Exposed to the Elements

Saeki Shōsaku has spent years drifting through borrowed money, unfinished writing and the companionship of a boardinghouse cat. His guardian offers him a favorable clerical position at a coal mine in Kyūshū. Yet leaving Tokyo would mean leaving Sawako, a café waitress whose presence has become the light of his uncertain life.

An introduction to Sawako’s former lover brings a troubled history of marriage, letters and separation into view. Another confession exposes jealousy within the household that supports Shōsaku. Each speaker tries to explain love and duty, while his own desire makes their explanations increasingly difficult to bear. Bashō’s verses, a remembered mother and a children’s song weave through his thoughts.

First published in 1923, Exposed to the Elements follows a consciousness poised between dependence and a desperate wish to begin again. This complete English translation retains all six sections, the quoted poems and postcard, with notes explaining historical terms and separating the characters’ medical and moral claims from established fact. AI-assisted translation.