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{{Short description|Japanese writer (1892–1927)}}
{{Western name order|Akutagawa Ryūnosuke}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
| native_name      = {{nobold|芥川 龍之介}}
| native_name_lang = ja
| image            = Akutagawa portrait Akutagawa Sakuhinshu 6.jpg
| caption          = Akutagawa in 1927
| birth_name       = Ryūnosuke Niihara (新原 龍之介)
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1892|3|1|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Kyōbashi, Tokyo|Kyōbashi]], [[Tokyo]], [[Empire of Japan]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1927|7|24|1892|3|1|df=y}}
| death_place      = Tokyo, Empire of Japan
| occupation       = Writer
| genre            = Short stories
| movement         = [[Modernism]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Akutagawa Ryunosuke and the Taisho Modernists |url=http://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/akutagwa |website=aboutjapan.japansociety.org |publisher=About Japan |access-date=8 June 2019}}</ref>
| notableworks     = {{ubl|''[[In a Grove]]''|''[[Rashōmon (short story)|Rashōmon]]''|''[[The Nose (Akutagawa short story)|Hana]]''}}
| children         = {{ubl|[[Hiroshi Akutagawa]]|Takashi Akutagawa|[[Yasushi Akutagawa]]}}
| influences       = 
| influenced       = 
| language         = [[Japanese language|Japanese]]
| alma_mater       = [[Tokyo Imperial University]]
| spouse           = {{ill|Fumi Akutagawa|ja|芥川文|vertical-align=sup}}
| module           = {{Infobox Chinese | child = yes
| kanji             = 芥川 龍之介
| romaji            = Akutagawa Ryūnosuke
| hiragana          = あくたがわ りゅうのすけ
}}
}}
{{nihongo|'''Ryūnosuke Akutagawa'''|芥川 龍之介|Akutagawa Ryūnosuke|{{IPA|ja|ɾʲɯː.no.sɯ̥.ke}},<ref>{{cite book|script-title=ja:新明解日本語アクセント辞典|edition=2nd|editor-last=Kindaichi|editor-first=Haruhiko|editor-link=Haruhiko Kindaichi|editor-last2=Akinaga|editor-first2=Kazue|publisher=[[Sanseidō]]|date=10 March 2025|language=ja}}</ref> 1 March 1892 – 24 July 1927}}, [[art name]] {{nihongo|'''Chōkōdō Shujin'''|澄江堂主人}},<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=一冊で名作がわかる 芥川龍之介（KKロングセラーズ）|last=戸部原|first=文三|publisher=PHP研究所|year=2015|isbn=978-4-8454-0785-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OfeLCgAAQBAJ&q=%E6%BE%84%E6%B1%9F%E5%A0%82%E4%B8%BB%E4%BA%BA&pg=PT13}}</ref> was a [[Japanese people|Japanese]] [[List of Japanese authors|writer]] active in the [[Taishō period]] in [[Japan]]. He is regarded as the "father of the Japanese [[short story]]", and Japan's premier literary award, the [[Akutagawa Prize]], is named after him.<ref>Jewel, Mark. "Japanese Literary Awards" {{cite web |url=http://www.jlit.net/reference/literary-prizes/literary-prizes-a-to-m.html |title=Jlit Net |access-date=2015-03-28 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402153641/http://www.jlit.net/reference/literary-prizes/literary-prizes-a-to-m.html |archive-date=2015-04-02 }}. Retrieved 2014-06-25.</ref> He took his own life at the age of 35 through an [[overdose]] of [[barbital]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080324004444/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,822615,00.html Books: Misanthrope from Japon Monday], Time Magazine. Dec. 29, 1952</ref>

== Early life ==
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa was born in Irifune, [[Kyōbashi, Tokyo|Kyōbashi]], [[Tokyo City]] (present-day {{ill|Akashi (town)|lt=Akashi|ja|明石町}}, [[Chūō, Tokyo|Chūō]], [[Tokyo]]), the eldest son of businessman Toshizō Niihara and his wife Fuku. His family owned a milk production business.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ueda |first=Masaaki |title=Konsaisu nihon jinmei jiten |publisher=Sanseidō |others=Hideo Tsuda, Keiji Nagahara, Shōichi Fujii, Akira Fujiwara. |year=2009 |isbn=978-4-385-15801-3 |pages=19 |oclc=290447626}}</ref> His mother experienced [[Postpartum disorder#Psychological disorders|mental illness shortly after his birth]], so he was adopted and raised by his maternal uncle, Michiaki Akutagawa, from whom he received the Akutagawa family name. The Akutagawa lineage was part of the [[Shizoku|warrior class]] and served the [[Tokugawa clan]] as ''okubōzu'', who managed the [[tearoom]] and served tea. Ryūnosuke's adoptive family enjoyed art.<ref>{{Citation |title=改訂新版 世界大百科事典 |date=2014-12-01 |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%8A%A5%E5%B7%9D%E7%AB%9C%E4%B9%8B%E4%BB%8B-423464#E6.94.B9.E8.A8.82.E6.96.B0.E7.89.88.E3.80.80.E4.B8.96.E7.95.8C.E5.A4.A7.E7.99.BE.E7.A7.91.E4.BA.8B.E5.85.B8 |publisher=[[Heibonsha]]}}</ref> He was interested in classical [[Chinese literature]] from an early age, as well as in the works of [[Mori Ōgai]] and [[Natsume Sōseki]].

He entered the [[First Higher School]] without taking entrance exams thanks to his middle school academic record in 1910 and developed relationships with classmates such as [[Kan Kikuchi]], [[Masao Kume]], [[Yūzō Yamamoto]], and {{ill|Tsuchiya Bunmei|ja|土屋文明}}, all of whom would later become authors. He began writing after entering [[Tokyo Imperial University]] (now the University of Tokyo) in 1913, where he studied [[English literature]]. While still a student, he proposed marriage to a childhood friend, Yayoi Yoshida, but his adoptive family did not approve the union. In 1916 he became engaged to {{ill|Fumi Tsukamoto|ja|芥川文}}, whom he married in 1918. They had three children: [[Hiroshi Akutagawa]] (1920–1981) was an actor, Takashi Akutagawa (1922–1945) was killed as a student draftee in Burma, and [[Yasushi Akutagawa]] (1925–1989) was a composer.

Following graduation, Akutagawa taught briefly at the Naval Engineering School in [[Yokosuka, Kanagawa]] as an [[English language]] instructor, before deciding to devote his efforts to writing fulltime.

== Literary career ==
[[Image:Kikuchi Kan, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, and so on.jpg|250px|thumb|A set photograph of 1919. The second subject from the left is Akutagawa. On the far left is [[Kan Kikuchi]].]]

In 1914, Akutagawa and his former high school friends revived the [[literary journal]] ''Shinshichō'' ("New Currents of Thought"), where they published translations of [[William Butler Yeats]] and [[Anatole France]] along with works they had written themselves. Akutagawa published his second [[short story]] ''[[Rashōmon (short story)|Rashōmon]]'' the following year in the literary magazine ''Teikoku Bungaku'' ("Imperial Literature"), while still a student. The story, based on a twelfth-century tale, was not well received by Akutagawa's friends, who greatly criticized it. Nonetheless, Akutagawa gathered up the courage to visit his idol, [[Natsume Sōseki]], in December 1915 for Sōseki's weekly literary circles. In November, he published the work in the literary magazine ''Teikoku Mongaku''.<ref name=":0" /> In early 1916 he published ''Hana'' ("[[The Nose (Akutagawa short story)|The Nose]]", 1916), which received a letter of praise from Sōseki and secured Akutagawa his first taste of fame.<ref>{{cite book |last=Keene |first=Donald |date=1984 |title=Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature of the Modern Era |location=New York |publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston |pages=558–562 |isbn=978-0-03-062814-6}}</ref>

It was also at this time that Akutagawa started writing [[haiku]] under the ''haigo'' ([[pen name]]) {{Nihongo|'''Gaki'''|餓鬼}}. Akutagawa followed with a series of short stories set in [[Heian period]], [[Edo period]] or early [[Meiji period]] Japan. These stories reinterpreted classical works and historical incidents. Examples of these stories include: ''Gesaku zanmai'' ("{{ill|Absorbed in Letters|ja|戯作三昧}}", 1917)<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pgC1AAAAIAAJ&q=gesaku+zanmai |title=The American Asian Review |date=1985 |publisher=Institute of Asian Studies, St. John's University |pages=84 |language=en}}</ref> and ''Kareno-shō'' ("Gleanings from a Withered Field", 1918), ''Jigokuhen'' ("[[Hell Screen]]", 1918); ''Hōkyōnin no Shi'' ("{{ill|The Death of a Disciple|ja|奉教人の死}}", 1918), and ''Butōkai'' ({{ill|"The Ball|ja|舞踏会}}", 1920). Akutagawa was a strong opponent of [[Naturalism (literature)|naturalism]]{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}}. He published ''Mikan'' ("{{ill|Mandarin Oranges (novel)|lt=Mandarin Oranges|ja|蜜柑_(小説)}}", 1919) and ''Aki'' ("{{ill|Aki (short story)|lt=Autumn|ja|秋 (芥川龍之介)}}", 1920) which have more modern settings.

In 1921, Akutagawa interrupted his writing career to spend four months in [[China]], as a reporter for the ''[[Osaka]] [[Mainichi Shinbun]]''. The trip was stressful and he suffered from various illnesses, from which his health would never recover. Shortly after his return he published ''Yabu no naka'' ("[[In a Grove]]", 1922). During the trip, Akutagawa visited numerous cities of southeastern China including [[Nanjing]], [[Shanghai]], [[Hangzhou]] and [[Suzhou, Jiangsu|Suzhou]]. Before his travel, he wrote a short story ''Nankin no Kirisuto'' ("{{ill|"The Christ of Nanjing(short story)|ja|南京の基督|lt=The Christ of Nanjing}}"); the novel the [[Christianity in China|Chinese Christian community]] according to his own imaginative vision of Nanjing, as influenced by classical Chinese literature.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MXapuAa1zNwC&q=%E5%8D%97%E4%BA%AC%E3%81%AE%E5%9F%BA%E7%9D%A3&pg=PA223|title=世界文学としての芥川龍之介|last=関口|first=安義|publisher=新日本出版社|year=2007|isbn=9784406050470|location=Tokyo|page=223}}</ref>

===Influences===
{{Original research section|date=September 2021}}
Akutagawa's stories were influenced by his belief that the practice of literature should be universal and could bring together Western and Japanese cultures. The idea can be seen in the way that Akutagawa used existing works from a variety of cultures and time periods and either rewrites the story with modern sensibilities or creates new stories using ideas from multiple sources. Culture and the formation of a cultural identity is also a major theme in several of his works. In these stories, he explores the formation of cultural identity during periods in history where Japan was most open to outside influences. An example of this is his story ''Hōkyōnin no Shi'' ("The Death of a Disciple", 1918) which is set in the early missionary period.

The portrayal of women in Akutagawa's stories was mainly shaped by the influence of three women who acted as his mother figures. Most significant was his biological mother Fuku, from whom he worried about inheriting her madness.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Tsuruta |first=Kinya |date=1999 |title=The Defeat of Rationality and the Triumph of Mother "Chaos": Akutagawa Ryūnosuke's Journey |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25791036 |journal=Japan Review |issue=11 |pages=75–94 |jstor=25791036 |issn=0915-0986}}</ref> Although Akutagawa was removed from Fuku eight months after his birth,<ref name=":1" /> he identified strongly with her and believed that, if at any moment he might go mad, life was meaningless. His aunt Fuki played the most prominent role in his upbringing, controlling much of Akutagawa's life as well as demanding much of his attention, especially as she grew older. The women who appear in Akutagawa's stories, much like his mother figures, were for the most part written as dominating, aggressive, deceitful, and selfish. Conversely, men were often represented as the victims of such women.

== Later life ==
[[File:Leg of the horse, manuscript by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, 1925 AD - Edo-Tokyo Museum - Sumida, Tokyo, Japan - DSC06916.jpg|thumb|right|A manuscript page of "Horse Legs", 1925]]
The final phase of Akutagawa's literary career was marked by deteriorating physical and [[mental health]]. Much of his work during this period is distinctly [[autobiography|autobiographical]], some with text taken directly from his diaries. His works during this period include ''Daidōji Shinsuke no hansei'' ("{{ill|The Early Life of Daidōji Shinsuke|ja|大導寺信輔の半生}}", 1925) and ''Tenkibo'' ("{{ill|Death Register|ja|点鬼簿}}", 1926).

At this time, Akutagawa had a highly publicized dispute with [[Jun'ichirō Tanizaki]] over the importance of structure versus lyricism in stories. Akutagawa argued that structure (how the story was told) was more important than the content or plot of the story, whereas Tanizaki argued the opposite.

Akutagawa's final works include ''[[Kappa (novella)|Kappa]]'' (1927), a [[satire]] based on the [[Kappa (folklore)|eponymous creature]] from [[Japanese folklore]], ''Haguruma'' ("{{ill|Spinning Gears|ja|歯車 (小説)}}" or "Cogwheels", 1927), ''Aru ahō no isshō'' ("{{ill|A Fool's Life|ja|或阿呆の一生}}" or "The Life of a Stupid Man"), and ''Bungeiteki na, amari ni bungeiteki na'' ("{{ill|Literary, All Too Literary|ja|文芸的な、余りに文芸的な}}", 1927).

Towards the end of his life, Akutagawa suffered from visual [[hallucinations]] and anxiety over the fear that he had inherited his mother's mental disorder.{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}} In 1927, he survived a [[suicide attempt]], together with a friend of his wife. He later died of suicide after taking an overdose of [[Veronal]], which had been given to him by [[Mokichi Saitō]] on 24 July of the same year. In his [[suicide note]], addressed to his friend [[Masao Kume]], he wrote that he felt a {{nihongo|"vague insecurity"|ぼんやりした不安|bon'yari shita fuan}} about the future.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000879/files/20_14619.html|title=芥川龍之介 或旧友へ送る手記|website=www.aozora.gr.jp}}</ref> He was 35 years old.<ref>{{cite m<!---->ag |title=JAPAN: Gulliver in a Kimono |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,798064-2,00.html |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622001302/https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,798064-2,00.html |archive-date=June 22, 2023 |date=August 25, 1947 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Legacy and adaptations ==
During the course of his short life, Akutagawa wrote 150 short stories.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/ryunosuke-akutagawa-david-peace/|title=There'd be dragons|last=Peace|first=David|date=27 March 2018|work=The Times Literary Supplement|access-date=4 March 2019}}</ref> A number of these have been adapted into other media. [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s famous 1950 film ''[[Rashomon (movie)|Rashōmon]]'' retells Akutagawa's "[[In a Grove]]", with the title and the frame scenes set in the Rashomon Gate taken from Akutagawa's "Rashōmon".<ref>Arita, Eriko, "[http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120318x3.html Ryunosuke Akutagawa in focus]", ''[[Japan Times]]'', 18 March 2012, p. 8.</ref> Ukrainian composer [[Victoria Poleva]] wrote the ballet ''Gagaku'' (1994), based on Akutagawa's "[[Hell Screen]]". Japanese composer [[Mayako Kubo]] wrote an [[opera]] entitled ''Rashomon'', based on Akutagawa's story. The German version premiered in Graz, Austria in 1996, and the Japanese version in Tokyo in 2002. The central conceit of the story (i.e. conflicting accounts of the same events from different points of view, with none "definitive") has entered into storytelling as an accepted trope.

In 1930, [[Tatsuo Hori]], a writer, who saw himself as a disciple of Akutagawa, published his short story "[[Sei Kazoku|Sei kazoku]]" (literally "The Holy Family"), which was written under the impression of Akutagawa's death<ref name="Kotobank">{{cite web|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%A0%80%E8%BE%B0%E9%9B%84-134355 |title=堀辰雄 (Hori Tatsuo) |website=Kotobank |language=ja |access-date=3 September 2021}}</ref> and even paid reference to the dead mentor in the shape of the deceased character Kuki.<ref name="watanabe">{{cite book|first=Kakuji |last=Watanabe |title=Japanische Meister der Erzählung |publisher=Walter Dorn Verlag |location=Bremen |year=1960 |language=de}}</ref> In 1935, Akutagawa's lifelong friend [[Kan Kikuchi]] established the [[literary award]] for promising new writers, the [[Akutagawa Prize]], in his honor.

In 2020 [[NHK]] produced and aired the film ''A Stranger in Shanghai''. It depicts Akutagawa's time as a reporter in the city and stars [[Ryuhei Matsuda]].<ref>{{cite press release | last=World-Japan | first=Nhk | title=A Stranger in Shanghai, Dramatic Film that Captures Tumult of 1920's Shanghai, Makes International Broadcast Premiere on NHK WORLD-JAPAN December 27, 28 | website=GlobeNewswire News Room | date=2019-12-03 | url=https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2019/12/03/1955593/0/en/A-Stranger-in-Shanghai-Dramatic-Film-that-Captures-Tumult-of-1920-s-Shanghai-Makes-International-Broadcast-Premiere-on-NHK-WORLD-JAPAN-December-27-28.html | access-date=2021-10-02}}</ref>

==Selected works==
{{Expand Japanese|topic=bio|section=yes|%E8%8A%A5%E5%B7%9D%E9%BE%8D%E4%B9%8B%E4%BB%8B#%E8%91%97%E4%BD%9C|date=October 2022}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Japanese title
! English title(s)
! English translator(s)
|-
|| 1914 || 老年<br>''Rōnen'' || "Old Age" || Ryan Choi
|-
|| 1915 || 羅生門<br>''Rashōmon'' || "[[Rashōmon (short story)|Rashōmon]]" || Glen Anderson; Takashi Kojima; [[Jay Rubin]]; Glenn W. Shaw
|-
|rowspan="4"| 1916 || 鼻<br>''Hana'' || "[[The Nose (Akutagawa short story)|The Nose]]" || Glen Anderson; Takashi Kojima; Jay Rubin; Glen W. Shaw
|-
| 芋粥<br>''Imogayu'' || "Yam Gruel" || Takashi Kojima
|-
| 手巾<br>''Hankechi'' || "The Handkerchief" || Charles De Wolf; Glenn W. Shaw
|-
| 煙草と悪魔<br>''Tabako to Akuma'' || "Tobacco and the Devil" || Glenn W. Shaw
|-
|rowspan="3"| 1917  || 尾形了斎覚え書<br> ''Ogata Ryōsai Oboe gaki'' || "Dr. Ogata Ryosai: Memorandum" || Jay Rubin
|-
| 戯作三昧<br> ''Gesaku zanmai'' || "Absorbed in Letters" ||
|-
| 首が落ちた話<br> ''Kubi ga ochita hanashi'' || "The Story of a Head That Fell Off" || Jay Rubin
|- 
|rowspan="6"| 1918 || 蜘蛛の糸<br> ''Kumo no Ito'' || "[[The Spider's Thread]]" || Dorothy Britton; Charles De Wolf; Bryan Karetnyk; Takashi Kojima; Howard Norman; Jay Rubin; Glenn W. Shaw
|-
| 地獄変<br> ''Jigokuhen'' || "[[Hell Screen]]" || Bryan Karetnyk; Takashi Kojima; Howard Norman; Jay Rubin
|-
| 枯野抄<br> ''Kareno shō'' || "A Commentary on the Desolate Field for Bashou" || O’er a Withered Moor Charles De Wolf
|-
| 邪宗門<br> ''Jashūmon'' || "Jashūmon" || W.H.H. Norman
|-
| 奉教人の死<br> ''Hōkyōnin no Shi'' || "The Death of a Disciple" || Charles De Wolf
|-
| 袈裟と盛遠<br> ''Kesa to Moritō'' || "Kesa and Morito" || Takashi Kojima; Charles De Wolf
|-
|rowspan="3"| 1919 || 開花の良人<br> ''Kaika no Otto'' || "An Enlightened Husband || Charles De Wolf
|-
| 魔術<br> ''Majutsu'' || "Magic" ||
|-
| 竜<br> ''Ryū'' || "[[Dragon: the Old Potter's Tale]]" || Jay Rubin
|-
|rowspan="5"| 1920 || 舞踏会<br> ''Butōkai'' || "A Ball" || Glenn W. Shaw
|-
| 秋<br> ''Aki'' || "Autumn" || Charles De Wolf
|-
| 南京の基督<br> ''Nankin no Kirisuto'' || "Christ in Nanking" || Van C. Gessel
|-
| 杜子春<br> ''Toshishun'' || "Tu Tze-chun" || Dorothy Britton
|-
| アグニの神<br> ''Aguni no Kami'' || "Agni" || Glen Anderson
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1921 || 山鴫<br> ''Yama-shigi'' || "A Snipe" ||
|-
| 秋山図<br> ''Shūzanzu'' || "[[Autumn Mountain]]" ||
|-
| 上海游記<br> ''Shanhai Yūki'' || "A Report on the Journey of Shanghai" ||
|-
|rowspan="3"| 1922 || 藪の中<br> ''Yabu no Naka'' || "[[In a Grove]]," or "In a Bamboo Grove" || Glen Anderson; Bryan Karetnyk; Takashi Kojima; Jay Rubin
|-
| 将軍<br> ''Shōgun'' || "The General" || Bryan Karetnyk; W.H.H. Norman
|-
| トロッコ<br> ''Torokko'' || "[[Minecart (novel)|Minecart]]" ||
|-
| rowspan = "2"| 1923 || 保吉の手帳から<br> ''Yasukichi no Techō kara'' || "From Yasukichi's Notebook" ||
|-
| 侏儒の言葉<br> ''Shuju no Kotoba'' || "Aphorisms by a Pygmy" ||
|-
| rowspan= "2"| 1924 || 一塊の土<br> ''Ikkai no Tsuchi'' || "A Clod of Earth" || Takashi Kojima
|-
| 創作<br> ''Sousaku''|| "Writer's Craft" ||Jay Rubin
|-
| 1925 || 大導寺信輔の半生<br> ''Daidōji Shinsuke no Hansei'' || "Daidōji Shinsuke: The Early Years" || Jay Rubin
|-
| 1926 || 点鬼簿<br> ''Tenkibo'' || "Death Register" ||Jay Rubin
|-
|rowspan="8"| 1927 || 玄鶴山房<br> ''Genkaku Sanbō'' || "Genkaku Sanbo" || Takashi Kojima
|-
| 蜃気楼<br> ''Shinkirō'' || "A Mirage" ||
|-
| 河童<br> ''Kappa'' || "[[Kappa (novel)|Kappa]]" || [[Geoffrey Bownas]]; Seiichi Shiojiri
|-
| 仙人<br> ''Sennin'' || "The Wizard" || Charles De Wolf  
|-
| 文芸的な、余りに文芸的な<br> ''Bungei-teki na, amarini Bungei-teki na'' || "Literary, All-Too-Literary" ||
|-
| 歯車<br> ''Haguruma'' || "Spinning Gears" or "Cogwheels" || Charles De Wolf; Howard Norman; Jay Rubin
|-
| 或阿呆の一生<br> ''Aru Ahō no Isshō'' || "A Fool's Life" or "The Life of a Fool" || Charles De Wolf; Jay Rubin
|-
| 西方の人<br> ''Saihō no Hito'' || "The Man of the West" ||
|-
| 1927 || 或旧友へ送る手記<br> ''Aru Kyūyū e Okuru Shuki'' || "[[A Note to a Certain Old Friend]]"
|}

== Works in English translation ==
*'''''Eminent Authors of Contemporary Japan, Vol. 2'''''. Trans. Eric S. Bell & Eiji Ukai. Tokyo: Kaitakusha, 1930(?).
::<small>The Spider's Web.--The Autumn.--The Nose.</small>
*'''''Tales Grotesque and Curious'''''. Trans. Glenn W. Shaw. Tokyo: The Hokuseido Press, 1930.
::<small>Tobacco and the devil.--The nose.--The handkerchief.--Rashōmon.--Lice.--The spider's thread.--The wine worm.--The badger.--The ball.--The pipe.--Mōri Sensei.</small>
*'''''Hell Screen and Other Stories'''''. Trans. W.H.H. Norman. Tokyo: The Hokuseido Press, 1948.
::<small>Jigokuhen.--Jashūmon.--The General.--Mensura Zoilii.</small>
*'''''Kappa'''''. Trans. Seiichi Shiojiri. Tokyo: The Hokuseido Press, 1951.
*'''''The Three Treasures'''''. Trans. Sasaki Takamasa. Tokyo: The Hokuseido Press, 1951.
*'''''The Real Tripitaka and Other Pieces'''''. George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1952.
::<small>"San Sebastian" translated by Arthur Waley.</small>
*'''''Rashomon and Other Stories'''''. Trans. Takashi Kojima. [[Tuttle Publishing|Charles E. Tuttle Co.]], 1952.
::<small>In a Grove.--Rashomon.--Yam Gruel.--The Martyr.--Kesa and Morito.--The Dragon.</small>
::<small>Not to be confused with a book of the same title that contains translations by Shaw, published by Hara Shobo in 1964 and reprinted in 1976.</small><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofli0000unse_w8x0/page/n5/mode/2up |title=The Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English, Vol. 1 |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn |year=2000 |isbn=9780203825501 |editor-last=Classe |editor-first=Olive |location=London & Chicago |pages=31}}</ref>
*'''''Modern Japanese Literature'''''. Grove/Atlantic, 1956. 
::<small>"Kesa and Morito" translated by Howard Hibbett.</small>
*'''''Modern Japanese Stories: An Anthology'''''. UNESCO, 1961.
::<small>"Autumn Mountain" translated by Ivan Morris.</small>
*'''''Posthumous Works of Ryunosuke Akutagawa: His Life, Suicide, & Christ'''''. Trans. Akio Inoue. 1961.
::<small>A Note Forwarded to a Certain Old Friend.--Life of a Certain Fool.--Western Man.--Western Man Continued.</small>
*'''''Japanese Short Stories'''''. Trans. Takashi Kojima. New York: Liveright Pub. Corp., 1961.
::<small>The Hell Screen.--A Clod of Soil.--Nezumi-Kozo.--Heichu, the Amorous Genius.--Genkaku-Sanbo.--Otomi's Virginity.--The Spider's Thread.--The Nose.--The Tangerines.--The Story of Yonosuke.</small>
*'''''Exotic Japanese stories: The Beautiful and the Grotesque'''''. Trans. Takashi Kojima & John McVittie. New York: Liveright Pub. Corp., 1964.
::<small>The Robbers.--The Dog, Shiro.--The Handkerchief.--The Dolls.--Gratitude.--The Faith of Wei Shêng.--The Lady, Roku-no-miya.--The Kappa.--Saigô Takamori.--The Greeting.--Withered Fields.--Absorbed in letters.--The Garden.--The Badger.--Heresy (Jashumon).--A Woman's Body.</small>
::<small>Reissued by Liveright in 2010 as ''The Beautiful and the Grotesque''.</small><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Beautiful and the Grotesque |url=https://wwnorton.com/books/9780871401922/about-the-book/description |access-date=2022-10-26 |website=wwnorton.com |language=en}}</ref>
*'''''Tu Tze-Chun'''''. Trans. Dorothy Britton. Tokyo: [[Kodansha|Kodansha International]], 1965.
*'''''Kappa'''''. Trans. Geoffrey Bownas. London: [[Peter Owen Publishers]], 1970. {{ISBN|072064870X}}
*'''''A Fool's Life'''''. Trans. Will Petersen. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1970. {{ISBN|0670323500}}
*'''''La fille au chapeau rouge'''''. Trans. Lalloz ed. Picquier (1980). in {{ISBN|978-2-87730-200-5}} (French edition)
*'''''Cogwheels and Other Stories'''''. Trans. Howard Norman. Oakville, Ontario: [[Mosaic Press]], 1982. {{ISBN|0889621772}}
::<small>Cogwheels.--Hell Screen.--The Spider's Thread.</small>
*'''''The Spider's Thread and Other Stories'''''. Trans. Dorothy Britton. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1987. {{ISBN|4061860275}}
::<small>The Spider's Thread.--The Art of the Occult.--Tu Tze-chun.--The Wagon.--The Tangerines.-- The Nose.-- The Dolls.-- Whitie.</small> 
*'''''Hell screen. Cogwheels. A Fool's Life'''''. Eridanos Press, 1987. {{ISBN|0941419029}}
::<small>Reprints Kojima and Petersen translations; "Cogwheels" translated by Cid Corman and Susumu Kamaike.</small>
*'''''Akutagawa & Dazai: Instances of Literary Adaptation'''''. Trans. James O'Brien. Tempe, Arizona: Arizona State University Press, 1988. {{ISBN|093925218X}}
::<small>The Clown's Mask.--The Immortal.--Rashō Gate.--Hell Screen.--Within a Grove.--The Shadow.</small>
*'''''The Kyoto Collection: Stories from the Japanese'''''. 1989
::<small>"The Faint Smiles of the Gods" translated by Tomoyoshi Genkawa & Bernard Susser.</small>
*'''''Travels in China''''' (''Shina yuki''). Trans. Joshua Fogel. ''Chinese Studies in History'' 30, no. 4 (1997).
*'''''The Essential Akutagawa'''''. New York: Marsilio Publishers, 1999. {{ISBN|1568860617}}
::<small>Rashomon.--The Nose.--Kesa and Morito.--The Spider's Thread.--Hell Screen.--The Ball.--Tu Tze-chun.--Autumn Mountain.--In a Grove.--The Faint Smiles of the Gods.--San Sebastian.--Cogwheels.--A Fool's Life.--A Note to a Certain Old Friend.</small>
::<small>"Rashomon," "The Nose," "The Spider's Thread," "The Ball," & "In a Grove" translated by Seiji M. Lippit; "A Note to a Certain Old Friend" translated by Beongcheon Yu. Reprints translations by Britton, Corman & Kamaike, Genkawa & Susser, Hibbett, Kojima, Morris, Petersen, & Waley.</small>
*'''''Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories'''''. Trans. [[Jay Rubin]]. Penguin Classics, 2006. {{ISBN|0140449701}}
::<small>Rashomon.--In a Bamboo Grove.--The Nose.--Dragon: The Old Potter's Tale.--The Spider Thread.--Hell Screen.--Dr. Ogata Ryosai: Memorandum.--O-Gin.--Loyalty.--The Story of a Head That Fell Off.--Green Onions.--Horse Legs.--Daidoji Shinsuke: The Early Years.--The Writer's Craft.--The Baby's Sickness.--Death Register.--The Life of a Stupid Man.--Spinning Gears.</small>
*'''''The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature, Vol. 1: From Restoration to Occupation, 1868-1945'''''. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. {{ISBN|0231118600}}
::<small>"The Nose" translated by Ivan Morris and "Christ of Nanking" translated by Van C. Gessel; also has three of Akutagawas [[haiku]]s translated by Makoto Ueda.</small>
*'''''A Fool's Life'''''. Trans. Anthony Barnett & Toraiwa Naoko. Lewes, England: Allardyce Books, 2007. {{ISBN|9780907954354}}
*'''''Mandarins'''''. Trans. Charles De Wolf. [[Archipelago Books]], 2007. {{ISBN|9780977857609}}
::<small>Mandarins.--At the Seashore.--An Evening Conversation.--The Handkerchief.--An Enlightened Husband.--Autumn.--Winter.--Fortune.--Kesa and Morito.--The Death of a Disciple.--O’er a Withered Moor.--The Garden.--The Life of a Fool.--The Villa of the Black Crane.--Cogwheels.</small>
*'''''3 Strange Tales'''''. Trans. Glen Anderson. New York: One Peace Books, 2012. {{ISBN|9781935548126}}
::<small>Rashomon.--A Christian Death.--Agni.--In a Grove. [''sic'']</small>
*'''''Murder in the Age of Enlightenment: Essential Stories'''''. Trans. Bryan Karetnyk. London: [[Pushkin Press]], 2020. {{ISBN|9781782275558}}
::<small>The Spider's Thread.--In a Grove.--Hell Screen.--Murder in the Age of Enlightenment.--The General.--Madonna in Black.--Cogwheels.</small>
*'''''In Dreams: The Very Short Stories of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa'''''. Trans. Ryan Choi. London: [[Paper + Ink]], 2023. {{ISBN|
9781911475569}}
::<small>Old Age.--In Dreams.--The Heron and the Mandarin Duck.--A Certain Socialist.--Sentences and Words.--Duck Hunting.--A Case of Two Fakes.--A Game of Tag.--Merchant Virgin Mary.--Jun'ichirō Tanizaki.--Pagoda Trees.--Frogs.--Kimono.--Snow.--Eastern Autumn.--Swamps I & II.--Kanzan and Jittoku.--Frosty Night.--Collecting Books.--River Fish Market--Dialogue with Hiroshi.--Tiger Stories.--A Moral Point.--Kachikachi Mountain.--Sennin.--Senjo.--Birthing Hut.--Masks.--As Food.--Hardship.--Strong Gifted Man, Weak Gifted Man.--The Women I Like in Romance Novels.--Flowers of the Sal Tree.--Garden Verdure.--On a Sunny Spring Day, Walking Idly Alone.--The Parrot: Notes on the Great Earthquake.--On Applause.--Memories from the Red Gate.--Yokosuka Scenes.--In the City (or Tokyo 1916).--Spring Nights.--Notes on Delirium.--Twenty Remarks on China.--Selected Notes from Kugenuma.--Ten Thorns.--Record of Eyes and Ears.--Nagasaki.--Karuizawa.--Hack Writer: A Play.--Tiger Stories: A Play)</small>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== English ===
* Keene, Donald. ''Dawn to the West''. Columbia University Press; (1998). {{ISBN|0-231-11435-4}}
* Ueda, Makoto. ''Modern Japanese Writers and the Nature of Literature''. Stanford University Press (1971). {{ISBN|0-8047-0904-1}}
* ''Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories'' - the Chronology Chapter, Trans. Jay Rubin. Penguin Classics (2007). {{ISBN|978-0-14-303984-6}}

=== Japanese ===
* Nakada, Masatoshi. ''Akutagawa Ryunosuke: Shosetsuka to haijin''. Kanae Shobo (2000). {{ISBN|4-907846-03-7}}
* Shibata, Takaji. ''Akutagawa Ryunosuke to Eibungaku''. Yashio Shuppansha (1993). {{ISBN|4-89650-091-1}}
* Takeuchi, Hiroshi. ''Akutagawa Ryunosuke no keiei goroku''. PHP Kenkyujo (1983). {{ISBN|4-569-21026-0}}
* Tomoda, Etsuo. ''Shoki Akutagawa Ryunosuke ron''. Kanrin Shobo (1984). {{ISBN|4-906424-49-X}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Ryūnosuke Akutagawa}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource|Author:Ryūnosuke Akutagawa|Ryūnosuke Akutagawa}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=772| name=Ryunosuke Akutagawa}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Ryūnosuke Akutagawa}}
* {{Librivox author |id=3091}}
* [https://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2018/07/03/translation-tuesday-three-stories-by-ryunosuke-akutagawa/ Short works in English translation] (from [[Asymptote (journal)]]).
* [https://yalereview.org/article/four-japanese-stories/ Short stories in English translation] (from ''[[The Yale Review]]'').
* [http://www.aozora.gr.jp/index_pages/person879.html Akutagawa Ryunosuke on aozora.gr.jp] (complete texts with [[furigana]])
* [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LE74DO Akutagawa Ryunosuke on Amazon Kindle Store] (Japanese texts with furigana)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061001135318/http://www.city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp/bunka/bunjinroku/akutagawa_e.htm Literary Figures from Kamakura]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080530114844/http://www.horror-house.jp/e/cat4/ryunosuke-akutagawa-18921927.html Ryunosuke Akutagawa's grave]
* {{Books and Writers |id=akuta |name=Ryūnosuke Akutagawa}}
* [http://indisch.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/rashomon-and-seventeen-other-stories-akutagawa-ryunosuke/ Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories]
* [http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/item/943-ryunosuke-akutagawa J'Lit | Authors : Ryunosuke Akutagawa | Books from Japan] {{in lang|en}}

{{Ryūnosuke Akutagawa}}
{{In a Grove}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Akutagawa, Ryunosuke}}
[[Category:Ryūnosuke Akutagawa| ]]
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