In a Grove is an early modernist short story consisting of seven varying accounts of the murder of a samurai, Kanazawa no Takehiro, whose corpse has been found in a bamboo forest near Kyoto. Each section simultaneously clarifies and obfuscates what the reader knows about the murder, eventually creating a complex and contradictory vision of events that brings into question humanity's ability or willingness to perceive and transmit objective truth.
Over at Feedbooks I found this short story by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, which is included in Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories, but titled In a Bamboo Grove. Two other short stories, Rashoumon and Hana, are also available there. My recommendation is to start with this one, it's the most compelling of the three (but feel free to disagree). All the stories are set in medieval Japan.
[ Written once upon a time ago : Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories ]
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