is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa , art name , was a Japanese writer active in the Taishō period in Japan. He is regarded as the "father of the Japanese short story", and Japan's premier literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, is named after him. He committed suicide at the age of ...

based on tales from the ''

Konjaku Monogatarishū , also known as the , is a Japanese collection of over one thousand tales written during the late Heian period (794–1185). The entire collection was originally contained in 31 volumes, of which 28 remain today. The volumes cover various tales fr ...

''. The story was first published in 1915 in ''

Teikoku Bungaku ''Teikoku Bungaku'' (帝国文学, ''teikoku'' empire + ''bungaku'' literature) was a literature magazine from 1895 to 1920 contributed by Japanese writers, Inoue Tetsujiro, Ueda Kazutoshi, Takayama Chogyu and Ueda Bin. With a focus on asserting th ...

''.

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

's film ''

Rashomon is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori (actor), Masayuki Mori, and ...

'' (1950) is in fact based primarily on another of Akutagawa's short stories, "

In a Grove , also translated as ''In a Bamboo Grove'', is a Japanese short story by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa first published in 1922. It was ranked as one of the "10 best Asian novels of all time" by ''The Telegraph'' in 2014. ''In a Grove'' has been adapted se ...

"; only the film's title and some of the material for the frame scenes, such as the theft of a kimono and the discussion of the moral ambiguity of thieving to survive, are borrowed from "Rashōmon".

Plot summary

The story recounts the encounter between a servant and an old woman in the dilapidated

Rashōmon is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/ crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura as ...

, the southern gate of the then-ruined city of

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, where unclaimed corpses were sometimes dumped. The current name of the gate in the story, but not the plot, comes from the

Noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

play ''

'' (c. 1420). The man, a lowly servant recently fired, is contemplating whether to starve to death or to become a thief to survive in the barren times. He goes upstairs, after noticing some firelight there, and encounters a woman who is stealing hair from the dead bodies on the second floor. He is disgusted, and decides then that he would rather take the path of righteousness even if it meant starvation. He is furious with the woman. But the old woman tells him that she steals hair to make

wig A wig is a head or hair accessory made from human hair, animal hair, or synthetic fiber. The word wig is short for periwig, which makes its earliest known appearance in the English language in William Shakespeare's ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona' ...

s, so she can survive. In addition, the woman who she is currently robbing cheated people in her life by selling snake meat and claiming it was fish. The old woman says that this was not wrong because it allowed the woman to survive — and so in turn this entitles her to steal from the dead person, because if she doesn't, she too will starve. The man responds: "You won't blame me, then, for taking your clothes. That's what I have to do to keep from starving to death". He then brutally robs the woman of her robe and disappears into the night.

Popular culture

The book itself also plays a part in the 1999 movie '' Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai'', directed by

Jim Jarmusch James Robert Jarmusch (; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director and screenwriter. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films including '' Stranger Than Paradise'' (1984), '' Down by Law'' ( ...

. The book is the inspiration for an

instrumental rock Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes musical instruments and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style. Instru ...

tune of the same name composed by Japanese instrumental guitarist

Takeshi Terauchi , also known as Terry, was a Japanese instrumental rock guitarist. His preferred guitar was a black Mosrite with a white pickguard. His guitar sound was characterized by frenetic picking, heavy use of tremolo picking and frequent use of his gu ...

and originally played by Japanese instrumental rock group Takeshi Terauchi & Blue Jeans on their 1972 album, ''Rashomon''. The manga '' Bungo Stray Dogs'' features a character named after Akutagawa with heavy references to Rashōmon. The book is assigned for Modern Japanese high school coursework and quoted in the manga '' After the Rain''. The graphic novel Rashomon: A Commissioner Heigo Kobayashi Case by Victor Santos (2017) is also inspired from the short stories of Akutagawa and the eponymous movie of Kurosawa as well as by the ''

forty-seven rōnin The revenge of the , also known as the or Akō vendetta, is a historical event in Japan in which a band of ''rōnin'' (lordless samurai) avenged the death of their master on 31 January 1703. The incident has since become legendary. It is on ...

'' episode, rendered in the eponymous book by

Jirō Osaragi was the pen-name of a popular Japanese writer in Shōwa period Japan, known primarily for his historical fiction novels, which appeared serialized in newspapers and magazines. His real name was . Early life Osaragi Jirō was born in Yokohama. Hi ...

References

External links

A translation of "Rashōmon" into English by René Malenfant
(archived) *

at

Aozora Bunko Aozora Bunko (, literally the "Blue Sky Library", also known as the "Open Air Library") is a Japanese digital library. This online collection encompasses several thousands of works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-o ...

MP3s of the story, read by a Japanese actress
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rashomon (Short Story) 1915 short stories Short stories adapted into films Short stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa Works originally published in Japanese magazines Works originally published in literary magazines Taishō-period works Rashōmon

Plot summary

Popular culture

References

Further reading

External links