Young Lovers at the New Year, from Selections from the Brocade Quarter (E-awase kingaishō)

A young couple are in the back room of a middle-class house, with pine and blossoming plum bonsai trees on a verandah at upper left. They are overwhelmed with sentiment about being together at the turning of the New Year. The man comments: There's no day when all the creatures under the sun -- from the bush warbler that calls from the flowers to the frog living in the pond-- are prohibited from having sex. The first exchange of the new year is important. She replies: Even the crows and the white egrets in the mountains have someone they love. The clumsy-footed mandarin duck s are also very affectionate. Please don't ever abandon me.