《竹林中》 / In a Grove

《竹林中》 / In a Grove is the 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.

Connections

• 芥川龙之介 - author.
• 17.地狱变：众生皆苦，一念入魔 - source episode.
• 黑泽明《罗生门》 - film adaptation that uses this story as the main plot base.
• Rashomon Effect / 罗生门效应 - cultural afterlife of irreconcilable accounts.
• Interpretation And Overinterpretation - the reader must compare evidence without forcing one neat answer.
• Multi-Perspective Murder Narration - broader narrative pattern.