The work of the outstanding Japanese writer Akutagawa Ryunosuke is one of the most striking and unusual phenomena in world literature of the 20th century. The main theme of his works, written with subtle taste and humor, is the endless universe of the spirit and the secrets of human psychology. Akutagawa drew materials for his short stories from historical chronicles, medieval anecdotes and collections of ancient legends. Akutagawa believed that only through the exceptional and unexpected can the true movements of the soul be revealed. The bizarre interweaving of fiction and reality, the depth of psychological analysis, paradoxical judgments, and gentle irony make Akutagawa’s works true masterpieces.