The Crazy Iris and Other Stories of the Atomic Aftermath

by David L. Swain (Translator), Masuji Ibuse, Ivan Morris (Translator)

Edited by one of Japan’s leading and internationally acclaimed writers, this collection of short stories was compiled to mark the fortieth anniversary of the August 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Here some of Japan’s best and most representative writers chronicle and re-create the impact of this tragedy on the daily lives of peasants, city professionals, artists, children, and families. From the “crazy” iris that grows out of season to the artist who no longer paints in color, the simple details described in these superbly crafted stories testify to the enormity of change in Japanese life, as well as in the future of our civilization. Included are “The Crazy Iris” by Masuji Ibuse, “Summer Flower” by Tamiki Hara, “The Land of Heart’s Desire” by Tamiki Hara, “Human Ashes” by Katsuzo Oda, “Fireflies” by Yoka Ota, “The Colorless Paintings” by Ineko Sata, “The Empty Can” by Kyoko Hayashi, “The House of Hands” by Mitsuharu Inoue, and “The Rite” by Hiroko Takenishi.

Genres: Short Stories, Japan, Fiction, Japanese Literature, Asia, Anthologies, World War II

204 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1985

Reviews

[Smiley]

While reading the Introduction by Kenzaburo Oe, an idea popping up in my mind urged me to try reading the nine stories based on a new order, that is, according to the titles as introduced respectively. So my reading sequence started with 1) Summer Flower, followed by 2) The Land of Heart's Desire, 3) Fireflies, 4) The Crazy Iris, 5) The Colorless Paintings, 6) The Rite, 7) The Empty Can, 8) The House of Hands, and 9) Human Ashes. Doing something to lessen boredom if I kept reading the stories from its traditional order in the Contents page as denoted by the title numbers above: 4, 1, 2, 9, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 6, I thought this reading design should be more interesting and it satisfactorily worked. I also tried not to read the whole introduction (pp. 9-35), rather I read each paragraph about each writer, turned to read his/her story till the end, then I would return to the introduction and resume reading the following paragraph on the second writer, then read his/her story.

For instance, I read the introduction on Tamiki Hara (pp. 10-11) then read his "Summer Flower" (pp. 37-54) and "The Land Of Heart's Desire" (pp. 55-62). Next, in the introduction on Yoko Ota (p. 11) then read her "Fireflies" (pp. 85-111). Next, in the introduction on Masuji Ibuse (pp. 11-12) then read his "The Crazy Iris", etc. Consequently, I found reading most of these readable, grieving and frank stories less boring and, out of the blue, I guessed some of the foreign or Japanese translators might have wept bitterly while translating some particular lines/paragraphs due to the narrative/dialog impact penned by those Japanese writers having/not having direct experience regarding the Hiroshima bombing. Moreover, this sentence stunned me as if the writer himself had known my thought 68 years later: "Yet more important than any meaning was the wave of emotion that brought hot tears to my eyes." (p. 56)

Nearly equally readable, these stories are of various lengths and of course different literary impact; therefore, I would write my review and comment focusing on one or two stories I preferred. One of the reasons is that I don't want to do it all, this arena should be open to all of my Goodreads friends who, I hope, would decide to follow suit. I mean they find a copy to read as they like, write their reviews from their ideas/creation, or write the reviews covering the nine stories and I would look forward to reading them soon.

[Chloé Pélata · Rating 4 out of 5]

In awe at the way in which survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings navigate ways to speak of the unspeakable — whether that be through depictions of mutilated faces that « looked like black soybeans » or through the emphasis on continuation and recovery, with the illustration of a woman who, thirty years after the war, gets pieces of glass which had penetrated her body, removed : « After the doctor had made the incision, he had removed a lump of fat like a ball of floss silk. Several small fragments of glass, four or five milimeters long, formed the kernel of the fat, and the fat had covered them over like a white, round pearl ».

[George Fowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5 ⭐) I really appreciate that this collection isn't all the moment of the atomic bombs but stories of afterwards and where atomic aftermath would be a subtle. I flowed with some better than others. I didn't feel like I managed to access the final story (The Rite) at all and the feeling of what I was reading went over my head. But overall a good collection.

[Krishna Avendaño · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reunida por Kenzaburo Oe, esta es una gran antología de cuentos para todo aquel que quiera conocer una muestra de la literatura japonesa de la posguerra. Los textos fueron escritos en su mayoría por autores que presenciaron de muy jóvenes los bombardeos de Hiroshima y Nagasaki, pero también hay otros que optaron por tomar la pluma para dar voz a quienes nunca lo hicieron. El cuento "La lata vacía" de Kyouko Hayashi es muy significativo, porque en él uno de los personajes se reúne con unas excompañeras que sobrevivieron al bombardeo mientras que ella no lo vivió. Lo normal sería celebrar la suerte de no experimentar la tragedia, pero el personaje lo lamenta porque siente que, por más que trate, no puede establecer un vinculo con aquellas personas que vieron el horror. Esto, a su vez, nos habla de los escritores. Si no se tiene la vivencia, al menos se posee la palabra para tender puentes con lo que de otra forma no podríamos relacionarnos.

Lo único malo y que es pertinente decir, ya que escribo esta reseña en español, es que la antología no está disponible en nuestro idioma. Sin embargo editorial Impedimenta ha publicado íntegro Flores de verano, de Tamiki Hara, un texto fundamental del que en esta antología solo aparece un fragmento.

[Peyton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tough to rate, I wasn't wowed by any of the stories but it's an important and interesting topic and I'm glad this anthology exists

[Adam Dalva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely hit or miss collection, the last two stories are particularly tough to read, but the highs are outstanding, tragic, and fascinating.

5 star stories:
The Crazy Iris Masuji Ibuse
Summer Flower Tamiki Hara
Human Ashes Katsuzo Oda
Fireflies Yoko Ota

[Alstrong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as I hoped it would be. Some writers better than others.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are Japanese short stories collected for the anniversary of the atomic bombings. Some were compelling but others lost something for me in the translation

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hiroshima. Nagasaki. Not that long ago. These stories depicting their aftermath, both immediately & years later, “are relevant to our present and to our movement toward all tomorrows.” All our tomorrows. We can’t know exactly what they'll be, but they were shaped when we “introduced nuclear devastation, then pushed forward madly along a course of development fueled by nuclear energy.”

Not a misery read. Very affecting, yes. How could it not be? The details of wrecked human bodies are horrific. The writing – different tones, perspectives – is candid. The writers don’t tell us how to feel, but we share their experiences.

There’s a sense of unreality in a reality suddenly turned upside down, “like some kind of magical trick.” A blinding bright flash, a great bang, a great heat, fire, black rain. Those not killed outright, walked, crawled, through it. Corpses everywhere. A man so badly burned “his face looked like black soybeans.” Stand in line to get some crackers being handed out, find a place to shelter. Dazed. Wonder where various family members are. Wonder what just happened.

Years later, pass “the bank whose stone steps had a human shadow burned into them.” A woman bears a child, her family is relieved: it seems her reproductive organs haven’t been mutated, the baby isn’t deformed. Other women aren’t so fortunate. “Nobody’s going to marry those Nagasaki girls,” the townsfolk say.

Meet a young woman whose face was made so “monstrous” by the atomic blast that people cry when they see her. Still, this young woman says, “I want to be a gentle person…I want to grow up fast and help people who are having a hard time.” I crumpled up inside when I read that. People visibly impacted by the bombs, strangely scarred, lead lives on the fringes, as if they had done something wrong. Thirty years later a woman has pieces of glass removed from her back that had been embedded there since she got caught near a blast. You or me thirty years from now? We must ask ourselves, what will our tomorrows be? Pushing “madly along” the same course?

Kenzaburō Ōe did a wonderful job compiling this collection & writing the introduction. Each story deserves more than what I can do here. Each has a different impact, some are more autobiographical than others, but all together this is a great collection well-worth reading.

[William Kirkland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not much is more startling to read than a paragraph beginning

“At about noon on the day Hiroshima was bombed I went for a walk … “

There are many such sentence surprises in The Crazy Iris and Other Stories of the Atomic Aftermath, a nine-story volume of Japanese writing on the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 1945, and the decades following. Edited with a short introduction in 1985, by Kenzaburō Ōe, one the best known of the eight writers, it is a sad, even wrenching, read. Of course; but a necessary one. Published on the 40th anniversary year it is a small counter the often exciting, valorous accounts of men who make the wars.

For full review see http://www.allinoneboat.org/the-crazy...

[Eric Hinkle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A haunting collection of stories dealing with the atomic atrocities. The writers seem to be asking, What's next? What are we supposed to do now? How are we supposed to feel? To go on? Each tries in his or her own way to figure out the answers to these questions.

Ōe did a great job in editing this collection, equally selecting stories from men and women, told from the point of view of children or adults, with a range of different tones and inner themes (denial, selective memory, victim persecution, despair, rage, childbirth worry, etc.) The different angles of looking at this aftermath, different reactions and thoughts, different depressions - it paints a fairly complete picture of how different the victims are, yet how much they have in common.

Recommended for anyone interested in humanity and the evils of war.

[Ingrid Lorenzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there was a short story collection that I wished everyone would read, it's this one. Each story and author in the collection was carefully chosen by Kenzaburo Oe, one of the most renowned writer in Japan. As such, each story offers something new, something that still hits like a ton of jagged little pieces of glass, and something that is delivered in such an exquisite manner that it makes it harder to resist.

The Crazy Iris is a moving collection, one that seeks to teach its readers that we must never forget what transpired during the bombings, and that we must cherish our our humanity before everything is lost.

[Jay Edwards · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was given this book because the person who gave me this book thought it was written by the Nobel Prize winner Kenzaburo Oe. It’s not. He wrote the introduction and compiled the works of others. I wanted to read the book because I had just seen the movie “Oppenheimer” and wanted to see the aftermath in Japan from their perspective. The overriding theme of all the stories that were selected is the effect the bombs on two Japanese cities had on the Japanese people and their culture. After two of the stories you get the idea (it was bad) and the rest of the stories are redundant of each other. Nothing new here.

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbing and sad. My favorites were Summer Flower and The Land of Heart’s Desire by Tamiki Hara but I also enjoyed Fireflies by Ota and the Colorless Paintings by Sata. Honestly I thought all were good except the Crazy Iris. Anyway, some really gripping descriptions of life during the A bomb and it’s effects on the lives of the survivors. The A bomb was basically releasing hell on earth and some of the descriptions are unpleasantly vivid. Hard to believe that life goes on. But apparently it does

[Wildmaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whoa........... be prepared! This is a book about real life experiences involving nuclear fallout and the effects it caused to the poor innocent souls exposed to it. Some of the scenes are incredibly haunting. I definitely recommend it as a cautionary tale, but be forewarned that the situations reported are graphic.

[Samir Rawas Sarayji · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few of the stories here are really good, immersive and showing the horrors of the atomic aftermaths; others, unfortunately, are underwhelming and much too passive and distant, which didn't work because the nature of the topic and the format of a short story demand more engagement.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Depressing, insightful, a pathway into the minds of those who survived the atomic bombs in WWII

[Anthony Gudino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful account of post atom bomb Japan. Empty Can was especially powerful and gives a strikingly complete mental map of the Japanese psyche of the era.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

tuumapommikirjanduse kogumik. lugusid järjest lugeda ei soovita ja üldiselt ka ainult omal vastutusel. relvituks tegev.

[Liza · Rating 5 out of 5]

even though some of these were much better than others , there’s such a fantastic through line in the themes that this gets a 5 easily. really really amazing

[Katrina Pajo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels cathartic reading these short stories, the last 2 stories were a bit heavy but overall, it was a good book.

[JM · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this but short stories continue to not be my thing :( bought this at a thrift store, so a nice find!

[Matthew Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite stories from the anthology:
1. The Colorless Paintings by Ineko Sata
2. The Rite by Hiroko Takenishi

[Matt★ · Rating 5 out of 5]

“to consider the conditions of human existence, [these stories] are relevant to the present and to our movement towards all tomorrows.” Kenzaburō Ōe, in the introduction.

tragedy happens everywhere, all the time. suffering is not unique to Japan, but the atrocities of the atomic bomb are (though not unique to the Japanese people alone, as there was a significant percentage of Koreans in Hiroshima on that day—a fact that is often whitewashed by history, though addressed directly by the stories in this book)… at least, as of the day of this writing; who knows how much longer that will hold true, however. for a country built on a foundation of zen and transience, it may not come as a surprise that even in the face of unfathomable man-made horrors, its surviving intellectuals have managed to craft some of the most poignant and profound meditations on two of the deadliest days in human history (not as deadly, surprisingly—or maybe not so surprisingly—as the firebombing of Tokyo on March 10th of the same year). it is impossible to fully comprehend what happened in that one time-shattering moment, but through reading these stories, like reverse-engineering a piece of alien technology, we can compile enough various glimpses and perspectives to start forming a more comprehensive image. a child sent away to school in Hiroshima is immediately incinerated while in that exact moment his cheery father, 100 miles to the north, innocuously removes a fish hook from our narrator’s hat. a 19-year-old woman so “monstrously” deformed by the blast that people look away or else cry when they see her; she runs a shop and, proud despite her face, says, “I want to be a gentle person, I want to grow up fast and help people who are having a hard time.” of course, not just people were affected (by the way: almost entirely civilians, and mostly children, by Truman’s design). nature itself is upended and behaves strangely in the aftermath as well. irises bloom out of season, swarms of slugs and fireflies infiltrate the not-so-temporary shacks and shelters—“the ghosts of the dead,” as Yōko Ōta begins to believe.

I usually rank each story in a collection individually and then use the average as my star rating, but each of these stories feels immune to such a sterile scoring system. all were flawless. despite this, one writer stood out to me in particular: Tamiki Hara. his short story “Summer Flower” and the journal entries of “Land of Heart’s Desire” moved me deeply. the latter is not so much a story but a collection of stray thoughts left behind after Hara’s suicide. having survived the bombing of Hiroshima, the rumors of further atomic bombings in the wake of the Korean War in the early 50s proved too much to bear for the traumatized novelist.

the stories contained here, were they pure fiction, would be enough to perhaps yank a heartstring or two—but the knowledge that this event really happened, and that many of these stories are entirely autobiographical and these authors had personally witnessed everything set forth herein, can truly break a person’s spirit. I would love to embrace the ultimately transcendental acceptance that these stories espouse, but deep down in my soul I cannot shake the feeling that this was an entirely godless event and will bring the human race to ruin.

[Michael Mayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sad and haunting.

Much more humane than John Hersey's excellent but detached Hiroshima. Most of the authors were very young children when the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima occurred; this makes the stories even more poignant when they recall those events of August 1945.

I found The House of Hands to be very touching; filled with dialogue, it is written much like a play. It addresses the hardship and discrimination faced by four women of marriageable age who where made sick by radiation and endured miscarriages and other health problems. Also, talks about the Cryptos, a secret group of Christians I had never head of before.

The Empty Can is a beautifully written, disturbing story about a group of women (who have returned to their old grade school; they are now in their 40s) whose lives and health were affected by the blast.

Finished 5/17/08.

[Alejandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

The tears that these stories might bring to our eyes, will not be enough to fill the rivers of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Rivers carrying the corpses rotted after the detonation of doom. These people were condemned to float as packages delivered from the Toshogu Shrine toward Nigitsu unto the sea of ashes. We allow this to happen. I only pray that we may find the generation Oe believes we can be. A generation that remembers these human ashes and are guardians to them so that atrocities are extinguished. And that those burning buildings, which witnessed the worst human vengeance can not re-contaminate the holy soul of our land with their remembrance of murder and death. This compilation remembers the cadaverous smell of the pages in our history. In a fantastic form, these tumultuous stories give us hope.

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful and touching, also somber and heavy.

My favourite story is The Rite which is the most profound. It weaves memories of the past and present, observations of the incident which have unknowingly touched the narrator in many ways, into a very complex telling of self-identity and even escapism.

It's as though Aki mainly recalls certain interactions related to death, from her past/present friendships. And she has now grown apart from Noboru because he no longer understands her, as he was never there and is disappointed in her inability to let go of the past. Unless both come to an equal understanding the past has reshaped Aki, it's doubtful their relationship will resume.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although it's not a long book, it took me a long time to complete it. I can't imagine reading more than one story per day because the content is so heavy. Although fiction, it is steeped in truth. Although published in 1985, it is just as impressive today. Written by authors in the only country upon whom two nuclear bombs were dropped. If you want to know what it would be like to have a nuclear bomb go off in your area, read this book. Guaranteed to inpsire international fears about nuclear arsenals.

[Adam Gutschenritter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The emotion driving this book cut to my knowledge of the events after the atomic bomb. We have been taught that it happened and often also why, but what I was never taught was what happened and still is happening to the survivors of those attacks. What this book does is give me a glimpse of that, not to focus on America's role, or event to punish/blame anyone but instead to allow the reader a brief glimpse into what the average citizen survived and I am thankful to have read this collection. The best two for me were The Colorless Paintings and The House of Hands.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

The introduction by Kenzaburo Oe and the two stories by Tamiki Hara were the standout bits, but "Human Ashes" and "The House of Hands" were also quite moving. What struck me most in all the stories, though, was the underlying terror of confronting horrific events without precedent or context, and trying to make sense of them.