Japanese Short Stories

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In Paradise the lotus flowers do not care what happens in the world of Man. The world of Man has neared the edge of night. In Paradise it is only noon. So it was for the eyes of Man Akutagawa chose to write. In these terrifyingly beautiful stories he tells us of: Yoshihide, who painted Hell upon a silken screen and, unknowingly, consigned himself to unimaginable torments; Otami and Osumi, an old woman and her daughter-in-law, who vied with one another in a strange relationship; Genkaku-Sanbo, who heard Death's Angel knock upon his door, and eagerly unlocked the bolt; Otomi, whose virginity and honor were sweeter than her life, and worth more than her death; Kandata, who climbed halfway from the depths of Hell along The Spider's Thread; a nameless girl, on the Yokosuka train, who saved a bitter man from suicide; Yonosuke, the Japanese Don Juan, who had known 3,742 women. These are the people of whom Akutagawa tells us. He relates their stories in a method fragile as a spider's web, paints their lives as delicately as tracery on a silken screen. And when he plucks his samisen and plays, who is to say the lotus flowers do not listen?