Pathway to Japanese Literature
Discover Japan's stories—across time, across language.
← Back
Katsushika SagoAuthor: Izumi Kyoka
| Original Title | 葛飾砂子 |
|---|---|
| Author | 泉 鏡花 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In the mist-shrouded streets of Meiji-era Fukagawa, sixteen-year-old Kikue vanishes after a shrine festival, leaving her parents frantic. Her absence intertwines with the tragic legacy of Tachibananosuke, a dazzling kabuki actor whose death from illness left admirers bereft, as though "the sole white lily of their theatrical world had withered." Kikue’s mysterious disappearance draws in Onui, a compassionate nurse harboring secrets of her own, once tied to the pleasure quarters. A haunting yukata—imbued with the scent of incense from the actor’s deathbed—becomes a spectral thread linking Kikue to his ghostly allure, driving her toward a moonlit river’s edge. Meanwhile, Shichibei, an enigmatic boatman chanting sutras for lost souls, navigates shadowed waterways where past and present converge. As autumn winds whisper through willow baskets and rain-damp robes, the boundaries between devotion and obsession blur, weaving a tale of longing, spectral echoes, and the fragile line between life and death. What compels Kikue’s desperate act, and whose memories linger in the folds of that cursed garment? |
← Return to List← Return to TOP