Five Women Who Loved Love: Amorous Tales from 17th-Century Japan

"Five charming novellas … which have astonishing freshness, color, and warmth."— The New Yorker

First published in 1686, this collection of five novellas by Ihara Saikaku was an immediate bestseller in the bawdy world of Genroku Japan. The book's popularity has only increased with age, making it a literary classic like Boccaccio's Decameron, or the works of Rabelais.

Each of the five stories follows a determined woman on her quest for amorous adventure:

The Story of Seijuro in Himeji — Onatsu...