Rashomon

The entire story is set at the gate of Rashōmon in the city of Kyoto, Japan. Akutagawa uses this setting, and the various features of it, to convey subtle commentary about the characters, the city, and Japanese society as a whole. The former servant is confined to the gate both literally and figuratively. He is trapped by the rain, which is heavy and relentless, lending a sense of gloom and sorrow to the scene. He is also trapped metaphorically, as, at the beginning of the story, he has nowhere to go. He has no household to return to, but he is unwilling to dive straight into thievery, so he is stuck at the Rashōmon gate. The gate itself is in a state of disrepair, home to bandits and wild animals and surrounded by abandoned corpses. The dilapidated gate connotes poverty and degradation, mirroring the servant’s circumstances as well as the overall decaying state of Kyoto. The servant only escapes the gate when he escapes his own moral dilemma and decides to rob the old woman; the fact that he escapes into the darkness of night symbolizes his descent into metaphorical darkness and corruption.