Excerpt from Captain Shigemoto's Mother by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

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He loved her for a long time, but meeting her was difficult. On the last day of the Twelfth Month he sent this:

In love I did not see the days and months go by,
and now
I hear the year will end today.

Her father, the Minister of the Left, got wind of the relationship and made it harder than ever for them to meet. Atsutada wrote this and sent it to her:

How I love you - that much at least
I wish I could say without a messenger.