Detective Stories of the Meiji Era

Sakaguchi Ango’s detective stories take place in the Meiji era—when Japan was going through a painful but necessary transformation, and age-old traditions had to give way to new trends. One of these trends was the noble gentleman Yuki Shinzaburo. A descendant of hereditary samurai who received an excellent education in the West, Yuki returned to his homeland with a determined desire to fight for justice. Without chasing fame or wealth—and without wanting to become a government official—Shinzaburo becomes an amateur detective, to whom the police turn whenever a case reaches an impasse.

Originally published as separate stories in magazines, “Detective Stories of the Meiji Era” gained public popularity and later formed the basis for two TV series, as well as manga and anime. This edition includes the first ten of the twenty stories in the collection. All stories are published in Russian for the first time.