Heaven's Wind

by Angus Turvill (Editor/Translator), Kuniko Mukoda, Natsuko Kuroda

Heaven's Wind - Amatsukaze - is a superb collection of stories by five of Japan's leading contemporary authors.

A perfect suburban housewife plans for the future...
The Otter by Kuniko Mukoda - Naoki Prize Winner 1980

A misfit schoolgirl goes to get what she wants...
Ball by Natsuko Kuroda - Akutagawa Prize Winner 2013

An heiress finds friendship with a young couple by the sea...
Summer Blanket by Kaori Ekuni - Naoki Prize Winner 2004

A village wife leaves home in search of her lost child...
The Child over There by Mitsuyo Kakuta - Naoki Prize Winner 2005

A young woman thinks she's found the perfect job...
Planting by Aoko Matsuda - Nominated for Yukio Mishima Prize 2013

Presented in Japanese/English parallel-text format with translations by award-winning translator Angus Turvill.

Spot the Difference! A commentary by the translator highlights changes that occur in the Japanese-English translation process. To support non-native readers of the Japanese texts, comprehensive furigana phonetic guides (rubi) are provided.

Genres: Japan, Fiction, Short Stories, Japanese Literature

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 2018

Reviews

[Ocean G · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of short stories, mostly by authors I've never read before.


The Otter, by Kuniko Mukoda
This was probably my favorite. Short, poignant, and a tad shocking

Ball, by Natsuko Kuroda
I'm not really sure I fully understood this one, but it was enjoyable

Summer Blanket, by Kaori Ekuni
I liked this one. The Ambience and premise were nice. Almost like the beginning of a longer book.


The Child Over There, Mitsuyo Kakuta
A tad disturbing, but also interesting. This veered into surrealism but I'm not sure it got there.


Planting, by Atsuko Matsuda
This is a re-read for me. I don't think I like it any more the second time around. Nowhere near as good as some of her other stuff.


https://4201mass.blogspot.com/

[Yoruichi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this while neither English, nor Japanese are my native tongues left me puzzled at some translations. The choices made are explained at the end of the book though. It was rather challenging, but I am happy I made it. The stories have this nice wabisabi touch that i love so much in Japanese litterature. The fourth story has a low fantasy element to it. All of them are excellent.

[Heidi ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably a 4.5 but I’ve bumped it up out of respect for a translator who is willing to put his process out there. Very interesting to compare the English and Japanese. I did like most of the stories and That Child Over There by Mitsuyo Kakuta I thought was brilliant.

[Dominika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked "The Otter", "Summer Blanket", "The Child Over There" a lot; I felt no interest in the rest of stories though.