花のあと

Fujisawa is my favourite historical novel author; this is a volume of short stories with no particular linking theme. These are generally classic Fujisawa in style and theme : the characters are not very high in the Edo period social hierarchy, the confines of the samurai clan are the characters’ universe, they struggle to do what they can while constrained by their social and physical situations, and things often don’t work out or end in a bittersweet way.

The final story in the collection wa