Stories in Black and White

A theater-mad lumberyard worker overhears an elopement plot and sets out to save a stranger, only to find that respectable adults dismiss him as a fool. A young woman falls under the spell of a beggar’s flute, while her father’s kindness draws the household toward a devastating revelation. A ruined heir accepts a seemingly easy job and discovers that fine clothes can conceal a dangerous bargain.

These three stories move through Tokyo streets, music rooms, police stations and theater foyers with the speed of scenes unfolding onstage. Disguise changes appearances, but loyalty and desire repeatedly escape the plans laid for them.

First published together in 1925, Stories in Black and White is by Sugiyama Hōen, the writer also known as Yumeno Kyūsaku. This complete English translation preserves all three narratives, their numbered sections, clipped conversations and abrupt reversals. Brief notes clarify unfamiliar objects, musical references, uncertain names and an inconsistency in the source, leaving the stories’ conflicting ideas of guilt and innocence intact.