13. Mt Fuji from Koishikawa in Edo

"Snow, on the roofs of houses, on evergreens, on Fuji - just beginning to melt in places, it seems . . . I cannot help but think of the hot-spring geisha Komako in Snow Country - Yasunari Kawabata's novel of loneliness and wasted, fading beauty - which I have always felt to be the great anti-love story of Japan. The print brings the entire tale to mind for me . . ."

- from 24 Views
Dark eyes, wonderful strange and dear they shone
A moment's space;
And wandering under the white stars I had gone
In a strange place.
Over the half door careless, your white hand
A moment gleamed;
And I was walking on some great storm-heaped strand
Forever it seemed.
I would give all that glory to see once more,
A moment's space,
Your eyes gleam strange and dark above the half door,
Your hand's white grace.
- The Half Door, by Seumas O'Sullivan