The Sea Monk and Other Stories, Poems, and Essays

A beloved old man tells a child about a terrifying figure rising from the sea. A woman dreams of entering a seaside house, only to encounter that same house when she travels with her husband. Elsewhere, a scientist recalls how failure at school led him to question the whole meaning of education.

These fifteen works bring together stories, poems, memories, and literary reflections by five Japanese writers. Kitahara Hakushū’s brief lyrics shift from light on a mirror to a rain-soaked garden, while his introduction to Murō Saisei’s Poems of Love explores friendship, spiritual renewal, and the making of poetry. Tsuchida Kōhei recalls childhood festivals, winter evenings, and the tenderness of a grandmother’s patient answers. Makimura Hiroshi gives a lonely postbox its own small drama.

The collection closes with Tanaka Kōtarō’s unnerving “The Baby’s Head,” where domestic anxiety and supernatural uncertainty become inseparable. Complete translations preserve each work’s distinct voice and structure, with brief notes on cultural references, period language, and textual inconsistencies.