The Fisherman’s Daughter and Other Sketches

A stone Jizō stands patiently in a garden while birds, dogs, and the householder make use of his quiet presence. A country resident struggles to carry clean water home. On Lake Kasumigaura, an adopted fisherman’s daughter finds companionship in song and the twin peaks of Mount Tsukuba.

These intimate scenes share a volume with a very different adventure: the author’s first appearance in a borrowed tailcoat at an imperial-birthday reception. Dressing becomes a family operation, etiquette produces anxious mistakes, and the glittering gathering offers endless opportunities for comedy.

Tokutomi Roka observes compassion, labor, longing, and social pretension through landscapes and ordinary gestures. This new English translation presents all four supplied works in full: Jizō, Fetching Water, The Fisherman’s Daughter, and My First Tailcoat. It preserves the story’s closing Chinese verse and the reception essay’s playful ceremonial voice. Twenty-four brief notes clarify Buddhist tradition, measurements, literary allusions, and historical references.