Pathway to Japanese Literature
Discover Japan's stories—across time, across language.
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| Original Title | 茗荷畠 |
|---|---|
| Author | 真山 青果 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In the fading glow of Meiji-era Tokyo, novelist Yumura Mamoru navigates a world unraveling at its seams. Haunted by the recent severance from his mercurial mentor over a scandalous rumor, Yumura’s once-stable life now teeters between artistic ambition and corrosive doubt. Visitors arrive—earnest students probing love’s essence, old acquaintances masking unspoken tensions—each conversation exposing fractures in faith and human connection. “Love is merely effort,” Yumura scoffs, his cynicism belying a buried ache for vanished trust. \nDomesticity offers no refuge: his timid sister and her husband linger as uneasy guests, their whispered hopes a grating reminder of obligations he cannot fulfill. Amid autumn’s restless skies and half-finished manuscripts, Yumura’s mind churns—obsessed with crafting a novel dissecting modernity’s spiritual void, yet paralyzed by self-reproach. Nights dissolve into whiskey-fueled outbursts; days blur with clashes over saltfish and unpaid bills. \nThrough it all, unanswered questions pulse: Can belief survive in an age of cold reason? Is redemption found in art or ruin? Yumura’s jagged journey—a dance of creation and self-destruction—beckons readers into a labyrinth where every truth hides a darker shadow. |
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