قصة الكتاب :
Asahi Shimbun Shuppan (Asahi Bunko), 2010. Vol. I: 337 pp. ¥620.
ISBN 978-4-02-264564-7. Vol. II: 294 pp. ¥600. ISBN 978-4-02-
264565-4.
Matsuura Rieko
Born in Ehime Prefecture in 1958. Became an avid reader of writers including Cesare
Pavese from her teens. While still an undergraduate, debuted with Sōgi no hi [The Day of
the Funeral], which won the Bungakukai New Writers Award in 1978. Received the 1994
Women’s Literary Prize for Oyayubi P no shugyō jidai and the 2008 Yomiuri Prize for Literature
for Kenshin. Her other works include Nachuraru ūman [Natural Woman], Ura vājon
[Opposite Version], and Yasashii kyosei no tame ni [For a Gentle Castration].

Matsuura Rieko’s Kenshin is based on the extraordinary premise of a woman
transformed into a dog that becomes the pet of the woman she loves. At the same
time, it presents a brutally realistic family relationship, overflowing with feelings
of abnormal love and hate, which contrasts sharply with the pure meeting of souls
of the dog and owner.
Matsuura made her biggest splash with the 1993 Oyayubi P no shugyō jidai
[trans. The Apprenticeship of Big Toe P], a novel with an unconventional plot that
shocked readers in which she explored her unique outlook on sexuality. In this
work, unbound by the conventions of an ordinary story, she gives her imagination
even freer rein, and by doing so strikes a chord in readers’ hearts.
In the novel, the heroine in the form of a dog tells the Mephistopheles-like
man who demands her soul, “My soul is damaged and must taste extremely bad.”
“Don’t worry,” he replies, “A well-beaten soul tastes good, just like certain kinds
of meat.” With the kind of exquisite humor and earnestness epitomized in this
dialogue, the story cultivates new ground for the contemporary novel. Dog-related
puns feature throughout. Even the title has a double meaning: “a dog’s body” and
“devotion.” (NM)