The Reed Cutter

Year: 1932Author: TANIZAKI Jun'ichiro

"The Reed Cutter" is a short story written by TANIZAKI Jun'ichiro. It follows the narrator, a man who has moved to the Kansai Region, as he walks by the Yodo river at night. He meets a reed cutter, who proceeds to tell the narrator about his father's past. The reed cutter remembers going on walks with his father and seeing a woman. As the reed cutter continues his story, it is revealed that his father was madly in love with this woman - Miss Oyu - but could not marry her due to customs that prevented him from doing so. The reed cutter's father ends up marrying the Miss Oyu's sister, who helps him become close to Miss Oyu. When people become suspicious of how close Miss Oyu, her sister, and the reed cutter's father are becoming, they are forced to give up the system they had in place. However, the reed cutter's father never stopped loving Miss Oyu. In the end, the reed cutter disappears just as suddenly as he had appeared, making one wonder who he really was.

Topics for Discussion

• identity of the reed cutter

• twisted relationship between Oyu/sister/father

• differences between Kanto and Kansai

External Links

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