title: Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese Nobility
author:  Takie Sugiyama Lebra 
description: "Anyone who passes up this book on the assumption that it deals with a population best forgotten or that its appeal is limited to those with antiquarian interests is badly mistaken. . . . Do not fail to read this book for you will learn much about both the vanished world of its title and contemporary Japanese society." -- <i>Robert J. Smith, Monumenta Nipponica</i><br /><br />"Compelling. . . . Full of information and unforgettable anecdotes. . . . A major contribution to the study of Japanese society and history." -- <i>Mark Morris, Times Literary Supplement</i>
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  [Contents](1597801216_toc.htm)
  
  # **SEVENTEEN**
  
  Seijin left the temple of the Emperor of Heaven shortly before nightfall and
  decided not to return to Shadow Pavilion. Hospitality at the temple had been
  offered, of course, but Seijin had declined. The Dowager Empress had already
  departed for her Celestial home and Seijin did not fancy the prospect of a
  night in a temple to a dead, failed god, surrounded by nervous servants. But
  there were temples and temples. Singapore Three was not all that distant;
  there was certain to be lodging there. Besides, male self had come up with an
  idea.
  
  Seijin chose to travel swiftly, rather than merely to step between the airs.
  Standing still, female self brought the world to them, wrapping woodland,
  folding the small trickle of a river. Seijin stood still while the golden
  leaves whipped by, tasted water on a breath, watched as the lights of the city
  burned closer.
  
  There. It was lit by its own li