Home > Author > Taeko Kōno
1 " Spirits and ghosts are probably powerless creatures, you know. I know they’re supposed to be able to influence humans — to be able to read their minds, and so on. But they don’t have physical power over people, or objects; I don’t think they can even see them. And what happens when from the other side they try to reach people whose minds are insensitive, and who don’t react? Or who are too sensitive, so they overreact? I’m sure lines get crossed all the time: it must be easy for a ghost to get frustrated and lose interest. Besides, after a while, seeing into people’s minds must get quite boring and annoying. And aren’t ghosts supposed to be bundles of irritation and resentment? No, I dread dying all the more when I think of such an eternally painful existence. If anything, I envy people who can believe in nothingness after death. "
― Taeko Kōno , Toddler-Hunting & Other Stories
2 " She devoted herself to becoming their friend. She had never met a real man or woman before, she realized. Compared to them, anyone else was just a generic human being. "
3 " Aren't you in pain, Mother?" she wanted to call out. "Mother, I'm suffering too. "
4 " If it’s a girl,” she continued, “let’s not allow her too much education.”“I agree,” Matsuda answered. “Too much schooling is no good anyway.”“Of course, we’ll have to send her for the compulsory years.”“No, they’re the worst. Let’s hire tutors.”“Far too expensive. I’ll never agree to that,” Fumiko replied. “No, she can just go to the local school. When she graduates from junior high, I’ll keep her at home and treat her like a maid. By this time of the morning, she’ll be up cooking our breakfast. I’ll be lying in bed like this, taking it easy with you.”“That sounds nice.”“So it appeals to you. In that case, I’ll make her cook breakfast when she’s in grammar school.”“Will a first-grader be able to cook?”“She won’t have any choice. And she’d better get the rice just right.”“The poor little thing!”“But it’s best to be strict with girls — better for them.”“True.”“I’m not going to have a girl who thinks too much. Let’s raise her so she’ll never talk back. I don’t mean just so she can restrain herself — I want her incapable of talking back — a girl who has no opinions of her own. A girl who does what she’s told, automatically, like an idiot. Even her face must be an idiot’s face.”“A girl like a doll.”“Yes. When she’s small, I’ll train her to serve other people, like a good little wife — like the girls in ancient China. As soon as she gets out of school, I’ll marry her off.”“I’ll go and visit her. I’ll take her some of that sugar we got as a present, behind your back.”“Will you indeed.”“But you never use it to cook with. There’s too much, anyway.”“How do you know?”“You told me.”“Did I? Well, take it, then.”“I’ll go and see her every Sunday.”“Her husband won’t like that.”“That’s all right. He’ll understand. I’ll find her a kind husband.”“He won’t stay that way. I’ll encourage him to be cruel and mean. You must encourage him, too — to have affairs and drink. If you meet any beautiful women, you mustn’t keep them for yourself. Send them over, lots of them, to him, just like the sugar. She won’t get any sympathy when she comes over to complain. I’ll show her my body. ‘Look!’ I’ll tell her: ‘Look at what your father does to me. I can bear it, and so should you! "
5 " There was no doubt that her brother was her mother’s child, but time and again Hayako had the impression that she too shared her mother’s blood. Not the thick, rich blood that flows peacefully through the veins, but the blood they sucked and licked from the scratches inflicted on each other when they fought tooth and nail — so passionate was their attachment. "
6 " In other words, she reflected, they hadn’t known the hardship or the happiness of true conjugal life. But if only they’d been aware that they were lovers, and not husband and wife, and lived out their relationship as it really was, their experience might have been totally different. True, they might have been ostracized, and they would have lost their easy tranquillity — but they might also have felt a keener, more intense kind of joy. "
7 " Aren't you in pain, Mother?' she wanted to call out. 'Mother, I'm suffering too. "
