©2025 Fable Group Inc.
3.5 

Rashomon and Other Stories

By Ryunosuke Akutagawa & Howard Hibbett &
Rashomon and Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa & Howard Hibbett &  digital book - Fable

Why read on Fable?

Discover social reading

Chat inside the ebook with emojis, comments and more

Annotate with notes, tabs, and highlights

Share or keep your notes private with our annotation features

Support the World Literacy Foundation

We donate 20% of every book sale to help children learn to read

Publisher Description

"Clear-eyed glimpses of human behavior in the extremities of poverty, stupidity, greed, vanity… Story-telling of an unconventional sort, with most of the substance beneath the shining, enameled surface." --The New York Times Book Review

Widely acknowledged as "the father of the Japanese short story," Ryunosuke Akutagawa remains one of the most influential Japanese writers of all time. Rashomon and Other Stories, a collection of his most celebrated work, resonates as strongly today as when it first published a century ago.

This volume includes:
  • In a Grove: An iconic, contradictory tale of the murder of a samurai in a forest near Kyoto told through three varying accounts
  • Rashomon: A masterless samurai contemplates following a life of crime as he encounters an old woman at the old Rashomon gate outside Kyoto
  • Yam Gruel: A low-ranking court official laments his position all the while yearning for his favorite, yet humble, dish
  • The Martyr: Set in Japan's Christian missionary era, a young boy is excommunicated for fathering an illegitimate child, but not all is as it seems
  • Kesa and Morito: An adulterous couple plots to kill the woman's husband as the situation threatens to spin out of control
  • The Dragon: A priest concocts a prank involving a dragon, but the tall tale begins to take on a life of its own
With a new foreward by noted Akutagawa scholar Seiji Lippit, this updated version of a classic collection is a an excellent, readable introduction to Japanese literature.

23 Reviews

3.5
Anxious Face with sweat“this collection was dark 😭 i loved it but also the last story “the martyr” broke my heart. i actually read tuttle’s manga edition of this book, but it’s still not on fable yet so i’ll use this to mark its place on my finished list.”
“At first I hesitated between 4.5 or 5 ⭐️ but all the short stories kept me entertained so it’s a 5”

About Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Ryunosuke Akutagawa was the author of over 100 short stories. Described as one of the best-read men of his generation, he received a degree in English Literature from Tokyo Imperial University and published translations by Anatole France and W. B. Yeats. Two of his short stories from this collection became the basis of the award-winning movie Rashomon by famed director Akira Kurosawa. In 1927, he committed suicide at the age of thirty-five.

Howard Hibbett

Kojima Takashi

Start a Book Club

Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!

FAQ

Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?

Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?

How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?

Do you sell physical books too?

Are book clubs free to join on Fable?

How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?

Error Icon
Save to a list
0
/
30
0
/
100
Private List
Private lists are not visible to other Fable users on your public profile.
Notification Icon
Fable uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB