Pathway to Japanese Literature
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CounterfeitAuthor: Kasai Zenzō
| Original Title | 贋物 |
|---|---|
| Author | 葛西 善蔵 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In the bleak dawn of Fukushima Station, Kōkichi steps off a train into a limbo of waiting—stranded for hours with nothing but Tolstoy’s *Walk in the Light* and a gnawing sense of failure. Once a Tokyo dreamer chasing art and drink, he now slinks back to his rural hometown, burdened by debts and fractured relationships. A chance encounter with a runaway boy—haggard, defiant—stirs uneasy echoes of his own unraveling life. Family reunions bring no solace: his brother Sōji’s pity is laced with resentment; his aging father’s scorn cuts deep; and a crumbling, vermin-infested shack becomes his family’s new refuge. Desperation drives him to Tokyo again, clutching ancestral scrolls—counterfeit treasures—in a doomed bid for redemption. Yet even art betrays him, exposing delusions as fragile as the forged brushstrokes. Haunted by apparitions of his past and the specter of becoming the village fool, Kōkichi wavers between hope and despair, grasping for meaning in a world where every path—urban or rural—leads to ruin. Will his return heal or destroy what remains? |
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