Quotes

Gan

[first lines]
Osan, the marriage broker: It's true he's offering to keep you as his mistress. But the man is a widower who's living with his children. So, to be in his keeping is like marrying him. But there's his reputation to consider.

Osan, the marriage broker: Your father shouldn't be peddling candy to make a living when he has a beautiful daughter like you.

Zenkichi, Otama's father: When you tried to throw yourself into a well, I thought I might as well die with you.

Osan, the marriage broker: Here you are. Otama is waiting for you. She's so attractive, even to a woman like me. She's like a fully ripened peach. You can almost taste the sweetness.

Osan, the marriage broker: A woman is damaged when she gives herself to a man and then leaves him. Once she becomes damaged goods, a woman can't escape unhappiness.

Mr. Kimura, Okada's friend: How enjoyable it is to drink sake in view of a waterfall.

Osan, the marriage broker: Now, Otama, don't hang back. Make conversation. Be cheerful and charming.

Osan, the marriage broker: What's the matter with him? He's not feeling shy at his age, is he?

Suezô, the moneylender: Listen, Otsune. You think I'd dally with other women when I have you? Did I ever cheat on you? We're too old to have a lover's quarrel. Be sensible.
Otsune, Suezo's wife: But, a man like you is attractive to women. That's why I'm worried.
Suezô, the moneylender: It's like that saying, "The crow thinks her own young fairest."

Otsune, Suezo's wife: What am I supposed to do? I have no parents' home to flee to. And I have kids. What am I to do? What do you want me to do?

Osada, the sewing mistress: You can dream only when you're young. But all their fevered crushes will be wasted.

Otsune, Suezo's wife: You think you can fool me? You told me you were going out on business, but you were with your mistress!

Otama: I've made up my mind to never let anyone deceive me anymore. He thinks I'm such a baby, but I don't see myself that way.

Otsune, Suezo's wife: How long do you plan to keep that woman - as your mistress?
Suezô, the moneylender: Fool! Stop talking nonsense! Come on, Otsune. Try to be sensible. It's true that I have a mistress. But your life has become easier than before. Have I grown cold or treated you harshly like other men with mistresses? On the contrary, I treat you more kindly and tenderly than before. Don't I, Otsune?
Otsune, Suezo's wife: You're simply justifying yourself!

Mr. Kimura, Okada's friend: You killed a snake for a beauty? It sounds like some old mythical tale.

Mr. Kimura, Okada's friend: You're a brilliant student in medical school, and she's an uneducated, kept woman. In today's Japan, you two can't be involved romantically. Just like her, neither you nor I are free from the restrictions of this Meiji era. But, for all that, will you conform to those restrictions or break out of them?

Zenkichi, Otama's father: How can you give up the life you have and go back to that living hell of poverty? Truly, it's miserable not having money in this world.

Zenkichi, Otama's father: In all things, patience is essential. It's a tough world we live in.

Osada, the sewing mistress: It's difficult for a woman to support herself. Oshige struggled a great deal to make ends meet. But I recently heard she's become a streetwalker by the Yanagiwara bank.
Otama: So you're saying I should continue to live like this? You're saying I have no other choice but to live this way?

Suggest an edit or add missing content