One Arm

One Arm (かたうで, kataude) is a 1964 short story by the Japanese writer and Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata. It was first translated into English by Edward Seidensticker and published as "One Arm" in Japan Quarterly in 1967. This short story has been considered as a main example of the current of magic realism in Japanese Literature.

Plot

A young woman removes her right arm and gives it to the a man (the protagonist) to keep for the night. The story follows his thoughts and actions as he takes it home to keep for the night. He talks and caresses it, and then decides to replace his own arm with it. The "relationship" the man has with the detached arm serves as a portal into the landscape of memory and emotions.

References