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Ryunosuke Akutagawa's Hell Screen: The Manga Edition
192 pages, Paperback
Published March 25, 2025
4 people want to read
About the author
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
1,337 books2,137 followersAkutagawa Ryūnosuke (芥川 龍之介) was one of the first prewar Japanese writers to achieve a wide foreign readership, partly because of his technical virtuosity, partly because his work seemed to represent imaginative fiction as opposed to the mundane accounts of the I-novelists of the time, partly because of his brilliant joining of traditional material to a modern sensibility, and partly because of film director Kurosawa Akira's masterful adaptation of two of his short stories for the screen.
Akutagawa was born in the Kyōbashi district Tokyo as the eldest son of a dairy operator named Shinbara Toshizō and his wife Fuku. He was named "Ryūnosuke" ("Dragon Offshoot") because he was born in the Year of the Dragon, in the Month of the Dragon, on the Day of the Dragon, and at the Hour of the Dragon (8 a.m.). Seven months after Akutagawa's birth, his mother went insane and he was adopted by her older brother, taking the Akutagawa family name. Despite the shadow this experience cast over Akutagawa's life, he benefited from the traditional literary atmosphere of his uncle's home, located in what had been the "downtown" section of Edo.
At school Akutagawa was an outstanding student, excelling in the Chinese classics. He entered the First High School in 1910, striking up relationships with such classmates as Kikuchi Kan, Kume Masao, Yamamoto Yūzō, and Tsuchiya Bunmei. Immersing himself in Western literature, he increasingly came to look for meaning in art rather than in life. In 1913, he entered Tokyo Imperial University, majoring in English literature. The next year, Akutagawa and his former high school friends revived the journal Shinshichō (New Currents of Thought), publishing translations of William Butler Yeats and Anatole France along with original works of their own. Akutagawa published the story Rashōmon in the magazine Teikoku bungaku (Imperial Literature) in 1915. The story, which went largely unnoticed, grew out of the egoism Akutagawa confronted after experiencing disappointment in love. The same year, Akutagawa started going to the meetings held every Thursday at the house of Natsume Sōseki, and thereafter considered himself Sōseki's disciple.
The lapsed Shinshichō was revived yet again in 1916, and Sōseki lavished praise on Akutagawa's story Hana (The Nose) when it appeared in the first issue of that magazine. After graduating from Tokyo University, Akutagawa earned a reputation as a highly skilled stylist whose stories reinterpreted classical works and historical incidents from a distinctly modern standpoint. His overriding themes became the ugliness of human egoism and the value of art, themes that received expression in a number of brilliant, tightly organized short stories conventionally categorized as Edo-mono (stories set in the Edo period), ōchō-mono (stories set in the Heian period), Kirishitan-mono (stories dealing with premodern Christians in Japan), and kaika-mono (stories of the early Meiji period). The Edo-mono include Gesaku zanmai (A Life Devoted to Gesaku, 1917) and Kareno-shō (Gleanings from a Withered Field, 1918); the ōchō-mono are perhaps best represented by Jigoku hen (Hell Screen, 1918); the Kirishitan-mono include Hokōnin no shi (The Death of a Christian, 1918), and kaika-mono include Butōkai(The Ball, 1920).
Akutagawa married Tsukamoto Fumiko in 1918 and the following year left his post as English instructor at the naval academy in Yokosuka, becoming an employee of the Mainichi Shinbun. This period was a productive one, as has already been noted, and the success of stories like Mikan (Mandarin Oranges, 1919) and Aki (Autumn, 1920) prompted him to turn his attention increasingly to modern materials. This, along with the introspection occasioned by growing health and nervous problems, resulted in a series of autobiographically-based stories known as Yasukichi-mono, after the name of the main character. Works such as Daidōji Shinsuke no hansei(The Early Life of
Akutagawa was born in the Kyōbashi district Tokyo as the eldest son of a dairy operator named Shinbara Toshizō and his wife Fuku. He was named "Ryūnosuke" ("Dragon Offshoot") because he was born in the Year of the Dragon, in the Month of the Dragon, on the Day of the Dragon, and at the Hour of the Dragon (8 a.m.). Seven months after Akutagawa's birth, his mother went insane and he was adopted by her older brother, taking the Akutagawa family name. Despite the shadow this experience cast over Akutagawa's life, he benefited from the traditional literary atmosphere of his uncle's home, located in what had been the "downtown" section of Edo.
At school Akutagawa was an outstanding student, excelling in the Chinese classics. He entered the First High School in 1910, striking up relationships with such classmates as Kikuchi Kan, Kume Masao, Yamamoto Yūzō, and Tsuchiya Bunmei. Immersing himself in Western literature, he increasingly came to look for meaning in art rather than in life. In 1913, he entered Tokyo Imperial University, majoring in English literature. The next year, Akutagawa and his former high school friends revived the journal Shinshichō (New Currents of Thought), publishing translations of William Butler Yeats and Anatole France along with original works of their own. Akutagawa published the story Rashōmon in the magazine Teikoku bungaku (Imperial Literature) in 1915. The story, which went largely unnoticed, grew out of the egoism Akutagawa confronted after experiencing disappointment in love. The same year, Akutagawa started going to the meetings held every Thursday at the house of Natsume Sōseki, and thereafter considered himself Sōseki's disciple.
The lapsed Shinshichō was revived yet again in 1916, and Sōseki lavished praise on Akutagawa's story Hana (The Nose) when it appeared in the first issue of that magazine. After graduating from Tokyo University, Akutagawa earned a reputation as a highly skilled stylist whose stories reinterpreted classical works and historical incidents from a distinctly modern standpoint. His overriding themes became the ugliness of human egoism and the value of art, themes that received expression in a number of brilliant, tightly organized short stories conventionally categorized as Edo-mono (stories set in the Edo period), ōchō-mono (stories set in the Heian period), Kirishitan-mono (stories dealing with premodern Christians in Japan), and kaika-mono (stories of the early Meiji period). The Edo-mono include Gesaku zanmai (A Life Devoted to Gesaku, 1917) and Kareno-shō (Gleanings from a Withered Field, 1918); the ōchō-mono are perhaps best represented by Jigoku hen (Hell Screen, 1918); the Kirishitan-mono include Hokōnin no shi (The Death of a Christian, 1918), and kaika-mono include Butōkai(The Ball, 1920).
Akutagawa married Tsukamoto Fumiko in 1918 and the following year left his post as English instructor at the naval academy in Yokosuka, becoming an employee of the Mainichi Shinbun. This period was a productive one, as has already been noted, and the success of stories like Mikan (Mandarin Oranges, 1919) and Aki (Autumn, 1920) prompted him to turn his attention increasingly to modern materials. This, along with the introspection occasioned by growing health and nervous problems, resulted in a series of autobiographically-based stories known as Yasukichi-mono, after the name of the main character. Works such as Daidōji Shinsuke no hansei(The Early Life of
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 4, 2025
As someone who absolutely love Ryunosuke Akutagawa and Hell Screen is to me, one of his best works, this manga edition was surprisingly great. Capturing the essence of viciousness, impending doom, the arts and terrible evil, the obsession with artistic portrayal to the point of madness were the star of the story. Relating to classical tales with Japanese culture & folktales, Hell Screen was an amazing well written story of a man stumbled into darkness, consumed by burning passion to draw the portraits of Hell requested by the rich lord. The extreme measures the artist took to achieve his goal, he resorted to various form of tortures to his assistants, drawing decomposed corpses, painting the absolute terror and death unfazed.
The adaptation into manga form was well executed and one that I found to be well paced. Its exactly what I imagined Hell Screen would be. I have watched an anime series Aoi Bungaku that adapted this story and i love the series and this one took a much more faithful approach to the story which I appreciated a lot. Beautifully drawn with ealborate, detailed of the painting Hell Screen spanned across pages blew my mind away. Would love to see them in physical book because I read this as an e-arc so I managed to see only half of them but it will definitely be spectatcular to see the painting physically
Thank you Tuttle Publishing & Edelweiss for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review
The adaptation into manga form was well executed and one that I found to be well paced. Its exactly what I imagined Hell Screen would be. I have watched an anime series Aoi Bungaku that adapted this story and i love the series and this one took a much more faithful approach to the story which I appreciated a lot. Beautifully drawn with ealborate, detailed of the painting Hell Screen spanned across pages blew my mind away. Would love to see them in physical book because I read this as an e-arc so I managed to see only half of them but it will definitely be spectatcular to see the painting physically
Thank you Tuttle Publishing & Edelweiss for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review
July 1, 2025
6/30/2025 Power really will fuck a person up. Full review tk at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.
7/1/2025 This manga adaptation of a classic Japanese horror story is shockingly nuanced, as writer and illustrator Mihiro reworks the tale for a modern audience, translated then into English by Itoh Makiko.
A bit about the original author himself before we continue. Akutagawa Ryunosuke is widely considered the father of the Japanese short story, with Japan's foremost literary prize named after him. In 1927, at the age of thirty-five, he committed suicide. While living, one of his greatest concerns was madness, and how it could manifest in artistic obsession: the underlying theme of this adaptation of Hell Screen, which is itself an adaptation of an earlier folk tale.
The Grand Lord of Horikawa is said to be so powerful and divinely endowed that, at his birth, his mother was visited by the god Daiitoku-Myoo, who revealed to her that her child would be his reincarnation as the Destroyer of the King of Hell. Anecdotes from the Grand Lord's life would seem to support this, as he takes credit for chasing off evil spirits and for a rather twisted sort of generosity.
While Horikawa itself is besieged by disease and disaster, the inhabitants of the Grand Lord of Horikawa's estate live in safety and ease. This includes sweet Yuzuki, who is a lady's maid there. Yuzuki is the daughter of the famed artist Yoshihide, whose talent is channeled into creating works of realistic depravity. While he paints predominantly religious scenes, he chooses to focus on the baser emotions of fear, cruelty and anger, especially in the commissions he makes for the Grand Lord and the local temple. He is, himself, an arrogant man who values his own artistry above everything else... except, that is, for his daughter Yuzuki.
When Yuzuki comes to the attention of the Grand Lord, a concerned Yoshihide begs repeatedly that she be released from the lord's service. The Grand Lord refuses, and a chagrined Yoshihide throws himself even further into his work. He's already well-known for spending hours in charnel houses, studying the dead for his depictions of hell. But he begins to torture his assistants as well, in an attempt to capture realistic expressions of pain and terror. When the Grand Lord commissions what could very well be the pinnacle of Yoshihide's career -- a folding screen illustrating the many tortures of Buddhist hell -- it sets artist and patron on a collision course that can only end in death and despair.
Told by a willfully naive narrator who was once a servant at the Grand Lord's estate too, this is a thoughtful meditation on power and evil despite the clearly biased point of view, enhanced by Mihiro's own creative fillip at the end. The art is extraordinary: I full-on started crying at the last panels of Yuzuki and the monkey. I also super enjoyed the way Mihiro broke up the story to fit the manga.
But I also, in the course of writing this review, looked for a copy of the original story and found this translation by Kojima Takashi. And my take on the original is ultimately very different from the one presented here. In my interpretation of the deliberately evasive source text, Yoshihide made his horrifying final request knowing full well what the Grand Lord would do. While, in the manga, the Grand Lord's choice is framed more as a punishment for Yoshihide's arrogance, in the short story it seems pretty clear that this was the only avenue Yoshihide and Yuzuki had left. The manga definitely hit me harder in the feels, but the short story was a more intelligent, and frightening, depiction of the lengths people must go to in order to escape despotism. It's also, perhaps weirdly, strongly feminist in its scathing depiction of how patriarchy causes some people to turn a blind eye to, or even reframe and excuse, matters of sexual harassment and assault.
I think that if you've never read this story before, you'll definitely enjoy Mihiro's adaptation. But I do strongly urge you to also look up the original afterwards, so you can make your own comparisons. Overall, I'm grateful that this manga exists, not only as a fine work of art on its own, but also as a compelling introduction of Akutagawa-san's work to a wider audience.
Ryunosuke Akutagawa's Hell Screen by Mihiro was published March 25 2025 by Tuttle and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
7/1/2025 This manga adaptation of a classic Japanese horror story is shockingly nuanced, as writer and illustrator Mihiro reworks the tale for a modern audience, translated then into English by Itoh Makiko.
A bit about the original author himself before we continue. Akutagawa Ryunosuke is widely considered the father of the Japanese short story, with Japan's foremost literary prize named after him. In 1927, at the age of thirty-five, he committed suicide. While living, one of his greatest concerns was madness, and how it could manifest in artistic obsession: the underlying theme of this adaptation of Hell Screen, which is itself an adaptation of an earlier folk tale.
The Grand Lord of Horikawa is said to be so powerful and divinely endowed that, at his birth, his mother was visited by the god Daiitoku-Myoo, who revealed to her that her child would be his reincarnation as the Destroyer of the King of Hell. Anecdotes from the Grand Lord's life would seem to support this, as he takes credit for chasing off evil spirits and for a rather twisted sort of generosity.
While Horikawa itself is besieged by disease and disaster, the inhabitants of the Grand Lord of Horikawa's estate live in safety and ease. This includes sweet Yuzuki, who is a lady's maid there. Yuzuki is the daughter of the famed artist Yoshihide, whose talent is channeled into creating works of realistic depravity. While he paints predominantly religious scenes, he chooses to focus on the baser emotions of fear, cruelty and anger, especially in the commissions he makes for the Grand Lord and the local temple. He is, himself, an arrogant man who values his own artistry above everything else... except, that is, for his daughter Yuzuki.
When Yuzuki comes to the attention of the Grand Lord, a concerned Yoshihide begs repeatedly that she be released from the lord's service. The Grand Lord refuses, and a chagrined Yoshihide throws himself even further into his work. He's already well-known for spending hours in charnel houses, studying the dead for his depictions of hell. But he begins to torture his assistants as well, in an attempt to capture realistic expressions of pain and terror. When the Grand Lord commissions what could very well be the pinnacle of Yoshihide's career -- a folding screen illustrating the many tortures of Buddhist hell -- it sets artist and patron on a collision course that can only end in death and despair.
Told by a willfully naive narrator who was once a servant at the Grand Lord's estate too, this is a thoughtful meditation on power and evil despite the clearly biased point of view, enhanced by Mihiro's own creative fillip at the end. The art is extraordinary: I full-on started crying at the last panels of Yuzuki and the monkey. I also super enjoyed the way Mihiro broke up the story to fit the manga.
But I also, in the course of writing this review, looked for a copy of the original story and found this translation by Kojima Takashi. And my take on the original is ultimately very different from the one presented here. In my interpretation of the deliberately evasive source text, Yoshihide made his horrifying final request knowing full well what the Grand Lord would do. While, in the manga, the Grand Lord's choice is framed more as a punishment for Yoshihide's arrogance, in the short story it seems pretty clear that this was the only avenue Yoshihide and Yuzuki had left. The manga definitely hit me harder in the feels, but the short story was a more intelligent, and frightening, depiction of the lengths people must go to in order to escape despotism. It's also, perhaps weirdly, strongly feminist in its scathing depiction of how patriarchy causes some people to turn a blind eye to, or even reframe and excuse, matters of sexual harassment and assault.
I think that if you've never read this story before, you'll definitely enjoy Mihiro's adaptation. But I do strongly urge you to also look up the original afterwards, so you can make your own comparisons. Overall, I'm grateful that this manga exists, not only as a fine work of art on its own, but also as a compelling introduction of Akutagawa-san's work to a wider audience.
Ryunosuke Akutagawa's Hell Screen by Mihiro was published March 25 2025 by Tuttle and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
October 17, 2025
“A superficial artist cannot possibly understand the beauty of something that is generally regarded as ugly.”
Beautiful, tragic, and grotesque — yet utterly breathtaking. Hell Screen tells the story of an artist consumed by the making of his magnum opus. I didn’t expect the manga adaptation to capture the story so well, but it did.
Shoutout to Mihiro (the storyteller and mangaka) for preserving the essential parts and lines of Akutagawa’s original work, and for creating such stunning, intricate black-and-white drawings. At moments, it almost felt as if Akutagawa himself had drawn it — though that’s no way to diminish Mihiro’s skill.
Beautiful, tragic, and grotesque — yet utterly breathtaking. Hell Screen tells the story of an artist consumed by the making of his magnum opus. I didn’t expect the manga adaptation to capture the story so well, but it did.
Shoutout to Mihiro (the storyteller and mangaka) for preserving the essential parts and lines of Akutagawa’s original work, and for creating such stunning, intricate black-and-white drawings. At moments, it almost felt as if Akutagawa himself had drawn it — though that’s no way to diminish Mihiro’s skill.
October 17, 2025
My first Akutagawa was The Spider's Thread which was one of the short stories featured in a bilingual compilation and it was my favourite among many. Even though this version of Hell Screen is only an adaptation to manga, I was excited to read it. It did not disappoint, I enjoyed it!
Unlike Tuttle's manga adaptation of I Am Cat, this one was done well. It didn't feel like some things were missing. I liked the story itself too, so I really do feel like reading the original novel.
The story is about a grumpy artist who hated everyone and everything except his own daughter. He was commissioned (more like challenged) by a Lord of Horikawa to paint a picture of hell on a screen and thus into the rabbit hole he went in his pursuit to paint the most horrendous, realistic picture of hell. This is a story about the obsession of an artist.
Recommended, even if you're not familiar with Akutagawa's works.
Unlike Tuttle's manga adaptation of I Am Cat, this one was done well. It didn't feel like some things were missing. I liked the story itself too, so I really do feel like reading the original novel.
The story is about a grumpy artist who hated everyone and everything except his own daughter. He was commissioned (more like challenged) by a Lord of Horikawa to paint a picture of hell on a screen and thus into the rabbit hole he went in his pursuit to paint the most horrendous, realistic picture of hell. This is a story about the obsession of an artist.
Recommended, even if you're not familiar with Akutagawa's works.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews