At the heart of this collection lies the debate between Akutagawa Ryūnosuke and Tanizaki Jun’ichirō that unfolded in the 1920s in the pages of the journal *Kaizō*. The two writers engaged in a spirited and intense argument regarding the nature of plot, the poetic spirit, and the boundaries of realism. For them, literature became a means to grapple with the divide between East and West, tradition and modernity; the book demonstrates how Japanese culture entered a new era not through imitation, but through an internal debate concerning form, morality, and the sensuality of writing. The discussion between Akutagawa and Tanizaki offers no definitive answer to the question of what literature "ought to be." Instead, it captures a rare moment when culture—as embodied in literature—is still capable of pausing to ask on what grounds it demands our trust. The volume concludes with a series of lyrical essays by Tanizaki, written in the wake of Akutagawa’s suicide, which offer deeper insight into the relationship between the two writers.