The Helmet and Other Writings

An old helmet carries its uneasy history across the fall of the shogunate and the Great Kantō Earthquake. A girl in a railway crowd delivers impossible news, while a conversation at West Lake reveals a woman of extraordinary courage.

These narratives accompany Kidō’s memories of creating Hanshichi, an alternative account of Oiwa, and a diary mourning his nephew through prose and thirty-one poems.

All six works are complete, with brief notes on period customs, names, and the sources’ unresolved questions. AI-assisted translation, prepared and edited by Valentin Sarić.