Pathway to Japanese Literature
Discover Japan's stories—across time, across language.
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| Original Title | 瞼の母 |
|---|---|
| Author | 長谷川 伸 |
| Genre | Popular Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In the shadowed alleys of Edo-era Japan, a disgraced yakuza, Hanjirō, returns to his family’s tile-making home, pursued by vengeful gangsters seeking retribution for past bloodshed. His mother, Omura, and sister, Onui, desperately shield him, pleading for him to abandon violence—but honor and danger collide as old enemies close in. Meanwhile, Banba no Chūtarō, a rootless gambler haunted by a lifetime without family, roams Edo’s streets, clinging to rumors of a mother he cannot remember. Their paths intertwine in a world where loyalty is tested by blade and betrayal, where fleeting kindnesses—a coin to a beggar, a stranger’s tears—hint at deeper yearnings. From moonlit confrontations to winter nights heavy with unspoken grief, the story unfolds through layered acts of sacrifice and reckoning. As Hanjirō grapples with redemption and Chūtarō’s search grows desperate, the fragile hope of reconciliation battles against the ruthless codes of the underworld. A tale of fractured bonds and resilience, where every choice echoes with the weight of blood ties and the ghosts of roads not taken. |
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