Cherry Blossoms Flying Snow

Author: (Japanese) Takao Adachi, translated by Liu Jisheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: "You must come see me once," a sentence full of love, as the wife exploring her husband's hometown sees everything in the full moon of cherry blossoms filled with a touch of melancholy and eerie beauty. It seems as if white spiders, white crabs, and white necks stretch under the moonlight, skillfully creating a strange imagery. The realm of true love moves one to tears, and the very ending is shocking! Takao Adachi's novels are imbued with a mysterious aura. In the world, there is much we do not know compared to what we do know. Is death the end of life? Does nature possess mysterious powers? Is there a psychic connection between heaven and earth? This seems to be a question beyond the scope of writers who focus on depicting human beings. However, some mysterious, bizarre, and suspenseful short stories often become the medium for writers to express their understanding and perception of society, life, and life phenomena. I feel that Takao Adachi seems to have been influenced by the flourishing supernatural horror novels of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the West, dedicating himself to cultivating the "strange and beautiful" in the soil of mysterious, bizarre, and suspenseful life. Many of his works are filled with a supernatural and irrational force, such as Falling Cherry Blossoms and Snow, The Scent of Death, The Fresh Eyes, The Study of Prophecies, and The Unbelievable Sounds. These works tell us that beyond the world of human life, there exists something intangible, omnipresent, and all-knowing, which controls, influences, and participates in our lives. The more realistic the works are, the more they create an atmosphere of mysterious oppression and tense terror, making readers' heads tingle and their backs sweat, as if they cannot breathe. To portray unnatural forces with such charm is a success for Takao Adachi!