Lust Confutes Error and Manifests Truth

Tobari Yasuo, a young Bachelor of Letters in Nagoya, has just paid too much for a rare old erotic book called Kōshoku hajakensei when a police detective appears at his door. A man has been stabbed to death in his house the night before, and the woman held for the killing is the girl Yasuo once loved.

Allowed to join the investigation as an amateur detective, Yasuo reasons from a single lost spectacle lens, a neighbor's maid and the habits of an old bookseller toward a truth stranger than the one he wanted. Kosakai Fuboku (1890-1929), physician and pioneer of the Japanese detective story, wrote this ironic novella in 1928, a few months before his death; its mock-Buddhist title promises that lust will refute error and reveal the truth, and the story keeps the promise.

Translated complete and unabridged from the Japanese, with a translator's note, endnotes and source information.