This
comparison with the first painting helps us to see further how composition
is used to express psychological states. In the case of Yûgiri and
Kashiwagi to the lower left, the two men are shown as physically close
yet unable to share a secret. But in the case of Genji above, facing his
son Reizei, we have two men who share a secret but who are physically unable
to approach each other. In both cases, Yûgiri appears as the naïve
outsider who shares in neither secret. The subtle message of all this is
the sentiment known as mono no aware, an awareness of the way things
are, a basic sense of the sadness of human life.