The first complete translation of Nanshoku ōkagami by Ihara Saikaku (1642-93), this is a collection of 40 stories describing homosexual love affairs between samurai men and boys, and between young kabuki actors and their middle-class patrons. The book is illustrated with 50 woodblocks, prepared for the original printing of Nanshoku ōkagami. Winner of the 1990 Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for Translating of Japanese Literature.