Page:Modern Japanese Stories.pdf/96

 that other woman who leant against a cherry tree surrounded by singing birds and dead bodies. A feeling of triumph raced through Seikichi.

“Let me see your tattoo,” he said to her. “Show me your tattoo.”

Without a word, she inclined her head and unfastened her dress. The rays of the morning sun fell on the young girl’s back and its golden gleam seemed to set fire to the spider.

Tanizaki Junichirō (b. 1886) This story was first published in 1910 Translated by Ivan Morris