When his brother dies, old Takahiro goes back to his rice field one last time, where he will look back on the beauty and tragedy in his life and remember the days when his family were all around him...
Genre: FICTION / LiteraryThis is a short story so it doesn't sell that much but I live in Japan where this story is set, so there's a market waiting for it.
Makayoshi died in the spring, just as the cherry blossoms began to fall. The eighty-fourth time his eyes had looked upon the pink sakura trees of Nakajima Park was his last.
Takahiro didn’t mourn his younger brother’s death. He walked to Nakajima Park, sat on a bench among the dying cherry blossoms and toasted Makayoshi with a glass of sake made from their own home-grown rice. His brother would have approved.
He didn’t want to cry. He didn’t like crying, because it made him feel weak, and for as long as he could remember he had been the cornerstone of his family, the dependable one.
He wrote a letter to Ayana in Okayama, asking if she would come back for her great uncle’s funeral, and perhaps bring the children?
She didn’t reply in time.
Makayoshi was cremated on May 14th. On the 15th, Takahiro, together with his brother’s neighbor, Kobayashi, interred the remains into the family shrine on the little hill outside Matsumoto.
Ayana’s reply arrived on the 17th:
Sorry, Grandad, I was away on business. Sorry to hear about Uncle and sorry I couldn’t make it. I’ll try to visit during Obon. Love, Ayana.
It was a postcard, not even a sealed letter. He knew she resented his failure to convert to the electronic generation, but it was quite likely he would be following Makayoshi sooner rather than later and didn’t see the point of stressing himself out on something he would never understand.
He hadn’t wanted to cry. But he had.
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French
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Already translated.
Translated by Sati Karagoz
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Author review: Great job and timely! |
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Italian
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Already translated.
Translated by Giulia Castri
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Author review: Giulia was fast and did a great job. |
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Portuguese
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Already translated.
Translated by Carolina Donadel
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Author review: Fantastic. Carolina did a great job. I'd be happy to work with her again. |
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Marina García Rodríguez
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Author review: Great. Marina was easy to contact and did a great job. I look forward to working with her again. |
