# Kakutaro — Short Fiction character guide

> Kakutaro in Short Fiction by Tanizaki Jun’ichirō.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Kakutaro-san, Osayo Kakutaro

**First appearance:** 0001-short-fiction

## Snapshot

A young man enchanted by a fox, sitting in a one-act play beside a rushing stream while his lover waits and the moon hides in the pines.

## Who they are

Kakutaro is the young man at the center of The White Fox, a play set beside a hot-spring bathhouse where a deep stream runs between high cliffs. He is enchanted—by a fox, by the moon, by something that keeps him from coming home—while Osayo waits for him on a rock and her mother trudges down the cliff with firewood. His enchantment is the play's central mystery, a pull between human love and supernatural attraction that makes the early scenes hum with quiet dread.

## Relationships

### [Mother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_52_se/characters/mother)

_family_

Kakutaro and his mother have a close familial relationship, possibly marked by dependence or conflict.

### [Miss Rosa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_52_se/characters/miss_rosa)

_romantic_

Kakutaro is romantically involved with or strongly attracted to Miss Rosa, creating tension with his mother.

### [Miss Rosa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_52_se/characters/miss_rosa)

_romantic_

Kakutaro is romantically involved with or strongly attracted to Miss Rosa, creating tension with his mother.

## In the story

### [Short Fiction](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_52_se/chapters/short-fiction)

Appears and falls in a scene with Osayo.

### [The White Fox](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_52_se/chapters/the-white-fox)

Appears and falls, likely connected to the fox enchantment.

### [Persons in the Play](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_52_se/chapters/persons-in-the-play)

A young man enchanted by a fox.

### [Scene](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_52_se/chapters/scene)

Argues with Osayo about the identity of the woman in the bath, then speaks with Miss Rosa, revealing his past love and his current homeless state.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_52_se/characters/kakutaro
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_52_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_52_se/characters