Seven Japanese Tales Book

I purchased this book in a bookstore off Piccadilly Circus waiting to meet someone. After hours of conversation, we separated, taking our respective tunnels to catch our trains. Every time I see this book, I remember that goodbye. Funny, the things that serve as fluttering markers to our memories.

I'm reading these out of order to the book layout because I wanted to see the chronological progression in themes and style relating it back to history. These notes are likely not particularly useful for one not interested in historical relevance.

"The Tattooer" 1910
Exquisite, sensual language romanticizing the Edo period against the current struggles of the Meiji period. Tale of a geisha apprentice and the obsessed artist whose work transforms her.

"The Terror" 1913
Epitomizes Taisho period interest in psychoanalysis and the disconnect with modernization and emerging conflict between individualism and state.

"The Thief" 1921
Schoolboy story with a twist that makes you doubt what is clearly before you. Interesting glimpses into social hierarchy and concept of higher status equaling higher morality.

"Aguri" 1922
Uses a courtesan tale to platform new leisure activities of travel and places the characters in this tension of Western modernity withering Japanese traditions.

"A Blind Man's Tale" 1931
The oblique critique of Emperor Taisho during early Showa years is particularly interesting.

"A Portrait of Shunkin" 1933
To Be Reread

"The Bridge of Dreams" 1959
I was profoundly surprised at the publication date of this work. It reads perfectly to have been written thirty years earlier with the ero guro nansensu (erotic grotesque nonsense) elements. The sexualized and pathologized interactions reflecting early Showa tension. Features the memoirs of a young man and the unusual behaviors set in the other worldly garden of his home, The Heron's Nest.