The Funeral Procession

Returning to Morioka after five years, a young history teacher finds electric lights, new roads, and familiar places transformed. His memories range from schoolboy dreams of greatness to comic encounters in the quiet streets. He believes he understands the city that formed him, and even the history of the world.

Then a small, shabby funeral procession passes his old school. A woman’s desperate interruption brings back the memory of a golden autumn morning and two people the town has dismissed. Suddenly, the narrator’s confident judgments become far less secure.

Ishikawa Takuboku’s story moves through satire, recollection, philosophical speculation, and a startling vision of dignity. This complete English translation preserves the entire supplied text, including its dialect exchanges, dance calls, songs, and explicit unfinished ending. Notes clarify names, local references, historical assertions, and missing characters while keeping the narrator’s changing perspective intact. Translated directly from the Japanese. AI-assisted translation.