbor aboard Dr. Keiden’s revolutionary aerial airship. Yet including these boys in such a perilous endeavor bordered on recklessness—they were Dr. Tsukino’s young relatives who had been living under his guardianship while attending school in Tokyo. Having somehow uncovered the doctors’ plans through undisclosed means, they had pestered their uncle with relentless pleas until both scholars reluctantly granted them passage. The assistants—Yamamoto Hiroshi and Uyama Tatsu—were men of exceptional loyalty who had served as extensions of the doctors’ will for years, dedicating themselves wholly to this project. Sixteen days after departing Tokyo—just as they neared their destination—the airship’s mechanisms abruptly failed, culminating in this unprecedented disaster.

The group had collapsed like dominoes and lost consciousness, but among them, Dr. Keiden was the first to regain his senses and heave himself up. Half-rising and looking around, he beheld a scene of indescribable devastation. The room they had occupied remained intact, but inside—precisely as if a toy box had been overturned—not a single tool or object retained its proper position; everything had toppled over and lay scattered across the floor. Amidst this chaos, Dr. Tsukino, the assistants, and the two boys lay piled atop one another, unconscious.

Dr. Keiden attempted to stand up, but it seemed he had struck his body severely in the earlier collision; his hip joints ached, and he found himself unable to rise properly. Finally enduring the pain, he crawled to the corner of the room, retrieved a medicine box from a broken shelf and took a dose, which brought him some relief. He then lifted the nearest person—Yamamoto—and administered the medicine, and after a while, Yamamoto gradually regained consciousness. Though both were still half-invalid, they worked together to administer the medicine in the same manner to the rest of the group, and fortunately, everyone regained consciousness. Yet each and every one of them bore faces as pallid as corpses.

For a while, everyone remained silent, but once they had somewhat recovered their strength, Dr. Keiden— “Well… we’ve certainly been through hell.” He was the first to break the silence.

“We truly went through hell.” “I thought we were done for back then, but somehow I kept my wits about me.” Dr. Tsukino replied.

Harutsugu, who until now had been breathing laboriously as if gasping, finally opened his mouth at this moment.

“Uncle.” “(Both boys called Dr. Tsukino ‘Uncle.’) Until now, everything had been fine—why on earth did things turn out like that?” He inquired with palpable bewilderment. “That’s…” Dr. Keiden interjected from the side, “At first, it wasn’t an issue, but as the airship drew closer to the Moon, what had previously been governed by Earth’s gravity was suddenly pulled by the Moon’s.” With a bitter smile, he continued, “Of course, I had conducted preliminary research and believed our preparations were sufficient, but evidently, they were still inadequate—hence why we’ve ended up in this predicament.” “This is entirely my fault.”

he said—half as an explanation to Harutsugu and half as an apology to the others.

Dr. Tsukino, who had been listening with a gentle smile all along,

“Up to this point, thanks to Keiden’s efforts, we’ve arrived safely—so now it’s my turn to take charge.”

Having said this, he stood up and peered out through the thick glass-paned window.

“It’s truly desolate.”

Dr. Tsukino remarked with deep feeling, so the others also looked outside for the first time at this moment.

As far as the eye could see lay nothing but rugged mountains and fields of jumbled rocks; not a sound could be heard—not even birdsong—a scene of utter desolation that made one feel as though gazing upon the Land of the Dead they had only heard described in tales. There was no air.

Having regained much of their vigor since earlier, Harutsugu and Mitsuo took one look at this scene. “Whoa, this is awful.” “C’mon, let’s finally get going!” With eager bravado, they leapt out through the window first—only to come scrambling back in deathly pale moments later, collapsing once more where they’d stood. The assistants gaped at this spectacle before rushing to tend to them, but Dr. Tsukino merely chuckled as he deftly shut the window the pair had opened and drew near the boys.

“You shouldn’t make such a racket. As I thought—it’s finally confirmed—there’s absolutely no air remaining in this Moon World anymore.”

he said—suddenly recalling something—and turned toward the nearby assistant. “Yamamoto.” “Could you check that storage room over there?” “Everything inside might’ve been smashed in the earlier chaos.” “If that equipment becomes unusable, we’ll be truly done for.” “Understood,” replied the assistant as he headed to the adjacent room—only to return moments later and...

“Professor, it’s safe. Since that was located in the rear, it hasn’t sustained significant damage.”

“I see. That’s a relief above all else.” With that, he entered the room himself this time, but when he emerged again after a while, his appearance was utterly disheveled. New-Type Portable Air Generator They slung cylindrical devices on their backs—shaped like the red-painted fire extinguishers commonly found in households—routed the single rubber tube extending from its lower end under their left arms, and fastened its tip, a mask covering their noses and mouths, giving them at first glance the appearance of poorly-made divers. This was the new-type Portable Air Generator that the Doctor had discovered after tremendous effort, and he had prepared it in advance for today’s purpose.

When the two boys, unaware of the reason, saw this sight, they forgot their illness and clapped their hands. “Whoa, what a funny getup!” “Why are you wearing those things?”

The doctor briefly explained the reason and went outside himself first. The assistant who had remained behind brought out enough Portable Air Generators for everyone, had each person put one on, and then followed them outside. Though the vital compartments of the sturdily constructed airship were relatively safe, when they went outside to look, the sight was truly dreadful. The wings had been torn away, the mast was broken, and all other surface attachments lay utterly wrecked, leaving only the iron hull behind like a locust stripped of its legs and wings.

When they saw this sight, Mitsuo and Harutsugu, who had just begun to regain some vigor, once again wore looks of worry, “If it’s this badly damaged, won’t we be unable to return to Earth?”

they asked. Dr. Keiden, too, wore a look of no small distress and could not answer.

The Six Explorers’ Language Barrier Dr. Tsukino took the lead and marched steadily forward, so the others followed behind him. When they finished crossing the broad rocky plain, they were met by a series of steep mountains towering overhead.

As far as the eye could see was nothing but stones; not a single blade of grass grew around them, and even when they descended into what seemed like valleys, not a drop of water flowed. It was like being cast out into the midst of the Sahara Desert. What was truly strange was how light their own bodies felt—when they stepped down, they could hardly tell if their feet were touching the ground. There was not even a sound of footsteps. Thus, no matter how much they walked over rocky terrain or climbed steep mountains, they did not feel the slightest bit of hardship.

“This is fun!” The boys rejoiced greatly and went running about like leaping rabbits, their bodies swaying unsteadily and shaking their heads all the while like marionettes on strings. When they looked closer at what seemed amusing, those shaking their heads and bobbing up and down weren’t just the boys. Both doctors were also walking while making bizarre gestures. The assistant who had first noticed this found it so absurdly comical that, “You’re looking quite splendid, Professor!”

He quipped sarcastically, but he offered no reply and continued shaking his head.

“What’s going on?” “Still, that getup is ridiculous.” “Ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

He let out a hearty laugh but then realized, strangely, that he couldn't hear his own voice laughing.

“Huh?” he thought, then tried raising his voice again—but still heard nothing. Growing increasingly puzzled, he caught up to Dr. Tsukino and tugged at his sleeve,

“Professor, for some reason, my ears have stopped working.”

When he made this appeal, even Dr. Tsukino couldn’t understand what he was saying. Dr. Tsukino suddenly took out a notebook from his pocket as if struck by inspiration, and when he wrote, “This is because there’s no air to transmit sound,” the others—who had been watching their exchange with puzzled looks—nodded in comprehension. “Ah!” “So that’s why we couldn’t hear anything—how absurd!” “Ha ha ha ha ha!”

They burst into hearty laughter—but all that could be seen were their open mouths; not a single sound of laughter emerged.

Discovery of a Marvelous Air Pocket.

Dr. Keiden’s Disappearance Having resolved to communicate in writing when necessary from then on, they pressed onward until Harutsugu stepped on a rock that shifted with a sudden rumble, revealing a hole there. Though the hole was extremely small, Dr. Tsukino peered into it intently; then, for reasons unclear, he produced a match and struck it—the flame ignited with a sharp flick. Delighted, Dr. Tsukino cleared away some surrounding stones and leapt inside, beckoning from within; once they had all entered, he removed his mask,

“This hole is filled with air.” This time, the voice was heard.

“This air must have remained trapped in this hole due to some peculiar condition from ages past,” he said while relighting his pocket lantern and raising it high to scrutinize every corner of their surroundings.

The area where the group stood was about eight tatami mats in size, and beside it was a cave roughly one ken square that extended so deeply its length was impossible to discern. That was something they could mostly tell by the echo when the assistant threw a stone toward the depths to test it.

Dr. Tsukino wore a look of immense delight on his face,

“Oh, how splendid! How splendid!” “In any case, with an air pocket this large, we shan’t face breathing difficulties for a considerable time—meaning we can both explore at leisure and repair the airship in this interval.” They were all hopping about with excitement like sparrows, but soon, “However, even as we stand here, should this air dissipate it would spell catastrophe—we must seal the entrance posthaste.”

“We’ll bring the tools.”

With that, the boys were already dashing off. Dr. Keiden Keiji, the Engineer,

“Then I’ll stay behind here alone—all of you go make preparations.” “Very well, I leave it in your hands.” Dr. Tsukino led the assistants back the way they had come.

Carrying various tools, they hurried back to the cave once more, but Dr. Keiden, who should have been waiting there, was nowhere to be found. “What’s going on?”

They called out loudly, but there was no response whatsoever. The five of them called out Dr. Keiden’s name in unison. Still, there was no answer. “He’s probably ventured out exploring around here on his own.” “He’ll likely return soon, so we must act swiftly to ensure none of this air escapes.”

With that, he himself took up tools and began moving stones. The two boys worked alongside the assistants, but the lightness of objects in this Moon World was astonishing to behold; a massive boulder that would have required two horses to haul on Earth could be effortlessly shifted with just the tip of a walking stick. No, it wasn’t just that—they were so light you could even rest them on your palm.

Before long, with the construction there completed, the group returned to the airship and set about preparing dinner.

Before long, that too was completed, and the first dinner party on the Moon World began.

Harutsugu, who had been earnestly eating, suddenly looked up,

“Uncle,” he called out to the doctor, “What do you suppose happened to Dr. Keiden?”

“Exactly. I’m sure he must have set out alone on an exploration ahead of everyone else.” “Do you really think so? I can’t help but think there might be other humans or animals living in this Moon World, and that Dr. Keiden was spotted and captured by them.” Dr. Tsukino laughed. “As if such a thing could happen! How could such creatures possibly survive in a place with no air?” When he said this, Mitsuo interjected from the side: “But just as we’re alive here now, others might be living too!” he pressed.

“Well, that may be so—but according to established theory, there isn’t even a single surviving creature on the Moon! So such a thing couldn’t happen.” “Since he’ll probably return soon anyway, once we’ve finished eating, we should focus on building our house next to that cave.” “A house?” “But how would you even build it?” “We don’t have any lumber or anything, do we?” Harutsugu interjected again.

“There’s nothing difficult about it. We’ll all haul this airship there.”

“The airship? “Can five or six people really manage that? “Even in Japan, didn’t it take more than twenty laborers?” “That’s right. “But you were rolling that huge stone when we sealed the hole earlier, weren’t you? “Where there’s no air, stones and feathers weigh the same. “Even I could carry the airship myself,” he explained,

“I suppose you’re right...” he conceded reluctantly,

“Even so, how about we go search for Dr. Keiden? Shall we go welcome him back?”

“Exactly.” “Let’s all head out soon.”

Memorial Monument at the Alps Mountain on the Moon The five of them finished their meal while conversing about various matters. They took a brief respite. It had already been over twenty-four hours since their arrival here, yet night still refused to come. There was only ceaseless daylight - no morning nor evening to speak of.

However, all of them were exhausted as if their bodies were made of cotton, so as soon as they lay down on the sheets, they fell fast asleep.

After about three hours had passed, the doctor was the first to wake up and then shook the others awake. “Ah, so sleepy... What time is it now, I wonder.” Harutsugu rubbed his eyes and asked. “What time? As if time even matters here! A day’s longer than twenty-four hours on this Moon World—our watches are useless.” “Now then, it’s finally time—let’s set out to search for Dr. Keiden.” After replenishing the chemicals in the portable air generator, they set out from there once more.

Once again, they walked with their heads bobbing, changed direction slightly from before, and proceeded toward a mountain they spotted.

The height of that mountain was beyond imagination, and below it spread a vast depression.

Dr. Tsukino took out his notebook and,

“That high mountain range visible over there is the Alps Mountain Range of the Moon World, and what now spreads beneath our feet is the Beauvoir Sea.”

When he wrote this down and showed it to them, the two boys were astonished, "A sea?!" they exclaimed, but just as before, their voices could not be heard at all.

They reluctantly took out a pencil and,

“But even if you call it a sea, there isn’t a single drop of water here!” “Long ago, this depression held water and was a sea, but over the long years, it completely dried up.” “However, since it was once a sea, astronomers still create maps using names like ‘sea’ and ‘mountain’ even now.”

While engaged in such conversation, the group crossed this sea without particular notice and finally arrived at the foot of the Alps Mountain. Even more rugged than it had appeared from afar, the rocks all stood sharply as if carved. Climbing along them step by step, they finally managed to reach the summit. Harutsugu discovered something and let out a surprised “Yah!”, then regaining his bearings, he tugged at the doctor’s sleeve while urgently pointing ahead. When they looked where he indicated, there indeed stood what appeared to be a stone monument.

A stone monument in this uninhabited realm!

When they all rushed over there, scrutinizing as they went, they found a square natural stone—about one *ken* square—erected with something carved on it. When they moved closer to read the inscription, it was written in both English and Japanese: October 1907: The Great Japanese Empire Lunar Expedition Team has reached this place, engraving the names of the party as a memorial. Engineering Doctor Keiden Keiji Science Doctor Tsukino Kiyoshi

Japanese Youth: Hoshioka Mitsuo Ditto Sorachi Harutsugu Assistant: Yamamoto Hiroshi Ditto          Uyama Tatsu

was inscribed. “The doctor’s already made it here first!”

Having learned of his safe arrival, they all breathed sighs of relief, but Harutsugu asked once more, “Even so, where did he go from here?” “Quite so,” Dr. Tsukino replied as he surveyed their surroundings.

“Anyway, let’s cross over to the other side of this mountain and go a little further now.”

And with that, they went around to the back of the Memorial Monument. This side was precipitously steep, offering no foothold, and gazing down from the summit revealed a dizzying, immeasurable depth of tens of thousands of *jō*. Mitsuo had crawled out onto the farthest protruding rock and was looking down when, just as he tried to stand up, he staggered and tumbled headlong into the bottomless thousand-ren chasm. Harutsugu was so shocked by this sight that he was at a complete loss for what to do when Dr. Tsukino wrote in his notebook, “Now, let’s all jump down after him!”

“Huh? “From here?!” Before Harutsugu could even process his shock, Dr. Tsukino leaped with momentum.

Reckless!!! Reckless!!! Harutsugu was growing increasingly astonished when the assistant—

“You have nothing to worry about. In a place with no air, it’s just like a feather. No matter how high you jump from, it’s perfectly safe.” “Now, let’s go down together.”

Taking Harutsugu’s hand and forcing the resisting lad to peer into the valley’s depths, they jumped in.

“It’s over. I’m going to die.” Thinking this, Harutsugu closed his eyes, but it didn’t feel at all like he was falling into a thousand-ren chasm. It was exactly as if he were riding a balloon downward. It was buoyant and indescribably pleasant. When he opened his eyes in wonder—How strange!!! How strange!!!—he found himself descending gently, just as the assistant had explained, at a speed akin to a bird’s feather drifting on a spring breeze.

“This is fun!” When he looked sideways, the others too were grinning broadly, gazing about their surroundings with equal delight as they drifted downward. Gradually, the ground came into view below, where Dr. Tsukino and Mitsuo waited laughing while looking up at the three descending figures. At last they touched down—contrary to their expectation of being crushed to powder—and stood unharmed with no more sound than a firework balloon settling to earth.

Laughing together at the strange phenomenon, they pressed onward with the group and soon emerged onto a vast plain—or rather, a sea-like expanse.

“What do you call this place?”

When Harutsugu asked,

“This is the remnant of the Tsurankuirichii Great Sea.” Dr. Tsukino wrote in his notebook and showed them. Once again, the group crossed it.

When they had reached about halfway, a dark mass emerged from the shadow of a distant rock and gradually drew closer to them.

“What could that be? Could it be a monster?” “We forgot to bring our guns! What should we do?” And the two boys began making a commotion. “There’s no such thing,” said Dr. Tsukino calmly. “Even if you fired your guns here, they wouldn’t work at all in this environment! That’s likely Dr. Keiden.” “Could that really be him?” one boy murmured apprehensively.

As he spoke, the boy continued watching apprehensively, and the dark mass gradually drew nearer. It was a human after all.

It began waving a handkerchief. In response, from their side as well, each of them waved their handkerchiefs. “That’s Dr.Keiden!!! That’s Dr.Keiden!!!”

Reunited With Dr. Keiden in a Chasm Tens of Thousands of Fathoms Deep

As they watched it approach, it was indeed Dr. Keiden. The two boys scrambled over and gathered by his side, and Dr. Keiden smiled as he...

“Well? You’re looking quite energetic now, aren’t you?” “We’re so thrilled we can hardly stand it!” As they continued their written exchange, Dr. Tsukino approached and clasped hands while saying, “When you vanished so abruptly, I grew terribly anxious wondering what had happened.” “That’s why we’ve come searching for you now.” “Ah, our apologies for that,” Dr. Keiden acknowledged with a brief nod before leading the way, “In any case, shall we discuss matters while returning?”

“While waiting for you all to arrive, I thought I’d climb that mountain to take a look. When I reached the summit, there was a stone with an excellent shape, so I carved a memorial monument with my knife. Then when I went around to the backside, I fell into the valley.”

“Ah, so it was because I saw that memorial monument that I knew you were safe and could rest easy.” “Then we too jumped down from that cliff behind us.” “Fascinating, isn’t it?” Mitsuo tugged a pencil from the side and continued, “When I slipped off that rock, I thought I was done for. But then I felt something odd, opened my eyes, and there I was—floating down gently.” “I had no idea what was happening at all.”

“Hah! That must have been quite a shock for you.”

While enjoying themselves, they next made their way along the valley of the Alps Mountain and first returned to the airship.

Moon World’s Daily Routine

Exploration and Repair Work

The entire group had safely assembled and returned, but the next problem that arose was repairing the airship for our return to Earth. As for air, since we had previously discovered an air pocket, we could sustain ourselves for two months; but with food supplies lasting less than a month, we absolutely had to complete repairs on this airship by then.

After deliberating, they divided the six into two groups: one for exploring the Moon World, and the other for repairing the airship. With Dr. Tsukino leading the former and Dr. Keiden taking charge of the latter, they assigned one assistant to each group and from the two boys, attached Harutsugu to Dr. Tsukino and Mitsuo to Dr. Keiden, finally embarking on their established daily routine starting that very day.

First, Dr. Tsukino’s team divided twenty days’ worth of provisions, fastened them to their waists, and set out. Back at the airship, Dr. Keiden worked diligently with his two companions, repairing each tear in the wings and every damaged component of the machinery.

The trio worked together with all their might, and on what would be the eighteenth day on Earth, their task was successfully completed.

After Dr. Keiden had conducted a thorough inspection,

“Alright. This should do. It’s even better than when we started. Now, once the exploration team returns, we can depart at any time.”

“How many days do you think it will take for us to return?” “First off, about a week.” “So that means we’ll be back in Japan in about ten days, right?” “Well? Have you given up already?” “What do you mean, ‘give up’?” he declared energetically and peered toward the window, but—

“Ah! They’re back!” “They’ve returned!” “I see.”

When both the doctor and the assistant went to the window, there indeed was the three-member exploration team returning triumphantly, each shouldering mountainous loads. “Well? The results?”

First, when Dr. Keiden inquired, Dr. Tsukino responded in a cheerful tone, "There must be some truly extraordinary phenomena here," he said while setting down his bundle and unfurling the large wrapping cloth. What emerged from within were nothing but strange and rare objects never before seen on Earth. As the three repair team members watched in astonishment, Dr. Tsukino proudly produced first a peculiarly shaped doll-like pottery and said, "This was lying among the rocks about twenty *ri* behind that Himalaya Mountain we mentioned." "It's remarkably unusual—this is my most treasured souvenir." "From this evidence, there must certainly have been humans living on the Moon once." "And it appears those humans evolved to roughly Earth's Stone Age level before going extinct."

He kept revealing countless ancient artifacts and, like a child who had received a rare toy, beamed with delight all by himself.

Dr. Tsukino had been engrossed in his treasures for a while, but then, as if suddenly remembering something, he turned toward Dr. Keiden.

“How about your team?”

“My side has just been completed as well.” “Is that so? That’s truly splendid news.” “In that case, we shall finally depart tomorrow.”

“Indeed,” said Dr. Keiden. “Well then, shall we raise a toast? Now that we’ve drawn in as much air as we could manage, let’s head to that air pocket and drink with our hearts unburdened!” “Agreed!!!” replied Dr. Tsukino. They all proceeded into the cave, lit every available candle, sat within its glow, and raised high their Western-style cups filled with brandy. At Dr. Keiden’s prompting, they chanted three times: “Banzai to the Japanese Empire!!! Banzai to the Moon World Expedition!!!” As their voices resounded through the cavern, the echo—as though the Moon itself celebrated their triumph—reverberated back: “Banzai to the Moon World Expedition!!!”

(*Tanken Sekai* *Meiji 40 (1907) October Special Issue*)