Kikuji has been invited to a tea ceremony by a mistress of his dead father. He is shocked to find there the mistress�s rival and successor, Mrs. Ota, and that the ceremony has been awkwardly arranged for him to meet his potential future bride. But he is most shocked to be drawn into a relationship with Mrs. Ota � a relationship that will bring only suffering and destruction to all of them. Thousand Cranes reflects the tea ceremony�s poetic precision with understated, lyrical style and beautiful prose.