Classics

A thrillingly dark novel from 'Japan's Agatha Christie' (Sunday Times)While on a business trip to Kobe, Tsuneo Asai receives the news that his wife Eiko has died of a heart...

Translated by Nick Bradley Discover the original Japanese Cat classic, now in a vibrant new translation by Nick Bradley, author of The Cat and the City.'I am a Cat. But I...

The Full Story Behind Sun Tzu's Masterpiece! Illustrated by Takashi MomonariAdapted by Yoshihiro Watanabe Learn the full back story behind the world's greatest book on military strategy! The Art of...

Twenty-two Short Stories by Japan's Master Storyteller Translated by Richard Medhurst Akutagawa displays an insightful and keenly creative intelligence in prose so lucid its sophistication is hardly visible.' Chris Power, The Guardian...

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin BooksRazor-sharp, pugnacious and blackly funny, Wang Xiaobo's essays established him as one of China's most popular - and subversive - writers. From...

THE LONG-AWAITED SEQUEL TO WILD SWANS, THE MULTI-MILLION COPY INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING SENSATION Jung Chang’s Wild Swans was a book that defined a generation, an epic personal history of Jung, her mother and grandmother...

Illustrated by Inko Ai Takita, adapted by Sean Michael Wilson Step into a story of life and love in Kyoto's 10th century royal court. The Tale of Genji tells the...

A thrilling crime classic, from the bestselling author of Tokyo Express Tokyo, 1960. As the first rays of morning light hit the rails at Kamata Station, a man's body is found...

In the Tokyo suburbs four women work the graveyard shift at a factory. Burdened with heavy debts, alienated from husbands and children, they all secretly dream of a way out...

Considered one of Mishima's masterpieces, this novel is a fictionalised version of real events - the torching of a Kyoto temple by a disturbed Buddhist acolyte in 1950.Mizoguchi grows up...

The second book in Mishima's Sea of Fertility tetraology - this is a story of political violence, traditional samurai values and nihilism.Isao is a young, engaging patriot, and a fanatical...

The fourth and final book in Mishima's landmark tetralogy, The Sea of FertilityThe dramatic climax of The Sea of Fertility tetraology.It is the 1960s and Honda, now an aged and wealthy man, discovers...

The third novel in Mishima's masterful Sea of Fertility tetralogyMishima's literary powers are on full display in his penultimate novel, a meditation on reincarnation and Buddhist philosophy.Honda, a brilliant lawyer and man...

A story of a frustrated, confined woman who becomes lost in a psychological maze of her own creation - a labyrinth of jealousy, loneliness and longing.Etsuko is a trapped woman...

A new selection of lyrically haunting short stories from a Japanese literary iconA writer is seized by apocalyptic visions; a voyeuristic marquis commits a brutal act; and a trio of...

No one really understands how we suffer. One day, when we're adults, we may come to recall this suffering, this misery, as silly and laughable, but how are we to...

A beautiful hardback edition of a great Japanese classic, beautiful, lyrical and deeply ominous. A band of savage thirteen-year-old boys reject the adult world as illusory, hypocritical, and sentimental, and...

Two cult-favorite Japanese artists present eerie graphic adaptations of 9 classic Kafka short stories, with hypnotic illustrations that will appeal to fans of Junji Ito Franz Kafka’s work is given...

Translated by Louise Heal Kawai A beautifully written mystery novel that takes on the taboo of Japanese prostitution catering to GIs during the American post-war occupation. Tokyo 1958, Teiko marries...

A timeless psychological study of a young man's deep alienation from society. Set in the early 20th century, Kokoro opens with a chance encounter on a beach near Tokyo that...

Translated by Bryan Karetnyk A classic Japanese mystery —a pair of sleuths investigate a series of bloody murders in 19th century Tokyo Tokyo, 1869. It is the dawn of the...

This eloquent work on the Japanese sense of beauty explores the subtle interplay of shade and light in several important aspects of Japanese life — architecture, drama, food, femininity and...

The poignant and fascinating story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a northern Japanese aristocratic family and the impact of Western ideas....

The essential writings of China’s first iconic modern intellectual, intent on reforming an entire nation, now published for the first time in Penguin Classics The power, anger, and fluency of...

One of the classic works by the master of Japanese detective fiction A super-criminal - as deadly as she is beautiful - wagers all in an epic battle with a...

Translated by Donald Keene This powerful novel of a nation in social and moral crisis was first published by New Directions in 1956. Set in the early postwar years, it...

Translated by John Nathan Bird, the protagonist of A Personal Matter, is a frustrated young intellectual in a failing marriage whose utopian dream is shattered when his wife gives birth...

A Kafaesque marvel and a biting satire of bureaucracy, medicine and modern life In Tokyo, in the middle of the night, an uncalled-for ambulance arrives to spirit away a man's...

In 20 short books, Penguin Classics brings you the new canon of great environmental works Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As humans have driven the...

A hardboiled detective story that combines the narrative suspense of Chandler with the psychological suspense of Dostoevsky Mr Nemuro, a respected salesman, disappeared over half a year ago, but only...

Introducing the Collins Modern Classics, a series featuring some of the most significant books of recent times, books that shed light on the human experience – classics which will endure...

The Old Capital is one of the three works for which Yasunari Kawabata won the 1968 Nobel Prize for Literature. Set in Kyoto — the old capital of Japan for...

Translated by Norma Moore Field Soseki Natsume is considered to be one of Japan's most beloved and respected authors.And Then is ranked as one of his most insightful and stirring...

Translated from the Chinese by Gigi Chang and Shelly Bryant THE CHINESE "LORD OF THE RINGS" — NOW IN ENGLISH FOR THE FIRST TIME. THE SERIES EVERY CHINESE READER HAS...

A Modern Translation of Japan's Gardening Classic Learn the art of Japanese gardening with this classic, fascinating text. The Sakuteiki, or "Records of Garden Making," was written nearly one thousand...

Illustrated by Inko Ai Takita, adapted by Sean Michael Wilson Step into a story of life and love in Kyoto's 10th century royal court. The Tale of Genji tells the...

'One never tires of reading and re-reading his best works. Akutagawa was a born short-story writer' — Haruki MurakamiThe stories in this fantastical, unconventional collection are subtly wrought depictions of...

Offering ancient wisdom on how to use skill, cunning, tactics and discipline to outwit your opponent, this bestselling 2000-year-old military manual is still worshipped by soldiers on the battlefield and...

The tale of a cat with no name but great wisdom! Illustrated by Zack Davisson and Chiroru Kobato Japan's beloved literary masterpiece brought to life in manga form! Soseki Natsume's...

Kobo Abe's existential and entertaining masterpiece 'This is the record of a box man' The streets of Tokyo have been seeing a strange phenomenon recently — people who have decided...

Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching is the source of Zen Buddhism, and is probably the most broadly influential spiritual text in human history. Complete & Unabridged.This edition is translated and...

Translated by James Legge 'The wise are free from perplexities; the virtuous from anxiety; and the bold from fear.' Born Kong Qiu (孔丘) in what is now eastern China, Confucius...

A fiendish classic murder mystery, from one of Japan's greatest crime writers. In 1940s Japan, the wealthy head of the Inugami Clan dies, setting off a chain of bizarre, gruesome...

Spring Snow is the first book of Mishima’s masterpiece tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility. The novel is set in Tokyo in 1912, in the closed circles of the imperial court...

Translated by Simon GroveA new edition of this prizewinning classic mystery from one of Japan's best-loved crime writers.A building full of secrets. A key that will unleash them all...The K...

Loosely inspired by Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, the fiendish Gokumon Island is perhaps the most highly regarded of all the great Seishi Yokomizo's classic Japanese mysteries.Kosuke Kindaichi...

Translated by Marie Iida and Allison Markin Powell*THE JAPANESE CRIME CLASSIC — ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD*Tokyo, 1995. Five men meet at the racetrack every Sunday to bet on horses. They...

'Look for your sister after each dive. Never forget. If you see her, you are safe.'This is the story of Hana and her little sister Emi, who are part of...

Translated by Ho-Ling Wong A classic Japanese murder mystery inspired by the golden age of British crimewriting. The members of a university mystery club decide to visit an island which...

Introducing Little Clothbound Classics — irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. Territory of Light is the...