[DeepL Translation - needs review] The last will and testament of Ryunosuke Akutagawa, a writer of the "New School of Thought" active in the Taisho period (1912-1926). It was included in the "Complete Works of Ryunosuke Akutagawa" [Iwanami Shoten, 1954 and the following year]. It was later included in the 23rd volume of the complete works. Five of Akutagawa's posthumous letters that have been made public. They include one to Ryuichi Koana, one to his child, and one to Fumiko Akutagawa. Toget...
I picked this story up from a list of stories on Aozora that can be "read in 10 minutes" (10分以内で読める青空文庫の短編作品) not knowing anything about it except the title and that it was short. This is to date the hardest story on Aozora that I've actually managed to finish. 'Story'. This isn't actually a story. This is an actual suicide note written by a famous author. It was quite distressing to read and I only understood like 80% of it with the double whammy of old language and writing style.
This is tricky for me to grade as it's the most difficult piece of writing I've dealt with so far and completed, but it's also short and can be parsed with some effort and a good dictionary. Here is an example bit (from a section addressed to his kids): "四、若しこの人生の戦ひに破れし時には汝等の父の如く自殺せよ。但し汝等の父の如く他に不幸を及ぼすを避けよ。" Which is roughly "4. If you are crushed by the wars of life, kill yourself like your father. However, avoid doing damage like I have." I think. Maybe. Man this was a depressing and difficult read. Don't recommend except for the historical value.