Summary

Set in 1920s Kyoto, this story reflects the malaise of Taisho-era intellectuals caught between Western modernity and personal dissolution. The narrator's wanderings through Kyoto's Teramachi and Nijo districts evoke a real urban landscape of bookshops, fruit vendors, and back alleys that still partially exists today. Understanding the cultural weight of Maruzen — a prestigious Western-goods bookstore symbolizing imported culture and intellectual aspiration — is essential to appreciating the story's tensions.