The words on behalf of the Heian period—“あはれ” (aware) and “をかし” (okashi). They are from the words “もののあはれ” (mononoaware) and “いとをかし”（itookashi）. “もののあはれ” (mononoaware) is on behalf of The Tale of Genji, and the word “いとをかし”（itookashi）is on behalf of The Pillow Book. They are known by modern people for elegant hobbies. Although the high school text book explains it as “rich in amorous feelings”, for high school students, the beautiful boring world of “amorous feelings” is so far away from their life.

There’s a fast and easy way to explain the two words for Japanese. “あはれ” (aware) means “あ” (ah), and “をかし” (okashi) means “お” (oh).

“あはれ” was an interjection, to express the uncontrollable voices such like “ahh” or “ah”. For example, when we see the crimson sunset, or worship the coming light of the sunrise from the top of the mountain Fuji, our vocal muscles will be relaxing, and the breath will be same as the sigh, sounded as “ah”, “ha” (wa) and “re” (le) by unconscious.

*(“aware” from The Tale of Genji, ○1used as an interjection, means “ah.” or “huh?” in the paragraph of Evening Face (夕顔/Yugao); ○2used as a noun, means “loneliness” or “sadness”, in the paragraph of Bridge Princess (橋姫/Hashihime))

“あはれ” (aware) in modern Japanese means “poor”, and this is also same as ago. When we meet and sympathize the unfortunate people or affairs, the plaint by subconscious such like “ahh”, that is the “あはれ” (aware) of “poor”. So, there was no specification of translation for “あはれ” (aware), it was only a word to express plaint or sentiment, if you could understand it, you could understand the feelings of the people in Heian period.

So, what about “をかし” (okashi)? Same as the “おかしい” (same pronunciation as okashi, means funny things) makes you laugh, and the “おかしい” (same pronunciation as okashi,　means pain or uncomfortable) makes you hurt in your neck, the word is still living and used in modern time. If we explore the explanation, it can be explained short for “oh!” And if we expand it as “ohh”, it becomes the “をかし” (okashi) of romantic and outstanding. In the first part of “The Dawn of Spring” from The Pillow Book, the word appeared in “the night of summer” of the paragraph of “The Four Seasons”. 「蛍の多く飛び違ひたる。また、ただ一つ二つなど、ほのかにうち光りてゆくも、をかし」–“Fireflies fly around well. And, one or two, shining light faintly and fly away, there’s another taste of interesting”. And after that, the paragraph kept writing “the rain is interesting”, just like an adjective which expresses the second-grade things. “をかし” (okashi) is an evaluation word which used to evaluate downward.

*(“okashi” from The Pillow Book, used as an adjective, means “have interest” or “rich of amorous feelings”, in the paragraph of The Dawn of Spring (春のあけぼの/Harunoakebono))

This is why “もののあはれ” (mononoaware) is on behalf of The Tale of Genji, and the word “いとをかし”（itookashi）is behalf on The Pillow Book. The Tale of Genji describes the love, hatred and joy of the world. The dramatic personae constantly sighed “ah”, and readers moved by the story and echoed “ah”. But The Pillow Story was full of humors and wit— “oh, this’s so good”, “oh! And this’s nice too”. And when we read the unique and interesting essay, we’ll raise the same voice too.

“あはれ” (aware) expresses “あ” (ah), and “をかし” (okashi) expresses “お” (oh), and the feeling of Heian period is still remembered by our vocal organs, by our bodies.