The City of Echoes and Other Stories

A search for Christmas mistletoe sends a hesitant climber up a rope ladder. A writer trapped at his desk dreams of a submarine, while swimmers enjoy the summer outside. In the mountains, a young man proud of his philosophical solitude discovers how fragile that pride can be when two visitors arrive. A cheerful procession of sawmill workers heads toward the village by moonlight.

The final story enters a city where tavern drinkers work as living bronze statues, historical figures share gossip, and a sailor searches for his lost sweetheart. Comedy, longing, and uncertainty move through this extraordinary world without a tidy resolution.

Makino Shin’ichi (1896–1936) joins sharply observed embarrassment to imaginative flights that can transform ordinary streets into dream landscapes. These five complete works, first published between 1927 and 1930, appear in a new English translation with brief notes on names, allusions, source peculiarities, and period terms. AI-assisted translation.