Nagai Kafu wrote many poetic essays as well as stories that, although infused with realism, retain their lyricism. He battled the coarseness of the world around him through the way he chose to live, continually at odds with the modernization of Japan. Kafu initially began as a naturalist writer under the influence of Emile Zola, but he flourished as an antinaturalist author whose work represented an aesthetic mode. He was deeply drawn to the culture of the Edo period and reflected that interest in his writings, and he adopted features of the life of an Edo man of culture into his own. Unlike the many writers who collaborated with the military government during World War II, Kafu was one of a handful of authors who coldly turned his back on the war effort.

Nagai Kafu (whose given name was Nagai Skichi), the eldest son of Kyuichir and Tsune...