After the Death of His Wife, by Kakinomoto Hitomoro Essay Example

the stony path, he finds not even a shadow of her; and when he says ‘who evades mortality?”.

He regrets having kept her secret in his heart, not visiting her often, just looking towards a time when they could be together.  His complacency in that thought is described as “secure... as one riding a great ship.”  These regrets are not explicitly said.

What is clear are his profound grief and mourning for her in his life.  He seeks her in his surroundings, which seem to make his loss all the heavier to bear.  He talks of his days spent broken-hearted and his nights passed sighing till dawn.  He sees no help in his grief and meets no success in his quest to see her.

He has masterfully utilized his surroundings in his description of his feelings.  He compares his memories and emotions to his landscape.

The yellow leaves of autumn, the dying of the day as the sun sets, the brightness of the moon dimmed behind the cloud, the elm trees with their abundant leaves, the rising kagero; these are but a few of his metaphors in expressing his sorrow and yearning.

In the envoys, Hitomoro sums up all the husband’s longing for his dead wife, his utter devastation, his attempts to re-live their days together.  In the second envoy, there is acceptance of his present without her; which, now that she’s dead, is lonely.