Ryoju (The Hunting Gun)

I found this little book at 2008's Book Fair held in my town. Yes, it is little and thin in shape yet the cover attracted me most. I bet there are lots of versions for its publications around the world. And in Indonesian it called "Bedil Perburuan" with its cover depicts three Japanese Women in their lovely Kimono about thinking a man (also in kimono) in the middle of shot target.

by: Yasushi Inoue

Published: 1949

This story tells about a narrator-poet who was being asked by his old friend to submit a poetry for that's friend magazine - The Hunter's Companion, a magazine about hunting. The narrator himself wasn't a hunter thus he recalled about a man he saw with a hunting gun in his shoudler at the foot of Amagi Mountain. It struck him about the loneliness of the hunter's back, and the silent and cold hunting gun itself in his shoulder was the symbol of emptiness felt by the hunter. So, he made his poetry based on this impression.

Two or three months later after his poetry published (in a tiny and unrecognizable space in the magazine) or even after the narrator forgot about it at all, there was a package sent to him from a man called himself Josuke Misugi - the hunter with the hunting gun he saw in his poetry.
 
The package consisted of three letters from three different women but in close relationship: Saiko - Josuke's secret lover who felt the guilty or sin yet still loved his first husband; Shoko - Saiko's daughter who was really shocked to find out about her mother and Josuke's love affair; and Midori - Josuke's wife who was very pretty yet unhappy and knew from the first about Josuke and Saiko's love affairs.

The novel, indeed, tells about tragic love affair with its psychological impact not merely on each persons involved but also on people surround them. This story had the setting of Post World War II ear in the middle-upper society in Ashiya, a prosperous suburban area between two developed business districts - Osaka and Kobe. It combines Inoue's observation and concern about daily lives and historical-social situation they reflect. 

And, according to the hunter himself (Josuke Misugi - who previously a leader executive business but later being shoved aside from his position), the hunting gun was an inseparable part, no matter how successful or unsuccessful the public life or even the brightness of person's personal life was.