★ The monumental new work from Hiroyuki Itsuki, Japan's literary giant, at the age of 93! Winner of the Naoki Prize, Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature, and Kikuchi Kan Prize, and member of the Japan Art Academy!
★ His previous work, "A Drop of the Great River," sold over 3.2 million copies, shocking countless readers! After 30 years, the final chapter has finally arrived!
★ Released in mid-February, it has already sold over 160,000 copies in just a few weeks! The culminating work of a phenomenal bestseller, with market momentum continuing to rise!
★ From childhood repatriation, suicidal impulses, to battling illness—a 93-year-old confesses for the first time: People live not for something, but for someone!
★ "Always hold onto the hope of rebirth"—swimming against the current at life's end, dedicated to everyone searching for answers in confusion.

A treatise on life at 93—People do not live for something. They live for someone.
Thirty years after the sensation of his bestselling "A Drop of the Great River." The culminating masterpiece.

Always hold onto the hope of rebirth.
Childhood repatriation experiences, the desire for death, the sudden pronouncement of illness...
A confessional philosophy of life, deliberately choosing to swim against the great river's current.

"When I once compared life to the flow of a great river, I thought one merely needed to drift downstream, eventually flowing into the sea of existence.
However, I began to ponder. Sometimes, might it not be permissible not only to drift downstream but also to choose to live by going against the current? Within the great river's flow, there are places of countercurrents and meandering paths.
Was it not for the sake of those who could not live long that I resolved to live as long as possible? Life need not only follow the current; it can also go against it.
People have a responsibility to live for others. Perhaps we have an obligation to live carrying the unfulfilled wishes of others. Not for something, but for someone."
—From the main text of "Going Against the Great River's Current"

A vivid and powerful story of rebirth, rising from silence.

Hiroyuki Itsuki
Born in Fukuoka Prefecture in September 1932 (Showa 7). Shortly after birth, he moved to Korea and was repatriated to Japan in 1947. In 1952, he entered Waseda University's Department of Russian Literature. After withdrawing in 1957, he worked as a PR magazine editor, lyricist, and freelance writer.
In 1966, he won the 6th Novel Gendai Newcomer Award for "Farewell Moscow Gurentai." In 1967, he received the 56th Naoki Prize for "The Pale Horse." In 1976, he was awarded the 10th Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature for "The Gate of Youth: Chikuho Chapter" among others. In 2002, he received the 50th Kikuchi Kan Prize. His representative works include "Shinran" (which received the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award Special Prize). He is a member of the Japan Art Academy.

Going Against the Great River's Current (The Afternoon Examination Room / Memories of a Partner Called the Body, etc.)
Monologue at 3 AM (Perhaps "Loneliness" Does Not Exist / Imagination Is the Wonder Drug for Happiness, etc.)
Songs of the Medieval Era (Amidst Continuous Civil Wars and Drought / Imayo That Sang of the People's Despair, etc.)
The Four Seasons of Life ("Profound Winter" Is a Time When Vitality Burns Quietly / The Sorrows of Living Are Universal, etc.)