#158 三島由紀夫『禁色』
十月はじめの或る暮れ方、悠一は夕食後書斎にこもった。彼はあたりを見まわした。書生らしい簡素な書斎である。独り者の思考が、見えない彫像のように純潔に彳んでいる。家じゅうでこの部屋だけがまだ妻帯していない。ここでだけ、不幸な青年の呼吸はのびやかになった。
Vocabulary:
三島由紀夫 みしまゆきお Mishima Yukio (author, 1925-1970)
書斎 しょさい study
見まわす みまわす to look around
書生 しょせい (live-in) student
簡素 かんそ simple
独り者 ひとりもの solitary person
思考 しこう thoughts
彫像 ちょうぞう statue
純潔 じゅんけつ unadulterated, pure
彳む たたずむ to stand still, to linger
妻帯する さいたいする to have the presence of a wife (usually: to marry)
呼吸 こきゅう breath
Translation:
One evening in early October, Yuichi retired to his study after dinner. He looked around. It was a simple study, typical of a student. The thoughts of a solitary person lingered here unadulterated like an invisible statue. This was the only room in the house that had not been overshadowed by his wife’s presence. Only here did the miserable young man feel he could breathe.
Link for the text I used:
【禁色】lit. forbidden colors.
Originally, in the 平安 era they had a color coded system for identifying the different chastes.
But 色 'color' also implies attraction or sex, like in 色っぽい. So in the context of this novel 禁色(きんじき) means forbidden love, more specifically attraction between men.
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【篭】【籠】cage, basket, coop.
ロウ、こも.る、かご
🌬️🍃rolling🍃like🍃a tumbleweed🍃
Haha, I didn't even realise until I read the translation that I had mistakenly associated 十 with 10 --> decem --> December. Eyes move faster than the brain...
Mostly ok on grammar, I think the most confused I got was over 純潔に - the に here is making it into an adverb. 純潔に is modifying 彳んでいる --> lingering purely/ lingering unadulterated (I got "lingering on purity" oops)