失われゆく東京の「日陰の美」と、そこに生きる社会的弱者である女たちの優しさ

The most significant feature of 'A Strange Tale from East of the River' lies in its aesthetic descriptions of nature and customs—the atmosphere of Oyuki's room where a mosquito net hangs, the ditch river in the alleys, the smoke of mosquito coils drifting in the dusk. Kafu drew the vanishing 'beauty of the shade' of Taisho and Meiji Tokyo with a sorrowful touch, eternally engraving in literature the kindness of those socially marginalized, weak women.