32 Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness)

Trs. Kenneth L. Richard

On approximately the ninth day of the ninth month, I was asked to go walking with a friend to look at the moon, and as we made our way, we passed a house that brought back a memory for him. He had himself announced and went in while I stayed behind in awe of the lovely overgrown garden, heavy with dew, which was pervaded by a faint perfume of unintended incense that told me a lady lived here in seclusion.

Sometime later, my friend emerged and left, but I was still so impressed with the elegance of the place, that I stayed behind, hiding behind one of the garden bushes. As I did so, I saw the shutters of her room open slightly, and caught a glimpse of her admiring the moon. How my impression would have been ruined had she just gone inside and simply shut the door! How could she have known that someone had been there observing her? No, this seemed, for her, a normal way of being. I heard, not long after, that she had died.