The four prints in this case were among twelve selected to accompany the English translation of A Fool’s Life by Akutagawa Ryūnosuke (1892–1927). Discovered and published after his suicide, A Fool’s Life consists of 51 fleeting sections, some based on his real life and others imaginary. Tanaka did not create the prints expressly for Akutagawa or the story; the publisher, Mushinsha, had requested to reproduce Tanaka’s prints as illustrations for the translation because they were in the publisher’s collection. The everyday sights in Tanaka’s prints—a retaining wall; a handful of dried fish; a massive tree; a freshly picked bamboo shoot— echo the protagonist’s growing solitude.
