From first page -- Depicts the pursuits and follies of the most glorious age of old Japan, when the new bourgeoisie, unfettered by the societal constraints of the traditional aristocracy, indulged in the free and easy life of Japan's celebrated pleasure houses ... The novel follows the hero, Yonosuke, or "Man of the World", from precocious childhood to the close of his amatory career. Along the way, Saikaku exploits the full gamut of sexual indulgence, always with frankness, often with humor, and occasionally with pathos -- chronicaling the erotic escapades of his hero and providing vivid character sketches of the women (and sometimes men) with whom Yonosuke dallied.