If There Is Life

Mitsuko has been ill for months, and her family watches every change in fever, cough, and appetite for signs of hope. Sōsuke, a young English teacher and distant relative, visits often and tries to help with expenses. But the money he borrowed is growing into a debt he can no longer manage.

Between the sickroom, his school, and his rented room, Sōsuke struggles with love, fear, and the weight of a kindness undertaken beyond his means. A moneylender’s threats and the sight of his landlady’s hidden savings draw his thoughts toward dangerous possibilities. An old friend’s arrival offers a different path, with obligations of its own.

First published in 1917, Toyoshima Yoshio’s story places the desire to sustain another life beside the cost of sustaining one’s own. This complete English translation preserves all five sections, the troubling dream, the uncertain prognosis, and the open ending. Notes explain period medical language, money, literature, and textual irregularities. AI-assisted translation.