Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories

This collection features a brilliant new translation of the Japanese master's stories, from the source for the movie Rashōmon to his later, more autobiographical writings.

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) is one of Japan’s foremost stylists - a modernist master whose short stories are marked by highly original imagery, cynicism, beauty and wild humour. ‘ Rashōmon ’ and ‘ In a Bamboo Grove ’ inspired Kurosawa’s magnificent film and depict a past in which morality is turned upside down, while tales such as ‘ The Nose ’, ‘ O-Gin ’ and ‘ Loyalty ’ paint a rich and imaginative picture of a medieval Japan peopled by Shoguns and priests, vagrants and peasants. And in later works such as ‘ Death Register ’, ‘ The Life of a Stupid Man ’ and ‘ Spinning Gears ’, Akutagawa drew from his own life to devastating effect, revealing his intense melancholy and terror of madness in exquisitely moving impressionistic stories.

A WORLD IN DECAY

- Rashōmon

- In a Bamboo Grove

- The Nose

- Dragon: The Old Potter's Tale

- The Spider Thread

- Hell Screen

UNDER THE SWORD

- Dr. Ogata Ryōsai: Memorandum

- O-Gin

- Loyalty

MODERN TRAGICOMEDY

- The Story of a Head That Fell Off

- Green Onions

- Horse Legs

AKUTAGAWA'S OWN STORY

- Daidōji Shinsuke: The Early Years

- The Writer's Craft

- The Baby's Sickness

- Death Register

- The Life of a Stupid Man

- Spinning Gears