A collection of short stories. Aside from “Grass Cricket” and the commentary pages before each chapter and at the end of the volume, these were reprinted in Filament.

Mushi are another form of life which live parallel to our own natural world. The source of many myths and superstitions, they exist according to their own natural laws, and can be both beneficial and dangerous depending on circumstances.  Ginko, a traveling mushishi, investigates and helps out wherever the mushi have become a problem. Yet Ginko himself is marked by the creatures he researches, and he carries the weight of his past with him.