Plot Summary

Otama, daughter of a poor candy vendor, becomes the mistress of a man whom she believes to be a widower and owner of a prosperous dry goods store. The man is in fact married with children, and is a despised loan shark who takes money from the poor without qualms. Totally enraptured with Otama, this usurer establishes her and her father in separate houses and generously gives them gifts including silk taken as interest from Oshige, a poor cloth dealer who does business with the sewing teacher, Otama's neighbor. Otama's satisfaction with her situation gradually crumbles as she discovers the truth about her benefactor.