Read this when
Child's Play (Takekurabe) and Other Stories
A scrap of red cloth, left in the rain, says more than a love letter ever could. Ichiyō wrote about the feelings we never say out loud. 🌧️
Who it's for
Ichiyō writes feeling through gesture rather than speech, so readers who have carried unspoken feelings, a first love never confessed or a sadness they couldn't explain to their families, may find themselves precisely mirrored.
Feelings it meets
What it is
A collection of fiction by Meiji-era writer Higuchi Ichiyō. Its title novella, 'Child's Play' (Takekurabe), was serialized in 1895–96 and follows a group of young people in Tokyo's Yoshiwara district across a few months framed by two festivals.
Where to find it
The Japanese originals are public domain and free online (Aozora Bunko). English: Robert Lyons Danly's In the Shade of Spring Leaves (Yale/Norton) is in print and in university libraries; other transl.
Before you start
Heads up: Possible suicide; emotional abuse.
Age: Ages 16+
All right, then, I'll go to hellMark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
