Pathway to Japanese Literature
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| Original Title | 妖怪玄談 |
|---|---|
| Author | 井上 円了 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In late 19th-century Japan, a mysterious ritual called Kokkuri captivates the public—a divination game where bamboo sticks and a rice lid seemingly move on their own to answer questions about love, fate, and fortune. Farmers whisper of fox spirits; scholars debate electricity’s role; skeptics dismiss it as trickery. Yet its spread is undeniable, from coastal villages to Tokyo’s boarding houses, leaving broken marriages and fervent believers in its wake. A curious intellectual embarks on a quest to unravel its secrets, gathering eyewitness accounts from sailors who claim it arrived via American shipwrecks and housewives who swear by its predictions. Through clandestine experiments with trembling students and devout women, he discovers eerie patterns: the apparatus dances only for the faithful, its motions mirroring their deepest hopes and fears. Is this a collision of ancient yōkai lore and modern science, or a mirror reflecting the human mind’s hidden powers? The truth lies in the liminal space between superstition and reason—where every tilt of the lid whispers a riddle about what we choose to believe. |
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