The Street in Shadow

With his inheritance nearly exhausted, a young Japanese man in London decides to spend his remaining money on a farewell to idleness. Dinner at the Savoy brings a glimpse of a woman whose beauty fascinates his painter friend. Before the night is over, a man lies murdered in a dark alley, and the narrator has concealed a clue belonging to her.

An unexpected secretarial post offers a livelihood, but its elderly employer imposes peculiar rules. A garden gate stands open, footsteps sound where no one should be walking, and the woman reappears in circumstances that deepen the mystery. While the police investigate, the narrator pursues his own suspicions, withholding facts out of attachment to a stranger he scarcely knows.

First published in 1926, Matsumoto Tai’s The Street in Shadow combines a London mystery with an intimate account of romantic fixation, chance, and missed opportunity. This complete English translation preserves all eight sections, the story’s unsettling final revelations, and its original publication line. Twenty-two notes clarify names, artworks, historical terms, and unusual textual details.