title: Tales of Times Now Past: Sixty-Two Stories from a Medieval Japanese Collection (Michigan Classics in Japanese Studies)
author: Marian Ury
description: Text: English, Japanese (translation)
  						    	
  						        	--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
zlib_text: **Across The Nightingale Floor**
  
  Tales of the Otori Book 1
  
  Lian Hearn
  
    
  
   _To E._
  
    
  
   **AUTHOR'S NOTE**
  
  The three books that make up the Tales of the Otori are set in an imaginary
  country in a feudal period. Neither the setting nor the period is intended to
  correspond to any true historical era, though echoes of many Japanese customs
  and traditions will be found, and the landscape and seasons are those of
  Japan. Nightingale floors (uguisubari) are real inventions and were
  constructed around many residences and temples; the most famous examples can
  be seen in Kyoto at Nijo Castle and Chion'In. I have used Japanese names for
  places, but these have little connection with real places, apart from Hagi and
  Matsue, which are more or less in their true geographical positions. As for
  characters, they are all invented, apart from the artist Sesshu, who seemed
  impossible to replicate. I hope I will be forgiven by purists for the
  liberties I have taken. My only excuse is that this is a work