Vorota Rasemon
Subtitle: rasskazy, ėsse
By: Ri͡unoskė Akutagava ; [perevod s i͡aponskogo V. Grivnina i dr.].
Contributors: Grivnin, V. S. (Vladimir Sergeevich)
Series: Azbuka-klassika
Publisher: Izdatelʹskai͡a gruppa "Azbuka-Attikus"
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Sankt-Peterburg
Language: rus
Number of pages: 316
ISBN-13: 9785389029262
Subjects: Japanese Psychological fiction; Social life and customs; Japanese Short stories; Japanese essays; Manners and customs
Description: The man, a lowly servant recently fired, is contemplating whether to starve to death or to become a thief to survive in the barren times. When he goes upstairs, after noticing some firelight there, he encounters the woman, who is stealing hair from the dead bodies on the second floor. He is disgusted, and decides then that he would rather take the path of righteousness even if it meant starvation. He is furious with the woman. But the old woman tells him that she steals hair to make wigs, so she can survive. In addition, the woman whose body she is currently robbing cheated people in her life by selling snake meat and claiming it was fish. The old woman says that this was not wrong because it allowed the woman to survive -- and so in turn this entitles her to steal from the dead person, because if she doesn't, she too will starve. The man responds: "You won't blame me, then, for taking your clothes. That's what I have to do to keep from starving to death". He then brutally robs the woman of her robe and disappears into the night.
Notes: Translated from the Japanese.

Sushchestvuet li Istina, i v sostoi͡anii li chelovek postichʹ ee? Vse tvorchestvo pisateli͡a --popytka naĭti otvet na ėtot vopros. "Chelovecheskai͡a zhiznʹ -- bolʹshe ad, chem sam ad", - k ėtoĭ mysli Akutagava prishel v kont͡se puti. V 1927 godu v vozraste 36 let Akutagava dobrovolʹno ushel iz zhizni.

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa was a Japanese writer active in the Taishō period in Japan. He is regarded as the 'Father of the Japanese short story' and Japan's premier literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, is named for him.