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The Courtesan Takao

Takao was a celebrated courtesan who lived in Edo in the 1600s. Early in the morning Takao’s lover has just left the pleasure quarters to return to the city.  She hears the lonely call of the cuckoo at dawn and composes the accompanying verse as she imagines her lover arriving at the boat landing in Komakata, “By now you must be near Komakata; a cuckoo calls.”