A Wordless Farewell begins with Japan's defeat in 1945, following Japanese soldiers Sato, Miyamoto, and Yamada as they flee and struggle to survive. It portrays the struggles and fate of ordinary men scarred by war.
On the night of the defeat, the three escape the battlefield with three rifles and vanish into the mountains of northwestern Shanxi. At first, they hide from artillery in the trenches and survive on hardtack. Later, they dig cave dwellings in the forest, make them their home, and set traps to hunt. They endure hunger, bitter cold, and the threat of pursuers. One crisis follows another: food runs short, illness strikes, and their ammunition is exhausted. Miyamoto dies as his lung disease worsens, and Yamada is killed in a landslide triggered by torrential rain. Only Sato remains, keeping watch over the cave, the rifles, and two graves, scraping by in solitude by scavenging.
At last, the aged Sato sets fire to the cave. He turns to ashes along with the three rifles and his companions' belongings, using his life to bring a final farewell to their promise to go home. With delicate prose, the novel depicts war's devastation of individuals. Through the three men's forty-five years in the mountains, it explores the weighty questions of survival and dignity, loneliness and attachment, leaving a lingering reflection on war.
Written with flesh and blood