Lulu and Mimi and Other Writings

Two orphaned children follow the sound of a silent bell toward a palace beneath a lake. An angler on the Tone River discovers that the largest catch may be a lesson in discipline. In an Edo merchant’s household, the promise of a beautiful silk robe draws a young maid into a deadly scheme.

Lulu and Mimi and Other Writings gathers eight complete works by six Japanese authors. Tanba Keizō celebrates the knowledge that teaches us to love plants. Toda Ken, writing under the name Yumeno Kyūsaku, creates a haunting fairy tale. Ishii Kendō takes us fishing by lamplight, while Nakamura Kenkichi explores the waterways and autumn customs of Bingo and the life and verse of Rai Kyōhei. Gotō Kentarō’s railway poem gives poverty an angry voice, and Okamoto Kidō turns a historical crime into an intimate tragedy.

Fresh English translations preserve each writer’s character, from classical reflection to vivid dialogue and song. Concise notes illuminate historical settings, technical terms, and the original texts’ uncertainties. This varied collection offers an encounter with Japanese lives, landscapes, and literary imagination in the early twentieth century.