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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: dais, surrounded by samurai of high rank, in caps and robes of ceremony.
All were silent as statues; and while Tomotada advanced to make obeisance,
the hush seemed to his sinister and heavy, like the stillness before a
storm. But Hosokawa suddenly descended from the dais, and, while taking the
youth by the arm, began to repeat the words of the poem:-- "Koshi o-son
gojin wo ou."... And Tomotada, looking up, saw kindly tears in the prince's
eyes.
Then said Hosokawa:--
"Because you love each other so much, I have taken it upon myself to
authorize your marriage, in lieu of my kinsman, the Lord of Noto; and your
wedding shall now be celebrated before me. The guests are assembled;-- the
Kwaidan |
