In a Grove (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Ryūnosuke Niihara
- First Published: 1922
- Type of Plot: Mystery and detective
- Time of Work: The twelfth century
- Setting: Heian-kyo, modern Kyoto, Japan
- Principal Characters: The woodcutter, The itinerant priest, The arresting officer, An old woman, Tajomaru, The wife, The spirit of Takehiro
- Genres: Short fiction, Mystery and detective literature
- Subjects: Love or romance, Suicide, Murder or homicide, Ghosts or apparitions, Storytelling, Truthfulness and falsehood, Japan or Japanese people, Honor, Samurai, Motivation
- Locales: Tokyo, Japan
The Story
Seven characters speak to a magistrate about their knowledge of a man found stabbed in the chest in the woods near Kyoto after a woodcutter discovers a dead samurai soldier in a secluded grove. The woodcutter reports to the magistrate the details of the scene of the crime and the condition of the body, recounting that the well-dressed victim was stabbed in the chest, but that there was no sword nearby. A priest saw the soldier with a woman and a horse the day before. The man had a bow and a lacquered quiver holding more than twenty arrows. An officer has arrested a...
[The entire page is 1382 words long]
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