# Short Fiction — Character guide

> Key figures in Short Fiction by Akutagawa Ryūnosuke.

- [Tu Tzuchun](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/tu_tzuchun.md): Tu Tzuchun was born rich, squandered everything, and now stands hungry and bedless at the western gate of Tang-dynasty Loyang, watching silk hats and Turkish earrings stream past. When a squinting old man tells him to di
- [Zenchi Naigu](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/zenchi_naigu.md): Everyone in Ike-no-O knows Zenchi Naigu's nose, a sausage dangling from his upper lip, and he has grieved over it since his acolyte days. At meals a disciple must hold it up with a stick so he can eat; in conversation he
- [Mōri Sensei](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/mori_sensei.md): Mōri Sensei enters class with a bow, opens the Choice Reader, and calls a student to translate Robinson Crusoe. He corrects every mispronunciation with strange confidence, yet when his own turn comes he gropes for the wo
- [Khashoji](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/khashoji.md): Khashoji starts from a Chinese camp to reconnoiter near a river hamlet, and suddenly meets Japanese horsemen in a field of yellowing giant millet. Sabres flash, his own blade grows greasy with sweat, and a red-capped ene
- [Maeda Narihiro](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/maeda_narihiro.md): Narihiro carries a pure gold pipe as a walking emblem of his fortune, and when retainers wheedle it from him he returns home pleased rather than bereft, announcing the gift to his household. His generosity throws his thr
- [Akiko](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/akiko.md): Akiko rides to the Rokumeikan with her father, uneasy until the stares begin: Chinese officials part in their fatness, a young man in swallowtails turns his head, even the gray-whiskered count betrays admiration. In the 
- [Akutagawa Ryūnosuke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/akutagawa_ryunosuke.md): Akutagawa appears as a framing presence in the introductions and narrative asides that open his tales, a modern literary mind curating the worlds he presents. He moves between the Rokumeikan's gaslit staircases and the q
- [Kōchiyama Sōshun](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/kochiyama_soshun.md): Kōchiyama Sōshun is an attendant at the Ōsukiya, later remembered as one of the Six Poetical Geniuses of the Tempō period, who moves among his fellow servants with easy insolence. Where others only gossip about Narihiro'
- [Kandata](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/kandata.md): Kandata is a notorious bandit whose one remembered act of mercy earns him a slender chance at salvation: a spider's thread dangling into the Pond of Blood. As he climbs with all his strength, he discovers countless other
- [Tamba Sensei](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/tamba_sensei.md): Tamba Sensei teaches English at the school and is famous both for athletics and for reciting Chinese poems, which makes him popular even with the jujitsu and single-sticking champions who hate English. When his students 
- [Mori Gonnoshin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/mori_gonnoshin.md): Mōri Sensei is the newly arrived teacher whose odd habits—foreign clothes with wooden clogs, a lunch dangling from his belt, woolen gloves full of holes—make him the talk of the schoolyard. The students, anxious about en
- [Ryōtetsu](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/ryotetsu.md): A Buddhist priest or scholar who engages in philosophical discussions.
- [St. Francis Xavier](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/st_francis_xavier.md): The historical missionary whose arrival in Japan is depicted in a narrative.
- [the naval officer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/naval_officer.md): A naval officer who appears in a story involving a ball and social interactions.
- [Master Sun](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/master_sun.md): A Chinese sage or strategist referenced in a philosophical context.
- [Kikuchi Kan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/kikuchi_kan.md): A contemporary writer or acquaintance of the author mentioned in the text.
- [the Devil](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/the_devil.md): The Devil arrives in Japan with seeds in the hollow of his ear, intending to tempt the Japanese but finding himself strangely soothed by temple bells and warm spring sun. To stave off moral sleepiness, he borrows a field
- [a certain Mr. Yamakawa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/mr_yamakawa.md): A man whose story or actions are recounted in a narrative.
- [Tiehkuantzu](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/tiehkuantzu.md): A Taoist immortal or legendary figure who appears in a story.
- [Major Kimura](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/major_kimura.md): A military officer whose actions are part of a historical narrative.
- [Inoue Tenzo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/inoue_tenzo.md): A character involved in a story about a pipe or personal conflict.
- [the French naval officer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/french_naval_officer.md): A French naval officer who appears in a story involving a ball.
- [Sumiyoshiya Shichibei](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/sumiyoshiya_shichibei.md): A merchant or townsman who appears in a story.
- [the Buddha](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/the_buddha.md): The Buddha appears in a story about salvation and judgment.
- [The Chinese](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/the_chinese.md): A group of Chinese people appearing as characters in a story.
- [a grotesque Buddhist priest](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/grotesque_buddhist_priest.md): A priest with a strange appearance who appears in a narrative.
- [Strindberg](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/strindberg.md): The Swedish playwright referenced or appearing as a character in a story.
- [the Japanese](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/the_japanese.md): A group of Japanese people appearing as characters in a story.
- [Ueki Kurouemon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/ueki_kurouemon.md): A character in a historical narrative.
- [Prof. Hasegawa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/prof_hasegawa.md): A professor who appears in a story about a handkerchief.
- [Rashōmon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/rashomon.md): The gate itself is a setting and character in the story.
- [Iwata Kuranosuke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/iwata_kuranosuke.md): A character in a historical narrative.
- [The Badger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters/the_badger.md): A badger that appears as a character in a story.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_59_se/characters