The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories

494 Pages·2018·2.37 MB·English

by  Jay Rubin (ed.

Contents
Editorial Note by Jay Rubin
Note on Japanese Name Order and Pronunciation
Introduction by Murakami Haruki
JAPAN AND THE WEST
TANIZAKI JUN’ICHIRŌ
The Story of Tomoda and Matsunaga Translated by Paul Warham
NAGAI KAFŪ
Behind the Prison
Translated by Jay Rubin
NATSUME SŌSEKI
Sanshirō
Translated by Jay Rubin
LOYAL WARRIORS
MORI ŌGAI
The Last Testament of Okitsu Yagoemon Translated by Richard Bowring
MISHIMA YUKIO
Patriotism
Translated by Geoffrey W. Sargent
MEN AND WOMEN
TSUSHIMA YŪKO
Flames
Translated by Geraldine Harcourt
KŌNO TAEKO
In the Box
Translated by Jay Rubin
NAKAGAMI KENJI
Remaining Flowers
Translated by Eve Zimmerman
YOSHIMOTO BANANA
Bee Honey
Translated by Michael Emmerich
OHBA MINAKO
The Smile of a Mountain Witch Translated by Noriko Mizuta
ENCHI FUMIKO
A Bond for Two Lifetimes – Gleanings Translated by Phyllis Birnbaum
NATURE AND MEMORY
ABE AKIRA
Peaches
Translated by Jay Rubin
OGAWA YŌKO
The Tale of the House of Physics Translated by Ted Goossen
KUNIKIDA DOPPO
Unforgettable People
Translated by Jay Rubin
MURAKAMI HARUKI
The 1963/1982 Girl from Ipanema Translated by Jay Rubin
SHIBATA MOTOYUKI
Cambridge Circus
Translated by Jay Rubin
MODERN LIFE AND OTHER NONSENSE
UNO KŌJI
Closet LLB
Translated by Jay Rubin
GENJI KEITA
Mr English
Translated by Jay Rubin
BETSUYAKU MINORU
Factory Town
Translated by Royall Tyler
KAWAKAMI MIEKO
Dreams of Love, Etc.
Translated by Hitomi Yoshio
HOSHI SHIN’ICHI
Shoulder-Top Secretary
Translated by Jay Rubin
DREAD
AKUTAGAWA RYŪNOSUKE
Hell Screen
Translated by Jay Rubin
SAWANISHI YŪTEN
Filling Up with Sugar
Translated by Jay Rubin
UCHIDA HYAKKEN
Kudan
Translated by Rachel DiNitto
DISASTERS, NATURAL AND MAN-MADE
The Great Kantō Earthquake, 1923
AKUTAGAWA RYŪNOSUKE
The Great Earthquake and General Kim Translated by Jay Rubin
The Atomic Bombings, 1945
ŌTA YŌKO
Hiroshima, City of Doom
Translated by Richard H. Minear
SEIRAI YŪICHI
Insects
Translated by Paul Warham
Post-War Japan
KAWABATA YASUNARI
The Silver Fifty-Sen Pieces Translated by Lane Dunlop
NOSAKA AKIYUKI
American Hijiki
Translated by Jay Rubin
HOSHINO TOMOYUKI
Pink
Translated by Brian Bergstrom
The Kobe Earthquake, 1995
MURAKAMI HARUKI
UFO in Kushiro
Translated by Jay Rubin
The Tōhoku Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Meltdown, 2011
SAEKI KAZUMI
Weather-Watching Hill
Translated by David Boyd
MATSUDA AOKO
Planting
Translated by Angus Turvill
SATŌ YŪYA
Same as Always
Translated by Rachel DiNitto
Notes
Further Reading
Glossary
Acknowledgements
Follow Penguin
Editorial Note
Most nationally defined literary anthologies are arranged chronologically,
perhaps on the assumption that they will be read primarily in college courses,
where the anthology is meant to comprise a pocket history of the nation’s
literature over a predetermined period. This book is designed more for general
readers who are looking for a good read when they open the book and don’t
much care how Japanese literature may have developed in the period covered,
which in this case can be loosely termed the modern period. The arrangement is
intended to suggest the general tone or subject matter of the story groups, so that
someone hoping to be amused will turn to something under the heading ‘Modern
Life and Other Nonsense’ rather than ‘Dread’ or ‘Nature and Memory’ or
‘Disasters, Natural and Man-Made’.
The last-named group does have a chronological arrangement, however,
illustrating how Japanese writers have reacted to some of the worst disasters in
the modern period, but it can be read in any order. I can imagine readers who
wish to know more about Japan’s unique experience of nuclear weapons heading
straight for the two stories about the atomic bombings, in which I would call
attention to the second story, ‘Insects’, set in the culturally distinctive city of
Nagasaki, which tends to be overshadowed by Hiroshima’s position as the first
victim of such American ingenuity.
The following list, based on the original form of each piece, is provided for
those wishing to read the stories in chronological order:
Kunikida Doppo, ‘Unforgettable People’ (1898) Natsume Sōseki, Sanshirō, Chapter 1 (1908) Nagai
Kafū, ‘Behind the Prison’ (1909)
Mori Ōgai, ‘The Last Testament of Okitsu Yagoemon’ (1912) Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, ‘Hell Screen’
(1918) Uno Kōji, ‘Closet LLB’ (1918) Uchida Hyakken, ‘Kudan’ (1921)
Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, ‘General Kim’ (1924) Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, The Story of Tomoda and
Matsunaga (1926) Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, ‘The Great Earthquake’ (1927) Kawabata Yasunari,
‘The Silver Fifty-Sen Pieces’ (1946) Ōta Yōko, ‘Hiroshima, City of Doom’, chapter from City of
Corpses (1948) Genji Keita, ‘Mr English’ (1951)
Enchi Fumiko, ‘A Bond for Two Lifetimes – Gleanings’ (1957) Hoshi Shin’ichi, ‘Shoulder-Top
Secretary’ (1961) Mishima Yukio, ‘Patriotism’ (1961)
Nosaka Akiyuki, ‘American Hijiki’ (1967) Abe Akira, ‘Peaches’ (1972)
Betsuyaku Minoru, ‘Factory Town’ (1973)
Ohba Minako, ‘The Smile of a Mountain Witch’ (1976) Kōno Taeko, ‘In the Box’ (1977)
Ohba Minako, ‘The Smile of a Mountain Witch’ (1976) Kōno Taeko, ‘In the Box’ (1977)
Tsushima Yūko, ‘Flames’ (1979)
Murakami Haruki, ‘The 1963/1982 Girl from Ipanema’ (1982) Nakagami Kenji, ‘Remaining
Flowers’ (1988) Murakami Haruki, ‘UFO in Kushiro’ (1999) Yoshimoto Banana, ‘Bee Honey’
(2000)
Seirai Yūichi, ‘Insects’ (2005)
Ogawa Yōko, ‘The Tale of the House of Physics’ (2010) Shibata Motoyuki, ‘Cambridge Circus’
(2010) Kawakami Mieko, ‘Dreams of Love, Etc.’ (2011) Matsuda Aoko, ‘Planting’ (2011)
Satō Yūya, ‘Same as Always’ (2012)
Sawanishi Yūten, ‘Filling Up with Sugar’ (2013) Hoshino Tomoyuki, ‘Pink’ (2014)
Saeki Kazumi, ‘Weather-Watching Hill’ (2014)
All of the above are independent stories except the excerpts from Sōseki, Ōta
and the 1927 Akutagawa. Sōseki wrote many short stories, but none that reflects
the scale and intensity of his novels. Chapter 1 of his 1908 novel Sanshirō comes
close to being a self-contained story while suggesting the author’s grasp of his
time and society. The novel City of Corpses, from which ‘Hiroshima, City of
Doom’ is taken, overshadows Ōta’s other work and stands as the foremost
literary documentation of the bombing of Hiroshima. One segment from an
episodic story of Akutagawa’s is used here as a preface to his bloodthirsty tale
‘General Kim’, inspired by the 1923 earthquake.
Tanizaki’s novella of 1926, The Story of Tomoda and Matsunaga, may seem
out of place in a book of short stories, but its hyperbolical alternating
condemnation and celebration of both Japanese and Western culture demanded
inclusion. Having first encountered it during my study of pre-war literary
censorship in 1984, I had hoped to introduce it to the English-speaking world in
this collection, but now readers have two means of access to this startling work,
as noted in Further Reading.
One potential drawback to compiling a historical anthology of a nation’s
literature is that the editor is likely to feel obligated to include certain works or
writers because of their generally recognized ‘importance’ in the developmental
scheme of things without regard to his/her own personal response to the work.
The reader of this collection can be assured that all the works here have been
chosen because the editor has been unable to forget them, in some cases for
decades, or has found them forming a knot in the solar plexus or inspiring a
laugh or a pang of sorrow each time they have come spontaneously to mind over
the years.
The poet Alan Shapiro reminds us of Eugenio Montale’s phrase ‘the second
life of poetry’ in characterizing the interplay of life and literature.1 Especially
when choosing more nearly contemporary works, I have asked colleagues to
send me stories they felt compelled to translate because they have found them
reverberating in their own lives. Kunikida Doppo may be seen as the father of
the modern Japanese short story, but he is included here primarily because I have
found his ‘lone figure on the sunlit beach’ to be one of my own ‘Unforgettable
People’ since I first encountered it in 1965.
I have many people to thank for their help in the long, fulfilling process of
compiling this anthology, many of whom doubled as both advisers and actively
involved translators: Paul Warham, Richard Bowring, Geraldine Harcourt, Eve
Zimmerman, Michael Emmerich, Noriko Mizuta, Phyllis Birnbaum, Ted
Goossen, Royall Tyler, Hitomi Yoshio, Rachel DiNitto, Richard Minear, Brian
Bergstrom, David Boyd and Angus Turvill. I picked many other brains along the
way, most notably those of Motoyuki Shibata, Howard Hibbett, Davinder
Bhowmik, Ted Mack and Ted Woolsey. Maeda Shōsaku devoted endless hours
to comparing the translations with the originals, as he has done since he first
wrote to me in 2007. I literally can’t thank him enough. Simon Winder made
working with Penguin a delight again, Maria Bedford kept some indispensable
gears spinning, and Kate Parker made the editorial process more epiphanic than I
had hoped it would be. In his thorough, informative introduction, Murakami
Haruki has gracefully acceded to his role as elder spokesman for modern
Japanese literature. My thanks to him. And thanks to my wife, Rakuko, for
always being there.
No anthology can include everything. The reader is referred to Further Reading
for some of the excellent collections that are available.
Jay Rubin
Note
1. Alan Shapiro, In Praise of the Impure (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University
Press, 1993), p. 13.