Mon, Oct 5
杜子春
Toshishun
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa · 1920
Once rich, twice ruined, a young man in old Luoyang is saved each time by a mysterious hermit. Now he wants something harder: to become a hermit himself. The one rule is to stay silent, no matter what he sees. Akutagawa turned a Tang Dynasty legend into a story about what truly matters.
Thu, Oct 8 · Digest
竹取物語 - Part 1 of 3
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
Anonymous · c. 10th century
An old bamboo cutter finds a tiny girl glowing inside a stalk of bamboo. She grows into the most beautiful woman in the land, and word of her beauty spreads far and wide. Written over a thousand years ago, this is Japan's oldest surviving story, called "the ancestor of all tales" in The Tale of Genji.
Mon, Oct 12
走れメロス
Run, Melos!
Osamu Dazai · 1940
Melos has three days to return, or his best friend will die in his place. Floods, bandits, and his own exhausted body stand in his way. Osamu Dazai retold an old Greek legend, known in the West through Schiller's poem, and created the story of friendship that every Japanese student reads at school.
Thu, Oct 15 · Digest
竹取物語 - Part 2 of 3
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
Anonymous · c. 10th century
Five noblemen want to marry Kaguya-hime. She asks each of them for a treasure that may not exist: a jeweled branch from a magic island, a robe that cannot burn, a jewel from a dragon's neck. What follows is a thousand-year-old comedy of lies, fakes, and failed heroes.
Mon, Oct 19
桃太郎
Momotaro
Masao Kusuyama (retold)
A giant peach comes floating down the river, and inside is a baby boy. He grows up, packs some millet dumplings, and sets out with a dog, a monkey, and a pheasant to fight the demons of Onigashima. The story every child in Japan knows, told in its classic form.
Thu, Oct 22 · Digest
竹取物語 - Part 3 of 3
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
Anonymous · c. 10th century
Every night, Kaguya-hime weeps as she looks at the moon. Even the Emperor cannot win her heart, and now she must tell the old couple who raised her the truth: she cannot stay. The final part of Japan's oldest story, ending with a legend about Mount Fuji.
Mon, Oct 26
手袋を買いに
Buying Mittens
Nankichi Niimi · 1943
A little fox goes into town on a snowy night to buy mittens. His mother turns one of his paws into a human hand, but what if he holds out the wrong one? Nankichi Niimi, who died at just 29, wrote some of the gentlest stories in Japanese, and this is one of the best loved.
Thu, Oct 29 · Digest
銀河鉄道の夜 - Part 1
Night on the Galactic Railroad
Kenji Miyazawa · 1934
On the night of the star festival, a lonely boy named Giovanni suddenly finds himself on a train running along the Milky Way, with his friend Campanella beside him. Kenji Miyazawa kept rewriting this novel until his death, and it later inspired the famous anime Galaxy Express 999.
Mon, Nov 2
浦島太郎
Urashima Taro
Masao Kusuyama (retold)
A kind young fisherman saves a turtle and is carried to a palace under the sea. Three happy days pass, or so he thinks. When he leaves, the princess gives him a beautiful box and one warning: never open it. One of Japan's oldest legends, first written down over 1,200 years ago.
Thu, Nov 5 · Digest
銀河鉄道の夜 - Part 2
Night on the Galactic Railroad
Kenji Miyazawa · 1934
The journey continues past glittering riverbanks, a beach of white sand, and strange stations where passengers come and go. Along the way, Giovanni and Campanella meet travelers with stories of their own, and Giovanni begins to wonder: what is true happiness? The heart of Kenji's unfinished masterpiece.
