A Pilgrimage to a Thousand Temples and Other Writings

A girl’s pilgrimage ends in death, but her father receives an unexpected visit on a snowy night. In Paris, a man appears behind a locked door; elsewhere, a sound overhead and a vase of wilting flowers seem to signal approaching misfortune. Kitamura Shikai’s four accounts give this anthology its eerie opening.

Futabatei Shimei then turns to the promise of Esperanto, the irritations and companionship of a journey toward Russia, and the question of remarriage for war widows. Makino Shin’ichi rebukes a writer who has misrepresented his life, while Honda Shinji recounts a ghost determined to correct its gravestone.

The collection moves from supernatural testimony to public controversy. Yoshioka Shinkei recalls the early rise of Waseda baseball and the broken rivalry with Keiō, speaking as a participant in the dispute. Tachibana Shiraki closes by challenging Japanese assumptions about China and asking how knowledge of another society can be acquired.