RASHOMON

RASHOMON: translation

“Rashomon” (1915; tr. Rashomon, 1952), a short story by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, is based on an old Japanese tale and deals with moral ambiguities in a life-or-death situation. The story tells of a man, recently fired from his job, who encounters a poor, elderly woman stealing hair from corpses on the second floor of the Rasho Gate in Kyoto. She meets his disgust with the explanation that the hair will allow her to make wigs to sell to survive, upon which he, in turn, steals her kimono and runs off. The story was adapted for a film of the same title by Kurosawa Akira (1910–98), which blends “Rashomon” with another of Akutagawa’s stories, “Yabu no naka” (1921; tr. In a Grove, 1952).