Yoshida Kenko: Essays in Idleness Year: 1332
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Yoshida Kenko: Essays in Idleness
YEAR: 1332
https://doi.org/10.3735/9781961844254.book-part-050

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Abstract

Once in the month of September I passed over the plain of Kurusu and sought out a certain village among the hills beyond, when, threading my way far down a narrow moss-grown path, I came upon a lonely hut. There was never a sound to greet me, save the dripping of water from a pipe buried in fallen leaves, but I knew that someone lived there, for sprays of chrysanthemum and maple leaves bestrewed the shelf before the shrine, and “Ah!” thought I, “in such a place a man can spend his days.” But as I stood and gazed in wonder, I perceived in the garden beyond a great orange tree, its branches weighed down with fruit. It was strongly closed in on all sides by a fence. This broke the spell, and I thought to myself, “If only yonder tree had not been there!”

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