["Toshishun" - Ryunosuke Akutagwa] 芥川龍之介『杜子春』

Toshishun (杜子春). - This novel was written in 1920 by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, a Japanese author. I read this story in Japanese some twenty years ago. I was a student back then. It is a short fiction in Japanese based on a Chinese tale. I still remember I was pretty much impressed with it.

This story is about a man called Toshishun who was once rich but now he is poor. He is homeless in a very big city of China. He has no food to eat. With no hope to sustain himself, he thinks about jumping into a river and die.

An old man appears in front of him to ask what he is doing. Toshishun answers and it moves the old man. He advises Toshishun to dig a hole at a certain place, so he will find a large amount of gold to make him rich.

Toshishun becomes the richest man in the city. He begins to live a life of luxury. Now, a great change takes place among Toshishun's friends. Hearing all about Toshishun, the friends start visiting him very often. Most of them did not even say hello when Toshishun was poor.
And more and more people gather around Toshishun in order to attend big parties there.

His luxurious life does not last so long. Toshishun becomes poor once again because he used up all the money. He becomes homeless. This time, another great change takes place. The people would come around him when he was rich, but now nobody stops by to say hello to him. Nobody even gives Toshishun a place to stay for a night.

An old man appears in front of him to ask what he is doing. It is the old man who made him rich. He tells Toshishun the place where great treasure is hidden under the ground.

Toshishun becomes rich one more time. He lives a life of luxury. Everything is just the same way as it had been the last time. And he loses all of the money in three years.

The old man appears one more time. He starts telling Toshishun where he could dig a hole on the ground. But Toshishun stops the old man say it. He says he doesn't want money anymore. The old man asks why.

Toshishun replies, "I'm tired of it."

Toshishun continues:
"I'm not tired of luxury. I'm tired of people. People don't have feelings - not true feelings. When I am rich, they are kind to me. But when I am poor, they don't even look my way. So who would want to be rich again?"

Then Toshishun asks the old man to be his follower. This old man is a wizard.

- The story goes on like this and I'm not going to tell you the whole thing.

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I am introducing this story because I like this part I have explained here so far. I remember I copied the whole story on manuscript paper by hand. I wanted to learn how to write like a professional.
(*[Manuscript paper] is the standard format of 400 character manuscript paper for writing journals in Japanese.)

I liked the story maybe because I thought of those people seen not only in old times or somewhere in China, but anywhere and anytime on the surface of the earth. - I have always liked observing and learning different things, as well as finding the same things regardless of language, culture or time.

I have heard some people here in Japan say growing up bilingually is not a happy thing. But I don't think so. I take pride in having used multiple languages in my life, so I feel and think differently from how others do. That's who I am.

I'm also very proud of my 13-year-old kid because I think she is more advanced than other kids of one single language or culture in terms of how she thinks and feels.