Karuta of Long Ago and Other Writings

A convalescent writer watches his wife discover the excitement of mahjong, then returns to memories of the rough karuta games of his youth. On a warm beach, another narrator tries to turn his vanity and romantic confusion into poetry. A diary records evenings, whisky, friendship, and a drunken song.

Eight complete writings reveal Makino Shin’ichi’s gift for comic self-exposure and sudden tenderness. A boy mourns his drowned friend while running a moonlit race. A painter arrives with little but his devotion to art. In the concluding Village Stoics, Taruno’s philosophical ambitions collide with debt, family shame, and the irresistible pleasures of a prosperous village.

First published between 1919 and 1930, these stories and reflections preserve the restless shifts between bravado and embarrassment, happiness and fear that animate Makino’s work. Their abrupt and unresolved endings remain intact. This new English translation includes notes on names, period references, literary quotations, and textual variants.