"Han's Crime" is Shiga Naoya's short story of a circus performer named Han who kills his wife during a knife act on stage. The question of his guilt or innocence rests on nuances of psychological interpretation of Han's true motives.

Han has killed his wife by severing her carotid artery during a knife throwing performance. The young woman dies immediately on the stage, and Han is taken into custody. The managers and other performers in the troupe are uncertain whether Han deliberately killed his wife or whether it was a horrible accident.

The judge on the case questions the circus manager, a stagehand and then Han himself in order to determine whether the woman's death is murder or unpremeditated manslaughter. The circus owner tells the judge that the act performed by Han and his wife on the fateful night is not a particularly difficult one...