Master Tomioka and Other Stories

A proud teacher, two working women, and the remembered companions of youth reveal the tenderness and injuries of ordinary life. Five complete works by Kunikida Doppo culminate in a wry, rain-soaked journey to Yugawara.

A proud country teacher rages against the men who have risen above him, while his daughter’s future hangs in the balance. Two young telephone operators find friendship in a cramped Tokyo attic. A teacher remembers a boy among the ruins of a castle; former students remember the companions who vanished from their lives.

First published between 1898 and 1907, these five works reveal Kunikida Doppo’s range: sharp social comedy, tenderness toward ordinary lives, troubled reflection, and a sick traveler’s surprisingly funny impatience with silence.