Sonoko Kakiuchi is a cultured Osaka lady, unfortunately widowed young. But her story is unsettlingly at odds with her image. It is a tale of infatuation and deceit, of eliberate evil. Its theme is humiliation, its victim Sonoko"s mild-mannered husband. At is centre - seductive, manipulating, enslaving - is one of Tanizaki"s most extraordinary characters, the beautiful and corrupt art student, Mitsuko.