Beginning with the late nineteenth-century writings which first assimilated and reworked Western literary traditions, and coming right up to the younger generation dealing with the pitfalls and paradoxes of modern life, this anthology offers a stimulating survey of the development of the Japanese short story, the Japanese literary genre.

• Acknowledgements


• Introduction


• Sansho the Steward


• The Third Night


• The Bonfire


• Separate Ways


• The Peony Garden


• Night Fires


• Aguir


• Blowfish


• Portrait of an Old Geisha


• In a Grove


• The Bears of Nametoko


• Spring Riding in a Carriage


• Carp


• The Izu Dancer


• Lemon


• The Accordian and the Fish Town


• The Flower-Eating Crone


• Blind Chinese Soldiers


• In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom


• Passage to Fudaraku


• Merry Christmas


• The Expert


• The Rifle


• Unzen


• The Bet


• Three Policemen


• Onnagata


• Toddler-hunting


• Mr Carp


• The Duel


• Prize Stock


• A Very Strange, Enchanted Boy


• The Elephant Vanishes


• Desert Dolphin


• Dreaming of Kimchee


• Biographical Notes


• Filmography


• Publisher's Acknowledgements