木村「部長と課長の対立には、困ったものですね」
加藤「二人の間には根の深いものがありそうですよ」
Ne Ga Fukai
Kimura: Bucho to kachoo no tairitsu ni wa komatta mono desu ne.
Kato: Futari no aida ni wa ne no fukai mono ga ari soo desu yo.
Kimura: This hostility between the department chief and the section chief certainly is troublesome.
Kato: Seems that there's some deep rooted (animosity) between them.
* * *
When a noun follows fukai, as in our conversation, ne ga becomes ne no (i.e., ne no fukai + noun).
Despite a surface invisibility, it is clear that something from the past stands between the two chiefs; they exchange polite words but their opinions always run parallel and never intersect. Trees deeply rooted (the literal reading of ne ga fukai) , they are not easily moved.
Curiously, the nouns which follow ne no fukai all have a rather dark image about them; ne no fukai urami (deep-seated bitterness) being a good example. In Japan's Middle Ages people were said to have had the custom of fixing a death curse upon an enemy
by fastening a straw doll to a tree, driving a nail through it, and praying for the despised person's death. I had, of course, thought the custom extinct until an ethnologist informed me of the frightening fact that it's still practiced in a certain part of Kyushu!
When the roots of enmity run so deep (ne no fukai urami), what can possibly be the cause? Even the Genji Monogatari has a scene where Lady Kiritsubo (favorite concubine of the "old emperor" and mother of Genji) fixes a death curse upon one of Genji's lovers. I guess humans just cannot forget (itsu made mo wasureru koto ga dekinai rashii) having their love for someone betrayed. Such memories lay deep roots (ne ga fukaku) inside us.
The Asahi Shimbun recently told of a teacher whose attitude toward his students was ghastly; he would cut their hair if he thought it too long, hit students in front of the rest of the class, and make the entire class sit out on the hallway floor. As you might expect, A sensei ni taisuru seitotachi no fuman wa hijoo ni ne ga fukakatta (The roots of the student's discontent with Teacher A ran very deep). Though the students did in fact silently obey their teacher for some time, one day as he was just getting into his car to go home the students suddenly attacked him. They threw a large bag over his head and hit him all over with sticks, severely injuring him. Yohodo ne no fukai fuman ga atta no desu ne (Their discontent must have really been deep). I was quite frightened after reading this article. Why didn't they oppose the teacher openly? And even if they were going to hit
him with sticks, why did they feel they had to put a bag over his head? And was this the only way they could express their feelings? A frightening thought indeed.
Finally-what about the situation between America and the Soviet Union? Haven't recent days seen the two countries draw closer together? Yes, but angai tairitsu wa ne ga fukai kamoshirenai (the roots, of their rivalry are still probably deeper than we imagine).