Ihara Saikaku: 4 books

This classic work of Japanese literature is considered the masterpiece of Japanese novelist Seken Munasanya. This Scheming World (Seken Munasanyo) was published in 1692, one year before the author’s death. It represents the culmination of Saikaku’s perceptive genius, and in structure, is...

"Five charming novellas … which have astonishing freshness, color, and warmth." — The New Yorker First published in 1686, this collection of five novellas was an immediate bestseller in the bawdy world that was Genroku Japan, and the book's popularity has increased with age, making...

In Comrade Loves of a Samurai, the theme of homosexual love between the samurai is explored. To the old Japanese such love among samurai was quite permissible. The sons of samurai families were urged to form homosexual alliances while youth lasted, and often these loves matured into lifelong...

First published in 1682, The Life of an Amorous Man depicts the pursuits and follies of the glorious age of old Japan, when the new bourgeoisie, unfettered by the societal constraints of the traditional aristocracy, indulged in the free and easy life of Japan’s celebrated pleasure houses. The hero...