River simile
In the following passage, the narrator uses a simile 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 passing of time is compared to the flowing of a river. A river flows at different speeds in different places, in the same way that time flows at different speeds for each person.
Music metaphor
The landscape here is described as making music, a metaphor for its beauty and enchantment: “Even if you took it as cascading snowy mountains, it was not a cool snow-white. The cold of the snow and it's warm colour made a kind of music.”
Lotus flower metaphor
The image of a lotus blossom is used to metaphorically describe Otoko’s love for Oki: “Now that Otoko had heard about the night at Enoshima, that old love flared up ominously within her. Yet in those flames she could see a single white lotus blossom. Their love was a dreamlike flower that not even Keiko could stain.” This metaphor emphasizes how Otoko will never stop loving Oki, and that her relationship to Keiko does not change the experiences shared between herself and Oki. Describing her love as being a flower emphasizes how delicate and pure Otoko's love is.
