Often referred to as the "Father of the Japanese short story," Ry nosuke Akutagawa lived only to be thirty-five, his life prematurely ended by his suicide. He wrote over 150 short stories in his short life of which "Rash mon" is one of his most famous. This story recounts the encounter between a servant and an old woman, both who are struggling to survive in the sparse times that they find themselves. The servant contemplates whether to starve to death or to become a thief to survive. The old woman who is stealing the hair from unclaimed corpses to make wigs argues that one must do what one can to survive. Also included in this collection are the following stories: "Tobacco and The Devil," "The Nose," "The Handkerchief," "Lice," "The Spider's Thread," "The Wine Worm," "The Badger," "The Ball," "The Pipe," and "Mori Sensei."