In old Japan, sexual love among the samurai was permissible, and often matured into lifelong companionships. Ihari Saikakku (1642-93) was one of the most illustrious writers of Japan's seventeenth century literary revival. Money and love predominates in most of his incomparable stories. "The Songs of the Geisha" included in this volume is a collection of geisha folk songs composed to be sung to the accompaniment of the shamisen. All of the songs have a charmingly nostalgic quality which fitted well with the time and the circumstances for which they were composed. They are intimately personal, expressing the feelings of the geisha towards their sympathetic listeners. These lyrics, for all their erotic symbolism, are restrained and tactful, and their erotic beauty must be felt rather than heard.
