entity Updated 2026-08-05 Tags: Literature, Japanese-Literature, Short-Story, Narration

《竹林中》 / In a Grove

《竹林中》 / In a Grove is the [[AkutagawaRyunosuke|芥川龙之介]] short story discussed in 17.地狱变:众生皆苦,一念入魔 as one of his strongest technical works. The episode summarizes its case: a married couple meets the bandit Tajomaru, the wife is assaulted, the husband dies, and the surviving or summoned speakers each give a self-consistent but mutually incompatible account.

The source treats the story as more than a puzzle. Its contradictory testimony creates a world where shame, self-justification, desire, and reputation shape what can be said. That makes the story a compact Multi-Perspective Murder Narration case and one literary root of the Rashomon Effect / 罗生门效应.

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