Compared with The Rite of Spring (1911–13), that splendid masterpiece taking centre stage in the drama of Stravinsky’s life and forming a turning point in it, the short song cycle Three Japanese Lyrics (1912–13), composed during the same period and lasting under four minutes, may appear but a minor work loitering, as it were, backstage. Yet, if we place this composition into the broader cultural context of Japonisme which was so fashionable in Europe at the time, particularly in Paris, it raises several interesting questions. Lyrics has often been recognised as an early example of the impact of Japonisme on modern music, but what traces of ‘Japanese style’ does this work reveal?