Kafu Nagai (1879–1959)

This is a book of two novellas that both depict the milieu and life of prostitutes in the old Tokyo. During the Rains is a very fine piece indeed and it contains some exquisite writing, however, the ending seems a tad tawdry with a shock and jolt that is out of place. Almost a masterpiece. Flowers in the Shade is undoubtedly the lesser work of the two, quite good nevertheless.

Kafu Nagai Behind The Prison
Description of a man returning to Japan after a period abroad, unable to find work lives with his family. Very descriptive, quotes Baudelaire and Verlaine, but ultimately he is depressed.
Koji Uno Closet L L B
Sansaku graduated in Law, no occupation in Tokyo. In childhood he enjoyed children's author Iwaya Sazanami, and wanted to become a novelist. Describes how rich relatives support poor relatives; swings and roundabouts. A time when he no longer needed to support show more his mother he stopped menial work and just ate and slept in a closet. He watched people on the street through the closet doors contemptuously. "How much fun are you getting out of life?". He imagined the things he could have been successful at - sumo wrestling, athlete. Hi landlady found him hurt in the hall after attempting a long jump.
Ryunosuke Akutagawa General Kim
Two Japanese lords/generals in Korea disguised as monks assessing military conditions there. Green paddy fields, sleeping farm boy Kim Eung-seo head resting on a stone failed to wake when the stone was kicked away which angered the generals, but they spared his life. Thirty years later, the generals invaded Korea with huge army nicknamed by the Koreans "The warriors from Wa the Dwarf Kingdom". Koreans waited for Chinese Ming Empire to send reinforcements. A captured kisaeng, Kye Wol-Hyang put a sleeping potion in Yukinaga, her captor's drink, silenced his warning bells with cotton, and brought Kim Eung-seo (now a general) to kill him. A magic Japanese sword lunged at Kim, but Kim's own magic spit at the sword saved him and he decapitated the Japanese with his green-dragon sword. The head tried to reattach itself to the body, whereby Kye threw ash on the neck which clotted the wound preventing the head resealing. Kim accidentally cut off his little toe on the Japanese sword. Kim then killed Kye because she was pregnant, and the unborn child shouted at him. The story ends with the anecdote that that was the story told by Koreans, but the Japanese know that Yukinaga did not die, and is one of many tales the Japanese children laugh at. show less