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mx_remy's review
3.0
Akinari's Ugetsu Monogatari is one of my favorite books of all time, and this was the next book of his that I picked up. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a much more difficult read than I expected! In this work, written in the last year of his life, he spends most of the text critiquing his contemporaries or various historical figures. As I am (or was) not particularly acquainted with Edo period Japan or the other contexts he discusses, it was slow going. I found myself looking up a reference he makes every few lines or so. The annotations are fabulous and extensive, but such is the depth of the work that even the annotations themselves require some historical background. All in all, I'd say it was still definitely a good read. I learned a lot in the process, and Akinari's acerbic comments make it all worthwhile. I can only imagine how much more useful the book would be to a scholar in this field.
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