Some Prefer Nettles

Some Prefer Nettles (蓼喰ふ蟲^?, Tade kū mushi) is a 1929 novel by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki. It was first published in 1928–9 as a newspaper serial. The novel is often regarded as the most autobiographical of Tanizaki's works and one of his finest novels.

The Japanese title of the novel is literally water pepper–eating bugs, and is the first half of the Japanese saying tade kuu mushi mo sukizuki (蓼食う虫も好き好き^?), or "Water pepper–eating bugs eat it willingly", equivalent to the English "Each to his own." The translation as Some Prefer Nettles was chosen by Edward Seidensticker; he considers it one of his most noted translations, and it has been included as a translation of the original saying in the authoritative Kenkyūsha's New Japanese-English Dictionary.

Kaname and Misako’s marriage is drifting towards a separation and divorce, and Misako has taken a lover, Aso, to Kaname's approval. Their young son, Hiroshi does not yet know anything about their plans. Both are procrastinating over this marital decision; Kaname realizes that he is fascinated by his father-in-law's bunraku theater and young mistress O-hisa. Misako's father is a traditionalist who attempts to keep the couple engaged in the arts of Japan, in order to purge the negative influence from the West.

The theme that structures the novel in its entirety is that of performance. As the book opens, Kaname gently pressures his wife, Misako, into meeting her father and his mistress at a bunraku performance. And the "old man" (he is fifty-six or fifty-seven) has a deep interest in many forms of traditional Japanese performance, from samisen and song to rustic puppets. But these are only the framing performances, as the life being led by Kaname and Misako is itself, as Tanizaki reminds us several times, a performance; even their son, Hiroshi, becomes a performer. The closing words of the novel (Tanizaki's endings are always stunning) transform a wooden doll into a woman.

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