"'In a small castle town nestled in the mountains, the arrival of the early autumn wind could be heard.' This is a passage from the masterpiece "Ishibumi" (Stone Monument) by the author Yoshihide Nakayama, and the small castle town refers to Naganuma Town in Fukushima Prefecture. This literary monument stands at the foot of the ruins of Naganuma Castle in this town. The monument is a black marble plaque embedded in a rock wall. Even today, visiting this place, it is a small rural town with fields and mountains stretching out, and it lacks the atmosphere of a castle town. It flourished in the past when the road from Shirakawa, through Naganuma-juku, and over the Seishido Pass to Aizu-Wakamatsu was called the Aizu Kaido. The daimyo of the Aizu domain are said to have passed through here during their sankin-kotai (alternate attendance) journeys. It was also a strategic transportation hub connecting to Sukagawa and Koriyama on the Oshu Kaido, but in the Meiji era, the main transportation routes shifted elsewhere, and the feudal system collapsed, causing the towns and villages along the old roads to decline. Yoshihide Nakayama's hometown was the neighboring Daishin Village, and now a memorial literary museum has been built next to the village office to honor his achievements and highlight the beauty of the local area depicted in his works. He is said to have lived here for over two hundred years, from before the Meireki era in the mid-17th century until the early Meiji era. However, after a certain incident, his ancestors left the town and scattered. That incident is the event depicted in "Ishibumi," and according to the essay "Ishibumi no Aki" (Autumn of the Stone Monument), it was a "family disgrace" and an "unfortunate event" that no one wanted to make public. It occurred on the old calendar date of August 25th in the 3rd year of Meiji, which corresponds to September 23rd on the solar calendar, when autumn was already well underway. It was an incident caused by the brothers of his grandfather, who was a samurai. The younger brother went mad and killed his mother, and the elder brother, unable to leave it at that, avenged her. This happened before revenge killings were prohibited. Yoshihide recounts the tragedy, saying, "The figures of my grandfather and his brother, who continued their death struggle with flashing blades, were somehow heartbreaking." He depicted this in his novel. He recorded his feelings as follows: "It may not be what my ancestors would have wanted, but I love my ancestors as I love my hometown. As one who has inherited their bloodline, I could not help but mourn the tragedy of my ancestors." The literary monument was erected in September 1962. (Sekai Nippo, Koichi Masuko) This is a copy of Yoshihide Nakayama's "Ishibumi" (Stone Monument), published by Sogensha in July 1939, with the original box. The cover design is by Jiro Aoyama. There is some age-related yellowing, but there are no stains, writing, or library stamps. The condition of both the box and the main body is good for its age. Please consider purchasing this book, understanding that it is an 86-year-old antique."