Onogoro, poet and concubine of the general Motosuke, has a problem achieving orgasm. So she hides Oyu, the blind stable boy, behind a screen at the head of her bed. While Motosuke makes love to Onogoro, Oyu arouses her by whispering wildly erotic stories into her ear. A skillfully wrought and mischievous novel "in which the pleasures of sex and the glamour of times past are cleverly combined" (The Sunday Times, London).