In this short piece, an extramarital love between two married people is shown through the reflection of letters by the man's wife, the woman's daughter and the woman herself. With a succinctness of language rarely found elsewhere, with imagery whose starkness matches the sadness of the story's message, Inoue manages to convey an emotional intensity that can only be described as haunting. There is not a trace of sentimentality in this tale, yet it deals with passion, betrayal and death. The author wastes not a single word: This is poetic prose at its best.

In this exchange of letters over one year beginning April 1975, the authors tell of their travels and work, of close friends, of writers, artists and public figures they have known, of seasons and places, impressions and reflections.

Both authors are people with wide-ranging experience. Daisaku Ikeda has visited China a number of times, contributing much to the restoration of friendly relations between China and Japan. Yasushi Inoue, a former newspaper reporter, is an award-winning author of historical short stories and novels, many of them set in China, a country he has visited several times. As they reach out to each other through correspondence they reveal not only much of themselves but of Japanese society as well.

In a foreward, Burton Watson, an authority on East Asian languages and cultures, writes, ". . .whatever range of topics may be touched on within it, the real subject of a letter is in the end the writer himself. And we who read the letter do so not so much because we care about what it says as because we care about the person who wrote it. . . . These, in sum, are thoughtful and gracefully phrased letters exhanged by men of creative spirit who are leaders in their respective fields of endeavor."

In his first letter, Inoue writes, "Sitting in my study, where I enjoy the cool breezes of May, I have spent a refreshing hour reading your letter, learning about your health and sharing some of your impressions of your trip to China. I read in the newspaper of your meeting in Beijing with Prince Sihanouk. I was impressed, but not surprised, to learn that you are the first Japanese citizen to meet him after the liberation of Phnom Penh. I feel certain that, standing at this historic crossroads, at the conclusion of the long internal war that has torn his nation asunder, this bold Cambodian leader found the thoughts of a freethinker like yourself, who values individual human contacts, most trustworthy and appealing."

In a response, Ikeda expresses his awe over Inoue's description of burial mounds of the Han dynasty emperor Wu and his general Huo Qubing, remarking that although he has not yet had the fortune of visiting Xi'an, Inoue's writing provided him a vivid imagery. He goes on, "Tacitly historical ruins inspire a deep sense of significance. Your perspicacious eye for history has brought new life to the drama of affection between the emperor and his warrior. Throughout life, we have many opportunities to meet many different persons, but the friends who stay by our sides in the darkest, as well as the brightest, hours are most valuable. I can fully believe in what you describe as the strong love the elderly emperor felt for the young general who, after serving him well, died an untimely death. Your personal comments on the loss of your dear friend inspired profound sympathy in me.

"In an earlier letter you remarked on a fondness for the month of May. I share your fondness, and for some reason, many of my trips to Europe take place at that time of the year. This year, too, I enjoyed the fresh budding May greenery in Paris, London and Moscow. . ."

Like all good letters, these focus on life itself: life and death, health and sickness, aging contrasted with the vitality of youth, teaching and learning, the past, the present and the future--all seen through the eyes of these two perceptive writers and individuals of action.

I've found that an understanding of the tea ceremony led to a better understanding of so many Japanese cultural treasures that I now recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about subjects ranging from gardening to ceramics. Interested in Raku pottery? Study the tea ceremony. Want to know more about Japanese gardens? Study the tea ceremony. A fan of Zen Buddhism? Learn the way of Tea. Want to know more about Japanese architecture? Learn about sukiya style by studying the tea ceremony. Are you interested in Japanese woodworking and joinery? Learn about Tea, you'll know more about what to hide, what to emphasize in your carpentry. This particular books is a very good starting point, don't be surprised if you read this and then become interested in 20 other subjects. You'll keep coming back to this one in order to understand all 20.

This classic is a moving portrait of a Japanese childhood. The main character, Kasuko, (the young Yashushi Inoue) is skilfully drawn and sympathetic. The book focusses on his confusions growing up in a complicated family atmosphere and his feelings towards various female members of that family, notably his adopted grandmother, with whom he lives, his absent mother and his aunt (whom he sees as an older sister). The book is readable, beautifully written and well-translated. The only shortcoming is that this is a translation only of Volume One. Volume Two appears not to have been translated at all.

This is a great book and shows the depth of Inoue's imagination. It is based upon the Buddhist Scriptures found in Tun Huang, a part of the silk road path. Inoue tells the story of how these scriptures were placed there in the first place. The story has very little to do with Buddhism or religion. It is more of an adventure novel with a scholar as its hero. Well written and evenly paced, it takes the reader back to a time when there were magnificent battles in Asia. After you read this book, rent the video. Unfortunately, the American version of the video is chopped up so that the story is not really comprehensible. However, if you've read the book, you may be able to appreciate the movie a little better.