Un (Fortune, a novel) (運 (小説))

"Un" is a novel written by Ryunosuke AKUTAGAWA in his early period. It was published in a magazine 'Bungaku Sekai' (Literally Worlds) in January, 1917. The novel is contained in the Akutagawa's first collection of works 'Rashomon' (Rasho-mon gate).

The source of the novel is 'Hinjo, Kiyomizu no Kannon ni tsukaete Tojin no otto ni aitaru katarai, dai sanjusan' (No. 33, the tale of poor woman serving Kannon (Deity of Mercy) in Shimizu to see his husband, a thief) in the volume 16 of "Konjaku Monogatari" (Tales of Times Now and Then collection). It is a novelty, but it follows the plot of its original almost as it is. Akutagawa added a conversation of two types of people, a young samurai who takes only the physical comforts as happiness and an old man who regards psychological satisfaction as most important, at end of the plot of its original to show two different kinds of feeling of happiness and his own color.

[Original Japanese]