憑神

by Jirō Asada

時は幕末、処は江戸。貧乏旗本の次男の身ながら、その才を見込まれて大身の入婿となった彦四郎。だが、跡継ぎを授かったとたん離縁され、実家に出戻るはめに。ある夜、酔いにまかせて小さな祠に神頼みをしてみると、なんと神様があらわれた。だが、この神様、神は神でも、貧乏神！　果たして、貧乏侍vs.貧乏神の行方は……!?　とことんツイてない男が最後に選んだ真実の生きる道とは――。抱腹絶倒にして、やがては感涙必至。最近ツイてない、ツキが欲しいと思っている人、必読。

357 pages, 文庫

First published September 21, 2005

About the author

Jirō Asada (浅田 次郎, born December 13, 1951 in Tokyo) is the pen name of Kōjirō Iwato (岩戸 康次郎), a Japanese writer.

Inspired by Yukio Mishima, who tried to stage a coup d'état among Japan Self-Defense Forces then committed suicide after the coup was failed, Asada enlisted in the SDF after finishing his studies. He changed jobs many times while endeavoring to find writing opportunities, submitting his works to literary competitions.

In 1991, his novel Torarete tamaruka! (とられてたまるか!) started his literary career. After writing several picaresque novels, his novel Metro ni notte (地下鉄に乗って) was awarded the Eiji Yoshikawa Prize for New Writers and made into a 2006 film; a short story collection The Stationmaster and other stories (Poppoya (鉄道員)) was also awarded the Naoki Prize.

He writes not only standard fiction and picaresque novels, but also writes historical and Chinese historical novels such as The Firmament of the Pleiades (Sōkyū no subaru, 蒼穹の昴).