Daily Dose

From Essays in Idleness: The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko, translated by Donald Keene

72

"Things which seem in poor taste: too many personal effects cluttering up the place where one is sitting; too many brushes in an ink-box; too many Buddhas in a family temple; too many stones and plants in a garden; too many children in a house; too many words on meeting someone; too many meritorious deeds recorded in a petition.  Things which are not offensive, no matter how numerous: books in a book cart*, rubbish in a rubbish heap."

(*Fuguruma were small carts with shafts, used for moving books.)