Tottenkan of the Circus and Other Stories

A blacksmith’s apprentice sees a traveling circus and imagines a world of light, music, and happiness. When he joins it, hard labor and a cruel director challenge that dream, while friendship with an elephant and two performers gives him courage to seek another life.

Shimomura Chiaki’s Tottenkan of the Circus appears here with three further complete works. Rokubē the Fool turns a friend’s prank into a comic succession of perilous divinations. The Spirit Fires of Dan-no-ura tells of a blind biwa minstrel drawn into the world of the Heike dead. A Scene of Drought follows exhausted villagers whose prayers, resentments, and arguments unfold under relentless heat.

Together these stories move between wonder, humor, hardship, and sympathy for vulnerable people. This English translation preserves every supplied paragraph, the circus song, and each distinct ending. Notes explain Japanese terms, sound-play, historical prejudices, uncertain readings, and the source’s legendary and social claims. No passages are replaced with summaries. AI-assisted translation.