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The Wanderer
Nagare yuku mono cover
Title The Wanderer
Romaji Title Nagare Yuku Mono
Kanji Title 流れ行く者
Author Nahoko Uehashi
Illustrator Makiko Futaki
Miho Satake
Publication Order
Preceded by
Guardian of Heaven and Earth
Followed by
Those Who Walk the Flame Road
Japanese
Publisher Kaisei-sha (hardcover)
Shinchosha (paperback)
Publication date

April 2008

ISBN

ISBN 978-4-03-540360-9

English
Translator

Ainikki

The Wanderer (流れ行く者, Nagare Yuku Mono) is the eighth volume in the Moribito series written by Nahoko Uehashi. In contrast to the previous books in the series, The Wanderer is a collection of short stories set in the Moribito world. The stories take place in chronological order over a period of six months or so.

Plot Introduction[]

A collection of prequel stories to the series, The Wanderer contains four stories: Floating Rice Husks (浮き籾, Uki Momi), Rafura (ラフラ), The Wanderer (流れ行く者, Nagare Yuku Mono), and Cold Kindness (寒のふるまい, Kan no Furumai).

Tanda, a sensitive eleven-year-old boy, adores Balsa, who is drifting about with her "stepfather", fleeing from a plot against them. They try to find out about a curse in the village and discover the painful secret of a dead wastrel.

Contents[]

  • Floating Rice Husks: Uki Momi (浮き籾)
  • The Gambler: Rafura (ラフラ)
  • The Wanderer: (流れ行く者, Nagare Yuku Mono)
  • Cold Kindness: Kan no Furumai (寒のふるまい)
  • Author's Notes

Synopses[]

Floating Rice Husks[]

"Floating Rice Husks" focuses on Tanda and Balsa as children. Tanda's beloved Uncle Onza is killed by a wild dog. Onza's older brother, Taroka, doesn't bury him properly, and more wild dog attacks occur. Rumors spread that Onza might have cursed the village, especially after an infestation of blackbugs arrives the day after Onza's burial. The villagers fear that Onza's vengeful spirit has cursed them. Tanda, wishing to exonerate his uncle's spirit, enlists Balsa to help him determine the truth behind the rumors.

The story also deals with Tanda's difficulties in fitting in among his family and his neighbors; much like Onza, he feels like a rice husk floating on water, useless and adrift. It shows the relationship between Tanda and Balsa - his sensitivity and compassion, towards everything from people to fish to insects to trees, and her difficulty in expressing emotions, which she hides behind cruel teasing and bold independence. When Tanda goes to find Balsa at Torogai's hut, she has been left alone there by Torogai and Jiguro, who are in Kosenkyo on business, and she remains alone and self-sufficient for the month-or-more duration of the story.

Scenes of daily life in the rural Yaku/Yogo village where Tanda lives (likely Yashiro) are also shown: how the crops are tended and pests repelled, how the villagers distribute labor, how the traditional Yaku hunter-gatherer lifestyle differs from the agrarian Yogoese lifestyle, as well as fishing techniques, medicine making, cooking, traditions surrounding marriage and death, and a religious festival. At the end of the story, despite the fact that it is early winter, Balsa and Jiguro must depart abruptly for Rota, as their pursuers have discovered their whereabouts. Tanda attempts to bid them farewell, but Jiguro instructs Balsa not to turn back. It is implied that Onza's spirit, which possessed the wild dog that killed him, is laid to rest when Balsa delivers a marriage sash to Onza's sister Ori in the village of Yasugi on her journey towards Rota, but the specifics of the possession, the reason why Ori doesn't have the sash already, and the ultimate fate of Onza's spirit are not given.

The Gambler[]

Now in Rota, Balsa and Jiguro are working at a tavern which hosts many susutto competitions. Balsa witnesses a match between the famous and skilled gambler Lahura and is impressed. She befriends Lahura and learns about susutto, but she also learns that Lahura is beholden to her sponsors, and at the end of the story, those sponsors force Lahura to throw a match and ruin her career. The story ends on an abrupt and defeatist note.

The Wanderer[]

Jiguro is injured while breaking up a fight at the tavern, and after Balsa procures expensive medicine for him, they are forced to leave. They join a caravan transporting toshul, run by the rude and unscrupulous Lord Tokian. Another bodyguard, Sumal, mentors Balsa and laments how his work as a bodyguard has taken his health and his family from him, and even though he saved Tokian's life, Sumal is given no respect. Sumal conspires with bandits to raid the caravan and Balsa and Jiguro are forced to kill him.

This story was partially dramatized in the first season of the NHK Moribito drama.

Cold Comfort[]

This is a very short story detailing Tanda's joy at Balsa's and Jiguro's return to New Yogo for the winter.

Image Gallery[]

References[]

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