Nanako and Other Stories

On a late-autumn evening, messengers come to a farmhouse to announce the death of a madwoman who was once the master's wife. A university graduate's remark keeps a tenant farmer's daughter awake over her rice mortar. A guest arrives at midnight to a cold welcome from an old friend. An old farmer remembers a morning's walk and a plate of lily cakes. And in the title story, a father tells the day his youngest child drowned in the family pond.

Itō Sachio, dairyman, tanka poet and author of Nogiku no haka, writes with country speech and unsparing plainness. This collection contains Seaside Chrysanthemums, The Messengers, A New Man'yō Tale, Nanako, The Niece, and The Nursemaid's House. Each is translated complete from the Japanese with a translator's note, endnotes, and source information. Nanako concerns the death of a child.