Ten Days and Other Writings

A plum bud holds a drop of dew. A family prepares a daughter’s wedding clothes. On a crowded carriage, a young man about to open a shop discovers the first practical step toward becoming a merchant.

Ten Days and Other Writings gathers six complete pieces by Nagatsuka Takashi, a poet and prose writer attentive to rural life and the small details that give it texture. His diary moves freely from flowers and meals to elections, literary friendships, and village observances. My Garden turns a familiar view into an exercise in seeing, while Shirakuchi Flowers follows an elusive white blossom through mist, a hunter’s memories, and the taste of mountain fruit.

A Sword-Fighting Show brings its audience, women fighters, unusual weapons, and boisterous spectators sharply to life. Scabious leads through imperial tombs, autumn rain, cold spring water, and a waterfall. This new English translation preserves all six works, their quoted poems and source dates, with concise notes on local customs, names, and textual uncertainties.