Peonies and Other Writings

A wife asks to be heard. A mother waits for a son. A worker sees beauty touch a mind he cannot understand. In these seven complete writings, Miyamoto Yuriko examines the distance between people with sympathy, argument, and a sharp eye for everyday life.

Peonies and Other Writings brings together the haunting title story, the two-scene play Heels on Fire, a historical tale set in the north, a seaside family sketch, and a brief hot-spring diary. Two essays confront women’s independent legal personhood and the pressures surrounding love and marriage. Across these different forms, material comfort does little to protect anyone from loneliness, misunderstanding, or the need for recognition.

First published between 1919 and 1927, the works appear in a complete English translation with explanatory notes and source details. This modern selection offers an intimate view of a major Japanese writer’s early concerns, preserving both the tenderness and the troubling judgments of her period.