Customer Reviews

Rashomon and Other Stories (Bantam Classic)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is a collection of short stories written by the eminent Japanese author, Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927). These six stories tend to revolve around moral ambiguities. 1) In A Grove is the story of a murder, whose witnesses all tell different, often mutually exclusive stories. 2) Rashomon is the story of a discharged servant who must choose between death and a life of crime and dishonor. 3) Yam Gruel tells the story of Goi, a samurai whose life falls to pieces as he dreams of the rare delicacy yam gruel, and who finds that having is not always as wonderful as wanting. 4) The Martyr reaches back to the 16th Century, to tell the story of a model Christian young man, who is excommunicated when he refuses to recognize a child attributed to him, but the truth he hides is not what everyone thinks. 5) Kesa And Morito is a tale of lust and betrayal. 6) The Dragon is the story of Hanazo, or priest who sets out to play a joke, but learns the power of belief.

These stories are quite varied from each other, and all are excellently written. In A Grove is confusing (as is life), while Rashomon is somewhat depressing, and The Martyr is uplifting. But, all the stories are excellently written, and quite interesting. I highly recommend this book.

To demonstrate the excellence of these stories, let me submit to you the following line from The Martyr: "For the sublimity of life culminates in the most precious moment of inspiration. Man will make his life worth living, if he tosses a wave aloft high into the starry sky, o'er life's dark main of worldly cares, to mirror in its crystal foam the light of the moon yet to rise."

These stories are excellent - well written in a technical sense, very observant of humanity. They capture the multiplicity of truth as seen by multiple people.

In a Grove, the basis of the movie Rashomon, consists of the testimony of several people (including the victim through a medium) in which three people take responsibility for the death - a robber, the victim himself and the victim's wife. Each version appears to be true; each interprets the expressions of others differently than the person whose expression is described.

Rashomon tells of a dismissed servent's decision to become a thief; he is then confronted with what others have chosen as necessary to survive.

Yam Gruel tells of an official who is taunted and abused, receiving his one goal in life - to eat his full of yam gruel - only to discover that receiving the gruel is not as he anticipated.

The Martyr tells of an orphan boy, raised by Jesuits, accused of fathering a child out of wedlock. He becomes a hero in a way that forces those who accused and shunned him to reconsider their actions.

Kesa and Morito is a love triangle that will end in murder - but the love triangle is loveless.

The Dragon is a practical joke gone awry; or is it really a joke?

All the stories are well worth your time - enjoyable and thought-provoking.

After ordering this book, I sat completely transfixed while reading due to the absolute simplicity of Akutagawa's writing style. All 6 stories flow beautifully fast as you quietly become emotionally wrapped up in them. The deceptive sheen of these stories almost antagonizes you into finding something amiss, only that you'll discover later, after some thought, that there was yet another unseen perspective or line of thought within the work.

'In A Grove' is a very unsetteling story, and obviously the most well-known, but I felt that 'The Matyr' and 'Kisa and Morito' are both very witty, and also my favourites. I imagine, that a lot of people will now get a chance to read this book due in part to the media coverage that came from the movie 'Ghost Dog', with Forest Whittaker, where the book itself played a supporting role. It's not hard to understand, after reading, why. This book gives you insight into persepctive, humiliation, accepting fate - even if it is not a good one, and following the path you've chosen.

This book conatins some great uses of fantasy, realism, symbolism surrealism, and in a time and place where a Western reader might not expect it.

This is the second Ryunosuke Akutagawa book that I have read, the first one being "Kappa." The change in tone was a bit of a shock for me, for whereas "Kappa" is a wry, witty political commentary, the stories collected in "Rashomon and Other Stories" are bleak and brilliant.

Each of the stories, while very short indeed, packs a powerful punch. Akutagawa managed to condense despair into its basest elements, then packaged it raw and hurting, yet beautiful and human. The title story, "Roshomon," is a scant 9 1/2 pages long yet you would not wish for a single extra word to be included.

Of course, not all the stories in this collection are so dismal. The longest tale, "Yam Gruel," shows something of the wittiness and lightness of "Kappa." Some of the stories, such as the catholic influenced, "The Martyr," might be considered uplifting if you take a spiritual lesson from it. "In the Grove," the story that is the basis for the Kurosawa film "Rashomon," is an engaging story on the truth and ego and interpretation. But bleak nonetheless.

The translation of "Rashomon and Other Stories" is excellent, and captures the style and intent beautifully. It is a very old translation, as can be shown by the translator feeling the need to include a note explaining what "sushi" is.

My single complaint about this book is that, for the price, it is very small indeed. It could have contained at least double the amount of Akutagawa short stories, which certainly exist, and been a better collection.

These short stories are a good read; not too easy, but easy enough for everyone to enjoy. The Rashomon story is what I bought this book for and suprisingly enough, there are stories in the book that matched and even surpassed Rashomon in quality. All are very insightful on many levels and even though I don't like too many books, this one is one my favorite list.

P.S. I give it a four (instead of a five) because the book is a fast read; an afternoon or two.

The book clocking in at only 110 pages is my only complaint. The stories in the book are wonderful, my favorites being: "In the Grove," "Yam Gruel," and "The Martyr." "In the Grove" deals with the murder of a samurai and the many different tellings of his death; I refuse to go into detail here because that would ruin the story for those who hgave not read it, but let me say that explanations come from all sides. "Yam Gruel" deals with a 5th ranked official/samurai called Goi whose only desire in life is to eat his fill of yam gruel, but given the opportunity to do so causes him to reflect on his life, and to see hor horrible it has been. "The Martyr" deals with Lorenzo and how he was excommunicated from a Jesuit church because it was believed he impregnated an umbrella maker's daughter, and how he redeems himself. The monks are definately in for a shock at the end, Great reading, but too bad it can be read in only a couple of hours by a fast reader.

Though weighing in at a sparse 110 pages, this collection of short stories has exactly what is needed to catch your attention: Story. Each short story exists only long enough to allow Akutagawa enough time to develop the scene and characters and to tell their story.

The book is a quick read, and that may be its only failing. But the book never overstays its welcome and Akutagawa's writing style(s) is fun to read.

For little more than the price of a supermarket paperback, you can have this gem on your bookshelf. I highly recommend it.

not just one of the best japanese books i've ever read, but one of the best books period. no one who reads this will be disappointed!

I'll open by saying that I picked Rashomon up because of how critical it is in the movie Ghost Dog (quick piece; Forest Whitaker plays a person who works for them mob from time to time as a hitman. He only works for one person in the mob and he follows the code of bushido. Rating it on the Amazon scale, I'd rate it 4.5 out of 5!).

Rashomon is a series of short stories written by Akutagawa in the early 1900's describing life in medieval Japan. All of these stories have excellent descriptions of people and how the people act/react to the story being told. As a matter of fact, when reading this book, the characters reminded me of Kurosawa's character development in his movies. As for the stories themselves, Akutagawa often uses biting satire to describe things much as O'Henry did (actually, in reading Rashomon I was reminded of O'Henry more than once).

If you have an interest in medieval Japan or stories with character, I highly recommend Rashomon. My personal rating, 4.5 out of 5. Since Amazon doesn't permit half stars, round it up to 5! Btw, there is a similarity between Ghost Dog and Rashomon; character development and the way the story unfolds!

The Tuttle Classics edition of Rashomon contains six stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, with an introduction by Howard Hibbet. "In a Grove" recounts a woman's rape and her husband's death from the conflicting perspectives of the rapist, the woman, and the husband, each of whom provides a different account of how the husband died. Akutagawa employs the same device -- telling a story from different perspectives -- in "Kesa and Morito": after a married woman has sex with a man who loathes her, they agree to murder her husband -- but the woman's vision of that crime is quite different from the man's.

"Rashomon" -- a meditation on good and evil, on desperation and hypocrisy -- tells of a servant who cannot decide whether to steal or starve until he meets an old woman who is pulling the hair out of corpses. Lacking compassion or empathy, he fails to recognize himself in her. Similarly, the Christian values of charity and forgiveness give way to hypocrisy in "The Martyr," as Jesuit missionaries and members of the Christian church in Nagasaki condemn a devout parishioner (Lorenzo) on the strength of rumored sin -- only later to declare Lorenzo a martyr after an act of self-sacrifice reveals Lorenzo's true (and surprising) nature.

"Yam Gruel" is the story of an aging samurai who, having been treated with contempt his whole life, clings to a dream -- to eat his fill of yam gruel -- until, finally given the opportunity to fulfill his desire, he questions whether he really wants to do so. In "The Dragon," a priest who is ridiculed because of his long nose decides to pull a prank on his fellow priests by posting a notice board that says "On March third a dragon shall ascend from this pond," only to find the prank taking on a life of its own.

I view these stories as the Japanese equivalent of western fairy tales: teaching life's hard lessons by illustrating the misfortunes that come to those who behave badly. Each story has a moral. The lessons they teach transcend the differences between east and west: the seven deadly sins are just as deadly in Japan as they are in the United States.

Hibbet makes a convincing case that the stories in translation lose the nuances of language that convey the essence of the author's thought. While it is likely true that the stories are richer in Japanese, translation into English does not rob them of their power and vitality. They are a joy to read.