Cherry Blossoms in Darkness and Other Writings

A girl’s familiar childhood friendship becomes an anguish she cannot confess. In Higuchi Ichiyō’s Cherry Blossoms in Darkness, affection and embarrassment unfold beneath plum blossoms before the story narrows to a sickroom, a keepsake ring, and an evening bell.

Thirteen companion works offer very different encounters: rival reporters compete for a telegraph, a journalist recalls Kuroiwa Ruikō, two men struggle to share an umbrella, and a parrot helps recover a Christmas necklace. Yumeno Kyūsaku’s tales bring two beggars’ dreams and a boy living among monkeys into a world of cunning, compassion, and talking animals.

Editorial prefaces and Shimamura Hōgetsu’s literary essays turn toward translation, sketch writing, language, and naturalism, while Numata Ichiga relays unsettling accounts of apparitions and unexplained sounds. All fourteen supplied works appear in full, with their individual author credits, bibliography, songs, and source details. Reader notes explain period references and unresolved textual features. AI-assisted translation, prepared and edited by Valentin Sarić.