The Senior Councillor’s Spectacles and Other Writings

A lamp goes out in a senior councillor’s study. Is it a household mistake, or the first sign of an assassin? As Andō walks through Edo at night, the emptiness of the food stalls tells him something political speeches cannot. Duty, kindness, and the prospect of death meet in Sasaki Mitsuzō’s historical tale.

Around this story are five complete writings in sharply different voices. Murakoshi Michio recalls the years of labor behind his illustrated flora and the struggle to publish it after the earthquake. Ishikawa Mikiaki introduces Fukuzawa’s argument about proud endurance, disputes a newspaper account of foreign intervention, and explains the making of Fukuzawa’s autobiography.

Sekine Mokuan closes the collection with thirteen uncanny anecdotes: a nursing apparition, a disguised tanuki, a warning from a prison cell, a monstrous catch, and other encounters reported with curiosity and occasional humor. These authors bring together scientific dedication, political controversy, and the unease of everyday life.