The word kinshu has many connotations in Japanese—brocade, poetic writing, the brilliance of autumn leaves—and resonates here as a vibrant metaphor for the complex, intimate relationship between Aki and Yasuaki.
Ten years after a dramatic divorce, they meet by chance at a mountain resort.
Aki initiates a new correspondence, and letter by letter through the seasons, the secrets of their past unfold as they reflect on their present struggles.
From a lover’s suicide, to a father’s controlling demands, to Mozart’s Thirty-ninth Symphony (˝a veritable marvel of sixteenth notes˝), to the karmic consequences of their actions, the story glides through their deeply introspective and stirring exchanges.
What begins as a series of accusations and apologies, questions and excuses, turns into a source of mutual support and healing.