Koto

This novel tells the story of Chieko, the adopted daughter of a Kyoto kimono designer, Takichiro, and his wife, Shige. Since her youth, Chieko has been told that she was kidnapped as a baby by the couple in a moment of profound desire. When she is twenty, however, she learns that she was actually a foundling, abandoned by her real parents. Still, the love and affection Takichiro and Shige have given her satisfy her heart and she has no desire to seek out her biological parents--until she makes a startling discovery before the altar of Yasaka shrine. This work was specifically cited by the…