The main character of the one-act play that follows is loosely based on the few known facts concerning a Russian nobleman-refugee named Semyon Nikolaevitch Smirnitsky. Born in St. Petersburg in 1879, Smirnitsky fled the Russian Revolution in 1919 and spent the rest of his life in Japan, mostly in Otaru, Hokkaido, as a teacher of Russian at Otaru Commercial High School — today's Otaru Commercial College. His personality was at least remarkable enough to have inspired some of his students to write affectionate, if patchy, memoirs about him. After World War II, he was briefly detained on an apparently baseless suspicion of spying for the Soviet Union. He died in 1948.

All characters other than "Smir-sensei" are entirely fictitious.

Late afternoon of a day in early February 1932, dusk just beginning to fall. Ono, muffled and hunched against the cold, walks rapidly along a narrow street, frozen snow crunching underfoot. As he approaches his destination his pace slows and he seems to hesitate. He turns into the walkway of a large two-story wooden Japanese-style house. At the door he hesitates again, then pulls the bell handle. No answer. He rings again. No answer. Gingerly he tries the door, which slides open. He steps inside. Suddenly a monkey springs at him; Ono screams, but at once recovers himself.