Pathway to Japanese Literature
Discover Japan's stories—across time, across language.
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| Original Title | ぼたもち |
|---|---|
| Author | 三好 十郎 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In the rugged mountains of post-war Japan, two cousins clash on a sun-dappled trail—Shinichi, a factory worker armed with book-learned ideals, and Jirō, a resentful farmer’s son itching to escape poverty through military enlistment. Their shouting match—a storm of accusations about national rearmament, inherited fields, and wartime regrets—echoes across valleys where cicadas hum and dried branches snap underfoot. Below them simmers another conflict: elderly Kijū, ostracized by his village after land reforms, trembles with rage as neighbors sabotage his rice paddies. All converge at the weathered home of Orikí, a sharp-tongued matriarch whose gnarled hands dispense bitter tea and blunt wisdom. As generations collide over scarred earth and scarred pride, Orikí’s rasp cuts through the noise: “Evil is evil—don’t do it.” But in these hills where grudges outlive harvests and young men’s futures hang on half-acre plots, her words may not be enough to untangle the knots of pride, survival, and the ghosts of wars not yet buried. |
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