Mackerel Clouds

A childhood kite hangs far above the narrator’s reach. He remembers its golden eyes, its fluttering legs, and the day an entire crowd raced after it when the cord broke. Now he wants to build a little centipede kite himself—but cannot remember how its head was made.

What begins as a cheerful project for his child becomes a consuming obsession. Family conversations turn painful, drinking returns, and nighttime journeys lead him to a changed hometown and the house of an old friend. There, Fuyuko’s memories of riding a horse open another path through longing and estrangement.

Makino Shin’ichi’s 1927 story joins exuberant descriptions of kite flying with a narrator’s unstable inner life. This new English translation presents the complete supplied text in its three numbered sections, preserving the dialogue, the final comment on narrative tense, and the January composition date. Thirteen brief notes clarify traditional measurements, cultural references, original English expressions, and textual uncertainties.