Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892–1927)

There are several stories in this collection well worth 5 stars... and a few that are not. However, and this is a controversial decision in my own mind, the lesser stories still provide a key view into the authors.... disintegration. The last few in the collection, all published posthumously, are in fact difficult to read because of the writing... but also because the writer is clearly in a final downward spiral. It is uncomfortable because you are, essentially, reading someone's diary, and reading that they are going to kill themselves.

For that, I give an overall 5 stars, though perhaps it should be 4.… (mere)

En el budismo, el Infierno se denomina Naraka, Nirriti y Niraya. El Naraka existe en tres maneras: las ocho regiones del Infierno de las Llamas, las regiones del Infierno del Frío y el Infierno Solitario. Los cuadros que representan el Naraka eran ejecutados con el objeto de difundir el budismo, al extremo de que los sacerdotes los llevaban consigo para mostrar los horrores del Infierno y lograr las conversiones por medio del temor. Esto sucedió en Japón, particularmente entre los siglos XII y XV. El biombo que se menciona en este relato representa las ocho regiones del Infierno de las Llamas.… (mere)