Mikumari

Keshiki - new voices from Japan #7

by Misumi Kubo, Polly Barton (Translator), Naomi Alderman (Foreword)

A schoolboy is in his senior year when he attends Comiket, a comic market in Tokyo. There, he meets a married woman ten years his senior, a cosplayer who goes by the name of Anzu. Drawn to his resemblance to a character from an anime series, he and Anzu begin an intense affair. Over time, he becomes increasingly wary of his relationship with Anzu, but, at the same time, he finds himself unable to leave her.

Barton's translation masterfully captures the witty, boisterous tone in which Kubo writes, rendering for us in English the inner thoughts of a teenage boy growing up in Japan. Dealing with themes of sex, fertility and the female boy, Mikumari explores the complex relationship between private desire and popular culture in modern times.

Translated by Polly Barton.

Design by Glen Robinson.

Genres: Japan, Fiction, Short Stories, Japanese Literature, Adult Fiction, Asian Literature

30 pages, Chapbook

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Misumi Kubo is a Japanese writer. She has won the R-18 Literary Award, the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize, and the Yamada Fūtarō Prize, and she has twice been nominated for the Naoki Prize. Her work was adapted into the 2012 film The Cowards Who Looked to the Sky.

Reviews

[JimZ · Rating 2 out of 5]

In my review I will not rehash what is stated in the Synopsis above. I don’t know what a “female boy” is that is referred to in the Synopsis. Maybe it has something to do with anime or cosplay which are mentioned in this short story…beats me. The description of sexual events in this chapbook is extremely graphic, so let those who are not into that sort of thing being in works of fiction be forewarned. I am not sure the graphic descriptions of sex contributed to the short story…I don’t know what would be left without it however because there was not much to tell in this story as far as I am concerned. There is another female in this story, Nana, and I guess she makes some sort of defining statement near the end of the story. As you are reading this you are probably saying to yourself “What in the hell is this dude talking about?” I am not sure….I don’t know….I guess….

This chapbook is one of 8 from this publisher. I was drawn to it because of its unique presentation and the “coolness” of the chapbook, with French sleeves and bright color images on the front and back. What motivated me to get this chapbook was that I had gotten chapbook # 5, The Girl Who is Getting Married, by Aoko Matsuda (which I reviewed), and figured I should take a gander at the others.

Ms. Kubo has a short story in Granta, Vol. 138 (Journeys) of the online edition (07.25.2017), titled “From the Left Bank of the Flu”. Totally different theme, it was OK. 😊

[enricocioni · Rating 4 out of 5]

UPDATE: Re-read this last night and it was sadder and more complicated (especially in terms of consent stuff) than I remembered--though still funny in parts.

Premise: Teenage boy struggles to figure out women, through his school crush, his mother the midwife, and the woman who pays him to have scripted cosplay sex.

Thoughts: The translator, Polly Barton, does two things notably well here. First, she chooses exactly the right words and fits them together in exactly the right way to describe deeply unsexy sex ("cupful", "crotch", "gooey and glistening", "coating it in her spit", "I blurted out"). This reflects the main character's ambivalence towards sex and female biology, the alienating effect of having sex while dressed as an anime character he knows nothing about("Lord Muramasa", who wears a lab coat, a long blue wig and glasses), and it's also very funny. And that's the other thing I loved about Barton's prose: the way it conveys humour—a perfect balance between deadpan and accidental (on the part of the character, not the author or the translator). And speaking of humour—the first time I read this story, I thought, based on the first few pages, that the author might want us to laugh at Anzu, the older woman the narrator sleeps with, for a bunch of reasons that made me uncomfortable: her weight, her kinks, the pathetic fact that she can only get sexual satisfaction by paying a teenager. However, as the story moves on, we catch glimpses of a much more complex and nuanced character than that first encounter suggests, with her own arc and agency. Something similar could be said for Nana, the teenage girl the narrator dates. And, indeed, as the story goes on, it becomes clearer and clearer that the narrator's perspective is very limited—he thinks he knows what's going on, he thinks he knows Anzu and Nana, until it's clear he doesn't—and that it is distorted by his own deep-seated issues with biological processes generally—his own as well as those of Anzu and Nana and women generally. In other words, this is a new classic on that evergreen theme: teenage sexual awakening.

For a complete guide to the Keshiki series, head over to my blog, Strange Bookfellows: https://strangebookfellowsblog.wordpr...

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little shortie read to fill up a train journey. It's about a teenage boy and his dark relationship with an older, pervy woman who's into cosplay. There's some symbolism about what her sexuality represents - the repeated mention of fluids, the cursed bite and the mention of the shinto temple all point to it being more than a short story about a pervy woman getting off with a schoolboy. I was also interested in the separation of sex and childbirth (Anxu, infertile and endlessly randy vs the boy's mum who is a widow and a midwife and constantly bringing other people's babies into the world in his house).
So... Quite a lot packed into 22 pages, really.

[Elif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading about a teenage boy’s sex life shouldn’t fascinate an adult woman, but it does.

https://elifthereader.com/books/mikum...

[Miguel · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Mikumari, a schoolboy meets and begins an intense affair with an older, married woman who happens to have a cosplay fetish. It’s messy, it’s emotional. It's an unconventional coming-of-age tale, it’s a coming-to-terms with one's desires. And for all its quirks, it works—in the way that I think is uniquely Japanese.

[Daniel Fletcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars-

A very interesting little snippet about a young man who develops an affair with a woman 10-12 years older than him, and the impossible, perhaps unnatural allure that he has towards her. Funny, slightly disturbing, and bizarre!

Interested in more from this author!

[Plainqoma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erotic, raw and humorous. Underage school boy and his adult lover. Explicit contents, but if you read between the lines there’s actually more to it. I wouldn’t recommend but I liked the story and I wish to read more of this author works. 😹

[Jacob]

This is the first of Misumi Kubo’s writing I’ve read and I’m interested in more. Her story of a high school senior and his intense affair with a cosplay-obsessed married woman is so full it’s almost bursting. Short stories by nature require a poet’s obsessive attention to detail and theme; Misumi Kubo imbues every moment of the hot summer tale with interconnected imagery.

This chapbook is also incredibly designed!!
Shoutout to Polly Barton without whose translations I’d be missing out on lots of great writing. 🙏🏻

[BattlecatReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

A high school boy has an affair with an older, married woman. (it is addressed that this is illegal)
Very explicit but neither sexy nor gross. I found this coming of age/first love story strangely cute at the end.

[Rupert Mann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Misumi Kubo (MK) opens a window into the tender early experiences of a young man's love. The writing flows easily, like a clear stream (translation? or the original does too?). There is no grand progression of narrative, not really much of a story to tell. A portrait of 1. the dullness of adulthood and the captivity of relationship 2. the atrophic warmth of childhood and the prison of family. MK's two central characters, a young man and his older female lover, are separated by much, but come together in brief moments outside their normal worlds. The young man is boatman, moving between the prison of relationship his older lover is trapped in, and the prison of home he finds himself in. This book is about the navigation of space between those worlds and the freedom to be found there.

[Jaymee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lovely thing about this was that it was both raw and humorous. All the wetness in this story culminates to the Mikumari Shrine, where the main character's mother prays for all the children. And there are so many talks of children here, which parallels the innocence of the narrator; nevermind that he is having (roleplaying) sex with a married woman 12 years his senior, or that he's perfectly adept as an assistant to his mother, the midwife. As she is bringing children to the world, so is our narrator coming to terms with his own innocence and awakening.

[Taina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ☆. Lyhyt eroottinen novelli nuoresta pojasta, jolla on suhde vanhemman naisen kanssa. Nesteet virtaavat, läiskyvät, heruvat, solisevat, juoksevat, noruvat. Pohjavirran teemoina lapset ja lapsettomuus, aikuiseksi kasvaminen.

[Davi Russo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with wetness, I enjoyed this story for its ability to snag me with its stickiness and evaporate in the right amount of time.

[Wei Wei Yeo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erotic fiction of the highest order

[Timelate · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

[Melos Han-Tani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this on a train... oops!! It's actually the first part of a longer novel... so it's a bit hard to write about. It portrays a side of Japanese culture that sexualizes underage men. A 16-year old is basically pressured into a sexual, affair relationship with a married woman in her late 20s, to satisfy her cosplay sex kink. Stereotypically that's a common schoolboy fantasy, and this story illustrates how it can be pretty psychologically damaging if both sides aren't committed to it in a consenting and communicative manner. Anzu often forces the boy to have sex with complicated costumes and scripts, but the boy seems pretty detached from the whole thing, probably due to being 16 and with no experience in any sort of actual relationship. Overall it's a fairly sad story and both characters are dealing with a lot of heavy stuff. Anzu is infertile, probably in a marriage that's not going well, and obviously has a lot to work through regarding enacting her cosplay kink on underage boys. The boy has been forced to help with his mom's home midwife job, and I get the sense he doesn't have anyone to talk to about his weird feelings about this. Anzu is obviously most at fault, so I'm curious about her background and how her story plays out in the full novel.

[Sudais · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found these Chapbooks at Kinokuniya, enamoured by the splendid graphic design. Reminded me of when I followed the world of design closely, and tried to emulate what I liked onto school projects, like yearbooks and presentation slides. Anyway, I could only choose three books, because that's all I wanted to spend. So I chose this one, Towards 0% and Knock Off Viagra and Jeje, which are from the Iyagi series. I chose this and Knock Off Viagra because I wanted to read about sex that was sleazy. And I chose Towards 0% because it was about cinema. Anyway yet again, Mikumari was fine. I did feel like a spoiled boy on a hot summer's day, and I do like these accounts of unconventional and uncomfortable sexual encounters at that age. I think of Flowers of Evil, Perks of Being a Wallflower - and my own literary encounters with sex through the works of Haruki Murakami. But Mikumari obviously isn't nearly as elevated as that. At 30 pages, it does what it (seemingly) sets out to do.

[Saachi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slippery, wet, indulgently revolting, but in the way that Ottessa Moshfegh's writing is.

I love Naomi Alderman's introduction to the book: "It's never easy to come to terms with our desires, and none are more uneasy than our strange, alien, invading sexual yearnings. As the narrator of this wonderful story discovers, we don't always think we should, and desire and disgust are very close together."

Stylistically coherent, the concept explored here is powerful—this spray of human capacity for seeing beauty in what we are meant to think is unsalvageable

[K's Bognoter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Der er utroligt mange væsker i Misumi Kubos erotiske novelle, Mikumari. Vand i swimmingpools og floder. Kropsvæsker fra fødende kvinder og ejakulerende kvinder og mænd. Sex og fødsler. Safter, sperm, blod. Ud over det hele. Bestemt ikke uden litterære kvaliteter, men ikke lige min smag.
Læs hele anmeldelsen af den syvende chapbog i udgivelseserien #Keshiki på K's BOGNOTER: https://bognoter.dk/2019/07/03/misumi...

[Nicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbing but fascinating reading. I realized early on that I had already read this as part of a short fiction collection of linked stories by this author.
Follows our teenage protagonist who has helped his mother out from a young age with her work from home as a midwife. Unsurprisingly, he is a little warped from it and he finds himself in an affair with an older, married woman who likes him to cosplay when they are together.
At 30 pages, it’s not long, but feels well fleshed out.

[Susannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a bizarre short story about a schoolboy who starts an affair with an older married woman who is obsessed with anime. It has some interesting themes and water is very important in the story, however I found some of the descriptions disturbing and am not sure what they contributed to the story.

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

:/ not a fan of this sorry i dont think this short snippet was crafted well enough to highlight anything of substance. if you're going to center the sexual exploitation of a minor, you have to be reflecting 200% on how you're reproducing that violence with every sentence.

[arwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

really enjoyable. appeared to me at a weirdly applicable time in my life. i liked the look into the sexual power imbalances between the characters. liked a lot!! i found the main characters very compelling. want to read more by the author.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt more like 'a day in the life of...' than a story with a beginning, middle and end, but that suited the slightly indistinct nature suited it.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

LEWD!

[Kat Hayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

How lewd!

[Lawrence Bricher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting an erotic book which perhaps suggests I should look closer at what I'm buying before I buy. however this run of pamphlets interested me, and I'm glad I bought something that perhaps sits out my comfort zone. Straightforward smut this is not, and tells a very beautiful story about relationships, gender and adolescence, very succinctly, albeit with more sex than I strictly believed was necessary. I think the themes could have been explored differently with the same story, but yet I appreciated the punch and simplicity that the authors choices afforded.