Across the Nightingale Floor (35 page)

Spending time in Japan with two
theater companies gave me many insights—deepest thanks to Kazenoko in Tokyo and
Kyushuu and Gekidan Urinko in Nagoya, and to Ms. Kimura Miyo, a wonderful
traveling companion, who accompanied me to Kanazawa and the Nakasendo and who
has answered many questions for me about language and literature.

I thank Mr. Mogi Masaru and Mrs.
Mogi Akiko for their help with research, their suggestions for names, and,
above all, ongoing friendship.

In Australia I would like to thank
my two Japanese teachers, Mrs. Thuy Coombes and Mrs. Etsuko Wilson, Simon
Higgins, who made some invaluable suggestions, my agent, Jenny Darling, my son
Matt, my first reader on all three books, and the rest of my family for not
only putting up with but sharing my obsessions.

I would also like to acknowledge
the insights and expert knowledge of the samurai history archive on the World
Wide Web and members of the discussion forum.

Calligraphy was drawn for me by Ms.
Sugiyama Kazuko and Etsuko Wilson. I am immensely grateful to them.

———«»———«»———«»———

Lian Hearn (a pseudonym) studied
modern languages at Oxford University and worked as a film critic and arts
editor in London before settling in Australia. A lifelong interest in Japan led
to the study of the Japanese language and many trips to Japan, and has
culminated in the writing of Across the Nightingale Floor.

Grass for His Pillow and Brilliance
of the Moon will complete the Otori trilogy.

For more information on Tales of
the Otori, visit www.theotori.com.