I do wish men, when they're taking their leave from a lady at dawn, wouldn't insist on adjusting their clothes to a nicety, or fussily tying their lacquered cap securely into place. After all, who would laugh at a man or criticize him if they happened to catch sight of him on his way home from an assignation in fearful disarray, with his cloak or hunting costume all awry?
Sei Shōnagon, The Pillow Book
assignations, dawn-departures, heian-period, japanese-culture, lovers, palace-life, sexuality, social-norms