:09:01
Rulers ruled and used complicated strategies
to fight one another.
:09:04
Real power was in the hands of a family of hereditary regents;
:09:07
the emperor's court had become nothing more
than a place of intrigues and intellectual games.
:09:12
But this small group of idlers left a mark on Japanese sensibility
much deeper than the mediocre thundering of the politicians,
:09:19
by learning to draw a sort of melancholy comfort
from the contemplation of the tiniest things.
:09:27
Shonagon had a passion for lists: the list of 'elegant things,'
'distressing things,' or even of 'things not worth doing.'
:09:37
One day she got the idea of drawing up a list
of 'things that quicken the heart.'
:09:40
Not a bad criterion I realize when I'm filming;
:09:43
I bow to the economic miracle,
but what I want to show you are the neighborhood celebrations.