There was no point in telling him when the Gembun Period was, or in citing the Mirror of the East or the Tale of the Heike on the life of Lady Shizuka. The master of the house believed it all implicitly. And the lady that he imagined was not necessarily the same Shizuka who danced before Yoritomo at the Tsurugaoka Shrine. For him she was a noblewoman who symbolized the days of his distant ancestors, the cherished past. The phantom aristocrat called "Lady Shizuka" was the focus of his reverence and devotion for "ancestors," "lord," and "antiquity." There was no need to question whether the noble lady had actually sought lodging in this house and lived here in loneliness. It was best to leave him with the beliefs that were so important to him.

-- Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, Arrowroot