The Song of the Gallows — The Final Days of Death Row Inmate No. 410: Japanese-English bilingual book. Kindle Edition

Japanese-English bilingual book.This novel is based on a true story. All characters are pseudonyms.A man killed a child in order to receive a mere 500,000 yen ransom. In 1963, a kidnapping and murder case for profit occurred in Tokyo's downtown area. After a two-year investigation, a poor watchmaker was arrested. Left behind by society's prosperity, he dreamed of rising from the bottom. However, all he gained from the crime was a terrifying future: the death penalty. As his fellow prisoners died one after another at the execution site, he retreated into madness and became a semi-incompetent. However, with the guidance of his prison chaplain, Iida Nanzan, he encountered Buddhism and gradually regained his inner peace. Eventually, through Nanzan's introduction, he joined a tanka poetry club and decided to dedicate his limited time to art. This is the story of a man who continued to search for the meaning of life in extreme circumstances. Read more