Heavenly Ascent, reaching a place higher than the moon!
——Preface of Volume 2 "Heavenly Ascent"
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Man'en 1 (1860), August 3.
Cicada—! Cicada—! Cicada—! Cicada—!
It's August, the height of summer.
This year's weather is indeed extremely unusual. It was snowing in March, yet by May it was astonishingly hot, and come August, it was so unbearable one just wanted to strip off their clothes, not to mention the desire to peel off a layer of skin.
Beneath the blazing sun, summer cicadas hide weakly in the shade of trees, emitting a bothersome whine. This repeated cicada call seems distant at times, yet so close, vague yet clear.
The air on Edo's streets is filled with the smell of heat and sweat.
No matter where you stand in Edo City Town, sweeping your gaze across the scene, everything is tinted with a filter of heat waves, as though the whole world can't withstand the high temperatures and starts to dissolve into a viscous liquid.
