Troubled Waters

by Higuchi Ichiyō · 1895

Oriki, the most sought-after girl at the Kikunoi tavern in a shabby new pleasure quarter, laughs off her customers while a ruined former lover sinks into poverty with his wife and child. Her fits of despair and a confession to the steady customer Yuki Asanosuke end with two coffins carried out of the quarter after the Bon festival.