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AsunarouAuthor: Yamamoto Shūgorō
| Original Title | あすなろう |
|---|---|
| Author | 山本 周五郎 |
| Genre | Popular Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In the shadowy riverside town of Shibakanasugi, two men forge an uneasy bond over sake in a bustling tavern. Masa, a charming yet ruthless womanizer, boasts of his conquests and schemes to flee Edo with a wealthy merchant’s daughter. His companion, Bunji, a brooding cabinetmaker with a violent past, listens with growing unease, their camaraderie laced with mutual suspicion. As night deepens, their conversation twists through tales of exploitation and regret, revealing lives shaped by cruelty and fleeting redemption. A constable’s sudden intrusion forces Bunji to flee, exposing his true identity as a wanted fugitive. Meanwhile, Masa’s plan to escape with his lover unravels under the weight of betrayal. Beneath a comb-shaped moon at Tenpukuji Temple, their fates collide in a violent reckoning, haunted by the ghostly silhouette of an *asunarou* tree—a symbol of lives forever stunted, yearning for transformation they can never attain. Secrets bleed into the briny air as shadows of guilt and fractured kinship threaten to consume them all. |
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