Sinnesspiel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sinnesspiel) wrote2019-11-28 03:41 pm
sinnesspiel) wrote2019-11-28 03:41 pm
Shiki Novel Translations 3.14.3
3
Ohkawa sat dumbfounded in the funeral hall. The showy altar was lit by a spotlight, strange music playing. Hayami had solemnly said words meant to be condolences but he found them to be faultfully superficial and trifling.
What astonished Ohkawa even more was how much those gathered stood out. Each and every guest found a night time funeral suspicious. This was just how it had to be given the situation, and just thinking on how shocking it was was irritating. He couldn't stomach how well everybody just accepted the explanation that it had to be like this because of the Ozaki's funeral. Why, on top of losing his son, did he have to suffer this indignation?
"Good grief, this is shameful...."
Behind Ohkawa was his grumbling mother Namie. Ohkawa too could feel her outrage; it wasn't as if they'd asked for it to be like this. The shop help Matsumura only fearfully repeated his utterance that this wasn't normal. With just a look at the color on Ohkawa's face, his wife kept her mouth closed despite havings things she, too would have liked to have said. On the other hand, there were the children earnestly mourning that good for nothing, paying no mind to the absurdity of the funeral, the oddity of the attendants. The relatives gave Ohkawa reproachful stares, even as they tilted their own heads in thought. Just last month, they'd had a funeral for another in the area, and they wondered just how long the funerals would keep continuing. What was happening to the village, were those strange rumors true, his cousin Ohkawa Choutarou kept on asking. ---Everyone was so caught up in their own thoughts without noting Ohkawa's own scandalized feelings was itself insufferable.
He bore through the ceremony with a bitter taste in his mouth. As the guests expressed their condolences to Ohkawa, the ceremony moved on to the flower offering. The gathered placed white flowers within the coffin. Once that was finished, the lid was placed over the coffin and the family was brought a rock. They nailed down the lid.
Ohkawa pounded with the rock with only one thought: wishing this to hurry and be over. Any emotions regarding the loss of his son were overtaken by the shame and indignation that left no room for anything else within him.
"And so now at last it's time for us to part!" Hayami triumphantly exaulted, after which smoke began to fill the room, the coffin singing down beneath the platform. Ohkawa grimaced while at the same time thinking with relief that this farce was finally almost over.
Urged to follow the funeral processing, Ohkawa left the hall behind the attendants. They waited in the hallway behind the funeral hall when the coffin covered in a seven-striped kasaya was carried out from behind the double door. The mourngers were handed out candle shaped flashlights. Ohkawa took hold of the handle of the palaquin the coffin was placed on and with Yutaka at the front of the other male relatives, lifted it up. Kazuko held the photo of the deceased, while Namie and Mizue went ahead of the procession carrying bouquets of flowers. The Ohkawa family graveyard was across the river that flowed through Mizuguchi in the Eastern Mountain. From the funeral hall in Kamisotoba, it was agonizing to have to continue along the village road to the second bridge. They were fully aware of the strange looks that they in the funeral procession were receiving from those on the highway side.
When they crossed the bridge and at last entered the mountain, they at last let out a sigh. Now straying off of the village road, they entered the unpaved mountain path where the footholds were poor. There were a few lights placed on either side of the mountain path, but they didn't do a terrible lot of good.
Just when thinking they could only hope those carrying the palaquin didn't fall, Yutaka let out a small voice from behind. Feeling the tug of the tow rope behind him, Ohkawa quickly reached his hand back. About to fall backwards, Yutaka and the others leaned forward to try to keep their balance, the bier pushing heavily into Ohkawa. Ohkawa was strenously held it fast. The one thing he refused to let happen was for something as unsightly as for the coffin to be dropped.
Somehow, just barely, the coffin remained on the bier. There were relieved sighs from all about. The graveyard was right before their eyes.
Even Ohkawa felt a sense of relief, lowering his eyes to the tow rope in his hand. It held out well. ---But, didn't it also feel like the bier was oddly light? There was the weight of the bier itself, the weight of the coffin itself. And the coffin itself was particularly heavy. Inside of that was Atsushi, who had a robust body. Since Ohkawa himself was a giant, he'd been sought out by the mourning crew to be a pallbearer plenty of times. All the more now with all of the funerals one after another. His body intuitively knew the weight of a bier, and bearing that in mind, he could only think that this seemed light.
(It can't be...)
Ohkawa shook his head.
Just bear it a little longer. Soon enough this frustrating funeral would be over.
Ohkawa sat dumbfounded in the funeral hall. The showy altar was lit by a spotlight, strange music playing. Hayami had solemnly said words meant to be condolences but he found them to be faultfully superficial and trifling.
What astonished Ohkawa even more was how much those gathered stood out. Each and every guest found a night time funeral suspicious. This was just how it had to be given the situation, and just thinking on how shocking it was was irritating. He couldn't stomach how well everybody just accepted the explanation that it had to be like this because of the Ozaki's funeral. Why, on top of losing his son, did he have to suffer this indignation?
"Good grief, this is shameful...."
Behind Ohkawa was his grumbling mother Namie. Ohkawa too could feel her outrage; it wasn't as if they'd asked for it to be like this. The shop help Matsumura only fearfully repeated his utterance that this wasn't normal. With just a look at the color on Ohkawa's face, his wife kept her mouth closed despite havings things she, too would have liked to have said. On the other hand, there were the children earnestly mourning that good for nothing, paying no mind to the absurdity of the funeral, the oddity of the attendants. The relatives gave Ohkawa reproachful stares, even as they tilted their own heads in thought. Just last month, they'd had a funeral for another in the area, and they wondered just how long the funerals would keep continuing. What was happening to the village, were those strange rumors true, his cousin Ohkawa Choutarou kept on asking. ---Everyone was so caught up in their own thoughts without noting Ohkawa's own scandalized feelings was itself insufferable.
He bore through the ceremony with a bitter taste in his mouth. As the guests expressed their condolences to Ohkawa, the ceremony moved on to the flower offering. The gathered placed white flowers within the coffin. Once that was finished, the lid was placed over the coffin and the family was brought a rock. They nailed down the lid.
Ohkawa pounded with the rock with only one thought: wishing this to hurry and be over. Any emotions regarding the loss of his son were overtaken by the shame and indignation that left no room for anything else within him.
"And so now at last it's time for us to part!" Hayami triumphantly exaulted, after which smoke began to fill the room, the coffin singing down beneath the platform. Ohkawa grimaced while at the same time thinking with relief that this farce was finally almost over.
Urged to follow the funeral processing, Ohkawa left the hall behind the attendants. They waited in the hallway behind the funeral hall when the coffin covered in a seven-striped kasaya was carried out from behind the double door. The mourngers were handed out candle shaped flashlights. Ohkawa took hold of the handle of the palaquin the coffin was placed on and with Yutaka at the front of the other male relatives, lifted it up. Kazuko held the photo of the deceased, while Namie and Mizue went ahead of the procession carrying bouquets of flowers. The Ohkawa family graveyard was across the river that flowed through Mizuguchi in the Eastern Mountain. From the funeral hall in Kamisotoba, it was agonizing to have to continue along the village road to the second bridge. They were fully aware of the strange looks that they in the funeral procession were receiving from those on the highway side.
When they crossed the bridge and at last entered the mountain, they at last let out a sigh. Now straying off of the village road, they entered the unpaved mountain path where the footholds were poor. There were a few lights placed on either side of the mountain path, but they didn't do a terrible lot of good.
Just when thinking they could only hope those carrying the palaquin didn't fall, Yutaka let out a small voice from behind. Feeling the tug of the tow rope behind him, Ohkawa quickly reached his hand back. About to fall backwards, Yutaka and the others leaned forward to try to keep their balance, the bier pushing heavily into Ohkawa. Ohkawa was strenously held it fast. The one thing he refused to let happen was for something as unsightly as for the coffin to be dropped.
Somehow, just barely, the coffin remained on the bier. There were relieved sighs from all about. The graveyard was right before their eyes.
Even Ohkawa felt a sense of relief, lowering his eyes to the tow rope in his hand. It held out well. ---But, didn't it also feel like the bier was oddly light? There was the weight of the bier itself, the weight of the coffin itself. And the coffin itself was particularly heavy. Inside of that was Atsushi, who had a robust body. Since Ohkawa himself was a giant, he'd been sought out by the mourning crew to be a pallbearer plenty of times. All the more now with all of the funerals one after another. His body intuitively knew the weight of a bier, and bearing that in mind, he could only think that this seemed light.
(It can't be...)
Ohkawa shook his head.
Just bear it a little longer. Soon enough this frustrating funeral would be over.