Shunkin is one of the most beautiful and refined women in Osaka. Despite her blindness, which began when she was eight, she has become the most virtuosic stringed instrument player in the city. Admired for her undeniable talent and overwhelming beauty, Shunkin has nevertheless earned the envy and rejection of everyone due to her capricious, selfish, and tyrannical nature. The only one who remains by her side is Sasuke, a devoted disciple and devoted lover who has dedicated his life to his teacher's service, receiving cruelty and contempt in return. When tragedy strikes this strange couple, Sasuke must find a way to express his complete devotion by offering Shunkin irrefutable proof of his love. Tanizaki masterfully weaves a peculiar love story, full of conflicting, dark, and perverse emotions, and offers the reader a journey through the exquisite world of traditional Japan, a world on the verge of being irrevocably dissolved in the unstoppable waters of modernity.