A thirty-six-year-old portrait painter is left by his wife, and after a road trip through northern Japan, he moves into a house up in the mountains that once belonged to a famous, elderly painter. The house sits on the edge between two types of weather, between two worlds, and soon strange things begin to happen. One night, the younger painter hears a rustling from the attic, and there he finds a haunting but alluring painting. He cannot let go of the image, which seems to trigger a chain of events. A strange ringing now sounds from the forest, while the painter senses that he is not entirely alone in the house. However, he can share what is happening with his helpful neighbor, Menshiki, who has paid him royally to paint his portrait, and whose fate mysteriously weaves into his own. This book was originally published in Japan as a two volume novel, and many translations follow the same pattern. This book collects part 1 of the Japanese edition and all such split translations.