

In episode 2 of Hyouka, Houtarou is shown reading a book throughout the
episode. What book is it?

![Houtarou reading](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z6V3xl.jpg)

![Houtarou being prevented from reading](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mTwiC.png)


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2013-09-21T00:55:31.930
5264
2013-10-21T01:01:45.477
1908
question
hyouka
What book is Houtarou reading in episode 2 of Hyouka?


Houtarou is reading **_On Decadence_** (堕落論 = _Daraku-ron_ , sometimes also
translated _Discourse on Decadence_ ), by Ango SAKAGUCHI.

![On Decadence](https://i.stack.imgur.com/PjXj8.png)

![photo of an actual copy of the same edition of On
Decadence](https://i.stack.imgur.com/HDuZsm.jpg)

(image source: [this
blog](http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/chanchan_yanagi/52389941.html))

Sakaguchi was a novelist, essayist, and critic who lived from 1906-1955. He
gained immense popularity in the immediate post-war period with his 1946 essay
_On Decadence_ , which criticized pre-war Japan as too heavily steeped in
_bushido_ culture, and argued that though post-war Japan was decadent, it was
better than what came before.

_On Decadence_ is not mentioned in the _Kotenbu_ series of novels on which
_Hyouka_ is based.

In an amusing connection, the anime [_Un-Go_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un-
Go) (written アンゴ = _ango_ in Japanese and hence pronounced identically to
Sakaguchi's given name) was based on one of Sakaguchi's period novels - _Meiji
Kaika Ango Torimono-chou_ , loosely "Ango's Tales of Detectives from the Dawn
of the Meiji Period".


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2013-09-21T00:55:31.930
5265
2013-09-21T00:55:31.930
1908
5264
answer