Beauty
Beauty is a significant aspect of the novel and is shown to be a temptation to Oki. Once Keiko has had an affair with Oki, she admits that she used her beauty and attractiveness in order to seduce him and to enact her revenge. As such, she utilizes her beauty to gain power. Keiko is described as having an "eerie beauty", which hints that her beauty might be misleading. Beauty is also why Oki was tempted to have an affair with Otoko, which led to great sadness and longing for both characters.
Luxury and Poverty
Oki's book about his affair with Otoko sells very well, meaning that for his wife: “It had meant new clothes, even jewelry, to say nothing of helping to pay for the education of her son and daughter.” He also describes how: "At midnight his wife and daughter might still be bustling about, preparing holiday delicacies in the kitchen, straightening up the house, or perhaps getting their kimonos ready or arranging flowers." As such, we can see Oki lives a life of luxury and financial stability.
This can be contrasted with the financial situation of Otoko during her affair with Oki. Later, Oki regrets not helping her financially: “Otoko had given birth in a dingy little clinic on the outskirts of Tokyo. Oki felt a sharp pang at the thought that the baby's life might have been saved if it had been cared for in a good hospital."
Time
The narrator often uses imagery to describe the passing of time: “Time passed. But time flows in many streams. Like a river, an inner stream of time will flow rapidly at some places and sluggishly at others, or perhaps even stand hopelessly stagnant. Cosmic time is the same for everyone, but human time differs with each person. Time flows in the same way for all human beings; every human being flows through time in a different way.” Here, the narrator compares the passing of time to the flowing of a river, suggesting the different perceptions of time for different people.
Nature
The imagery of nature is often used to convey feelings and emotions in the text:
“She could not say why these rather inconspicuous green slopes had so touched her heart, when along the railway line there were mountains, lakes, the sea at times even clouds dyed in sentimental colors. But perhaps their melancholy green, and the melancholy evening shadows of the ridges across them, had brought on the pain."
Here, the beautiful landscape inspires a sense of sadness and melancholy. This can be related to the novel’s title, “Beauty and Sadness”. Throughout the novel we see the juxtaposition of these two concepts, from landscapes to the nature of love.
