Pathway to Japanese Literature
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| Original Title | 菎蒻 |
|---|---|
| Author | 尾崎 士郎 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In a snowbound Tokyo gripped by unease, Goichi Sagino awakens to a life that feels both suffocatingly familiar and eerily fragile. His quiet domesticity—a wife and child asleep nearby—is shattered when his impulsive cousin Takichi bursts in with news of a violent coup: key officials assassinated, the government overthrown. As whispers of rebellion ripple through the city, Goichi navigates a web of tense alliances and fractured loyalties, from right-wing agitators to disillusioned artists, all while grappling with his own complicity in the chaos. \nThe uprising’s idealism curdles into desperation as soldiers and civilians alike confront the cost of their convictions. Friends vanish; families fracture. Yet amid the turmoil, Goichi finds himself drawn to Yuri, a bar hostess whose defiant resilience mirrors the city’s unraveling spirit. Political fervor collides with personal reckoning in a world where every choice—to fight, flee, or surrender—carries irreversible consequences. \nAs snow melts into spring, illusions of revolution fade, leaving behind scars and unanswered questions. What remains is not triumph, but the haunting residue of lives upended by forces beyond control—and the fragile hope of enduring what cannot be changed. |
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