In this series of tales a hermit woman reveals to two passionate men, the question of “Why did this woman live the way she did?” is raised. Who or what caused her to live this sensual life? Was it the outside factors, or herself?

In the “Life of a Sensuous Woman”, the old female hermit says “I followed my desires  wherever they went – and I ruined myself. The water will never be clear again. There’s no use regretting it now though (p.596 top).” This realization seems to have come later when this woman has attained a certain epiphany. This water that has been infested with the desires of sensuality seemed to have been awakened by an instance when she was the age of thirteen. The hermit woman says “Whenever I saw women and men lying together, Id feel excited, and when I’d hear them in the dark, my heart pounded (p.595).” This was the spark that set the fire of sensuality into a burning desire. This culture where children are exposed to the sexual influences of society will obviously reap its fruits of disastrous lives.

While this hermit woman was in youth, she had many encounters of love. The fact that she went through many relationships shows how much Japanese culture revolved around passion and sensuality. Also looking at the time when she had an affair with the monk while remaining prisoner, there was one instance where it shows that her lifestyle is nothing unique in that Japanese time period. While the woman was trapped inside of the locked temple, she met another grave looking woman who claims she too, had been living the pledge the hermit woman was experiencing (p.602). This further proves the point of the fault society has in hand.

The reason that the hermit woman was led to this state of sexual worship is because of the society she lived in. If there had been even a stable effort to stop the societal influence of burning passion for sex, there would have been many lives with less unfortunate outcome.