Even the deep hour
of an autumn night in these
hills is understood
by one who broods, and only
by such a one as that is
- Meaning
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The deep hour of an autumn night in these hills is understood only by one who broods over things.
- Commentary
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Part Three: Tenarai
The Captain, coming while the nun was away, sent this in to Ukifune, who had withdrawn to an inner room. You too are one who broods, he says, and so must feel the quality of an autumn night in these hills. She answered because she had to, and her answer kept him off as before. That night, kept awake among the snoring of the old nuns, she turned her own fate over in her mind.
Yo fukaki holds both the lateness of the hour and the depth of the feeling. Aware is the quality of things felt to the quick. "One who broods" is Ukifune. By fixing that character on her he makes his excuse for speaking, which is a practised way of opening a suit; the mountain village and the autumn night hold the excuse up.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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