Rashomon Gate

The work of the outstanding Japanese writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa is one of the most vivid and unusual phenomena in world literature of the 20th century. The main theme of his works, written with exquisite taste and humor, is the infinite universe of the spirit and the mystery of human psychology. Akutagawa drew materials for his stories from historical chronicles, medieval anecdotes, and collections of ancient legends. He believed that only through the exceptional and unexpected can the true movements of the soul be revealed. The whimsical intertwining of fiction and reality, the depth of psychological analysis, the paradoxical nature of judgments, and soft irony make Akutagawa's works genuine masterpieces.