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+Project Gutenberg's The Romance of the Milky Way, by Lafcadio Hearn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Romance of the Milky Way
+       And Other Studies & Stories
+
+Author: Lafcadio Hearn
+
+Release Date: March 10, 2005 [EBook #15320]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMANCE OF THE MILKY WAY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Ted Garvin, William Flis, and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+  Transcriber's Note: Phonetic characters are represented by the
+      following symbols:
+  [=x] = any letter "x" with superior macron
+
+
+
+
+SHORT STORY
+
+
+
+
+THE ROMANCE OF THE MILKY WAY
+
+AND OTHER STUDIES & STORIES
+
+BY LAFCADIO HEARN
+
+
+HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY BOSTON AND NEW YORK 1905
+
+
+
+
+COPYRIGHT 1905 BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN & COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
+
+PUBLISHED OCTOBER 1905
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  THE ROMANCE OF THE MILKY WAY       1
+
+  GOBLIN POETRY                     51
+
+  "ULTIMATE QUESTIONS"             103
+
+  THE MIRROR MAIDEN                125
+
+  THE STORY OF IT[=O] NORISUKÉ     139
+
+  STRANGER THAN FICTION            167
+
+  A LETTER FROM JAPAN              179
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+Lafcadio Hearn, known to Nippon as Yakumo Koizumi, was born in
+Leucadia in the Ionian Islands, June 27, 1850. His father was an Irish
+surgeon in the British Army; his mother was a Greek. Both parents died
+while Hearn was still a child, and he was adopted by a great-aunt,
+and educated for the priesthood. To this training he owed his
+Latin scholarship and, doubtless, something of the subtlety of
+his intelligence. He soon found, however, that the prospect of an
+ecclesiastical career was alien from his inquiring mind and vivid
+temperament, and at the age of nineteen he came to America to seek
+his fortune. After working for a time as a proof-reader, he obtained
+employment as a newspaper reporter in Cincinnati. Soon he rose to
+be an editorial writer, and went in the course of a few years to New
+Orleans to join the editorial staff of the "Times-Democrat." Here he
+lived until 1887, writing odd fantasies and arabesques for his paper,
+contributing articles and sketches to the magazines, and publishing
+several curious little books, among them his "Stray Leaves from
+Strange Literature," and his translations from Gautier. In the winter
+of 1887 he began his pilgrimages to exotic countries, being, as
+he wrote to a friend, "a small literary bee in search of inspiring
+honey." After a couple of years, spent chiefly in the French West
+Indies, with periods of literary work in New York, he went in 1890
+to Japan to prepare a series of articles for a magazine. Here through
+some deep affinity of mood with the marvelous people of that country
+he seems suddenly to have felt himself at last at home. He married a
+Japanese woman; he acquired Japanese citizenship in order to preserve
+the succession of his property to his family there; he became a
+lecturer in the Imperial University at T[=o]ky[=o]; and in a series
+of remarkable books he made himself the interpreter to the Western
+World of the very spirit of Japanese life and art. He died there of
+paralysis of the heart on the 26th of September, 1904.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With the exception of a body of familiar letters now in process of
+collection, the present volume contains all of Hearn's writing that
+he left uncollected in the magazines or in manuscript of a sufficient
+ripeness for publication. It is worth noting, however, that perfect as
+is the writing of "Ultimate Questions," and complete as the essay is
+in itself, the author regarded it as unfinished, and, had he lived,
+would have revised and amplified some portions of it.
+
+But if this volume lacks the incomparably exquisite touch of its
+author in its arrangement and revision, it does, nevertheless, present
+him in all of his most characteristic veins, and it is in respect both
+to style and to substance perhaps the most mature and significant of
+his works.
+
+In his first days as a writer Hearn had conceived an ideal of his art
+as specific as it was ambitious. Early in the eighties he wrote from
+New Orleans in an unpublished letter to the Rev. Wayland D. Ball
+of Washington: "The lovers of antique loveliness are proving to me
+the future possibilities of a long cherished dream,--the English
+realization of a Latin style, modeled upon foreign masters, and
+rendered even more forcible by that element of _strength_ which
+is the characteristic of Northern tongues. This no man can hope
+to accomplish, but even a translator may carry his stones to the
+master-masons of a new architecture of language." In the realization
+of his ideal Hearn took unremitting pains. He gave a minute and
+analytical study to the writings of such masters of style as Flaubert
+and Gautier, and he chose his miscellaneous reading with a peculiar
+care. He wrote again to the same friend: "I never read a book which
+does not powerfully impress the imagination; but whatever contains
+novel, curious, potent imagery I always read, no matter what
+the subject. When the soil of fancy is really well enriched
+with innumerable fallen leaves, the flowers of language grow
+spontaneously." Finally, to the hard study of technique, to vast
+but judicious reading, he added a long, creative brooding time. To
+a Japanese friend, Nobushige Amenomori, he wrote in a passage
+which contains by implication a deep theory not only of literary
+composition, but of all art:--
+
+"Now with regard to your own sketch or story. If you are quite
+dissatisfied with it, I think this is probably due _not_ to what you
+suppose,--imperfection of expression,--but rather to the fact that
+some _latent_ thought or emotion has not yet defined itself in your
+mind with sufficient sharpness. You feel something and have not been
+able to express the feeling--only because you do not yet quite know
+what it is. We feel without understanding feeling; and our most
+powerful emotions are the most undefinable. This must be so, because
+they are inherited accumulations of feeling, and the multiplicity of
+them--superimposed one over another--blurs them, and makes them dim,
+even though enormously increasing their strength.... _Unconscious_
+brain work is the best to develop such latent feeling or thought. By
+quietly writing the thing over and over again, I find that the emotion
+or idea often _develops itself_ in the process,--unconsciously. Again,
+it is often worth while to _try_ to analyze the feeling that remains
+dim. The effort of trying to understand exactly what it is that moves
+us sometimes proves successful.... If you have any feeling--no matter
+what--strongly latent in the mind (even only a haunting sadness or a
+mysterious joy), you may be sure that it is expressible. Some feelings
+are, of course, very difficult to develop. I shall show you one
+of these days, when we see each other, a page that I worked at for
+_months_ before the idea came clearly.... When the best result
+comes, it ought to surprise you, for our best work is out of the
+Unconscious."
+
+Through this study, reading, and brooding Lafcadio Hearn's prose
+ripened and mellowed consistently to the end. In mere workmanship the
+present volume is one of his most admirable, while in its heightened
+passages, like the final paragraph of "The Romance of the Milky Way,"
+the rich, melancholy music, the profound suggestion, are not easily
+matched from any but the very greatest English prose.
+
+In substance the volume is equally significant. In 1884 he wrote to
+one of the closest of his friends that he had at last found his
+feet intellectually through the reading of Herbert Spencer which
+had dispelled all "isms" from his mind and left him "the vague
+but omnipotent consolation of the Great Doubt." And in "Ultimate
+Questions," which strikes, so to say, the dominant chord of this
+volume, we have an almost lyrical expression of the meaning for him of
+the Spencerian philosophy and psychology. In it is his characteristic
+mingling of Buddhist and Shinto thought with English and French
+psychology, strains which in his work "do not simply mix well," as
+he says in one of his letters, but "absolutely unite, like chemical
+elements--rush together with a shock;"--and in it he strikes his
+deepest note. In his steady envisagement of the horror that envelops
+the stupendous universe of science, in his power to evoke and revive
+old myths and superstitions, and by their glamour to cast a ghostly
+light of vanished suns over the darkness of the abyss, he was the most
+Lucretian of modern writers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In outward appearance Hearn, the man, was in no way prepossessing. In
+the sharply lined picture of him drawn by one of his Japanese comrades
+in the "Atlantic" for October, 1905, he appears, "slightly corpulent
+in later years, short in stature, hardly five feet high, of somewhat
+stooping gait. A little brownish in complexion, and of rather hairy
+skin. A thin, sharp, aquiline nose, large protruding eyes, of which
+the left was blind and the right very near-sighted."
+
+The same writer, Nobushige Amenomori, has set down a reminiscence, not
+of Hearn the man, but of Hearn the genius, wherewith this introduction
+to the last of his writings may fitly conclude: "I shall ever retain
+the vivid remembrance of the sight I had when I stayed over night at
+his house for the first time. Being used myself also to sit up late, I
+read in bed that night. The clock struck one in the morning, but there
+was a light in Hearn's study. I heard some low, hoarse coughing. I was
+afraid my friend might be ill; so I stepped out of my room and went to
+his study. Not wanting, however, to disturb him, if he was at work,
+I cautiously opened the door just a little, and peeped in. I saw
+my friend intent in writing at his high desk, with his nose almost
+touching the paper. Leaf after leaf he wrote on. In a while he held
+up his head, and what did I see! It was not the Hearn I was familiar
+with; it was another Hearn. His face was mysteriously white; his
+large eye gleamed. He appeared like one in touch with some unearthly
+presence.
+
+"Within that homely looking man there burned something pure as the
+vestal fire, and in that flame dwelt a mind that called forth life and
+poetry out of dust, and grasped the highest themes of human thought."
+
+F.G.
+
+September, 1905.
+
+
+
+
+THE ROMANCE, OF THE MILKY WAY
+
+
+    Of old it was said: 'The River of Heaven is the Ghost of
+    Waters.' We behold it shifting its bed in the course of the
+    year as an earthly river sometimes does.
+
+    _Ancient Scholar_
+
+
+Among the many charming festivals celebrated by Old Japan, the most
+romantic was the festival of Tanabata-Sama, the Weaving-Lady of the
+Milky Way. In the chief cities her holiday is now little observed; and
+in T[=o]ky[=o] it is almost forgotten. But in many country districts,
+and even in villages, near the capital, it is still celebrated in a
+small way. If you happen to visit an old-fashioned country town or
+village, on the seventh day of the seventh month (by the ancient
+calendar), you will probably notice many freshly-cut bamboos fixed
+upon the roofs of the houses, or planted in the ground beside them,
+every bamboo having attached to it a number of strips of colored
+paper. In some very poor villages you might find that these papers are
+white, or of one color only; but the general rule is that the papers
+should be of five or seven different colors. Blue, green, red, yellow,
+and white are the tints commonly displayed. All these papers are
+inscribed with short poems written in praise of Tanabata and her
+husband Hikoboshi. After the festival the bamboos are taken down and
+thrown into the nearest stream, together with the poems attached to
+them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+To understand the romance of this old festival, you must know the
+legend of those astral divinities to whom offerings used to be made,
+even by, the Imperial Household, on the seventh day of the seventh
+month. The legend is Chinese. This is the Japanese popular version of
+it:--
+
+The great god of the firmament had a lovely daughter, Tanabata-tsumé,
+who passed her days in weaving garments for her august parent. She
+rejoiced in her work, and thought that there was no greater pleasure
+than the pleasure of weaving. But one day, as she sat before her loom
+at the door of her heavenly dwelling, she saw a handsome peasant lad
+pass by, leading an ox, and she fell in love with him. Her august
+father, divining her secret wish, gave her the youth for a husband.
+But the wedded lovers became too fond of each other, and neglected
+their duty to the god of the firmament; the sound of the shuttle was
+no longer heard, and the ox wandered, unheeded, over the plains of
+heaven. Therefore the great god was displeased, and he separated the
+pair. They were sentenced to live thereafter apart, with the Celestial
+River between them; but it was permitted them to see each other once
+a year, on the seventh night of the seventh moon. On that
+night--providing the skies be clear--the birds of heaven make, with
+their bodies and wings, a bridge over the stream; and by means of that
+bridge the lovers can meet. But if there be rain, the River of Heaven
+rises, and becomes so wide that the bridge cannot be formed. So the
+husband and wife cannot always meet, even on the seventh night of
+the seventh month; it may happen, by reason of bad weather, that they
+cannot meet for three or four years at a time. But their love remains
+immortally young and eternally patient; and they continue to fulfill
+their respective duties each day without fault,--happy in their hope
+of being able to meet on the seventh night of the next seventh month.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+To ancient Chinese fancy, the Milky Way was a luminous river,--the
+River of Heaven,--the Silver Stream. It has been stated by Western
+writers that Tanabata, the Weaving-Lady, is a star in Lyra; and the
+Herdsman, her beloved, a star in Aquila, on the opposite side of the
+galaxy. But it were more correct to say that both are represented, to
+Far-Eastern imagination, by groups of stars. An old Japanese book puts
+the matter thus plainly: "Kengy[=u] (the Ox-Leader) is on the west
+side of the Heavenly River, and is represented by three stars in a
+row, and looks like a man leading an ox. Shokujo (the Weaving-Lady)
+is on the east side of the Heavenly River: three stars so placed as
+to appear like the figure of a woman seated at her loom.... The former
+presides over all things relating to agriculture; the latter, over all
+that relates to women's work."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In an old book called Zatsuwa-Shin, it is said that these deities
+were of earthly origin. Once in this world they were man and wife,
+and lived in China; and the husband was called Ishi, and the wife
+Hakuy[=o]. They especially and most devoutly reverenced the Moon.
+Every clear evening, after sundown, they waited with eagerness to see
+her rise. And when she began to sink towards the horizon, they would
+climb to the top of a hill near their house, so that they might be
+able to gaze upon her face as long as possible. Then, when she at last
+disappeared from view, they would mourn together. At the age of ninety
+and nine, the wife died; and her spirit rode up to heaven on a magpie,
+and there became a star. The husband, who was then one hundred and
+three years old, sought consolation for his bereavement in looking at
+the Moon and when he welcomed her rising and mourned her setting, it
+seemed to him as if his wife were still beside him.
+
+One summer night, Hakuy[=o]--now immortally beautiful and
+young--descended from heaven upon her magpie, to visit her husband;
+and he was made very happy by that visit. But from that time he
+could think of nothing but the bliss of becoming a star, and joining
+Hakuy[=o] beyond the River of Heaven. At last he also ascended to the
+sky, riding upon a crow; and there he became a star-god. But he could
+not join Hakuy[=o] at once, as he had hoped;--for between his allotted
+place and hers flowed the River of Heaven; and it was not permitted
+for either star to cross the stream, because the Master of Heaven
+(_Ten-Tei_) daily bathed in its waters. Moreover, there was no bridge.
+But on one day every year--the seventh day of the seventh month--they
+were allowed to see each other. The Master of Heaven goes always
+on that day to the Zenh[=o]do, to hear the preaching of the law of
+Buddha; and then the magpies and the crows make, with their hovering
+bodies and outspread wings, a bridge over the Celestial Stream; and
+Hakuy[=o] crosses that bridge to meet her husband.
+
+There can be little doubt that the Japanese festival called
+Tanabata was originally identical with the festival of the Chinese
+Weaving-Goddess, Tchi-Niu; the Japanese holiday seems to have
+been especially a woman's holiday, from the earliest times; and
+the characters with which the word Tanabata is written signify a
+weaving-girl. But as both of the star-deities were worshiped on the
+seventh of the seventh month, some Japanese scholars have not been
+satisfied with the common explanation of the name, and have stated
+that it was originally composed with the word _tané_ (seed, or grain),
+and the word _hata_ (loom). Those who accept this etymology make the
+appellation, Tanabata-Sama, plural instead of singular, and render
+it as "the deities of grain and of the loom,"--that is to say, those
+presiding over agriculture and weaving. In old Japanese pictures
+the star-gods are represented according to this conception of their
+respective attributes;--Hikoboshi being figured as a peasant lad
+leading an ox to drink of the Heavenly River, on the farther side of
+which Orihimé (Tanabata) appears, weaving at her loom. The garb of
+both is Chinese; and the first Japanese pictures of these divinities
+were probably copied from some Chinese original.
+
+In the oldest collection of Japanese poetry extant,--the
+Many[=o]sh[=u], dating from 760 A.D.,--the male divinity is usually
+called Hikoboshi, and the female Tanabata-tsumé; but in later times
+both have been called Tanabata. In Izumo the male deity is popularly
+termed O-Tanabata Sama, and the female Mé-Tanabata Sama. Both are
+still known by many names. The male is called Kaiboshi as well as
+Hikoboshi and Kengy[=u]; while the female is called Asagao-himé
+("Morning Glory Princess")[1], Ito-ori-himé ("Thread-Weaving
+Princess"), Momoko-himé ("Peach-Child Princess"), Takimono-himé
+("Incense Princess"), and Sasagani-himé ("Spider Princess"). Some
+of these names are difficult to explain,--especially the last, which
+reminds us of the Greek legend of Arachne. Probably the Greek myth and
+the Chinese story have nothing whatever in common; but in old Chinese
+books there is recorded a curious fact which might well suggest a
+relationship. In the time of the Chinese Emperor Ming Hwang (whom the
+Japanese call Gens[=o]), it was customary for the ladies of the court,
+on the seventh day of the seventh month, to catch spiders and put them
+into an incense-box for purposes of divination. On the morning of the
+eighth day the box was opened; and if the spiders had spun thick webs
+during the night the omen was good. But if they had remained idle the
+omen was bad.
+
+[Footnote 1: Asagao (lit., "morning-face") is the Japanese name for
+the beautiful climbing plant which we call "morning glory."]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There is a story that, many ages ago, a beautiful woman visited the
+dwelling of a farmer in the mountains of Izumo, and taught to the only
+daughter of the household an art of weaving never before known. One
+evening the beautiful stranger vanished away; and the people knew
+that they had seen the Weaving-Lady of Heaven. The daughter of the
+farmer became renowned for her skill in weaving. But she would never
+marry,--because she had been the companion of Tanabata-Sama.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Then there is a Chinese story--delightfully vague--about a man who
+once made a visit, unawares, to the Heavenly Land. He had observed
+that every year, during the eighth month, a raft of precious wood came
+floating to the shore on which he lived; and he wanted to know where
+that wood grew. So he loaded a boat with provisions for a two years'
+voyage, and sailed away in the direction from which the rafts used to
+drift. For months and months he sailed on, over an always placid sea;
+and at last he arrived at a pleasant shore, where wonderful trees
+were growing. He moored his boat, and proceeded alone into the unknown
+land, until he came to the bank of a river whose waters were bright as
+silver. On the opposite shore he saw a pavilion; and in the pavilion
+a beautiful woman sat weaving; she was white like moonshine, and made
+a radiance all about her. Presently he saw a handsome young peasant
+approaching, leading an ox to the water; and he asked the young
+peasant to tell him the name of the place and the country. But the
+youth seemed to be displeased by the question, and answered in a
+severe tone: "If you want to know the name of this place, go back
+to where you came from, and ask Gen-Kum-Pei."[2] So the voyager,
+feeling afraid, hastened to his boat, and returned to China. There he
+sought out the sage Gen-Kum-Pei, to whom he related the adventure.
+Gen-Kum-Pei clapped his hands for wonder, and exclaimed, "So it was
+you!... On the seventh day of the seventh month I was gazing at
+the heavens, and I saw that the Herdsman and the Weaver were about
+to meet;--but between them was a new Star, which I took to be a
+Guest-Star. Fortunate man! you have been to the River of Heaven, and
+have looked upon the face of the Weaving-Lady!..."
+
+[Footnote 2: This is the Japanese reading of the Chinese name.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--It is said that the meeting of the Herdsman and the Weaver can be
+observed by any one with good eyes; for whenever it occurs those stars
+burn with five different colors. That is why offerings of five colors
+are made to the Tanabata divinities, and why the poems composed in
+their praise are written upon paper of five different tints.
+
+But, as I have said before, the pair can meet only in fair weather.
+If there be the least rain upon the seventh night, the River of Heaven
+will rise, and the lovers must wait another whole year. Therefore the
+rain that happens to fall on Tanabata night is called _Namida no Amé_,
+"The Rain of Tears."
+
+When the sky is clear on the seventh night, the lovers are fortunate;
+and their stars can be seen to sparkle with delight. If the star
+Kengy[=u] then shines very brightly, there will be great rice crops
+in the autumn. If the star Shokujo looks brighter than usual, there
+will be a prosperous time for weavers, and for every kind of female
+industry.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In old Japan it was generally supposed that the meeting of the pair
+signified good fortune to mortals. Even to-day, in many parts of the
+country, children sing a little song on the evening of the Tanabata
+festival,--_Tenki ni nari!_ ("O weather, be clear!") In the province
+of Iga the young folks also sing a jesting song at the supposed hour
+of the lovers' meeting:--
+
+    Tanabata ya!
+  Amari isogaba,
+    Korobubéshi![3]
+
+But in the province of Izumo, which is a very rainy district, the
+contrary belief prevails; and it is thought that if the sky be clear
+on the seventh day of the seventh month, misfortune will follow. The
+local explanation of this belief is that if the stars can meet, there
+will be born from their union many evil deities who will afflict the
+country with drought and other calamities.
+
+[Footnote 3: "Ho! Tanabata! if you hurry too much, you will tumble
+down!"]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The festival of Tanabata was first celebrated in Japan on the seventh
+day of the seventh month of Tomby[=o] Sh[=o]h[=o] (A.D. 755). Perhaps
+the Chinese origin of the Tanabata divinities accounts for the fact
+that their public worship was at no time represented by many temples.
+
+I have been able to find record of only one temple to them, called
+Tanabata-jinja, which was situated at a village called Hoshiaimura,
+in the province of Owari, and surrounded by a grove called
+Tanabata-mori.[4]
+
+[Footnote 4: There is no mention, however, of any such village in any
+modern directory.]
+
+Even before Temby[=o] Sh[=o]h[=o], however, the legend of the
+Weaving-Maiden seems to have been well known in Japan; for it is
+recorded that on the seventh night of the seventh year of Y[=o]r[=o]
+(A.D. 723) the poet Yamagami no Okura composed the song:--
+
+    Amanogawa,
+  Ai-muki tachité,
+    Waga koďshi
+  Kimi kimasu nari--
+  Himo-toki makina![5]
+
+It would seem that the Tanabata festival was first established
+in Japan eleven hundred and fifty years ago, as an Imperial Court
+festival only, in accordance with Chinese precedent. Subsequently
+the nobility and the military classes everywhere followed imperial
+example; and the custom of celebrating the Hoshi-mat-suri, or
+Star-Festival,--as it was popularly called,--spread gradually
+downwards, until at last the seventh day of the seventh month became,
+in the full sense of the term, a national holiday. But the fashion of
+its observance varied considerably at different eras and in different
+provinces.
+
+[Footnote 5: For a translation and explanation of this song, see
+_infra_, page 30.]
+
+The ceremonies at the Imperial Court were of the most elaborate
+character: a full account of them is given in the _K[=o]ji
+Kongen_,--with explanatory illustrations. On the evening of the
+seventh day of the seventh month, mattings were laid down on the east
+side of that portion of the Imperial Palace called the Seir-y[=o]den;
+and upon these mattings were placed four tables of offerings to the
+Star-deities. Besides the customary food-offerings, there were placed
+upon these tables rice-wine, incense, vases of red lacquer containing
+flowers, a harp and flute, and a needle with five eyes, threaded
+with threads of five different colors. Black-lacquered oil-lamps were
+placed beside the tables, to illuminate the feast. In another part of
+the grounds a tub of water was so placed as to reflect the light of
+the Tanabata-stars; and the ladies of the Imperial Household attempted
+to thread a needle by the reflection. She who succeeded was to be
+fortunate during the following year. The court-nobility (_Kugé_) were
+obliged to make certain offerings to the Imperial House on the day
+of the festival. The character of these offerings, and the manner of
+their presentation, were fixed by decree. They were conveyed to the
+palace upon a tray, by a veiled lady of rank, in ceremonial dress.
+Above her, as she walked, a great red umbrella was borne by an
+attendant. On the tray were placed seven _tanzaku_ (longilateral
+slips of fine tinted paper for the writing of poems); seven
+_kudzu_-leaves;[6] seven inkstones; seven strings of _s[=o]men_
+(a kind of vermicelli); fourteen writing-brushes; and a bunch of
+yam-leaves gathered at night, and thickly sprinkled with dew. In the
+palace grounds the ceremony began at the Hour of the Tiger,--4 A.M.
+Then the inkstones were carefully washed,--prior to preparing the ink
+for the writing of poems in praise of the Star-deities,--and each one
+set upon a _kudzu_-leaf. One bunch of bedewed yam-leaves was then
+laid upon every inkstone; and with this dew, instead of water, the
+writing-ink was prepared. All the ceremonies appear to have been
+copied from those in vogue at the Chinese court in the time of the
+Emperor Ming-Hwang.
+
+[Footnote 6: _Pueraria Thunbergiana._]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was not until the time of the Tokugawa Sh[=o]gunate that the
+Tanabata festival became really a national holiday; and the popular
+custom of attaching _tansaku_ of different colors to freshly-cut
+bamboos, in celebration of the occasion, dates only from the era
+of Bunser (1818). Previously the _tanzaku_ had been made of a very
+costly quality of paper; and the old aristocratic ceremonies had been
+not less expensive than elaborate. But in the time of the Tokugawa
+Sh[=o]gunate a very cheap paper of various colors was manufactured;
+and the holiday ceremonies were suffered to assume an inexpensive
+form, in which even the poorest classes could indulge.
+
+The popular customs relating to the festival differed according to
+locality. Those of Izumo--where all classes of society, _samurai_ or
+common folk, celebrated the holiday in much the same way--used to be
+particularly interesting; and a brief account of them will suggest
+something of the happy aspects of life in feudal times. At the Hour
+of the Tiger, on the seventh night of the seventh month, everybody
+was up; and the work of washing the inkstones and writing-brushes
+was performed. Then, in the household garden, dew was collected upon
+yam-leaves. This dew was called _Amanogawa no suzuki_ ("drops from the
+River of Heaven"); and it was used to make fresh ink for writing the
+poems which were to be suspended to bamboos planted in the garden. It
+was usual for friends to present each other with new inkstones at the
+time of the Tanabata festival; and if there were any new inkstones
+in the house, the fresh ink was prepared in these. Each member of
+the family then wrote poems. The adults composed verses, according to
+their ability, in praise of the Star-deities; and the children either
+wrote dictation or tried to improvise. Little folk too young to use
+the writing-brush without help had their small hands guided, by parent
+or elder sister or elder brother, so as to shape on a _tanzaku_
+the character of some single word or phrase relating to the
+festival,--such as "Amanogawa," or "Tanabata," or "Kasasagi no Hashi"
+(the Bridge of Magpies). In the garden were planted two freshly-cut
+bamboos, with branches and leaves entire,--a male bamboo
+(_otoko-daké_) and a female bamboo (_onna-daké_). They were set
+up about six feet apart, and to a cord extended between them were
+suspended paper-cuttings of five colors, and skeins of dyed thread of
+five colors. The paper-cuttings represented upper-robes,--_kimono_.
+To the leaves and branches of the bamboos were tied the _tanzaku_
+on which poems had been written by the members of the family.
+And upon a table, set between the bamboos, or immediately before
+them, were placed vessels containing various offerings to the
+Star-deities,--fruits, _s[=o]men_, rice-wine, and vegetables of
+different kinds, such as cucumbers and watermelons.
+
+But the most curious Izumo custom relating to the festival was the
+_Nému-nagashi_, or "Sleep-wash-away" ceremony. Before day-break the
+young folks used to go to some stream, carrying with them bunches
+composed of _némuri_-leaves and bean-leaves mixed together. On
+reaching the stream, they would fling their bunches of leaves into the
+current, and sing a little song:--
+
+  Nému wa, nagaré yo!
+  Mamé no ha wa, tomaré!
+
+These verses might be rendered in two ways; because the word _nému_
+can be taken in the meaning either of _némuri_ (sleep), or of
+_nemuri-gi_ or _némunoki_, the "sleep-plant" (mimosa),--while the
+syllables _mamé_, as written in _kana_, can signify either "bean," or
+"activity," or "strength," "vigor," "health," etc. But the ceremony
+was symbolical, and the intended meaning of the song was:--
+
+  Drowsiness, drift away!
+  Leaves of vigor, remain!
+
+After this, all the young folk would jump into the water, to bathe or
+swim, in token of their resolve to shed all laziness for the coming
+year, and to maintain a vigorous spirit of endeavor.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Yet it was probably in Yédo (now T[=o]ky[=o]) that the Tanabata
+festival assumed its most picturesque aspects. During the two days
+that the celebration lasted,--the sixth and seventh of the seventh
+month,--the city used to present the appearance of one vast bamboo
+grove; fresh bamboos, with poems attached to them, being erected upon
+the roofs of the houses. Peasants were in those days able to do a
+great business in bamboos, which were brought into town by hundreds of
+wagonloads for holiday use. Another feature of the Yédo festival was
+the children's procession, in which bamboos, with poems attached to
+them, were carried about the city. To each such bamboo there was also
+fastened a red plaque on which were painted, in Chinese characters,
+the names of the Tanabata stars.
+
+But almost everywhere, under the Tokugawa régime, the Tanabata
+festival used to be a merry holiday for the young people of all
+classes,--a holiday beginning with lantern displays before sunrise,
+and lasting well into the following night. Boys and girls on that day
+were dressed in their best, and paid visits of ceremony to friends and
+neighbors.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--The moon of the seventh month used to be called _Tanabata-tsuki_, or
+"The Moon of Tanabata." And it was also called _Fumi-tsuki_, or "The
+Literary Moon," because during the seventh month poems were everywhere
+composed in praise of the Celestial Lovers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I think that my readers ought to be interested in the following
+selection of ancient Japanese poems, treating of the Tanabata legend.
+All are from the _Many[=o]sh[=u]_. The _Many[=o]sh[=u]_, or "Gathering
+of a Myriad Leaves," is a vast collection of poems composed before the
+middle of the eighth century. It was compiled by Imperial order, and
+completed early in the ninth century. The number of the poems which
+it contains is upwards of four thousand; some being "long poems"
+(_naga-uta_), but the great majority _tanka_, or compositions limited
+to thirty-one syllables; and the authors were courtiers or high
+officials. The first eleven _tanka_ hereafter translated were composed
+by Yamagami no Okura, Governor of the province of Chikuzen more than
+eleven hundred years ago. His fame as a poet is well deserved; for
+not a little of his work will bear comparison with some of the finer
+epigrams of the Greek Anthology. The following verses, upon the death
+of his little son Furubi, will serve as an example:--
+
+    Wakakeréba
+  Nichi-yuki shiraji:
+    Mahi wa sému,
+  Shitabé no tsukahi
+  Ohité-tohorasé.
+
+    --[_As he is so young, he cannot know the way.... To the
+    messenger of the Underworld I will give a bribe, and entreat
+    him, saying: "Do thou kindly take the little one upon thy back
+    along the road."_]
+
+Eight hundred years earlier, the Greek poet Diodorus Zonas of Sardis
+had written:--
+
+    "_Do thou, who rowest the boat of the dead in the water of
+    this reedy lake, for Hades, stretch out thy hand, dark
+    Charon, to the son of Kinyras, as he mounts the ladder by the
+    gang-way, and receive him. For his sandals will cause the lad
+    to slip, and he fears to set his feet naked on the sand of the
+    shore._"
+
+But the charming epigram of Diodorus was inspired only by a myth,--for
+the "son of Kinyras" was no other than Adonis,--whereas the verses of
+Okura express for us the yearning of a father's heart.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--Though the legend of Tanabata was indeed borrowed from China, the
+reader will find nothing Chinese in the following compositions.
+They represent the old classic poetry at its purest, free from alien
+influence; and they offer us many suggestions as to the condition of
+Japanese life and thought twelve hundred years ago. Remembering that
+they were written before any modern European literature had yet taken
+form, one is startled to find how little the Japanese written language
+has changed in the course of so many centuries. Allowing for a few
+obsolete words, and sundry slight changes of pronunciation, the
+ordinary Japanese reader to-day can enjoy these early productions of
+his native muse with about as little difficulty as the English reader
+finds in studying the poets of the Elizabethan era. Moreover, the
+refinement and the simple charm of the _Many[=o]sh[=u]_ compositions
+have never been surpassed, and seldom equaled, by later Japanese
+poets.
+
+As for the forty-odd _tanka_ which I have translated, their chief
+attraction lies, I think, in what they reveal to us of the human
+nature of their authors. Tanabata-tsumé still represents for us the
+Japanese wife, worshipfully loving;--Hikoboshi appears to us with none
+of the luminosity of the god, but as the young Japanese husband of the
+sixth or seventh century, before Chinese ethical convention had begun
+to exercise its restraint upon life and literature. Also these poems
+interest us by their expression of the early feeling for natural
+beauty. In them we find the scenery and the seasons of Japan
+transported to the Blue Plain of High Heaven;--the Celestial Stream
+with its rapids and shallows, its sudden risings and clamourings
+within its stony bed, and its water-grasses bending in the autumn
+wind, might well be the Kamogawa;--and the mists that haunt its shores
+are the very mists of Arashiyama. The boat of Hikoboshi, impelled
+by a single oar working upon a wooden peg, is not yet obsolete; and
+at many a country ferry you may still see the _hiki-funé_ in which
+Tanabata-tsumé prayed her husband to cross in a night of storm,--a
+flat broad barge pulled over the river by cables. And maids and wives
+still sit at their doors in country villages, on pleasant autumn days,
+to weave as Tanabata-tsumé wove for the sake of her lord and lover.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--It will be observed that, in most of these verses, it is not the
+wife who dutifully crosses the Celestial River to meet her husband,
+but the husband who rows over the stream to meet the wife; and there
+is no reference to the Bridge of Birds.... As for my renderings, those
+readers who know by experience the difficulty of translating Japanese
+verse will be the most indulgent, I fancy. The Romaji system of
+spelling has been followed (except in one or two cases where I thought
+it better to indicate the ancient syllabication after the method
+adopted by Aston); and words or phrases necessarily supplied have been
+inclosed in parentheses.
+
+    Amanogawa
+  Ai-muki tachité,
+    Waga koďshi
+  Kimi kimasu nari
+  Himo-toki makéna!
+
+    [_He is coming, my long-desired lord, whom I have been waiting
+    to meet here, on the banks of the River of Heaven.... The
+    moment of loosening my girdle is nigh!_[7]]
+
+[Footnote 7: The last line alludes to a charming custom of which
+mention is made in the most ancient Japanese literature. Lovers,
+ere parting, were wont to tie each other's inner girdle (_himo_) and
+pledge themselves to leave the knot untouched until the time of their
+next meeting. This poem is said to have been composed in the seventh
+year of Y[=o]r[=o],--A.D. 723,--eleven hundred and eighty-two years
+ago.]
+
+    Hisakata no[8]
+  Ama no kawasé ni,
+    Funé ukété,
+  Koyoď ka kimi ga
+    Agari kimasan?
+
+[Footnote 8: _Hisakata-no_ is a "pillow-word" used by the old poets in
+relation to celestial objects; and it is often difficult to translate.
+Mr. Aston thinks that the literal meaning of _hisakata_ is simply
+"long-hard," in the sense of long-enduring,--_hisa_ (long), _katai_
+(hard, or firm),--so that _hisakata-no_ would have the meaning of
+"firmamental." Japanese commentators, however, say that the term
+is composed with the three words, _hi_ (sun), _sasu_ (shine), and
+_kata_ (side);--and this etymology would justify the rendering
+of _hisakata-no_ by some such expression as "light-shedding,"
+"radiance-giving." On the subject of pillow-words, see Aston's
+_Grammar of the Japanese Written Language_.]
+
+    [_Over the Rapids of the Everlasting Heaven, floating in his
+    boat, my lord will doubtless deign to come to me this very
+    night._]
+
+    Kazé kumo wa
+  Futatsu no kishi ni
+    Kayoëdomo,
+  Waga toho-tsuma no
+  Koto zo kayowanu!
+
+    [_Though winds and clouds to either bank may freely come or
+    go, between myself and my faraway spouse no message whatever
+    may pass._]
+
+    Tsubuté[9] ni mo
+  Nagé koshitsu-béki,
+    Amanogawa
+  Hédatéréba ka mo,
+  Amata subé-naki!
+
+    [_To the opposite bank one might easily fling a pebble; yet,
+    being separated from him by the River of Heaven, alas! to hope
+    for a meeting (except in autumn) is utterly useless._]
+
+[Footnote 9: The old text has _tabuté_.]
+
+    Aki-kazé no
+  Fukinishi hi yori
+    "Itsushika" to--;
+  Waga machi koîshi
+  Kimi zo kimaséru.
+
+    [_From the day that the autumn wind began to blow (I kept
+    saying to myself), "Ah! when shall we meet?"--but now my
+    beloved, for whom I waited and longed, has come indeed!_]
+
+    Amanogawa
+  Ito kawa-nami wa
+    Tatanédomo,
+  Samorai gatashi--
+  Chikaki kono sé wo.
+
+    [_Though the waters of the River of Heaven have not greatly
+    risen, (yet to cross) this near stream and to wait upon (my
+    lord and lover) remains impossible._]
+
+    Sodé furaba
+  Mi mo kawashitsu-béku
+    Chika-kerédo,
+  Wataru subé nashi,
+  Aki nishi aranéba.
+
+    [_Though she is so near that the waving of her (long) sleeves
+    can be distinctly seen, yet there is no way to cross the
+    stream before the season of autumn._]
+
+    Kagéroď no
+  Honoka ni miété
+    Wakarénaba;--
+  Motonaya koďn
+  Aü-toki madé wa!
+
+    [_When we were separated, I had seen her for a moment
+    only,--and dimly as one sees a flying midge;[10] now I
+    must vainly long for her as before, until time of our next
+    meeting!_]
+
+    Hikoboshi no
+  Tsuma mukaë-buné
+    Kogizurashi,--
+  Ama-no-Kawara ni
+  Kiri no tatéru wa.
+
+[Footnote 10: _Kagéroď_ is an obsolete form of _kagér[=o]_, meaning an
+ephemera.]
+
+    [_Methinks that Hikoboshi must be rowing his boat to meet his
+    wife,--for a mist (as of oar-spray) is rising over the course
+    of the Heavenly Stream._]
+
+    Kasumi tatsu
+  Ama-no-Kawara ni,
+    Kimi matsu to,--
+  Ikay[=o] hodo ni
+  Mono-suso nurenu.
+
+    [_While awaiting my lord on the misty shore of the River of
+    Heaven, the skirts of my robe have somehow become wet._]
+
+    Amanogawa,
+  Mi-tsu no nami oto
+    Sawagu-nari:
+  Waga matsu-kimi no
+  Funadé-surashi mo.
+
+    [_On the River of Heaven, at the place of the august
+    ferry, the sound of the water has become loud: perhaps my
+    long-awaited lord will soon be coming in his boat._]
+
+    Tanabata no
+  Sodé maku yoď no
+    Akatoki wa,
+  Kawasé no tazu wa
+  Nakazu to mo yoshi.
+
+    [_As Tanabata (slumbers) with her long sleeves rolled up,
+    until the reddening of the dawn, do not, O storks of the
+    river-shallows, awaken her by your cries._[11]]
+
+[Footnote 11: Lit., "not to cry out (will be) good"--but a literal
+translation of the poem is scarcely possible.]
+
+    Amanogawa
+  Kiri-tachi-wataru:
+    Ky[=o], ky[=o], to--
+  Waga matsu-koďshi
+  Funadé-surashi!
+
+    [_(She sees that) a mist is spreading across the River of
+    Heaven.... "To-day, to-day," she thinks, "my long-awaited lord
+    will probably come over in his boat."_]
+
+    Amanogawa,
+  Yasu no watari ni,
+    Funé ukété;--
+  Waga tachi-matsu to
+  Imo ni tsugé koso.
+
+    [_By the ferry of Yasu, on the River of Heaven, the boat is
+    floating: I pray you tell my younger sister[12] that I stand
+    here and wait._]
+
+[Footnote 12: That is to say, "wife." In archaic Japanese the word
+_imo_ signified both "wife" and "younger sister." The term might also
+be rendered "darling" or "beloved."]
+
+    [=O]-sora yo
+  Kay[=o] waré sura,
+    Na ga yué ni,
+  Amanokawa-ji no
+  Nazumité zo koshi.
+
+    [_Though I (being a Star-god) can pass freely to and fro,
+    through the great sky,--yet to cross over the River of Heaven,
+    for your sake, was weary work indeed!_]
+
+    Yachihoko no
+  Kami no mi-yo yori
+    Tomoshi-zuma;--
+  Hito-shiri ni keri
+  Tsugitéshi omoëba.
+
+    [_From the august Age of the
+    God-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears_,[13] _she had been my spouse in
+    secret_[14] _only; yet now, because of my constant longing for
+    her, our relation has become known to men._]
+
+[Footnote 13: Yachihoko-no-Kami, who has many other names, is
+the Great God of Izumo, and is commonly known by his appellation
+Oho-kuni-nushi-no-Kami, or the "Deity-Master-of-the Great-Land." He
+is locally worshiped also as the god of marriage,--for which reason,
+perhaps, the poet thus refers to him.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Or, "my seldom-visited spouse." The word _tsuma_
+(_zuma_), in ancient Japanese, signified either wife or husband; and
+this poem might be rendered so as to express either the wife's or the
+husband's thoughts.]
+
+    Amé tsuchi to
+  Wakaréshi toki yo
+    Onoga tsuma;
+  Shika zo té ni aru
+  Aki matsu aré wa.
+
+    [_From the time when heaven and earth were parted, she has
+    been my own wife;--yet, to be with her, I must always wait
+    till autumn._[15]]
+
+[Footnote 15: By the ancient calendar, the seventh day of the seventh
+month would fall in the autumn season.]
+
+    Waga k[=o]ru
+  Niho no omo wa
+    Koyoď mo ka
+  Ama-no-kawara ni
+  Ishi-makura makan.
+
+    [_With my beloved, of the ruddy-tinted cheeks_,[16] _this
+    night indeed will I descend into the bed of the River of
+    Heaven, to sleep on a pillow of stone._]
+
+[Footnote 16: The literal meaning is "_béni_-tinted face,"--that is to
+say, a face of which the cheeks and lips have been tinted with _béni_,
+a kind of rouge.]
+
+    Amanogawa.
+  Mikomori-gusa no
+    Aki-kazé ni
+  Nabikafu miréba,
+  Toki kitarurashi.
+
+    [_When I see the water-grasses of the River of Heaven bend
+    in the autumn wind (I think to myself): "The time (for our
+    meeting) seems to have come."_]
+
+    Waga séko ni
+  Ura-koi oréba,
+    Amanogawa
+  Yo-funé kogi-toyomu
+  Kaji no 'to kikoyu.
+
+    [_When I feel in my heart a sudden longing for my
+    husband_,[17] _then on the River of Heaven the sound of the
+    rowing of the night-boat is heard, and the plash of the oar
+    resounds._]
+
+[Footnote 17: In ancient Japanese the word _séko_ signified either
+husband or elder brother. The beginning of the poem might also be
+rendered thus:--"When I feel a secret longing for my husband," etc.]
+
+    T[=o]-zuma to
+  Tamakura kawashi
+    Nétaru yo wa,
+  Tori-gané na naki
+  Akéba aku to mo!
+
+    [_In the night when I am reposing with my (now) far-away
+    spouse, having exchanged jewel-pillows_[18] _with her, let not
+    the cock crow, even though the day should dawn._]
+
+[Footnote 18: "To exchange jewel-pillows" signifies to use each
+other's arms for pillows. This poetical phrase is often used in
+the earliest Japanese literature. The word for jewel, _tama_, often
+appears in compounds as an equivalent of "precious," "dear," etc.]
+
+    Yorozu-yo ni
+  Tazusawari ité
+    Ai mi-domo,
+  Omoi-sugu-béki
+  Koi naranaku ni.
+
+    [_Though for a myriad ages we should remain hand-in-hand and
+    face to face, our exceeding love could never come to an end.
+    (Why then should Heaven deem it necessary to part us?)_]
+
+    Waga tamé to,
+  Tanabata-tsumé no,
+    Sono yado ni,
+  Oreru shirotai
+  Nuďt ken kamo?
+
+    [_The white cloth which Tanabata has woven for my sake, in
+    that dwelling of hers, is now, I think, being made into a robe
+    for me._]
+
+    Shirakumo no
+  I-ho é kakurité
+    T[=o]-kédomo,
+  Yoď-sarazu min
+  Imo ga atari wa.
+
+    [_Though she be far-away, and hidden from me by five hundred
+    layers of white cloud, still shall I turn my gaze each night
+    toward the dwelling-place of my younger sister (wife)._]
+
+    Aki saréba
+  Kawagiri tatéru
+    Amanogawa,
+  Kawa ni muki-ité
+  Kru[19] yo zo [=o]ki!
+
+[Footnote 19: For _kofuru_.]
+
+    [_When autumn comes, and the river-mists spread over the
+    Heavenly Stream, I turn toward the river, (and long); and the
+    nights of my longing are many!_]
+
+    Hito-tosé ni
+  Nanuka no yo nomi
+    Aü-hito no--
+  Koď mo tsuki-néba
+  Sayo zo aké ni keru!
+
+    [_But once in the whole year, and only upon the seventh night
+    (of the seventh month), to meet the beloved person--and
+    lo! The day has dawned before our mutual love could express
+    itself!_[20]]
+
+[Footnote 20: Or "satisfy itself." A literal rendering is difficult.]
+
+    Toshi no koď
+  Koyoď tsukushíté,
+    Asu yori wa,
+  Tsuné no gotoku ya
+  Waga koď oran.
+
+    [_The love-longing of one whole year having ended to-night,
+    every day from to-morrow I must again pine for him as
+    before!_]
+
+    Hikoboshi to
+  Tanabata-tsumé to
+    Koyoď aü;--
+  Ama-no-Kawa to ni
+  Nami tatsu-na yumé!
+
+    [_Hikoboshi and Tanabata-tsumé are to meet each other
+    to-night;--ye waves of the River of Heaven, take heed that ye
+    do not rise!_]
+
+    Aki-kazé no
+  Fuki tadayowasu
+    Shirakumo wa,
+  Tanabata-tsumé no
+  Amatsu hiré kamo?
+
+    [_Oh! that white cloud driven by the autumn-wind--can it be
+    the heavenly hiré[21] of Tana-bata-tsumé?_]
+
+[Footnote 21: At different times, in the history of Japanese female
+costume, different articles of dress were called by this name. In the
+present instance, the _hiré_ referred to was probably a white scarf,
+worn about the neck and carried over the shoulders to the breast,
+where its ends were either allowed to hang loose, or were tied into
+an ornamental knot. The _hiré_ was often used to make signals with,
+much as handkerchiefs are waved to-day for the same purpose;--and the
+question uttered in the poem seems to signify: "Can that be Tanabata
+waving her scarf--to call me?" In very early times, the ordinary
+costumes worn were white.]
+
+    Shiba-shiba mo
+  Ai minu kimi wo,
+    Amanogawa
+  Funa-dé haya séyo
+  Yo no fukénu ma ni.
+
+    [_Because he is my not-often-to-be-met beloved, hasten to
+    row the boat across the River of Heaven ere the night be
+    advanced._]
+
+    Amanogawa
+  Kiri tachi-watari
+    Hikoboshi no
+  Kaji no 'to kikoyu
+  Yo no fuké-yukéba.
+
+    [_Late in the night, a mist spreads over_] _the River of
+    Heaven; and the sound of the oar[22] of Hikoboshi is heard._]
+
+[Footnote 22: Or, "the creaking of the oar." (The word _kaji_ to-day
+means "helm";--the single oar, or scull, working upon a pivot, and
+serving at once for rudder and oar, being now called _ro_.) The mist
+passing across the Amanogawa is, according to commentators, the spray
+from the Star-god's oar.]
+
+    Amanogawa
+  Kawa 'to sayakéshi:
+    Hikoboshi no
+  Haya kogu funé no
+  Nami no sawagi ka?
+
+    [_On the River of Heaven a sound of plashing can be distinctly
+    heard: is it the sound of the rippling made by Hikoboshi
+    quickly rowing his boat?_]
+
+    Kono y[=u]bé,
+  Furikuru amé wa,
+    Hikoboshi no
+  Haya kogu funé no
+  Kaď no chiri ka mo.
+
+    [_Perhaps this evening shower is but the spray (flung down)
+    from the oar of Hikoboshi, rowing his boat in haste._]
+
+  Waga tama-doko wo
+    Asu yori wa
+    Uchi haraď,
+  Kimi to inézuté
+  Hitori ka mo nen!
+
+    [_From to-morrow, alas! after having put my jewel-bed in
+    order, no longer reposing with my lord, I must sleep alone!_]
+
+    Kazé fukité,
+  Kawa-nami tachinu;--
+    Hiki-funé ni
+  Watari mo kimasé
+  Yo no fukénu ma ni.
+
+    [_The wind having risen, the waves of the river have become
+    high;--this night cross over in a towboat,[23] I pray thee,
+    before the hour be late!_]
+
+[Footnote 23: Lit. "pull-boat" (_hiki-funé_),--a barge or boat pulled
+by a rope.]
+
+    Amanogawa
+  Nami wa tatsutomo,
+    Waga funé wa
+  Iza kogi iden
+  Yo no fukénu ma ni.
+
+    [_Even though the waves of the River of_ _Heaven run high, I
+    must row over quickly, before it becomes late in the night._]
+
+    Inishié ni
+  Oritéshi hata wo;
+    Kono y[=u]bé
+  Koromo ni nuďté--
+  Kimi matsu aré wo!
+
+    [_Long ago I finished weaving the material; and, this evening,
+    having finished sewing the garment for him--(why must) I still
+    wait for my lord?_]
+
+    Amanogawa
+  Sé wo hayami ka mo?
+    Nubatama no
+  Yo wa fuké ni tsutsu,
+  Awanu Hikoboshi!
+
+[_Is it that the current of the River of_ _Heaven (has become too)
+rapid? The jet-black night[24] advances--and Hikoboshi has not come!_]
+
+[Footnote 24: _Nubatama no yo_ might better be rendered by some such
+phrase as "the berry-black night,"--but the intended effect would be
+thus lost in translation. _Nubatama-no_ (a "pillow-word") is written
+with characters signifying "like the black fruits of _Karasu-[=O]gi_;"
+and the ancient phrase "_nubatama no yo_" therefore may be said
+to have the same meaning as our expressions "jet-black night," or
+"pitch-dark night."]
+
+    Watashi-mori,
+  Funé haya watasé;--
+    Hito-tosé ni
+  Futatabi kay[=o]
+  Kimi naranaku ni!
+
+    [_Oh, ferryman, make speed across the stream!--my lord is not
+    one who can come and go twice in a year!_]
+
+    Aki kazé no
+  Fukinishi hi yori,
+    Amanogawa
+  Kawasé ni dédachi;--
+  Matsu to tsugé koso!
+
+    [_On the very day that the autumn-wind began to blow, I set
+    out for the shallows of the River of Heaven;--I pray you, tell
+    my lord that I am waiting here still!_]
+
+    Tanabata no
+  Funanori surashi,--
+    Maso-kagami,
+  Kiyoki tsuki-yo ni
+  Kumo tachi-wataru.
+
+    [_Methinks Tanabata must be coming in her boat; for a cloud is
+    even now passing across the clear face of the moon._[25]]
+
+[Footnote 25: Composed by the famous poet [=O]tomo no Sukuné
+Yakamochi, while gazing at the Milky Way, on the seventh night of
+the seventh month of the tenth year of Tampy[=o] (A.D. 738). The
+pillow-word in the third line (_maso-kagami_) is untranslatable.]
+
+--And yet it has been gravely asserted that the old Japanese poets
+could find no beauty in starry skies!...
+
+Perhaps the legend of Tanabata, as it was understood by those old
+poets, can make but a faint appeal to Western minds. Nevertheless,
+in the silence of transparent nights, before the rising of the moon,
+the charm of the ancient tale sometimes descends upon me, out of the
+scintillant sky,--to make me forget the monstrous facts of science,
+and the stupendous horror of Space. Then I no longer behold the Milky
+Way as that awful Ring of the Cosmos, whose hundred million suns are
+powerless to lighten the Abyss, but as the very Amanogawa itself,--the
+River Celestial. I see the thrill of its shining stream, and the mists
+that hover along its verge, and the water-grasses that bend in the
+winds of autumn. White Orihimé I see at her starry loom, and the Ox
+that grazes on the farther shore;--and I know that the falling dew is
+the spray from the Herdsman's oar. And the heaven seems very near and
+warm and human; and the silence about me is filled with the dream of
+a love unchanging, immortal,--forever yearning and forever young, and
+forever left unsatisfied by the paternal wisdom of the gods.
+
+
+
+
+GOBLIN POETRY
+
+
+Recently, while groping about an old book shop, I found a collection
+of Goblin Poetry in three volumes, containing many pictures of
+goblins. The title of the collection is _Ky[=o]ka Hyaku-Monogatari_,
+or "The Mad Poetry of the _Hyaku-Monogatari_." The _Hyaku-Monogatari_,
+or "Hundred Tales," is a famous book of ghost stories. On the subject
+of each of the stories, poems were composed at different times
+by various persons,--poems of the sort called _Ky[=o]ka_, or Mad
+Poetry,--and these were collected and edited to form the three volumes
+of which I became the fortunate possessor. The collecting was done by
+a certain Takumi Jingor[=o], who wrote under the literary pseudonym
+"Temmér Ré[=o]jin" (Ancient of the Temmér Era). Takumi died in the
+first year of Bunky[=u] (1861), at the good age of eighty; and his
+collection seems to have been published in the sixth year of Kaéď
+(1853). The pictures were made by an artist called Masazumi, who
+worked under the pseudonym "Ry[=o]sai Kanjin."
+
+From a prefatory note it appears that Takumi Jingor[=o] published his
+collection with the hope of reviving interest in a once popular kind
+of poetry which had fallen into neglect before the middle of the
+century. The word _ky[=o]ka_ is written with a Chinese character
+signifying "insane" or "crazy;" and it means a particular and
+extraordinary variety of comic poetry. The form is that of the classic
+_tanka_ of thirty-one syllables (arranged 57577);--but the subjects
+are always the extreme reverse of classical; and the artistic effects
+depend upon methods of verbal jugglery which cannot be explained
+without the help of numerous examples. The collection published by
+Takumi includes a good deal of matter in which a Western reader can
+discover no merit; but the best of it has a distinctly grotesque
+quality that reminds one of Hood's weird cleverness in playing with
+grim subjects. This quality, and the peculiar Japanese method of
+mingling the playful with the terrific, can be suggested and explained
+only by reproducing in Romaji the texts of various _ky[=o]ka_, with
+translations and notes.
+
+The selection which I have made should prove interesting, not merely
+because it will introduce the reader to a class of Japanese poetry
+about which little or nothing has yet been written in English, but
+much more because it will afford some glimpses of a supernatural world
+which still remains for the most part unexplored. Without knowledge
+of Far Eastern superstitions and folk-tales, no real understanding of
+Japanese fiction or drama or poetry will ever become possible.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There are many hundreds of poems in the three volumes of the _Ky[=o]ka
+Hyaku-Monogatari_; but the number of the ghosts and goblins falls
+short of the one hundred suggested by the title. There are just
+ninety-five. I could not expect to interest my readers in the whole
+of this goblinry, and my selection includes less than one seventh
+of the subjects. The Faceless Babe, The Long-Tongued Maiden,
+The Three-Eyed Monk, The Pillow-Mover, The Thousand Heads, The
+Acolyte-with-the-Lantern, The Stone-that-Cries-in-the-Night,
+The Goblin-Heron, The Goblin-Wind, The Dragon-Lights, and The
+Mountain-Nurse, did not much impress me. I omitted _ky[=o]ka_ dealing
+with fancies too gruesome for Western nerves,--such as that of the
+_Obumédori_,--also those treating of merely local tradition.
+The subjects chosen represent national rather than provincial
+folklore,--old beliefs (mostly of Chinese origin) once prevalent
+throughout the country, and often referred to in its popular
+literature.
+
+
+I. KITSUNÉ-BI
+
+The Will-o'-the-wisp is called _kitsuné-bi_ ("fox-fire"), because
+the goblin-fox was formerly supposed to create it. In old Japanese
+pictures it is represented as a tongue of pale red flame, hovering
+in darkness, and shedding no radiance upon the surfaces over which it
+glides.
+
+To understand some of the following _ky[=o]ka_ on the subject, the
+reader should know that certain superstitions about the magical power
+of the fox have given rise to several queer folk-sayings,--one of
+which relates to marrying a stranger. Formerly a good citizen was
+expected to marry within his own community, not outside of it; and the
+man who dared to ignore traditional custom in this regard would have
+found it difficult to appease the communal indignation. Even to-day
+the villager who, after a long absence from his birthplace, returns
+with a strange bride, is likely to hear unpleasant things said,--such
+as: "_Wakaranai-mono we hippaté-kita!... Doko no uma no honé da ka?_"
+("Goodness knows what kind of a thing he has dragged here after him!
+Where did he pick up that old horse-bone?") The expression _uma no
+honé_, "old horse-bone," requires explanation.
+
+A goblin-fox has the power to assume many shapes; but, for the purpose
+of deceiving _men_, he usually takes the form of a pretty woman. When
+he wants to create a charming phantom of this kind, he picks up an old
+horse-bone or cow-bone, and holds it in his mouth. Presently the bone
+becomes luminous; and the figure of a woman defines about it,--the
+figure of a courtesan or singing-girl.... So the village query about
+the man who marries a strange wife, "What old horse-bone has he picked
+up?" signifies really, "What wanton has bewitched him?" It further
+implies the suspicion that the stranger may be of outcast blood: a
+certain class of women of pleasure having been chiefly recruited, from
+ancient time, among the daughters of Éta and other pariah-people.
+
+    Hi tomoshité
+  Kitsuné no kwaséshi,
+    Asobimé[26] wa--
+  Izuka no uma no
+  Honé ni ya aruran!
+
+[Footnote 26: _Asobimé_, a courtesan: lit., "sporting-woman." The Éta
+and other pariah classes furnished a large proportion of these women.
+The whole meaning of the poem is as follows: "See that young wanton
+with her lantern! It is a pretty sight--but so is the sight of a fox,
+when the creature kindles his goblin-fire and assumes the shape of
+a girl. And just as your fox-woman will prove to be no more than an
+old horse-bone, so that young courtesan, whose beauty deludes men to
+folly, may be nothing better than an Éta."]
+
+    [_--Ah the wanton (lighting her lantern)!--so a fox-fire is
+    kindled in the time of fox-transformation!... Perhaps she is
+    really nothing more than an old horse-bone from somewhere or
+    other...._]
+
+    Kitsuné-bi no
+  Moyuru ni tsukété,
+    Waga tama no
+  Kiyuru y[=o] nari
+  Kokoro-hoso-michi!
+
+    [_Because of that Fox-fire burning there, the very soul of me
+    is like to be extinguished in this narrow path (or, in this
+    heart-depressing solitude)._[27]]
+
+[Footnote 27: The supposed utterance of a belated traveler frightened
+by a will-o'-the-wisp. The last line allows of two readings.
+_Kokoro-hosoi_ means "timid;" and _hosoi michi_ (_hoso-michi_) means a
+"narrow path," and, by implication, a "lonesome path."]
+
+
+II. RIKOMBY[=O]
+
+The term _Rikomby[=o]_ is composed with the word _rikon_, signifying
+a "shade," "ghost," or "spectre," and the word _by[=o]_, signifying
+"sickness," "disease." An almost literal rendering would be
+"ghost-sickness." In Japanese-English dictionaries you will find the
+meaning of _Rikomby[=o]_ given as "hypochondria;" and doctors really
+use the term in this modern sense. But the ancient meaning was _a
+disorder of the mind which produced a Double_; and there is a whole
+strange literature about this weird disease. It used to be supposed,
+both in China and Japan, that under the influence of intense grief
+or longing, caused by love, the spirit of the suffering person would
+create a Double. Thus the victim of _Rikomby[=o]_ would appear to have
+two bodies, exactly alike; and one of these bodies would go to join
+the absent beloved, while the other remained at home. (In my "Exotics
+and Retrospectives," under the title "A Question in the Zen Texts,"
+the reader will find a typical Chinese story on the subject,--the
+story of the girl Ts'ing.) Some form of the primitive belief in
+doubles and wraiths probably exists in every part of the world; but
+this Far Eastern variety is of peculiar interest because the double
+is supposed to be caused by love, and the subjects of the affliction
+to belong to the gentler sex.... The term _Rikomby[=o]_ seems to be
+applied to the apparition as well as to the mental disorder supposed
+to produce the apparition: it signifies "doppelgänger" as well as
+"ghost-disease."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--With these necessary explanations, the quality of the following
+_ky[=o]ka_ can be understood. A picture which appears in the _Ky[=o]ka
+Hyaku-Monogatari_ shows a maid-servant anxious to offer a cup of tea
+to her mistress,--a victim of the "ghost-sickness." The servant cannot
+distinguish between the original and the apparitional shapes before
+her; and the difficulties of the situation are suggested in the first
+of the _ky[=o]ka_ which I have translated:--
+
+    Ko-ya, soré to?
+  Ayamé mo wakanu
+    Rikomby[=o]:
+  Izuré we tsuma to
+  Hiku zo wazuraü!
+
+    [_Which one is this?--which one is that? Between the two
+    shapes of the Rikomby[=o] it is not possible to distinguish.
+    To find out which is the real wife--that will be an affliction
+    of spirit indeed!_]
+
+    Futatsu naki
+  Inochi nagara mo
+    Kakégaë no
+  Karada no miyuru--
+  Kage no wazurai!
+
+    [_Two lives there certainly are not;--nevertheless an extra
+    body is visible, by reason of the Shadow-Sickness._]
+
+    Naga-tabi no
+  Oto we shitaďté
+    Mi futatsu ni
+  Naru wa onna no
+  S[=a]ru rikomby[=o].
+
+    [_Yearning after her far-journeying husband, the woman has
+    thus become two bodies, by reason of her ghostly sickness._]
+
+    Miru kagé mo
+  Naki wazurai no
+    Rikomby[=o],--
+  Omoi no hoka ni
+  Futatsu miru kagé!
+
+    [_Though (it was said that), because of her ghostly sickness,
+    there was not even a shadow of her left to be seen,--yet,
+    contrary to expectation, there are two shadows of her to be
+    seen!_[28]]
+
+[Footnote 28: The Japanese say of a person greatly emaciated by
+sickness, _miru-kagé mo naki_: "Even a visible shadow of him is
+not!"--Another rendering is made possible by the fact that the same
+expression is used in the sense of "unfit to be seen,"--"though the
+face of the person afflicted with this ghostly sickness is unfit to be
+seen, yet by reason of her secret longing [for another man] there are
+now two of her faces to be seen." The phrase _omoi no hoka_, in the
+fourth line, means "contrary to expectation;" but it is ingeniously
+made to suggest also the idea of secret longing.]
+
+    Rikomby[=o]
+  Hito ni kakushité
+    Oku-zashiki,
+  Omoté y dëasanu
+  Kagé no wazurai.
+
+    [_Afflicted with the Rikomby[=o], she hides away from people
+    in the back room, and never approaches the front of the
+    house,--because of her Shadow-disease._[29]]
+
+[Footnote 29: There is a curious play on words in the fourth line.
+The word _omoté_, meaning "the front," might, in reading, be sounded
+as _omotté_, "thinking." The verses therefore might also be thus
+translated:--"She keeps her real thoughts hidden in the back part
+of the house, and never allows them to be seen in the front part of
+the house,--because she is suffering from the 'Shadow-Sickness' [of
+love]."]
+
+    Mi wa koko ni;
+  Tama wa otoko ni
+    Soďné suru;--
+  Kokoro mo shiraga
+  Haha ga kaih[=o].
+
+    [_Here her body lies; but her soul is far away, asleep in the
+    arms of a man;--and the white-haired mother, little knowing
+    her daughter's heart, is nursing (only the body)._[30]]
+
+[Footnote 30: There is a double meaning, suggested rather than
+expressed, in the fourth line. The word _shiraga_, "white-hair,"
+suggests _shirazu_, "not knowing."]
+
+    Tamakushigé
+  Futatsu no sugata
+    Misénuru wa,
+  Awasé-kagami no
+  Kagé no wazurai.
+
+    [_If, when seated before her toilet-stand, she sees two faces
+    reflected in her mirror,--that might be caused by the
+    mirror doubling itself under the influence of the
+    Shadow-Sickness._[31]]
+
+[Footnote 31: There is in this poem a multiplicity of suggestion
+impossible to render in translation. While making her toilet, the
+Japanese woman uses two mirrors (_awasé-kagami_)--one of which, a
+hand-mirror, serves to show her the appearance of the back part of
+her coiffure, by reflecting it into the larger stationary mirror. But
+in this case of Rikomby[=o], the woman sees more than her face and
+the back of her head in the larger mirror: she sees her own double.
+The verses indicate that one of the mirrors may have caught the
+Shadow-Sickness, and doubled itself. And there is a further suggestion
+of the ghostly sympathy said to exist between a mirror and the soul of
+its possessor.]
+
+
+III. [=O]-GAMA
+
+In the old Chinese and Japanese literature the toad is credited with
+supernatural capacities,--such as the power to call down clouds, the
+power to make rain, the power to exhale from its mouth a magical
+mist which creates the most beautiful illusions. Some toads are good
+spirits,--friends of holy men; and in Japanese art a famous Rishi
+called "Gama-Sennin" (Toad Rishi) is usually represented with a white
+toad resting upon his shoulder, or squatting beside him. Some toads
+are evil goblins, and create phantasms for the purpose of luring men
+to destruction. A typical story about a creature of this class will be
+found in my "Kott[=o]," entitled "The Story of Chug[=o]r[=o]."
+
+    Mé wa kagami,
+  Kuchi wa tarai no
+    Hodo ni aku:
+  Gama mo késh[=o] no
+  Mono to kos[=o] shiré.
+
+    [_The eye of it, widely open, like a (round) mirror; the mouth
+    of it opening like a wash-basin--by these things you may know
+    that the Toad is a goblin-thing (or, that the Toad is a toilet
+    article)._[32]]
+
+[Footnote 32: There are two Japanese words, _kesh[=o]_, which in
+_kana_ are written alike and pronounced alike, though represented
+by very different Chinese characters. As written in _kana_, the
+term _kesh[=o]-no-mono_ may signify either "toilet articles" or "a
+monstrous being," "a goblin."]
+
+
+IV. SHINKIR[=O]
+
+The term _Shinkir[=o]_ is used in the meaning of "mirage," and also as
+another name for H[=o]rai, the Elf-land of Far Eastern fable. Various
+beings in Japanese myth are credited with power to delude mortals
+by creating a mirage of H[=o]rai. In old pictures one may see a toad
+represented in the act of exhaling from its mouth a vapor that shapes
+the apparition of H[=o]rai.
+
+But the creature especially wont to produce this illusion is the
+_Hamaguri_,--a Japanese mollusk much resembling a clam. Opening its
+shell, it sends into the air a purplish misty breath; and that mist
+takes form and defines, in tints of mother-of-pearl, the luminous
+vision of H[=o]rai and the palace of the Dragon-King.
+
+    Hamaguri no
+  Kuchi aku toki ya,
+    Shinkir[=o]!
+  Yo ni shiraré ken
+  Tatsu-no-miya-himé!
+
+    [_When the hamaguri opens its mouth--lo! Shinkir[=o]
+    appears!... Then all can clearly see the Maiden-Princess of
+    the Dragon-Palace._]
+
+    Shinkir[=o]--
+  Tatsu no miyako no
+    Hinagata[33] wo
+  Shio-hi no oki ni
+  Misuru hamaguri!
+
+    [_Lo! in the offing at ebb-tide, the hamaguri makes visible
+    the miniature image of Shinkir[=o]--the Dragon-Capital!_]
+
+[Footnote 33: _Hinagata_ means especially "a model," "a miniature
+copy," "a drawn plan," etc.]
+
+
+V. ROKURO-KUBI
+
+The etymological meaning of _Rokuro-Kubi_ can scarcely be indicated
+by any English rendering. The term _rokuro_ is indifferently used to
+designate many revolving objects--objects as dissimilar as a pulley,
+a capstan, a windlass, a turning lathe, and a potter's wheel. Such
+renderings of Rokuro-Kubi as "Whirling-Neck" and "Rotating-Neck" are
+unsatisfactory;--for the idea which the term suggests to Japanese
+fancy is that of a neck which revolves, _and lengthens or retracts
+according to the direction of the revolution_.... As for the ghostly
+meaning of the expression, a Rokuro-Kubi is either (1) a person whose
+neck lengthens prodigiously during sleep, so that the head can wander
+about in all directions, seeking what it may devour, or (2) a person
+able to detach his or her head completely from the body, and to rejoin
+it to the neck afterwards. (About this last mentioned variety of
+_Rokuro-Kubi_ there is a curious story in my "Kwaidan," translated
+from the Japanese.) In Chinese mythology the being whose neck is so
+constructed as to allow of the head being completely detached belongs
+to a special class; but in Japanese folk-tale this distinction is not
+always maintained. One of the bad habits attributed to the Rokuro-Kubi
+is that of drinking the oil in night-lamps. In Japanese pictures the
+Rokuro-Kubi is usually depicted as a woman; and old books tell us
+that a woman might become a Rokuro-Kubi without knowing it,--much as
+a somnambulist walks about while asleep, without being aware of the
+fact.... The following verses about the Rokuro-Kubi have been selected
+from a group of twenty in the _Ky[=o]ka Hyaku-Monogatari_:--
+
+    Nemidaré no
+  Nagaki kami woba
+    Furi-wakété,
+  Chi hiro ni nobasu
+  Rokuro-Kubi kana!
+
+    [_Oh!... Shaking loose her long hair disheveled by sleep, the
+    Rokuro-Kubi stretches her neck to the length of a thousand
+    fathoms!_]
+
+    "Atama naki
+  Bakémono nari"--to
+    Rokuro-Kubi,
+  Mité odorokan
+  Onoga karada we.
+
+    [_Will not the Rokuro-Kubi, viewing with_ _astonishment her
+    own body (left behind) cry out, "Oh, what a headless goblin
+    have you become!_"]
+
+    Tsuka-no-ma ni
+  Hari we tsutawaru,
+    Rokuro-Kubi
+  Kéta-kéta warau--
+  Kao no kowasa yo!
+
+    [_Swiftly gliding along the roof-beam (and among the props
+    of the roof), the Rokuro-Kubi laughs with the sound of
+    "kéta-kéta"--oh! the fearfulness of her face!_[34]]
+
+[Footnote 34: It is not possible to render all the double meanings in
+this composition. _Tsuka-no-ma_ signifies "in a moment" or "quickly";
+but it may also mean "in the space [_ma_] between the roof-props"
+[_tsuka_]. "_Kéta_" means a cross-beam, but _kéta-kéta warau_ means to
+chuckle or laugh in a mocking way. Ghosts are said to laugh with the
+sound of kéta-kéta.]
+
+    Roku shaku no
+  By[=o]bu ni nobiru
+    Rokuro-Kubi
+  Mité wa, go shaku no
+  Mi wo chijimi-kéri!
+
+    [_Beholding the Rokuro-Kubi rise up above the six-foot screen,
+    any five-foot person would have become shortened by fear (or,
+    "the stature of any person five feet high would have been
+    diminished")._[35]]
+
+[Footnote 35: The ordinary height of a full screen is six Japanese
+feet.]
+
+
+VI. YUKI-ONNA
+
+The Snow-Woman, or Snow-Spectre, assumes various forms; but in most
+of the old folk-tales she appears as a beautiful phantom, whose
+embrace is death. (A very curious story about her can be found in my
+"Kwaidan.")
+
+    Yuki-Onna--
+  Yos[=o] kushi mo
+    Atsu k[=o]ri;
+  Sasu-k[=o]gai ya
+  K[=o]ri naruran.
+
+    [_As for the Snow-Woman,--even her best comb, if I mistake
+    not, is made of thick ice; and her hair-pin[36], too, is
+    probably made of ice._]
+
+[Footnote 36: _K[=o]gai_ is the name now given to a quadrangular bar
+of tortoise-shell passed under the coiffure, which leaves only the
+ends of the bar exposed. The true hair-pin is called _kanzashi_.]
+
+    Honrai wa
+  K[=u] naru mono ka,
+    Yuki-Onna?
+  Yoku-yoku mireba
+  Ichi-butsu mo nashi!
+
+    [_Was she, then, a delusion from the very first, that
+    Snow-Woman,--a thing that vanishes into empty space? When I
+    look carefully all about me, not one trace of her is to be
+    seen!_]
+
+    Yo-akéréba
+  Kiété yuku é wa
+    Shirayuki[37] no
+  Onna to mishi mo
+  Yanagi nari-keri!
+
+    [_Having vanished at daybreak (that Snow-Woman), none
+    could say whither she had gone. But what had seemed to be a
+    snow-white woman became indeed a willow-tree!_]
+
+[Footnote 37: The term _shirayuki_, as here used, offers an example
+of what Japanese poets call _Keny[=o]gen_, or "double-purpose words."
+Joined to the words immediately following, it makes the phrase
+"white-snow woman" (_shirayuki no onna_);--united with the words
+immediately preceding, it suggests the reading, "whither-gone
+not-knowing" (_yuku é wa shira[zu]_).]
+
+    Yuki-Onna
+  Mité wa yasathiku,
+    Matsu wo ori
+  Nama-daké hishigu
+  Chikara ari-keri!
+
+    [_Though the Snow-Woman appears to sight slender and gentle,
+    yet, to snap the pine-trees asunder and to crush the live
+    bamboos, she must have had strength._]
+
+    Samukésa ni
+  Zotto[38] wa surédo
+    Yuki-Onna,--
+  Yuki oré no naki
+  Yanagi-goshi ka mo!
+
+[_Though the Snow-Woman makes one shiver by her coldness,--ah, the
+willowy grace of her form cannot be broken by the snow (i.e. charms us
+in spite of the cold)._]
+
+[Footnote 38: _Zotto_ is a difficult word to render literally: perhaps
+the nearest English equivalent is "thrilling." _Zotto suru_ signifies
+"to cause a thrill" or "to give a shock," or "to make shiver;"
+and of a very beautiful person it is said "_Zotto-suru hodo no
+bijin_,"--meaning! "She is so pretty that it gives one a shock merely
+to look at her." The term _yanagi-goshi_ ("willow-loins") in the last
+line is a common expression designating a slender and graceful figure;
+and the reader should observe that the first half of the term is
+ingeniously made to do double duty here,--suggesting, with the
+context, not only the grace of willow branches weighed down by snow,
+but also the grace of a human figure that one must stop to admire, in
+spite of the cold.]
+
+
+VII. FUNA-Y[=U]RÉĎ
+
+The spirits of the drowned are said to follow after ships, calling for
+a bucket or a water-dipper (_hishaku_). To refuse the bucket or the
+dipper is dangerous; but the bottom of the utensil should be knocked
+out before the request is complied with, and the spectres must not
+be allowed to see this operation performed. If an undamaged bucket
+or dipper be thrown to the ghosts, it will be used to fill and to
+sink the ship. These phantoms are commonly called _Funa-Y[=u]réď_
+("Ship-Ghosts").
+
+The spirits of those warriors of the Héďké clan who perished in the
+great sea-fight at Dan-no-ura, in the year 1185, are famous among
+Funa-Y[=u]réď. Taďra no Tomomori, one of the chiefs of the clan, is
+celebrated in this weird rôle: old pictures represent him, followed by
+the ghosts of his warriors, running over the waves to attack passing
+ships. Once he menaced a vessel in which Benkéď, the celebrated
+retainer of Yoshitsuné, was voyaging; and Benkéď was able to save
+the ship only by means of his Buddhist rosary, which frightened the
+spectres away....
+
+Tomomori is frequently pictured as walking upon the sea, carrying
+a ship's anchor on his back. He and his fellow-ghosts are said to
+have been in the habit of uprooting and making off with the anchors
+of vessels imprudently moored in their particular domain,--the
+neighborhood of Shimonoséki.
+
+    Erimoto yé
+  Mizu kakéraruru
+    Kokochi seri,
+  "Hishaku kasé" ch[=o]
+  Funé no kowané ni.
+
+    [_As if the nape of our necks had been sprinkled with cold
+    water,--so we felt while listening_ _to the voice of the
+    ship-ghost, saying:--"Lend me a dipper!"_[39]]
+
+[Footnote 39: _Hishaku_, a wooden dipper with a long handle, used to
+transfer water from a bucket to smaller vessels.]
+
+    Y[=u]rei ni
+  Kasu-hishaku yori
+    Ichi-hayaku
+  Onoré ga koshi mo
+  Nukéru sench[=o].
+
+    [_The loins of the captain himself were knocked out very much
+    more quickly than the bottom of the dipper that was to be
+    given to the ghost._[40]]
+
+[Footnote 40: The common expression _Koshi ga nukéru_ (to have one's
+loins taken out) means to be unable to stand up by reason of fear.
+The suggestion is that while the captain was trying to knock out the
+bottom of a dipper, before giving it to the ghost, he fell senseless
+from fright.]
+
+    Benkéď no
+  Zuzu no kuriki ni
+    Tomomori no
+  Sugata mo ukamu--
+  Funé no y[=u]réď.
+
+    [_By the virtue of Benkéď's rosary, even_ _the ship-following
+    ghost--even the apparition of Tomomori--is saved._]
+
+    Y[=u]réď wa
+  Ki naru Izumi no
+    Hito nagara,
+  Aö-umibara ni
+  Nadoté itsuran?
+
+    [_Since any ghost must be an inhabitant of the Yellow Springs,
+    how should a ghost appear on the Blue Sea-Plain?_[41]]
+
+[Footnote 41: The Underworld of the Dead--_Yomi_ or K[=o]sen--is
+called "The Yellow Springs;" these names being written with two
+Chinese characters respectively signifying "yellow" and "fountain." A
+very ancient term for the ocean, frequently used in the old Shint[=o]
+rituals, is "The Blue Sea-Plain."]
+
+    Sono sugata,
+  Ikari wo [=o]té,
+    Tsuki-matoü
+  Funé no hésaki ya
+  Tomomori no réď!
+
+    [_That Shape, carrying the anchor on its back, and following
+    after the ship--now at the bow and now at the stern--ah, the
+    ghost of Tomomori._[42]]
+
+[Footnote 42: There is an untranslatable play upon words in the last
+two lines. The above rendering includes two possible readings.]
+
+    Tsumi fukaki
+  Umi ni shidzumishi,
+    Y[=u]réď no
+  "Ukaman" toté ya!
+  Funé ni sugaréru.
+
+    [_Crying, "Now perchance I shall be saved!" The ghost
+    that sank into the deep Sea of Sin clings to the passing
+    ship!_[43]]
+
+[Footnote 43: There is more weirdness in this poem than the above
+rendering suggests. The word _ukaman_ in the fourth line can be
+rendered as "shall perhaps float," or as "shall perhaps be saved" (in
+the Buddhist sense of salvation),--as there are two verbs _ukami_.
+According to an old superstition, the spirits of the drowned must
+continue to dwell in the waters _until such time as they can lure the
+living to destruction_. When the ghost of any drowned person succeeds
+in drowning somebody, it may be able to obtain rebirth, and to leave
+the sea forever. The exclamation of the ghost in this poem really
+means, "Now perhaps I shall be able to drown somebody." (A very
+similar superstition is said to exist on the Breton coast.) A common
+Japanese saying about a child or any person who follows another
+too closely and persistently is: _Kawa de shinda-y[=u]réď no yona
+tsuré-hoshigaru!_--"Wants to follow you everywhere like the ghost of
+a drowned person."]
+
+    Ukaman to
+  Funé we shitaëru
+    Yuréď wa,
+  Shidzumishi híto no
+  Omoď naruran.
+
+    [_The ghosts following after our ship in their efforts to rise
+    again (or, "to be saved") might perhaps be the (last vengeful)
+    thoughts of drowned men.[44]]
+
+[Footnote 44: Here I cannot attempt to render the various plays upon
+words; but the term "_omoď_" needs explanation. It means "thought"
+or "thoughts;" but in colloquial phraseology it is often used as a
+euphemism for a dying person's last desire of vengeance. In various
+dramas it has been used in the signification of "avenging ghost." Thus
+the exclamation, "His _thought_ has come back!"--in reference to a
+dead man--really means: "His angry ghost appears!"]
+
+    Uraméshiki
+  Sugata wa sugoki
+    Yuréď no,
+  Kaji we jama suru
+  Funé no Tomomori.
+
+    [_With vengeful aspect, the grisly ghost of Tomomori
+    (rises) at the stern of the ship to hinder the play of her
+    rudder._[45]]
+
+[Footnote 45: There is a double meaning given by the use of the name
+_Tomomori_ in the last line. _Tomo_ means "the stern" of a ship;
+_mori_ means "to leak." So the poem suggests that the ghost of
+Tomomori not only interferes with the ship's rudder, but causes her
+to leak.]
+
+    Ochi-irité,
+  Uwo no éjiki to
+    Nari ni ken;--
+  Funa-y[=u]réď mo
+  Nama-kusaki kazé.
+
+    [_Having perished in the sea, (those Héďké) would probably
+    have become food for fishes. (Anyhow, whenever) the
+    ship-following ghosts (appear), the wind has a smell of raw
+    fish!_[46]]
+
+[Footnote 46: _Namakusaki-kaze_ really means a wind having a "raw
+stench;" but the smell of bait is suggested by the second line of the
+poem. A literal rendering is not possible in this case; the art of the
+composition being altogether suggestive.]
+
+
+VIII. HÉĎKÉGANĚ
+
+Readers can find in my "Kott[=o]" a paper about the Héďké-Crabs,
+which have on their upper shells various wrinklings that resemble the
+outlines of an angry face. At Shimono-séki dried specimens of these
+curious creatures are offered for sale.... The Héďké-Crabs are said to
+be the transformed angry spirits of the Héďké warriors who perished at
+Dan-no-ura.
+
+    Shiwo-hi ni wa
+  Séďzoroë shité,
+    Héďkégani
+  Ukiyo no sama we
+  Yoko ni niramitsu.
+
+    [_Marshaled (on the beach) at the ebb of the tide, the
+    Héďké-crabs obliquely glare at the apparition of this
+    miserable world._[47]]
+
+[Footnote 47: _Hi_, the third syllable of the first line of the poem,
+does duty for _hi_, signifying "ebb," and for _hikata_, "dry beach."
+_Séďzoroë_ is a noun signifying "battle-array"--in the sense of
+the Roman term _acies_;--and _séďzoroé shité_ means "drawn up in
+battle-array."]
+
+    Saikai ni
+  Shizumi-nurédomo,
+    Héďkégani
+  K[=o]ra no iro mo
+  Yahari aka-hata.
+
+    [_Though (the Héďké) long ago sank and perished in the Western
+    Sea, the Héďké-crabs still display_ _upon their upper shells
+    the color of the Red Standard._[48]]
+
+[Footnote 48: The ensign of the Héďké, or Taďra clan was red; while
+that of their rivals, the Genji or Minamot[=o], was white.]
+
+    Maké-ikusa
+  Munen to muné ni
+    Hasami ken;--
+  Kao mo makka ni
+  Naru Héďkégani.
+
+    [_Because of the pain of defeat, claws have grown on their
+    breasts, I think;--even the faces of the Héďké-crabs have
+    become crimson (with anger and shame)._]
+
+    Mikata mina
+  Oshi-tsubusaréshi
+    Héďkégani
+  Ikon we muné ni
+  Hasami mochikéri.
+
+    [_All the (Héďké) party having been utterly crushed, claws
+    have grown upon the breasts of the Héďké-crabs because of the
+    resentment in their hearts._[49]]
+
+[Footnote 49: The use of the word _hasami_ in the fifth line is a
+very good example of _keny[=o]gen_. There is a noun _hasami_, meaning
+the nippers of a crab, or a pair of scissors; and there is a verb
+_hasami_, meaning to harbor, to cherish, or to entertain. (_Ikon wo
+hasamu_ means "to harbor resentment against.") Reading the word only
+in connection with those which follow it, we have the phrase _hasami
+mochikéri_, "got claws;" but, reading it with the words preceding,
+we have the expression _ikon wo muné ni hasami_, "resentment in their
+breasts nourishing."]
+
+
+IX. YANARI
+
+Modern dictionaries ignore the uncanny significations of the word
+_Yanari_,--only telling us that it means the sound of the shaking of
+a house during an earthquake. But the word used to mean the noise of
+the shaking of a house moved by a goblin; and the invisible shaker was
+also called _Yanari_. When, without apparent cause, some house would
+shudder and creak and groan in the night, folk used to suppose that it
+was being shaken from without by supernatural malevolence.
+
+    Tokonoma ni
+  Ikéshi tachiki mo
+    Taoré-keri;
+  Yanari ni yama no
+  Ugoku kakémono!
+
+    [_Even the live tree set in the alcove has fallen down; and
+    the mountains in the hanging picture tremble to the quaking
+    made by the Yanari!_[50]]
+
+[Footnote 50: The _tokonoma_ in a Japanese room is a sort of
+ornamental recess or alcove, in which a picture is usually hung, and
+vases of flowers, or a dwarf tree, are placed.]
+
+
+X. SAKASA-BASHIRA
+
+The term _Sakasa-bashira_ (in these _ky[=o]ka_ often shortened into
+_saka-bashira_) literally means "upside-down post." A wooden post or
+pillar, especially a house-post, should be set up according to the
+original position of the tree from which it was hewn,--that is to say,
+with the part nearest to the roots downward. To erect a house-post in
+the contrary way is thought to be unlucky;--formerly such a blunder
+was believed to involve unpleasant consequences of a ghostly kind,
+because an "upside-down" pillar would do malignant things. It would
+moan and groan in the night, and move all its cracks like mouths, and
+open all its knots like eyes. Moreover, the spirit of it (for every
+house-post has a spirit) would detach its long body from the timber,
+and wander about the rooms, head-downwards, making faces at people.
+Nor was this all. A _Sakasa-bashira_ knew how to make all the affairs
+of a household go wrong,--how to foment domestic quarrels,--how to
+contrive misfortune for each of the family and the servants,--how
+to render existence almost insupportable until such time as the
+carpenter's blunder should be discovered and remedied.
+
+    Saka-bashira
+  Tatéshi wa tazo ya?
+    Kokoro ni mo
+  Fushi aru hito no
+  Shiwaza naruran.
+
+    [_Who set the house-pillar upside-down? Surely that must have
+    been the work of a man with a knot in his heart._]
+
+    Hidayama we
+  Kiri-kité tatéshi
+    Saka-bashira--
+  Nanno takumi[51] no
+  Shiwaza naruran?
+
+    [_That house-pillar hewn in the mountains of Hida, and thence
+    brought here and erected upside-down--what carpenter's work
+    can it be? (or, "for what evil design can this deed have been
+    done?")_]
+
+[Footnote 51: The word _takumi_, as written in _kana_, may signify
+either "carpenter" or "intrigue," "evil plot," "wicked device." Thus
+two readings are possible. According to one reading, the post was
+fixed upside-down through inadvertence; according to the other, it was
+so fixed with malice prepense.]
+
+    Uë shita wo
+  Chigaëté tatéshi
+    Hashira ni wa
+  Sakasama-goto no
+  Uréď aranan.
+
+    [_As for that house-pillar mistakenly planted upside-down, it
+    will certainly cause adversity and sorrow._[52]]
+
+[Footnote 52: Lit., "upside-down-matter-sorrow." _Sakasama-goto_,
+"up-side-down affair," is a common expression for calamity,
+contrariety, adversity, vexation.]
+
+    Kabé ni mimi
+  Arité, kiké to ka?
+    Sakashima ni
+  Tateshi hashira ni
+  Yanari suru oto!
+
+    [_O Ears that be in the wall![53] listen, will ye? to the
+    groaning and the creaking of the house-post that was planted
+    upside-down!_]
+
+[Footnote 53: Alluding to the proverb, _Kabé ni mimi ari_ ("There are
+ears in the wall"), which signifies: "Be careful how you talk about
+other people, even in private."]
+
+    Uri-iyé no
+  Aruji we toëba,
+    Oto arité:
+  Waré mé ga kuchi wo
+  Aku saka-bashira.
+
+    [_When I inquired for the master of the house that was
+    for sale, there came to me only a strange sound by way of
+    reply,--the sound of the upside-down house-post opening its
+    eyes and mouth![54] (i.e. its cracks)._]
+
+[Footnote 54: There is a pun in the fourth line which suggests more
+than even a free translation can express. _Waré_ means "I," or "mine,"
+or "one's own," etc., according to circumstances; and _waré mé_
+(written separately) might be rendered "its own eyes." But _warémé_
+(one word) means a crack, rent, split, or fissure. The reader should
+remember that the term _saka-bashira_ means not only "upside-down
+post," but also the goblin or spectre of the upside-down post.]
+
+    Omoďkiya!
+  Sakasa-bashira no
+    Hashira-kaké
+  Kakinishit uta mo
+  Yamai ari to wa!
+
+    [_Who could have thought it!--even the poem inscribed upon
+    the pillar-tablet, attached to the pillar which was planted
+    upside-down, has taken the same (ghostly) sickness._[55]]
+
+[Footnote 55: That is to say, "Even the poem on the tablet is
+up-side-down,"--all wrong. _Hashira-kaké_ ("pillar-suspended thing")
+is the name given to a thin tablet of fine wood, inscribed or painted,
+which is hung to a post by way of ornament.]
+
+
+XI. BAKÉ-JIZÖ
+
+The figure of the Bodhi-sattva Jizö, the savior of children's ghosts,
+is one of the most beautiful and humane in Japanese Buddhism. Statues
+of this divinity may be seen in almost every village and by every
+roadside. But some statues of Jizö are said to do uncanny things--such
+as to walk about at night in various disguises. A statue of this kind
+is called a _Baké-Jiz[=o]_[56],--meaning a Jiz[=o]; that undergoes
+transformation. A conventional picture shows a little boy about to
+place the customary child's-offering of rice-cakes before the stone
+image of Jiz[=o],--not suspecting that the statue moves, and is slowly
+bending down towards him.
+
+[Footnote 56: Perhaps the term might be rendered "Shape-changing
+Jiz[=o]." The verb _bakéru_ means to change shape, to undergo
+metamorphosis, to haunt, and many other supernatural things.]
+
+    Nanigé naki
+  Ishi no Jiz[=o] no
+    Sugata saë,
+  Yo wa osoroshiki
+  Mikagé to zo naki.
+
+    [_Though the stone Jiz[=o] looks as if nothing were the matter
+    with it, they say that at night it assumes an awful aspect
+    (or, "Though this image appears to be a common stone Jiz[=o],
+    they say that at night it becomes an awful Jiz[=o]; of
+    granite."_[57])]
+
+[Footnote 57: The Japanese word for granite is _mikagé_; and there is
+also an honorific term _mikagé_, applied to divinities and emperors,
+which signifies "august aspect," "sacred presence," etc.... No literal
+rendering can suggest the effect, in the fifth line, of the latter
+reading. _Kagé_ signifies "shadow," "aspect," and "power"--especially
+occult power; the honorific prefix _mi_, attached to names and
+attributes of divinities, may be rendered "august."]
+
+
+XII. UMI-B[=O]ZU
+
+Place a large cuttlefish on a table, body upwards and tentacles
+downwards--and you will have before you the grotesque reality that
+first suggested the fancy of the _Umi-B[=o]zu_, or Priest of the Sea.
+For the great bald body in this position, with the staring eyes below,
+bears a distorted resemblance to the shaven head of a priest; while
+the crawling tentacles underneath (which are in some species united
+by a dark web) suggests the wavering motion of the priest's upper
+robe.... The Umi-B[=o]zu figures a good deal in the literature of
+Japanese goblinry, and in the old-fashioned picture-books. He rises
+from the deep in foul weather to seize his prey.
+
+    Ita hitoë
+  Shita wa Jigoku ni,
+    Sumizomé no
+  B[=o]zu no umi ni
+  Déru mo ayashina!
+
+    [_Since there is but the thickness of a single plank (between
+    the voyager and the sea), and underneath is Hell, 'tis indeed
+    a weird thing that a black-robed priest should rise from
+    the sea (or, "'tis surely a marvelous happening that,"
+    etc.!_[58])]
+
+[Footnote 58: The puns are too much for me.... _Ayashii_ means
+"suspicious," "marvelous," "supernatural," "weird," "doubtful."--In
+the first two lines there is a reference to the Buddhist proverb:
+_Funa-ita ichi-mai shita wa Jigoku_ ("under the thickness of a single
+ship's-plank is Hell"). (See my _Gleanings in Buddha-Fields_, p. 206,
+for another reference to this saying.)]
+
+
+XIII. FUDA-HÉGASHI[59]
+
+Homes are protected from evil spirits by holy texts and charms. In any
+Japanese village, or any city by-street, you can see these texts when
+the sliding-doors are closed at night: they are not visible by day,
+when the sliding-doors have been pushed back into the _tobukuro_.
+Such texts are called _o-fuda_ (august scripts): they are written in
+Chinese characters upon strips of white paper, which are attached
+to the door with rice-paste; and there are many kinds of them. Some
+are texts selected from sutras--such as the Sűtra of Transcendent
+Wisdom (Pragńa-Pâramitâ-Hridaya-Sűtra), or the Sűtra of the Lotos of
+the Good Law (Saddharma-Pundarikâ-Sűtra). Some are texts from the
+dhâranîs,--which are magical. Some are invocations only, indicating
+the Buddhist sect of the household.... Besides these you may see
+various smaller texts, or little prints, pasted above or beside
+windows or apertures,--some being names of Shinto gods; others,
+symbolical pictures only, or pictures of Buddhas and Bodhi-sattvas.
+All are holy charms,--_o-fuda_: they protect the houses; and no goblin
+or ghost can enter by night into a dwelling so protected, unless the
+_o-fuda_ be removed.
+
+[Footnote 59: _Hégashi_ is the causative form of the verb _hégu_,
+"to pull off," "peel off," "strip off," "split off." The term
+_Fuda-hégashi_ signifies "Make-peel-off-august-charm Ghost." In my
+_Ghostly Japan_ the reader can find a good Japanese story about a
+_Fuda-hégashi_.]
+
+Vengeful ghosts cannot themselves remove an _o-fuda_; but they will
+endeavor by threats or promises or bribes to make some person remove
+it for them. A ghost that wants to have the _o-fuda_ pulled off a door
+is called a _Fuda-hégashi_.
+
+    Hégasan to
+  Rokuji-no-fuda wo,
+    Yuréď mo
+  Nam'mai d[=a] to
+  Kazoëté zo mini.
+
+    [_Even the ghost that would remove the charms written with six
+    characters actually tries to count them, repeating: "How many
+    sheets are there?" (or, repeating, "Hail to thee, O Buddha
+    Amitábha!"[60])_]
+
+[Footnote 60: The fourth line gives these two readings:--
+
+_Nam'mai da?_--"How many sheets are there?"
+
+_Nam[u] A[m]ida!_--"Hail, O Amitâbha!"
+
+The invocation, _Namu Amida Butsu_, is chiefly used by members of the
+great Shin sect; but it is also used by other sects, and especially in
+praying for the dead. While repeating it, the person praying numbers
+the utterances upon his Buddhist rosary; and this custom is suggested
+by the use of the word _kazoëté_, "counting."]
+
+    Tada ichi no
+  Kami no o-fuda wa
+    Sasuga ni mo
+  Noriké naku to mo
+  Hégashi kanékéri.
+
+    [_Of the august written-charms of the god (which were pasted
+    upon the walls of the house), not even one could by any effort
+    be pulled off, though the rice-paste with which they had been
+    fastened was all gone._]
+
+
+XIV. FURU-TSUBAKI
+
+The old Japanese, like the old Greeks, had their flower-spirits and
+their hamadryads, concerning whom some charming stories are told. They
+also believed in trees inhabited by malevolent beings,--goblin trees.
+Among other weird trees, the beautiful _tsubaki_ (_Camellia Japonica_)
+was said to be an unlucky tree;--this was said, at least, of the
+red-flowering variety, the white-flowering kind having a better
+reputation and being prized as a rarity. The large fleshy crimson
+flowers have this curious habit: they detach themselves bodily from
+the stem, when they begin to fade; and they fall with an audible thud.
+To old Japanese fancy the falling of these heavy red flowers was like
+the falling of human heads under the sword; and the dull sound of
+their dropping was said to be like the thud made by a severed head
+striking the ground. Nevertheless the tsubaki seems to have been
+a favorite in Japanese gardens because of the beauty of its glossy
+foliage; and its flowers were used for the decoration of alcoves. But
+in samurai homes it was a rule never to place tsubaki-flowers in an
+alcove _during war-time_.
+
+The reader will notice that in the following _ky[=o]ka_--which, as
+grotesques, seem to me the best in the collection--the goblin-tsubaki
+is called _furu-tsubaki_, "old tsubaki." The young tree was not
+supposed to have goblin-propensities,--these being developed only
+after many years. Other uncanny trees--such as the willow and the
+_énoki_--were likewise said to become dangerous only as they became
+old; and a similar belief prevailed on the subject of uncanny animals,
+such as the cat--innocent in kittenhood, but devilish in age.
+
+    Yo-arashi ni
+  Chishiho itadaku
+    Furu tsubaki,
+  Hota-hota ochiru
+  Hana no nama-kubi.
+
+    [_When by the night-storm is shaken the blood-crowned and
+    ancient tsubaki-tree, then one by one fall the gory heads of
+    the flowers, (with the sound of) hota-hota!_[61]]
+
+[Footnote 61: The word _furu_ in the third line is made to do double
+duty,--as the adjective, _furu[i]_, "ancient"; and as the verb _furu_,
+"to shake." The old term _nama-kuhi_ (lit., "raw head") means a human
+head, freshly-severed, from which the blood is still oozing.]
+
+    Kusa mo ki mo
+  Némuréru koro no
+    Sayo kazé ni,
+  Méhana no ugoku
+  Furu-tsubaki kana!
+
+    [_When even the grass and the trees are sleeping under the
+    faint wind of the night,--then do the eyes and the noses of
+    the old tsubaki-tree (or "the buds and the flowers of the old
+    tsubaki-tree") move!_[62]]
+
+[Footnote 62: Two Japanese words are written, in _kana_, as "mé"--one
+meaning "a bud;" the other "eye." The syllables "hana" in like
+fashion, may signify either "flower" or "nose." As a grotesque, this
+little poem is decidedly successful.]
+
+    Tomoshibi no
+  Kagé ayashigé ni
+    Miyénuru wa
+  Abura shiborishi
+  Furu-tsubaki ka-mo?
+
+    [_As for (the reason why) the light of that lamp appears to be
+    a Weirdness,[63]--perhaps the oil was expressed from (the nuts
+    of) the ancient tsu-baki?_]
+
+[Footnote 63: _Ayashigé_ is a noun formed from the adjective _ayashi_,
+"suspicious," "strange," "supernatural," "doubtful." The word _kagé_
+signifies both "light" and "shadow,"--and is here used with double
+suggestiveness. The vegetable oil used in the old Japanese lamps
+used to be obtained from the nuts of the _tsubaki_. The reader should
+remember that the expression "ancient tsubaki" is equivalent to the
+expression "goblin-tsubaki,"--the tsubaki being supposed to turn into
+a goblin-tree only when it becomes old.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--Nearly all the stories and folk-beliefs about which these _ky[=o]ka_
+were written seem to have come from China; and most of the Japanese
+tales of tree-spirits appear to have had a Chinese origin. As the
+flower-spirits and hamadryads of the Far East are as yet little
+known to Western readers, the following Chinese story may be found
+interesting.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There was a Chinese scholar--called, in Japanese books, T[=o] no
+Busanshi--who was famous for his love of flowers. He was particularly
+fond of peonies, and cultivated them with great skill and
+patience.[64]
+
+[Footnote 64: The tree-peony (_botan_) is here referred to,--a flower
+much esteemed in Japan. It is said to have been introduced from China
+during the eighth century; and no less than five hundred varieties of
+it are now cultivated by Japanese gardeners.]
+
+One day a very comely girl came to the house of Busanshi, and begged
+to be taken into his service. She said that circumstances obliged
+her to seek humble employment, but that she had received a literary
+education, and therefore wished to enter, if possible, into the
+service of a scholar. Busanshi was charmed by her beauty, and took her
+into his household without further questioning. She proved to be much
+more than a good domestic: indeed, the nature of her accomplishments
+made Busanshi suspect that she had been brought up in the court of
+some prince, or in the palace of some great lord. She displayed
+a perfect knowledge of the etiquette and the polite arts which
+are taught only to ladies of the highest rank; and she possessed
+astonishing skill in calligraphy, in painting, and in every kind of
+poetical composition. Busanshi presently fell in love with her, and
+thought only of how to please her. When scholar-friends or other
+visitors of importance came to the house, he would send for the new
+maid that she might entertain and wait upon his guests; and all who
+saw her were amazed by her grace and charm.
+
+One day Busanshi received a visit from the great Teki-Shin-Ketsu, a
+famous teacher of moral doctrine; and the maid did not respond to her
+master's call. Busanshi went himself to seek her, being desirous that
+Teki-Shin-Ketsu should see her and admire her; but she was nowhere to
+be found. After having searched the whole house in vain, Busanshi was
+returning to the guest-room when he suddenly caught sight of the maid,
+gliding soundlessly before him along a corridor. He called to her, and
+hurried after her. Then she turned half-round, and flattened herself
+against the wall like a spider; and as he reached her she sank
+backwards into the wall, so that there remained of her nothing visible
+but a colored shadow,--level like a picture painted on the plaster.
+But the shadow moved its lips and eyes, and spoke to him in a whisper,
+saying:--
+
+"Pardon me that I did not obey your august call!... I am not a
+mankind-person;--I am only the Soul of a Peony. Because you loved
+peonies so much, I was able to take human shape, and to serve you.
+But now this Teki-Shin-Ketsu has come,--and he is a person of dreadful
+propriety,--and I dare not keep this form any longer.... I must return
+to the place from which I came."
+
+Then she sank back into the wall, and vanished altogether: there was
+nothing where she had been except the naked plaster. And Busanshi
+never saw her again.
+
+This story is written in a Chinese book which the Japanese call
+"Kai-ten-i-ji."
+
+
+
+
+"ULTIMATE QUESTIONS"
+
+
+A memory of long ago.... I am walking upon a granite pavement that
+rings like iron, between buildings of granite bathed in the light of
+a cloudless noon. Shadows are short and sharp: there is no stir in the
+hot bright air; and the sound of my footsteps, strangely loud, is the
+only sound in the street.... Suddenly an odd feeling comes to me,
+with a sort of tingling shock,--a feeling, or suspicion, of universal
+illusion. The pavement, the bulks of hewn stone, the iron rails,
+and all things visible, are dreams! Light, color, form, weight,
+solidity--all sensed existences--are but phantoms of being,
+manifestations only of one infinite ghostliness for which the language
+of man has not any word....
+
+This experience had been produced by study of the first volume of
+the Synthetic Philosophy, which an American friend had taught me
+how to read. I did not find it easy reading; partly because I am a
+slow thinker, but chiefly because my mind had never been trained to
+sustained effort in such directions. To learn the "First Principles"
+occupied me many months: no other volume of the series gave me equal
+trouble. I would read one section at a time,--rarely two,--never
+venturing upon a fresh section until I thought that I had made sure
+of the preceding. Very cautious and slow my progress was, like that
+of a man mounting, for the first time, a long series of ladders in
+darkness. Reaching the light at last, I caught a sudden new vision of
+things,--a momentary perception of the illusion of surfaces,--and from
+that time the world never again appeared to me quite the same as it
+had appeared before.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--This memory of more than twenty years ago, and the extraordinary
+thrill of the moment, were recently revived for me by the reading of
+the essay "Ultimate Questions," in the last and not least precious
+volume bequeathed us by the world's greatest thinker. The essay
+contains his final utterance about the riddle of life and death,
+as that riddle presented itself to his vast mind in the dusk of a
+lifetime of intellectual toil. Certainly the substance of what he had
+to tell us might have been inferred from the Synthetic Philosophy;
+but the particular interest of this last essay is made by the writer's
+expression of personal sentiment regarding the problem that troubles
+all deep thinkers. Perhaps few of us could have remained satisfied
+with his purely scientific position. Even while fully accepting his
+declaration of the identity of the power that "wells up in us under
+the form of consciousness" with that Power Unknowable which shapes
+all things, most disciples of the master must have longed for some
+chance to ask him directly, "But how do _you_ feel in regard to the
+prospect of personal dissolution?" And this merely emotional question
+he has answered as frankly and as fully as any of us could have
+desired,--perhaps even more frankly. "Old people," he remarks
+apologetically, "must have many reflections in common. Doubtless
+one which I have now in mind is very familiar. For years past, when
+watching the unfolding buds in the spring, there has arisen the
+thought, 'Shall I ever again see the buds unfold? Shall I ever again
+be awakened at dawn by the song of the thrush?' Now that the end is
+not likely to be long postponed, there results an increasing tendency
+to meditate upon ultimate questions."... Then he tells us that these
+ultimate questions--"of the How and the Why, of the Whence and the
+Whither"--occupy much more space in the minds of those who cannot
+accept the creed of Christendom, than the current conception fills
+in the minds of the majority of men. The enormity of the problem of
+existence becomes manifest only to those who have permitted themselves
+to think freely and widely and deeply, with all such aids to thought
+as exact science can furnish; and the larger the knowledge of the
+thinker, the more pressing and tremendous the problem appears, and the
+more hopelessly unanswerable. To Herbert Spencer himself it must have
+assumed a vastness beyond the apprehension of the average mind; and
+it weighed upon him more and more inexorably the nearer he approached
+to death. He could not avoid the conviction--plainly suggested in his
+magnificent Psychology and in other volumes of his great work--that
+there exists no rational evidence for any belief in the continuance of
+conscious personality after death:--
+
+    "After studying primitive beliefs, and finding that there is
+    no origin for the idea of an after-life, save the conclusion
+    which the savage draws, from the notion suggested by dreams,
+    of a wandering double which comes back on awaking, and
+    which goes away for an indefinite time at death;--and after
+    contemplating the inscrutable relation between brain and
+    consciousness, and finding that we can get no evidence of the
+    existence of the last without the activity of the first,--we
+    seem obliged to relinquish the thought that consciousness
+    continues after physical organization has become inactive."
+
+In this measured utterance there is no word of hope; but there is
+at least a carefully stated doubt, which those who will may try
+to develop into the germ of a hope. The guarded phrase, "we _seem_
+obliged to relinquish," certainly suggests that, although in the
+present state of human knowledge we have no reason to believe in the
+perpetuity of consciousness, some larger future knowledge might help
+us to a less forlorn prospect. From the prospect as it now appears
+even this mightiest of thinkers recoiled:--
+
+    ... "But it seems a strange and repugnant conclusion that with
+    the cessation of consciousness at death there ceases to be any
+    knowledge of having existed. With his last breath it becomes
+    to each the same thing as though he had never lived.
+
+    "And then the consciousness itself--what is it during the time
+    that it continues? And what becomes of it when it ends? We can
+    only infer that it is a specialized and individualized form
+    of that Infinite and Eternal Energy which transcends both our
+    knowledge and our imagination; and that at death its elements
+    lapse into that Infinite and Eternal Energy whence they were
+    derived."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--_With his last breath it becomes to each the same thing as though
+he had never lived?_ To the individual, perhaps--surely not to the
+humanity made wiser and better by his labors.... But the world must
+pass away: will it thereafter be the same for the universe as if
+humanity had never existed? That might depend upon the possibilities
+of future inter-planetary communication.... But the whole universe
+of suns and planets must also perish: thereafter will it be the same
+as if no intelligent life had ever toiled and suffered upon those
+countless worlds? We have at least the certainty that the energies
+of life cannot be destroyed, and the strong probability that
+they will help to form another life and thought in universes
+yet to be evolved.... Nevertheless, allowing for all imagined
+possibilities,--granting even the likelihood of some inapprehensible
+relation between all past and all future conditioned-being,--the
+tremendous question remains: What signifies the whole of apparitional
+existence to the Unconditioned? As flickers of sheet-lightning leave
+no record in the night, so in that Darkness a million billion trillion
+universes might come and go, and leave no trace of their having been.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+To every aspect of the problem Herbert Spencer must have given
+thought; but he has plainly declared that the human intellect, as at
+present constituted, can offer no solution. The greatest mind that
+this world has yet produced--the mind that systematized all human
+knowledge, that revolutionized modern science, that dissipated
+materialism forever, that revealed to us the ghostly unity of all
+existence, that reestablished all ethics upon an immutable and eternal
+foundation,--the mind that could expound with equal lucidity, and by
+the same universal formula, the history of a gnat or the history of a
+sun--confessed itself, before the Riddle of Existence, scarcely less
+helpless than the mind of a child.
+
+But for me the supreme value of this last essay is made by the fact
+that in its pathetic statement of uncertainties and probabilities one
+can discern something very much resembling a declaration of faith.
+Though assured that we have yet no foundation for any belief in the
+persistence of consciousness after the death of the brain, we are
+bidden to remember that the ultimate nature of consciousness remains
+inscrutable. Though we cannot surmise the relation of consciousness
+to the unseen, we are reminded that it must be considered as a
+manifestation of the Infinite Energy, and that its elements, if
+dissociated by death, will return to the timeless and measureless
+Source of Life.... Science to-day also assures us that whatever
+existence has been--all individual life that ever moved in animal
+or plant,--all feeling and thought that ever stirred in human
+consciousness--must have flashed self-record beyond the sphere of
+sentiency; and though we cannot know, we cannot help imagining that
+the best of such registration may be destined to perpetuity. On this
+latter subject, for obvious reasons, Herbert Spencer has remained
+silent; but the reader may ponder a remarkable paragraph in the final
+sixth edition of the "First Principles,"--a paragraph dealing with
+the hypothesis that consciousness may belong to the cosmic ether.
+This hypothesis has not been lightly dismissed by him; and even while
+proving its inadequacy, he seems to intimate that it may represent
+imperfectly some truth yet inapprehensible by the human mind:--
+
+    "The only supposition having consistency is that that in which
+    consciousness inheres is the all-pervading ether. This we
+    know can be affected by molecules of matter in motion, and
+    conversely can affect the motions of molecules;--as witness
+    the action of light on the retina. In pursuance of this
+    supposition we may assume that the ether, which pervades not
+    only all space but all matter, is, under special conditions in
+    certain parts of the nervous system, capable of being affected
+    by the nervous changes in such way as to result in feeling,
+    and is reciprocally capable under these conditions of
+    affecting the nervous changes. But if we accept this
+    explanation, we must assume that the potentiality of feeling
+    is universal, and that the evolution of feeling in the ether
+    takes place only under the extremely complex conditions
+    occurring in certain nervous centres. This, however, is but
+    a semblance of an explanation, since we know not what the
+    ether is, and since, by confession of those most capable of
+    judging, no hypothesis that has been framed accounts for
+    all its powers. Such an explanation may be said to do no
+    more than symbolize the phenomena by symbols of unknown
+    natures."--["First Principles," § 71 _c_, definitive edition
+    of 1900.]
+
+    --"Inscrutable is this complex consciousness which has
+    slowly evolved out of infantine vacuity--consciousness
+    which, in other shapes, is manifested by animate beings at
+    large--consciousness which, during the development of every
+    creature, makes its appearance out of what seems unconscious
+    matter; _suggesting the thought that consciousness, in some
+    rudimentary form, is omnipresent._"[65]
+
+[Footnote 65: _Autobiography_, vol. ii, p. 470.]
+
+--Of all modern thinkers, Spencer was perhaps the most careful to
+avoid giving encouragement to any hypothesis unsupported by powerful
+evidence. Even the simple sum of his own creed is uttered only,
+with due reservation, as a statement of three probabilities: that
+consciousness represents a specialized and individualized form of the
+infinite Energy; that it is dissolved by death; and that its elements
+then return to the source of all being. As for our mental attitude
+toward the infinite Mystery, his advice is plain. We must resign
+ourselves to the eternal law, and endeavor to vanquish our ancient
+inheritance of superstitious terrors, remembering that, "merciless as
+is the Cosmic process worked out by an Unknown Power, yet vengeance is
+nowhere to be found in it."[66]
+
+[Footnote 66: _Facts and Comments_, p. 201.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the same brief essay there is another confession of singular
+interest,--an acknowledgment of the terror of Space. To even the
+ordinary mind, the notion of infinite Space, as forced upon us by
+those monstrous facts of astronomy which require no serious study
+to apprehend, is terrifying;--I mean the mere vague idea of that
+everlasting Night into which the blazing of millions of suns can bring
+neither light nor warmth. But to the intellect of Herbert Spencer the
+idea of Space must have presented itself after a manner incomparably
+more mysterious and stupendous. The mathematician alone will
+comprehend the full significance of the paragraph dealing with the
+Geometry of Position and the mystery of space-relations,--or the
+startling declaration that "even could we penetrate the mysteries of
+existence, there would remain still more transcendent mysteries."
+But Herbert Spencer tells us that, apart from the conception of these
+geometrical mysteries, the problem of naked Space itself became for
+him, in the twilight of his age, an obsession and a dismay:--
+
+    ... "And then comes the thought of this universal matrix
+    itself, anteceding alike creation or evolution, whichever be
+    assumed, and infinitely transcending both, alike in extent and
+    duration; since both, if conceived at all, must be conceived
+    as having had beginnings, while Space had no beginning. The
+    thought of this blank form of existence which, explored in
+    all directions as far as imagination can reach, has, beyond
+    that, an unexplored region compared with which the part which
+    imagination has traversed is but infinitesimal,--the thought
+    of a Space compared with which our immeasurable sidereal
+    system dwindles to a point is a thought too overwhelming to
+    be dwelt upon. Of late years the consciousness that without
+    origin or cause infinite Space has ever existed and must ever
+    exist, produces in me a feeling from which I shrink."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+How the idea of infinite Space may affect a mind incomparably more
+powerful than my own, I cannot know;--neither can I divine the nature
+of certain problems which the laws of space-relation present to the
+geometrician. But when I try to determine the cause of the horror
+which that idea evokes within my own feeble imagination, I am able
+to distinguish different elements of the emotion,--particular forms
+of terror responding to particular ideas (rational and irrational)
+suggested by the revelations of science. One feeling--perhaps the
+main element of the horror--is made by the thought of being _prisoned_
+forever and ever within that unutterable Viewlessness which occupies
+infinite Space.
+
+Behind this feeling there is more than the thought of eternal
+circumscription;--there is also the idea of being perpetually
+penetrated, traversed, thrilled by the Nameless;--there is likewise
+the certainty that no least particle of innermost secret Self could
+shun the eternal touch of It;--there is furthermore the tremendous
+conviction that could the Self of me rush with the swiftness of
+light,--with more than the swiftness of light,--beyond all galaxies,
+beyond durations of time so vast that Science knows no sign by which
+their magnitudes might be indicated,--and still flee onward, onward,
+downward, upward,--always, always,--never could that Self of me reach
+nearer to any verge, never speed farther from any centre. For, in that
+Silence, all vastitude and height and depth and time and direction are
+swallowed up: relation therein could have no meaning but for the speck
+of my fleeting consciousness,--atom of terror pulsating alone through
+atomless, soundless, nameless, illimitable potentiality.
+
+And the idea of that potentiality awakens another quality of
+horror,--the horror of infinite Possibility. For this Inscrutable that
+pulses through substance as if substance were not at all,--so subtly
+that none can feel the flowing of its tides, yet so swiftly that no
+life-time would suffice to count the number of the oscillations which
+it makes within the fraction of one second,--thrills to us out of
+endlessness;--and the force of infinity dwells in its lightest tremor;
+the weight of eternity presses behind its faintest shudder. To that
+phantom-Touch, the tinting of a blossom or the dissipation of a
+universe were equally facile: here it caresses the eye with the charm
+and illusion of color; there it bestirs into being a cluster of giant
+suns. All that human mind is capable of conceiving as possible
+(and how much also that human mind must forever remain incapable of
+conceiving?) may be wrought anywhere, everywhere, by a single tremor
+of that Abyss....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Is it true, as some would have us believe, that the fear of the
+extinction of self is the terror supreme?... For the thought of
+personal perpetuity in the infinite vortex is enough to evoke sudden
+trepidations that no tongue can utter,--fugitive instants of a horror
+too vast to enter wholly into consciousness: a horror that can be
+endured in swift black glimpsings only. And the trust that we are one
+with the Absolute--dim points of thrilling in the abyss of It--can
+prove a consoling faith only to those who find themselves obliged to
+think that consciousness dissolves with the crumbling of the brain....
+It seems to me that few (or none) dare to utter frankly those
+stupendous doubts and fears which force mortal intelligence to
+recoil upon itself at every fresh attempt to pass the barrier of the
+Knowable. Were that barrier unexpectedly pushed back,--were knowledge
+to be suddenly and vastly expanded beyond its present limits,--perhaps
+we should find ourselves unable to endure the revelation....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mr. Percival Lowell's astonishing book, "Mars," sets one to thinking
+about the results of being able to hold communication with the
+habitants of an older and a wiser world,--some race of beings more
+highly evolved than we, both intellectually and morally, and able to
+interpret a thousand mysteries that still baffle our science. Perhaps,
+in such event, we should not find ourselves able to comprehend the
+methods, even could we borrow the results, of wisdom older than all
+our civilization by myriads or hundreds of myriads of years. But would
+not the sudden advent of larger knowledge from some elder planet prove
+for us, by reason, of the present moral condition of mankind, nothing
+less than a catastrophe?--might it not even result in the extinction
+of the human species?...
+
+The rule seems to be that the dissemination of dangerous higher
+knowledge, before the masses of a people are ethically prepared to
+receive it, will always be prevented by the conservative instinct; and
+we have reason to suppose (allowing for individual exceptions) that
+the power to gain higher knowledge is developed only as the moral
+ability to profit by such knowledge is evolved. I fancy that if the
+power of holding intellectual converse with other worlds could now
+serve us, we should presently obtain it. But if, by some astonishing
+chance,--as by the discovery, let us suppose, of some method of
+ether-telegraphy,--this power were prematurely acquired, its exercise
+would in all probability be prohibited.... Imagine, for example, what
+would have happened during the Middle Ages to the person guilty of
+discovering means to communicate with the people of a neighboring
+planet! Assuredly that inventor and his apparatus and his records
+would have been burned; every trace and memory of his labors would
+have been extirpated. Even to-day the sudden discovery of truths
+unsupported by human experience, the sudden revelation of facts
+totally opposed to existing convictions, might evoke some frantic
+revival of superstitious terrors,--some religious panic-fury that
+would strangle science, and replunge the world in mental darkness
+for a thousand years.
+
+
+
+
+THE MIRROR MAIDEN
+
+
+In the period of the Ashikaga Sh[=o]gunate the shrine of
+Ogawachi-My[=o]jin, at Minami-Isé, fell into decay; and the daimy[=o]
+of the district, the Lord Kitahataké, found himself unable, by reason
+of war and other circumstances, to provide for the reparation of the
+building. Then the Shint[=o] priest in charge, Matsumura Hy[=o]go,
+sought help at Ky[=o]to from the great daimy[=o] Hosokawa, who was
+known to have influence with the Sh[=o]gun. The Lord Hosokawa received
+the priest kindly, and promised to speak to the Sh[=o]gun about the
+condition of Ogawachi-My[=o]jin. But he said that, in any event, a
+grant for the restoration of the temple could not be made without
+due investigation and considerable delay; and he advised Matsumura to
+remain in the capital while the matter was being arranged. Matsumura
+therefore brought his family to Ky[=o]to, and rented a house in the
+old Ky[=o]goku quarter.
+
+This house, although handsome and spacious, had been long unoccupied.
+It was said to be an unlucky house. On the northeast side of it there
+was a well; and several former tenants had drowned themselves in
+that well, without any known cause. But Matsumura, being a Shint[=o]
+priest, had no fear of evil spirits; and he soon made himself very
+comfortable in his new home.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the summer of that year there was a great drought. For months no
+rain had fallen in the Five Home-Provinces; the river-beds dried
+up, the wells failed; and even in the capital there was a dearth of
+water. But the well in Matsumura's garden remained nearly full; and
+the water--which was very cold and clear, with a faint bluish
+tinge--seemed to be supplied by a spring. During the hot season many
+people came from all parts of the city to beg for water; and Matsumura
+allowed them to draw as much as they pleased. Nevertheless the supply
+did not appear to be diminished.
+
+But one morning the dead body of a young servant, who had been sent
+from a neighboring residence to fetch water, was found floating in
+the well. No cause for a suicide could be imagined; and Matsumura,
+remembering many unpleasant stories about the well, began to suspect
+some invisible malevolence. He went to examine the well, with the
+intention of having a fence built around it; and while standing there
+alone he was startled by a sudden motion in the water, as of something
+alive. The motion soon ceased; and then he perceived, clearly
+reflected in the still surface, the figure of a young woman,
+apparently about nineteen or twenty years of age. She seemed to be
+occupied with her toilet: he distinctly saw her touching her lips
+with _béni_[67] At first her face was visible in profile only; but
+presently she turned towards him and smiled. Immediately he felt a
+strange shock at his heart, and a dizziness came upon him like the
+dizziness of wine, and everything became dark, except that smiling
+face,--white and beautiful as moonlight, and always seeming to grow
+more beautiful, and to be drawing him down--down--down into the
+darkness. But with a desperate effort he recovered his will and closed
+his eyes. When he opened them again, the face was gone, and the light
+had returned; and he found himself leaning down over the curb of the
+well. A moment more of that dizziness,--a moment more of that dazzling
+lure,--and he would never again have looked upon the sun...
+
+[Footnote 67: A kind of rouge, now used only to color the lips.]
+
+Returning to the house, he gave orders to his people not to approach
+the well under any circumstances, or allow any person to draw water
+from it. And the next day he had a strong fence built round the well.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+About a week after the fence had been built, the long drought was
+broken by a great rain-storm, accompanied by wind and lightning and
+thunder,--thunder so tremendous that the whole city shook to the
+rolling of it, as if shaken by an earthquake. For three days and three
+nights the downpour and the lightnings and the thunder continued; and
+the Kamogawa rose as it had never risen before, carrying away many
+bridges. During the third night of the storm, at the Hour of the Ox,
+there was heard a knocking at the door of the priest's dwelling, and
+the voice of a woman pleading for admittance. But Matsumura, warned by
+his experience at the well, forbade his servants to answer the appeal.
+He went himself to the entrance, and asked,--
+
+"Who calls?"
+
+A feminine voice responded:--
+
+"Pardon! it is I,--Yayoi![68]... I have something to say to Matsumura
+Sama,--something of great moment. Please open!"...
+
+[Footnote 68: This name, though uncommon, is still in use.]
+
+Matsumura half opened the door, very cautiously; and he saw the same
+beautiful face that had smiled upon him from the well. But it was not
+smiling now: it had a very sad look.
+
+"Into my house you shall not come," the priest exclaimed. "You are not
+a human being, but a Well-Person.... Why do you thus wickedly try to
+delude and destroy people?"
+
+The Well-Person made answer in a voice musical as a tinkling of jewels
+(_tama-wo-korogasu-koë_.):--
+
+"It is of that very matter that I want to speak.... I have never
+wished to injure human beings. But from ancient time a Poison-Dragon
+dwelt in that well. He was the Master of the Well; and because of him
+the well was always full. Long ago I fell into the water there, and
+so became subject to him; and he had power to make me lure people to
+death, in order that he might drink their blood. But now the Heavenly
+Ruler has commanded the Dragon to dwell hereafter in the lake called
+Torii-no-Iké, in the Province of Shinsh[=u]; and the gods have decided
+that he shall never be allowed to return to this city. So to-night,
+after he had gone away, I was able to come out, to beg for your kindly
+help. There is now very little water in the well, because of the
+Dragon's departure; and if you will order search to be made, my body
+will be found there. I pray you to save my body from the well without
+delay; and I shall certainly return your benevolence."...
+
+So saying, she vanished into the night.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Before dawn the tempest had passed; and when the sun arose there was
+no trace of cloud in the pure blue sky. Matsumura sent at an early
+hour for well-cleaners to search the well. Then, to everybody's
+surprise, the well proved to be almost dry. It was easily cleaned; and
+at the bottom of it were found some hair-ornaments of a very ancient
+fashion, and a metal mirror of curious form--but no trace of any body,
+animal or human.
+
+Matusmura imagined, however, that the mirror might yield some
+explanation of the mystery; for every such mirror is a weird thing,
+having a soul of its own,--and the soul of a mirror is feminine. This
+mirror, which seemed to be very old, was deeply crusted with scurf.
+But when it had been carefully cleaned, by the priest's order, it
+proved to be of rare and costly workmanship; and there were wonderful
+designs upon the back of it,--also several characters. Some of the
+characters had become indistinguishable; but there could still be
+discerned part of a date, and ideographs signifying, "_third month,
+the third day_." Now the third month used to be termed _Yayoi_
+(meaning, the Month of Increase); and the third day of the third
+month, which is a festival day, is still called _Yayoi-no-sekku_.
+Remembering that the Well-Person called herself "Yayoi," Matsumura
+felt almost sure that his ghostly visitant had been none other than
+the Soul of the Mirror.
+
+He therefore resolved to treat the mirror with all the consideration
+due to a Spirit. After having caused it to be carefully repolished
+and resilvered, he had a case of precious wood made for it, and a
+particular room in the house prepared to receive it. On the evening
+of the same day that it had been respectfully deposited in that room,
+Yayoi herself unexpectedly appeared before the priest as he sat alone
+in his study. She looked even more lovely than before; but the light
+of her beauty was now soft as the light of a summer moon shining
+through pure white clouds. After having humbly saluted Matsumura, she
+said in her sweetly tinkling voice:--
+
+"Now that you have saved me from solitude and sorrow, I have come to
+thank you.... I am indeed, as you supposed, the Spirit of the Mirror.
+It was in the time of the Emperor Saimei that I was first brought here
+from Kudara; and I dwelt in the august residence until the time of
+the Emperor Saga, when I was augustly bestowed upon the Lady Kamo,
+Naishinn[=o] of the Imperial Court.[69] Thereafter I became an
+heirloom in the House of Fuji-wara, and so remained until the period
+of H[=o]gen, when I was dropped into the well. There I was left and
+forgotten during the years of the great war.[70] The Master of the
+Well[71] was a venomous Dragon, who used to live in a lake that once
+covered a great part of this district. After the lake had been filled
+in, by government order, in order that houses might be built upon
+the place of it, the Dragon took possession of the well; and when I
+fell into the well I became subject to him; and he compelled me to
+lure many people to their deaths. But the gods have banished him
+forever.... Now I have one more favor to beseech: I entreat that you
+will cause me to be offered up to the Sh[=o]gun, the Lord Yoshimasa,
+who by descent is related to my former possessors. Do me but this last
+great kindness, and it will bring you good-fortune.... But I have also
+to warn you of a danger. In this house, after to-morrow, you must
+not stay, because it will be destroyed."... And with these words of
+warning Yayoi disappeared.
+
+[Footnote 69: The Emperor Saimei reigned from 655 to 662 (A.D.);
+the Emperor Saga from 810 to 842.--Kudara was an ancient kingdom in
+southwestern Korea, frequently mentioned in early Japanese history.--A
+_Naishinn[=o]_ was of Imperial blood. In the ancient court-hierarchy
+there were twenty-five ranks or grades of noble ladies;--that of
+_Naishinno_ was seventh in order of precedence.]
+
+[Footnote 70: For centuries the wives of the emperors and the ladies
+of the Imperial Court were chosen from the Fujiwara clan--The period
+called H[=o]gen lasted from 1156 to 1159: the war referred to is the
+famous war between the Taira and Minamoto clans.]
+
+[Footnote 71: In old-time belief every lake or spring had its
+invisible guardian, supposed to sometimes take the form of a serpent
+or dragon. The spirit of a lake or pond was commonly spoken of
+as _Iké-no-Mushi_, the Master of the Lake. Here we find the title
+"Master" given to a dragon living in a well; but the guardian of wells
+is really the god Suijin.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Matsumura was able to profit by this premonition. He removed his
+people and his belongings to another district the next day; and almost
+immediately afterwards another storm arose, even more violent than the
+first, causing a flood which swept away the house in which he had been
+residing.
+
+Some time later, by favor of the Lord Hosokawa, Matsumura was enabled
+to obtain an audience of the Sh[=o]gun Yoshimasa, to whom he presented
+the mirror, together with a written account of its wonderful history.
+Then the prediction of the Spirit of the Mirror was fulfilled; for the
+Sh[=o]gun, greatly pleased with this strange gift, not only bestowed
+costly presents upon Matsumura, but also made an ample grant of money
+for the rebuilding of the Temple of Ogawachi-My[=o]jin.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF IT[=O] NORISUKÉ
+
+
+In the town of Uji, in the province of Yamashiro, there lived, about
+six hundred years ago, a young samurai named It[=o] Tatéwaki Norisuké,
+whose ancestors were of the Héďké clan. It[=o] was of handsome person
+and amiable character, a good scholar and apt at arms. But his family
+were poor; and he had no patron among the military nobility,--so
+that his prospects were small. He lived in a very quiet way, devoting
+himself to the study of literature, and having (says the Japanese
+story-teller) "only the Moon and the Wind for friends."
+
+One autumn evening, as he was taking a solitary walk in the
+neighborhood of the hill called Kotobikiyama, he happened to overtake
+a young girl who was following the same path. She was richly dressed,
+and seemed to be about eleven or twelve years old. It[=o] greeted her,
+and said, "The sun will soon be setting, damsel, and this is rather a
+lonesome place. May I ask if you have lost your way?" She looked up
+at him with a bright smile, and answered deprecatingly: "Nay! I am
+a _miya-dzukai_,[72] serving in this neighborhood; and I have only a
+little way to go."
+
+[Footnote 72: August-residence servant.]
+
+By her use of the term _miya-dzukai_, It[=o] knew that the girl must
+be in the service of persons of rank; and her statement surprised him,
+because he had never heard of any family of distinction residing in
+that vicinity. But he only said: "I am returning to Uji, where my home
+is. Perhaps you will allow me to accompany you on the way, as this is
+a very lonesome place." She thanked him gracefully, seeming pleased
+by his offer; and they walked on together, chatting as they went. She
+talked about the weather, the flowers, the butterflies, and the birds;
+about a visit that she had once made to Uji, about the famous sights
+of the capital, where she had been born;--and the moments passed
+pleasantly for It[=o], as he listened to her fresh prattle. Presently,
+at a turn in the road, they entered a hamlet, densely shadowed by a
+grove of young trees.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Here I must interrupt the story to tell you that, without having
+actually seen them, you cannot imagine how dark some Japanese country
+villages remain even in the brightest and hottest weather. In the
+neighborhood of T[=o]ky[=o] itself there are many villages of this
+kind. At a short distance from such a settlement you see no houses:
+nothing is visible but a dense grove of evergreen trees. The grove,
+which is usually composed of young cedars and bamboos, serves to
+shelter the village from storms, and also to supply timber for various
+purposes. So closely are the trees planted that there is no room to
+pass between the trunks of them: they stand straight as masts, and
+mingle their crests so as to form a roof that excludes the sun. Each
+thatched cottage occupies a clear space in the plantation, the trees
+forming a fence about it, double the height of the building. Under
+the trees it is always twilight, even at high noon; and the houses,
+morning or evening, are half in shadow. What makes the first
+impression of such a village almost disquieting is, not the
+transparent gloom, which has a certain weird charm of its own, but
+the stillness. There may be fifty or a hundred dwellings; but you see
+nobody; and you hear no sound but the twitter of invisible birds, the
+occasional crowing of cocks, and the shrilling of cicadć. Even the
+cicadć, however, find these groves too dim, and sing faintly; being
+sun-lovers, they prefer the trees outside the village. I forgot to
+say that you may sometimes hear a viewless shuttle--_chaka-ton,
+chaka-ton_;--but that familiar sound, in the great green silence,
+seems an elfish happening. The reason of the hush is simply that the
+people are not at home. All the adults, excepting some feeble elders,
+have gone to the neighboring fields, the women carrying their babies
+on their backs; and most of the children have gone to the nearest
+school, perhaps not less than a mile away. Verily, in these dim
+hushed villages, one seems to behold the mysterious perpetuation of
+conditions recorded in the texts of Kwang-Tze:--
+
+    "_The ancients who had the nourishment of the world wished for
+    nothing, and the world had enough:--they did nothing, and all
+    things were transformed:--their stillness was abysmal, and the
+    people were all composed._"]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+... The village was very dark when It[=o] reached it; for the sun
+had set, and the after-glow made no twilight in the shadowing of the
+trees. "Now, kind sir," the child said, pointing to a narrow lane
+opening upon the main road, "I have to go this way." "Permit me, then,
+to see you home," It[=o] responded; and he turned into the lane with
+her, feeling rather than seeing his way. But the girl soon stopped
+before a small gate, dimly visible in the gloom,--a gate of
+trelliswork, beyond which the lights of a dwelling could be seen.
+"Here," she said, "is the honorable residence in which I serve. As you
+have come thus far out of your way, kind sir, will you not deign to
+enter and to rest a while?" It[=o] assented. He was pleased by the
+informal invitation; and he wished to learn what persons of superior
+condition had chosen to reside in so lonesome a village. He knew that
+sometimes a family of rank would retire in this manner from public
+life, by reason of government displeasure or political trouble; and
+he imagined that such might be the history of the occupants of the
+dwelling before him. Passing the gate, which his young guide opened
+for him, he found himself in a large quaint garden. A miniature
+landscape, traversed by a winding stream, was faintly distinguishable.
+"Deign for one little moment to wait," the child said; "I go to
+announce the honorable coming;" and hurried toward the house. It was
+a spacious house, but seemed very old, and built in the fashion of
+another time. The sliding doors were not closed; but the lighted
+interior was concealed by a beautiful bamboo curtain extending
+along the gallery front. Behind it shadows were moving--shadows of
+women;--and suddenly the music of a _koto_ rippled into the night. So
+light and sweet was the playing that It[=o] could scarcely believe the
+evidence of his senses. A slumbrous feeling of delight stole over him
+as he listened,--a delight strangely mingled with sadness. He wondered
+how any woman could have learned to play thus,--wondered whether the
+player could be a woman,--wondered even whether he was hearing earthly
+music; for enchantment seemed to have entered into his blood with the
+sound of it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The soft music ceased; and almost at the same moment It[=o] found the
+little _miya-dzukai_ beside him. "Sir," she said, "it is requested
+that you will honorably enter." She conducted him to the entrance,
+where he removed his sandals; and an aged woman, whom he thought to be
+the _R[=o]jo_, or matron of the household, came to welcome him at the
+threshold. The old woman then led him through many apartments to a
+large and well-lighted room in the rear of the house, and with many
+respectful salutations requested him to take the place of honor
+accorded to guests of distinction. He was surprised by the stateliness
+of the chamber, and the curious beauty of its decorations. Presently
+some maid-servants brought refreshments; and he noticed that the cups
+and other vessels set before him were of rare and costly workmanship,
+and ornamented with a design indicating the high rank of the
+possessor. More and more he wondered what noble person had chosen
+this lonely retreat, and what happening could have inspired the wish
+for such solitude. But the aged attendant suddenly interrupted his
+reflections with the question:
+
+"Am I wrong in supposing that you are It[=o] Sama, of Uji,--It[=o]
+Tatéwaki Norisuké?"
+
+It[=o] bowed in assent. He had not told his name to the little
+_miya-dzukai_, and the manner of the inquiry startled him.
+
+"Please do not think my question rude," continued the attendant. "An
+old woman like myself may ask questions without improper curiosity.
+When you came to the house, I thought that I knew your face; and I
+asked your name only to clear away all doubt, before speaking of
+other matters. I have some thing of moment to tell you. You often pass
+through this village, and our young Himégimi-Sama[73] happened one
+morning to see you going by; and ever since that moment she has been
+thinking about you, day and night. Indeed, she thought so much that
+she became ill; and we have been very uneasy about her. For that
+reason I took means to find out your name and residence; and I was on
+the point of sending you a letter when--so unexpectedly!--you came to
+our gate with the little attendant. Now, to say how happy I am to see
+you is not possible; it seems almost too fortunate a happening to be
+true! Really I think that this meeting must have been brought about by
+the favor of Enmusubi-no-Kami,--that great God of Izumo who ties the
+knots of fortunate union. And now that so lucky a destiny has led you
+hither, perhaps you will not refuse--if there be no obstacle in the
+way of such a union--to make happy the heart of our Himégimi-Sama?"
+
+[Footnote 73: A scarcely translatable honorific title compounded of
+the word _himé_ (princess) and _kimi_ (sovereign, master or mistress,
+lord or lady, etc.).]
+
+For the moment It[=o] did not know how to reply. If the old woman had
+spoken the truth, an extraordinary chance was being offered to him.
+Only a great passion could impel the daughter of a noble house to
+seek, of her own will, the affection of an obscure and masterless
+samurai, possessing neither wealth nor any sort of prospects. On the
+other hand, it was not in the honorable nature of the man to further
+his own interests by taking advantage of a feminine weakness.
+Moreover, the circumstances were disquietingly mysterious. Yet how to
+decline the proposal, so unexpectedly made, troubled him not a little.
+After a short silence, he replied:--
+
+"There would be no obstacle, as I have no wife, and no betrothed, and
+no relation with any woman. Until now I have lived with my parents;
+and the matter of my marriage was never discussed by them. You must
+know that I am a poor samurai, without any patron among persons of
+rank; and I did not wish to marry until I could find some chance to
+improve my condition. As to the proposal which you have done me
+the very great honor to make, I can only say that I know myself yet
+unworthy of the notice of any noble maiden."
+
+The old woman smiled as if pleased by these words, and responded:--
+
+"Until you have seen our Himégimi-Sama, it were better that you make
+no decision. Perhaps you will feel no hesitation after you have seen
+her. Deign now to come with me, that I may present you to her."
+
+She conducted him to another larger guest-room, where preparations for
+a feast had been made, and having shown him the place of honor, left
+him for a moment alone. She returned accompanied by the Himégimi-Sama;
+and, at the first sight of the young mistress, It[=o] felt again
+the strange thrill of wonder and delight that had come to him in
+the garden, as he listened to the music of the _koto_. Never had he
+dreamed of so beautiful a being. Light seemed to radiate from her
+presence, and to shine through her garments, as the light of the moon
+through flossy clouds; her loosely flowing hair swayed about her
+as she moved, like the boughs of the drooping willow bestirred by
+the breezes of spring; her lips were like flowers of the peach
+besprinkled with morning dew. It[=o] was bewildered by the vision.
+He asked himself whether he was not looking upon the person of
+Amano-kawara-no-Ori-Himé herself,--the Weaving-Maiden who dwells by
+the shining River of Heaven.
+
+Smiling, the aged woman turned to the fair one, who remained
+speechless, with downcast eyes and flushing cheeks, and said to her:--
+
+"See, my child!--at the moment when we could least have hoped for such
+a thing, the very person whom you wished to meet has come of his own
+accord. So fortunate a happening could have been brought about only by
+the will of the high gods. To think of it makes me weep for joy." And
+she sobbed aloud. "But now," she continued, wiping away her tears
+with her sleeve, "it only remains for you both--unless either prove
+unwilling, which I doubt--to pledge yourselves to each other, and to
+partake of your wedding feast."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It[=o] answered by no word: the incomparable vision before him had
+numbed his will and tied his tongue. Maid-servants entered, bearing
+dishes and wine: the wedding feast was spread before the pair; and the
+pledges were given. It[=o] nevertheless remained as in a trance: the
+marvel of the adventure, and the wonder of the beauty of the bride,
+still bewildered him. A gladness, beyond aught that he had ever known
+before, filled his heart--like a great silence. But gradually he
+recovered his wonted calm; and thereafter he found himself able to
+converse without embarrassment. Of the wine he partook freely; and
+he ventured to speak, in a self-depreciating but merry way, about the
+doubts and fears that had oppressed him. Meanwhile the bride remained
+still as moonlight, never lifting her eyes, and replying only by a
+blush or a smile when he addressed her.
+
+It[=o] said to the aged attendant:--
+
+"Many times, in my solitary walks, I have passed through this village
+without knowing of the existence of this honorable dwelling. And ever
+since entering here, I have been wondering why this noble household
+should have chosen so lonesome a place of sojourn.... Now that your
+Himégimi-Sama and I have become pledged to each other, it seems to me
+a strange thing that I do not yet know the name of her august family."
+
+At this utterance, a shadow passed over the kindly face of the old
+woman; and the bride, who had yet hardly spoken, turned pale, and
+appeared to become painfully anxious. After some moments of silence,
+the aged woman responded:--
+
+"To keep our secret from you much longer would be difficult; and I
+think that, under any circumstances, you should be made aware of the
+facts, now that you are one of us. Know then, Sir It[=o], that your
+bride is the daughter of Shigéhira-Ky[=o], the great and unfortunate
+San-mi Chüj[=o]."
+
+At those words--"Shigéhira-Ky[=o], San-mi Chüj[=o]"--the young
+samurai felt a chill, as of ice, strike through all his veins.
+Shigéhira-Ky[=o], the great Héďké general and statesman, had been dust
+for centuries. And It[=o] suddenly understood that everything around
+him--the chamber and the lights and the banquet--was a dream of the
+past; that the forms before him were not people, but shadows of people
+dead.
+
+But in another instant the icy chill had passed; and the charm
+returned, and seemed to deepen about him; and he felt no fear. Though
+his bride had come to him out of Yomi,--out of the place of the Yellow
+Springs of death,--his heart had been wholly won. Who weds a ghost
+must become a ghost;--yet he knew himself ready to die, not once, but
+many times, rather than betray by word or look one thought that might
+bring a shadow of pain to the brow of the beautiful illusion before
+him. Of the affection proffered he had no misgiving: the truth had
+been told him when any unloving purpose might better have been served
+by deception. But these thoughts and emotions passed in a flash,
+leaving him resolved to accept the strange situation as it had
+presented itself, and to act just as he would have done if chosen, in
+the years of Jü-ei, by Shigéhira's daughter.
+
+"Ah, the pity of it!" he exclaimed; "I have heard of the cruel fate of
+the august Lord Shigéhira."
+
+"Ay," responded the aged woman, sobbing as she spoke;--"it was indeed
+a cruel fate. His horse, you know, was killed by an arrow, and fell
+upon him; and when he called for help, those who had lived upon his
+bounty deserted him in his need. Then he was taken prisoner, and sent
+to Kamakura, where they treated him shamefully, and at last put him
+to death.[74] His wife and child--this dear maid here--were then in
+hiding; for everywhere the Héďké were being sought out and killed.
+When the news of the Lord Shigéhira's death reached us, the pain
+proved too great for the mother to bear, so the child was left with
+no one to care for her but me,--since her kindred had all perished or
+disappeared. She was only five years old. I had been her milk-nurse,
+and I did what I could for her. Year after year we wandered from place
+to place, traveling in pilgrim-garb.... But these tales of grief are
+ill-timed," exclaimed the nurse, wiping away her tears;--"pardon
+the foolish heart of an old woman who cannot forget the past. See!
+the little maid whom I fostered has now become a Himégimi-Sama
+indeed!--were we living in the good days of the Emperor Takakura, what
+a destiny might be reserved for her! However, she has obtained the
+husband whom she desired; that is the greatest happiness.... But the
+hour is late. The bridal-chamber has been prepared; and I must now
+leave you to care for each other until morning."
+
+[Footnote 74: Shigéhira, after a brave fight in defense of the
+capital,--then held by the Taďra (or Héďké) party,--was surprised and
+routed by Yoshitsuné, leader of the Minamoto forces. A soldier named
+Iyénaga, who was a skilled archer, shot down Shigéhira's horse; and
+Shigéhira fell under the struggling animal. He cried to an attendant
+to bring another horse; but the man fled. Shigéhira was then
+captured by Iyénaga, and eventually given up to Yoritomo, head of
+the Minamoto clan, who caused him to be sent in a cage to Kamakura.
+There, after sundry humiliations, he was treated for a time with
+consideration,--having been able, by a Chinese poem, to touch even the
+cruel heart of Yoritomo. But in the following year he was executed by
+request of the Buddhist priests of Nanto, against whom he had formerly
+waged war by order of Kiyomori.]
+
+She rose, and sliding back the screens parting the guest-room from
+the adjoining chamber, ushered them to their sleeping apartment. Then,
+with many words of joy and congratulation, she withdrew; and It[=o]
+was left alone with his bride.
+
+As they reposed together, It[=o] said:--
+
+"Tell me, my loved one, when was it that you first wished to have me
+for your husband."
+
+(For everything appeared so real that he had almost ceased to think of
+the illusion woven around him.)
+
+She answered, in a voice like a dove's voice:--
+
+"My august lord and husband, it was at the temple of Ishiyama, where
+I went with my foster-mother, that I saw you for the first time. And
+because of seeing you, the world became changed to me from that hour
+and moment. But you do not remember, because our meeting was not in
+this, your present life: it was very, very long ago. Since that time
+you have passed through many deaths and births, and have had many
+comely bodies. But I have remained always that which you see me now:
+I could not obtain another body, nor enter into another state of
+existence, because of my great wish for you. My dear lord and husband,
+I have waited for you through many ages of men."
+
+And the bridegroom felt nowise afraid at hearing these strange words,
+but desired nothing more in life, or in all his lives to come, than to
+feel her arms about him, and to hear the caress of her voice.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But the pealing of a temple-bell proclaimed the coming of dawn. Birds
+began to twitter; a morning breeze set all the trees a-whispering.
+Suddenly the old nurse pushed apart the sliding screens of the
+bridal-chamber, and exclaimed:--
+
+"My children, it is time to separate! By daylight you must not be
+together, even for an instant: that were fatal! You must bid each
+other good-by."
+
+Without a word, It[=o] made ready to depart. He vaguely understood
+the warning uttered, and resigned himself wholly to destiny. His will
+belonged to him no more; he desired only to please his shadowy bride.
+
+She placed in his hands a little _suzuri_, or ink-stone, curiously
+carved, and said:--
+
+"My young lord and husband is a scholar; therefore this small gift
+will probably not be despised by him. It is of strange fashion because
+it is old, having been augustly bestowed upon my father by the favor
+of the Emperor Takakura. For that reason only, I thought it to be a
+precious thing."
+
+It[=o], in return, besought her to accept for a remembrance the
+_k[=o]gai_[75] of his sword, which were decorated with inlaid work of
+silver and gold, representing plum-flowers and nightingales.
+
+[Footnote 75: This was the name given to a pair of metal rods attached
+to a sword-sheath, and used like chop-sticks. They were sometimes
+exquisitely ornamented.]
+
+Then the little _miya-dzukai_ came to guide him through the garden,
+and his bride with her foster-mother accompanied him to the threshold.
+
+As he turned at the foot of the steps to make his parting salute, the
+old woman said:--
+
+"We shall meet again the next Year of the Boar, at the same hour of
+the same day of the same month that you came here. This being the Year
+of the Tiger, you will have to wait ten years. But, for reasons which
+I must not say, we shall not be able to meet again in this place;
+we are going to the neighborhood of Ky[=o]to, where the good Emperor
+Takakura and our fathers and many of our people are dwelling. All the
+Héďké will be rejoiced by your coming. We shall send a _kago_[76] for
+you on the appointed day."
+
+[Footnote 76: A kind of palanquin.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Above the village the stars were burning as It[=o] passed the gate;
+but on reaching the open road he saw the dawn brightening beyond
+leagues of silent fields. In his bosom he carried the gift of his
+bride. The charm of her voice lingered in his ears,--and nevertheless,
+had it not been for the memento which he touched with questioning
+fingers, he could have persuaded himself that the memories of the
+night were memories of sleep, and that his life still belonged to him.
+
+But the certainty that he had doomed himself evoked no least regret:
+he was troubled only by the pain of separation, and the thought of the
+seasons that would have to pass before the illusion could be renewed
+for him. Ten years!--and every day of those years would seem how long!
+The mystery of the delay he could not hope to solve; the secret ways
+of the dead are known to the gods alone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Often and often, in his solitary walks, It[=o] revisited the village
+at Kotobikiyama, vaguely hoping to obtain another glimpse of the past.
+But never again, by night or by day, was he able to find the rustic
+gate in the shadowed lane; never again could he perceive the figure of
+the little _miya-dzukai_, walking alone in the sunset-glow.
+
+The village people, whom he questioned carefully, thought him
+bewitched. No person of rank, they said, had ever dwelt in the
+settlement; and there had never been, in the neighborhood, any such
+garden as he described. But there had once been a great Buddhist
+temple near the place of which he spoke; and some gravestones of the
+temple-cemetery were still to be seen. It[=o] discovered the monuments
+in the middle of a dense thicket. They were of an ancient Chinese
+form, and were covered with moss and lichens. The characters that had
+been cut upon them could no longer be deciphered.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Of his adventure It[=o] spoke to no one. But friends and kindred soon
+perceived a great change in his appearance and manner. Day by day he
+seemed to become more pale and thin, though physicians declared that
+he had no bodily ailment; he looked like a ghost, and moved like
+a shadow. Thoughtful and solitary he had always been, but now he
+appeared indifferent to everything which had formerly given him
+pleasure,--even to those literary studies by means of which he
+might have hoped to win distinction. To his mother--who thought that
+marriage might quicken his former ambition, and revive his interest in
+life--he said that he had made a vow to marry no living woman. And the
+months dragged by.
+
+At last came the Year of the Boar, and the season of autumn; but I to
+could no longer take the solitary walks that he loved. He could not
+even rise from his bed. His life was ebbing, though none could divine
+the cause; and he slept so deeply and so long that his sleep was often
+mistaken for death.
+
+Out of such a sleep he was startled, one bright evening, by the voice
+of a child; and he saw at his bedside the little _miya-dsukai_ who had
+guided him, ten years before, to the gate of the vanished garden. She
+saluted him, and smiled, and said: "I am bidden to tell you that you
+will be received to-night at Öhara, near Ky[=o]to, where the new home
+is, and that a _kago_ has been sent for you." Then she disappeared.
+
+It[=o] knew that he was being summoned away from the light of the sun;
+but the message so rejoiced him that he found strength to sit up and
+call his mother. To her he then for the first time related the story
+of his bridal, and he showed her the ink-stone which had been given
+him. He asked that it should be placed in his coffin,--and then he
+died.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The ink-stone was buried with him. But before the funeral ceremonies
+it was examined by experts, who said that it had been made in the
+period of _J[=o]-an_(1169 A.D.), and that it bore the seal-mark of an
+artist who had lived in the time of the Emperor Takakura.
+
+
+
+
+STRANGER THAN FICTION
+
+
+It was a perfect West Indian day. My friend the notary and I were
+crossing the island by a wonderful road which wound up through tropic
+forest to the clouds, and thence looped down again, through gold-green
+slopes of cane, and scenery amazing of violet and blue and ghost-gray
+peaks, to the roaring coast of the trade winds. All the morning we had
+been ascending,--walking after our carriage, most of the time, for the
+sake of the brave little mule;--and the sea had been climbing behind
+us till it looked like a monstrous wall of blue, pansy-blue, under the
+ever heightening horizon. The heat was like the heat of a vapor-bath,
+but the air was good to breathe with its tropical odor,--an odor made
+up of smells of strange saps, queer spicy scents of mould, exhalations
+of aromatic decay. Moreover, the views were glimpses of Paradise; and
+it was a joy to watch the torrents roaring down their gorges under
+shadows of tree-fern and bamboo.
+
+My friend stopped the carriage before a gateway set into a hedge full
+of flowers that looked like pink-and-white butterflies. "I have to
+make a call here," he said;--"come in with me." We dismounted, and he
+knocked on the gate with the butt of his whip. Within, at the end of
+a shady garden, I could see the porch of a planter's house; beyond
+were rows of cocoa palms, and glimpses of yellowing cane. Presently
+a negro, wearing only a pair of canvas trousers and a great straw
+hat, came hobbling to open the gate,--followed by a multitude, an
+astonishing multitude, of chippering chickens. Under the shadow of
+that huge straw hat I could not see the negro's face; but I noticed
+that his limbs and body were strangely shrunken,--looked as if
+withered to the bone. A weirder creature I had never beheld; and I
+wondered at his following of chickens.
+
+"Eh!" exclaimed the notary, "your chickens are as lively as ever!... I
+want to see Madame Floran."
+
+"_Moin ké di_," the goblin responded huskily, in his patois; and he
+limped on before us, all the chickens hopping and cheeping at his
+withered heels.
+
+"That fellow," my friend observed, "was bitten by a _fer-de-lance_
+about eight or nine years ago. He got cured, or at least half-cured,
+in some extraordinary way; but ever since then he has been a skeleton.
+See how he limps!"
+
+The skeleton passed out of sight behind the house, and we waited a
+while at the front porch. Then a métisse--turbaned in wasp colors, and
+robed in iris colors, and wonderful to behold--came to tell us that
+Madame hoped we would rest ourselves in the garden, as the house was
+very warm. Chairs and a little table were then set for us in a shady
+place, and the métisse brought out lemons, sugar-syrup, a bottle of
+the clear plantation rum that smells like apple juice, and ice-cold
+water in a _dobanne_ of thick red clay. My friend prepared the
+refreshments; and then our hostess came to greet us, and to sit with
+us,--a nice old lady with hair like newly minted silver. I had never
+seen a smile sweeter than that with which she bade us welcome; and I
+wondered whether she could ever have been more charming in her Creole
+girlhood than she now appeared,--with her kindly wrinkles, and argent
+hair, and frank, black, sparkling eyes....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the conversation that followed I was not able to take part, as
+it related only to some question of title. The notary soon arranged
+whatever there was to arrange; and, after some charmingly spoken words
+of farewell from the gentle lady, we took our departure. Again the
+mummified negro hobbled before us, to open the gate,--followed by
+all his callow rabble of chickens. As we resumed our places in the
+carriage we could still hear the chippering of the creatures, pursuing
+after that ancient scarecrow.
+
+"Is it African sorcery?" I queried.... "How does he bewitch those
+chickens?"
+
+"Queer--is it not?" the notary responded as we drove away. "That negro
+must now be at least eighty years old; and he may live for twenty
+years more,--the wretch!"
+
+The tone in which my friend uttered this epithet--_le
+miserable!_--somewhat surprised me, as I knew him to be one of the
+kindliest men in the world, and singularly free from prejudice. I
+suspected that a story was coming, and I waited for it in silence.
+
+"Listen," said the notary, after a pause, during which we left the
+plantation well behind us; "that old sorcerer, as you call him, was
+born upon the estate, a slave. The estate belonged to M. Floran,--the
+husband of the lady whom we visited; and she was a cousin, and the
+marriage was a love-match. They had been married about two years when
+the revolt occurred (fortunately there were no children),--the black
+revolt of eighteen hundred and forty-eight. Several planters were
+murdered; and M. Floran was one of the first to be killed. And the old
+negro whom we saw to-day--the old sorcerer, as you call him--left the
+plantation, and joined the rising: do you understand?"
+
+"Yes," I said; "but he might have done that through fear of the mob."
+
+"Certainly: the other hands did the same. But it was he that killed M.
+Floran,--for no reason whatever,--cut him up with a cutlass. M. Floran
+was riding home when the attack was made,--about a mile below the
+plantation.... Sober, that negro would not have dared to face M.
+Floran: the scoundrel was drunk, of course,--raving drunk. Most of
+the blacks had been drinking tafia, with dead wasps in it, to give
+themselves courage."
+
+"But," I interrupted, "how does it happen that the fellow is still on
+the Floran plantation?"
+
+"Wait a moment!... When the military got control of the mob, search
+was made everywhere for the murderer of M. Floran; but he could not
+be found. He was lying out in the cane,--in M. Floran's cane!--like a
+field-rat, like a snake. One morning, while the gendarmes were still
+looking for him, he rushed into the house, and threw himself down in
+front of Madame, weeping and screaming, '_Aďe-yaďe-yaďe-yaďe!--moin
+té tchoué y! moin té tchoué y!--aďe-yaďe-yaďe!_' Those were his very
+words:--'I killed him! I killed him!' And he begged for mercy. When
+he was asked why he killed M. Floran, he cried out that it was the
+devil--_diabe-ŕ_--that had made him do it!... Well, Madame forgave
+him!"
+
+"But how could she?" I queried.
+
+"Oh, she had always been very religious," my friend
+responded,--"sincerely religious. She only said, 'May God pardon me
+as I now pardon you!' She made her servants hide the creature and feed
+him; and they kept him hidden until the excitement was over. Then she
+sent him back to work; and he has been working for her ever since. Of
+course he is now too old to be of any use in the field;--he only takes
+care of the chickens."
+
+"But how," I persisted, "could the relatives allow Madame to forgive
+him?"
+
+"Well, Madame insisted that he was not mentally responsible,--that he
+was only a poor fool who had killed without knowing what he was doing;
+and she argued that if _she_ could forgive him, others could more
+easily do the same. There was a consultation; and the relatives
+decided so to arrange matters that Madame could have her own way."
+
+"But why?"
+
+"Because they knew that she found a sort of religious consolation--a
+kind of religious comfort--in forgiving the wretch. She imagined
+that it was her duty as a Christian, not only to forgive him, but to
+take care of him. We thought that she was mistaken,--but we could
+understand.... Well, there is an example of what religion can do."...
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The surprise of a new fact, or the sudden perception of something
+never before imagined, may cause an involuntary smile. Unconsciously
+I smiled, while my friend was yet speaking; and the good notary's brow
+darkened.
+
+"Ah, you laugh!" he exclaimed,--"you laugh! That is wrong!--that is a
+mistake!... But you do not believe: you do not know what it is,--the
+true religion,--the real Christianity!"
+
+Earnestly I made answer:--
+
+"Pardon me! I do believe every word of what you have told me. If I
+laughed unthinkingly, it was only because I could not help wondering"
+...
+
+"At what?" he questioned gravely.
+
+"At the marvelous instinct of that negro."
+
+"Ah, yes!" he returned approvingly. "Yes, the cunning of the animal
+it was,--the instinct of the brute!... She was the only person in the
+world who could have saved him."
+
+"And he knew it," I ventured to add.
+
+"No--no--no!" my friend emphatically dissented,--"he never could have
+known it! He only _felt_ it!... Find me an instinct like that, and I
+will show you a brain incapable of any knowledge, any thinking, any
+understanding: not the mind of a man, but the brain of a beast!"
+
+
+
+
+A LETTER FROM JAPAN
+
+
+Tokyo, August 1, 1904.
+
+Here, in this quiet suburb, where the green peace is broken only by
+the voices of children at play and the shrilling of cicadć, it is
+difficult to imagine that, a few hundred miles away, there is being
+carried on one of the most tremendous wars of modern times, between
+armies aggregating more than half a million of men, or that, on the
+intervening sea, a hundred ships of war have been battling. This
+contest, between the mightiest of Western powers and a people that
+began to study Western science only within the recollection of many
+persons still in vigorous life, is, on one side at least, a struggle
+for national existence. It was inevitable, this struggle,--might
+perhaps have been delayed, but certainly not averted. Japan has
+boldly challenged an empire capable of threatening simultaneously
+the civilizations of the East and the West,--a medićval power that,
+unless vigorously checked, seems destined to absorb Scandinavia and
+to dominate China. For all industrial civilization the contest is one
+of vast moment;--for Japan it is probably the supreme crisis in her
+national life. As to what her fleets and her armies have been doing,
+the world is fully informed; but as to what her people are doing at
+home, little has been written.
+
+To inexperienced observation they would appear to be doing nothing
+unusual; and this strange calm is worthy of record. At the
+beginning of hostilities an Imperial mandate was issued, bidding all
+non-combatants to pursue their avocations as usual, and to trouble
+themselves as little as possible about exterior events;--and this
+command has been obeyed to the letter. It would be natural to suppose
+that all the sacrifices, tragedies, and uncertainties of the contest
+had thrown their gloom over the life of the capital in especial; but
+there is really nothing whatever to indicate a condition of anxiety or
+depression. On the contrary, one is astonished by the joyous tone of
+public confidence, and the admirably restrained pride of the nation
+in its victories. Western tides have strewn the coast with Japanese
+corpses; regiments have been blown out of existence in the storming of
+positions defended by wire-entanglements; battleships have been lost:
+yet at no moment has there been the least public excitement. The
+people are following their daily occupations just as they did before
+the war; the cheery aspect of things is just the same; the theatres
+and flower displays are not less well patronized. The life of
+T[=o]ky[=o] has been, to outward seeming, hardly more affected by the
+events of the war than the life of nature beyond it, where the flowers
+are blooming and the butterflies hovering as in other summers. Except
+after the news of some great victory,--celebrated with fireworks and
+lantern processions,--there are no signs of public emotion; and but
+for the frequent distribution of newspaper extras, by runners ringing
+bells, you could almost persuade yourself that the whole story of the
+war is an evil dream.
+
+Yet there has been, of necessity, a vast amount of suffering--viewless
+and voiceless suffering--repressed by that sense of social and
+patriotic duty which is Japanese religion. As a seventeen-syllable
+poem of the hour tells us, the news of every victory must bring pain
+as well as joy:--
+
+    G[=o]gwai no
+  Tabi teki mikata
+    Goké ga fuč.
+
+    [_Each time that an extra is circulated the widows of foes and
+    friends have increased in multitude._]
+
+The great quiet and the smiling tearlessness testify to the more than
+Spartan discipline of the race. Anciently the people were trained, not
+only to conceal their emotions, but to speak in a cheerful voice and
+to show a pleasant face under any stress of moral suffering; and they
+are obedient to that teaching to-day. It would still be thought a
+shame to betray personal sorrow for the loss of those who die for
+Emperor and fatherland. The public seem to view the events of the war
+as they would watch the scenes of a popular play. They are interested
+without being excited; and their extraordinary self-control is
+particularly shown in various manifestations of the "Play-impulse."
+Everywhere the theatres are producing war dramas (based upon actual
+fact); the newspapers and magazines are publishing war stories and
+novels; the cinematograph exhibits the monstrous methods of modern
+warfare; and numberless industries are turning out objects of art or
+utility designed to commemorate the Japanese triumphs.
+
+But the present psychological condition, the cheerful and even playful
+tone of public feeling, can be indicated less by any general statement
+than by the mention of ordinary facts,--every-day matters recorded in
+the writer's diary.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Never before were the photographers so busy; it is said that they
+have not been able to fulfill half of the demands made upon them.
+The hundreds of thousands of men sent to the war wished to leave
+photographs with their families, and also to take with them portraits
+of parents, children, and other beloved persons. The nation was being
+photographed during the past six months.
+
+A fact of sociological interest is that photography has added
+something new to the poetry of the domestic faith. From the time of
+its first introduction, photography became popular in Japan; and none
+of those superstitions, which inspire fear of the camera among less
+civilized races, offered any obstacle to the rapid development of a
+new industry. It is true that there exists some queer-folk beliefs
+about photographs,--ideas of mysterious relation between the
+sun-picture and the person imaged. For example: if, in the photograph
+of a group, one figure appear indistinct or blurred, that is thought
+to be an omen of sickness or death. But this superstition has its
+industrial value: it has compelled photographers to be careful about
+their work,--especially in these days of war, when everybody wants to
+have a good clear portrait, because the portrait might be needed for
+another purpose than preservation in an album.
+
+During the last twenty years there has gradually come into existence
+the custom of placing the photograph of a dead parent, brother,
+husband, or child, beside the mortuary tablet kept in the Buddhist
+household shrine. For this reason, also, the departing soldier wishes
+to leave at home a good likeness of himself.
+
+The rites of domestic affection, in old samurai families, are not
+confined to the cult of the dead. On certain occasions, the picture
+of the absent parent, husband, brother, or betrothed, is placed in
+the alcove of the guest-room, and a feast laid out before it. The
+photograph, in such cases, is fixed upon a little stand (_dai_); and
+the feast is served as if the person were present. This pretty custom
+of preparing a meal for the absent is probably more ancient than any
+art of portraiture; but the modern photograph adds to the human poetry
+of the rite. In feudal time it was the rule to set the repast facing
+the direction in which the absent person had gone--north, south, east,
+or west. After a brief interval the covers of the vessels containing
+the cooked food were lifted and examined. If the lacquered inner
+surface was thickly beaded with vapor, all was well; but if
+the surface was dry, that was an omen of death, a sign that the
+disembodied spirit had returned to absorb the essence of the
+offerings.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As might have been expected, in a country where the "play-impulse" is
+stronger, perhaps, than in any other part of the world, the Zeitgeist
+found manifestation in the flower displays of the year. I visited
+those in my neighborhood, which is the Quarter of the Gardeners. This
+quarter is famous for its azaleas (_tsutsuji_); and every spring
+the azalea gardens attract thousands of visitors,--not only by the
+wonderful exhibition then made of shrubs which look like solid masses
+of blossom (ranging up from snowy white, through all shades of pink,
+to a flamboyant purple) but also by displays of effigies: groups
+of figures ingeniously formed with living leaves and flowers. These
+figures, life-size, usually represent famous incidents of history or
+drama. In many cases--though not in all--the bodies and the costumes
+are composed of foliage and flowers trained to grow about a framework;
+while the faces, feet, and hands are represented by some kind of
+flesh-colored composition.
+
+This year, however, a majority of the displays represented scenes
+of the war,--such as an engagement between Japanese infantry and
+mounted Cossacks, a night attack by torpedo boats, the sinking of
+a battleship. In the last-mentioned display, Russian bluejackets
+appeared, swimming for their lives in a rough sea;--the pasteboard
+waves and the swimming figures being made to rise and fall by the
+pulling of a string; while the crackling of quick-firing guns was
+imitated by a mechanism contrived with sheets of zinc.
+
+It is said that Admiral T[=o]g[=o] sent to T[=o]ky[=o] for some
+flowering-trees in pots--inasmuch as his responsibilities allowed him
+no chance of seeing the cherry-flowers and the plum-blossoms in their
+season,--and that the gardeners responded even too generously.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Almost immediately after the beginning of hostilities, thousands of
+"war pictures"--mostly cheap lithographs--were published. The drawing
+and coloring were better than those of the prints issued at the
+time of the war with China; but the details were to a great extent
+imaginary,--altogether imaginary as to the appearance of Russian
+troops. Pictures of the engagements with the Russian fleet were
+effective, despite some lurid exaggeration. The most startling things
+were pictures of Russian defeats in Korea, published before a single
+military engagement had taken place;--the artist had "flushed to
+anticipate the scene." In these prints the Russians were depicted
+as fleeing in utter rout, leaving their officers--very fine-looking
+officers--dead upon the field; while the Japanese infantry, with
+dreadfully determined faces, were coming up at a double. The propriety
+and the wisdom of thus pictorially predicting victory, and easy
+victory to boot, may be questioned. But I am told that the custom of
+so doing is an old one; and it is thought that to realize the common
+hope thus imaginatively is lucky. At all events, there is no attempt
+at deception in these pictorial undertakings;--they help to keep up
+the public courage, and they ought to be pleasing to the gods.
+
+Some of the earlier pictures have now been realized in grim fact.
+The victories in China had been similarly foreshadowed: they amply
+justified the faith of the artist.... To-day the war pictures continue
+to multiply; but they have changed character. The inexorable truth
+of the photograph, and the sketches of the war correspondent, now
+bring all the vividness and violence of fact to help the artist's
+imagination. There was something naďve and theatrical in the drawings
+of anticipation; but the pictures of the hour represent the most
+tragic reality,--always becoming more terrible. At this writing, Japan
+has yet lost no single battle; but not a few of her victories have
+been dearly won.
+
+To enumerate even a tenth of the various articles ornamented with
+designs inspired by the war--articles such as combs, clasps, fans,
+brooches, card-cases, purses--would require a volume. Even cakes and
+confectionery are stamped with naval or military designs; and the
+glass or paper windows of shops--not to mention the signboards--have
+pictures of Japanese victories painted upon them. At night the shop
+lanterns proclaim the pride of the nation in its fleets and armies;
+and a whole chapter might easily be written about the new designs in
+transparencies and toy lanterns. A new revolving lantern--turned by
+the air-current which its own flame creates--has become very popular.
+It represents a charge of Japanese infantry upon Russian defenses;
+and holes pierced in the colored paper, so as to produce a continuous
+vivid flashing while the transparency revolves, suggest the exploding
+of shells and the volleying of machine guns.
+
+Some displays of the art-impulse, as inspired by the war, have been
+made in directions entirely unfamiliar to Western experience,--in
+the manufacture, for example, of women's hair ornaments and dress
+materials. Dress goods decorated with war pictures have actually
+become a fashion,--especially crępe silks for underwear, and figured
+silk linings for cloaks and sleeves. More remarkable than these
+are the new hairpins;--by hairpins I mean those long double-pronged
+ornaments of flexible metal which are called _kanzashi_, and are more
+or less ornamented according to the age of the wearer. (The _kanzashi_
+made for young girls are highly decorative; those worn by older folk
+are plain, or adorned only with a ball of coral or polished stone.)
+The new hairpins might be called commemorative: one, of which the
+decoration represents a British and a Japanese flag intercrossed,
+celebrates the Anglo-Japanese alliance; another represents an
+officer's cap and sword; and the best of all is surmounted by a
+tiny metal model of a battleship. The battleship-pin is not merely
+fantastic: it is actually pretty!
+
+As might have been expected, military and naval subjects occupy a
+large place among the year's designs for toweling. The towel designs
+celebrating naval victories have been particularly successful: they
+are mostly in white, on a blue ground; or in black, on a white ground.
+One of the best--blue and white--represented only a flock of gulls
+wheeling about the masthead of a sunken iron-clad, and, far away, the
+silhouettes of Japanese battleships passing to the horizon.... What
+especially struck me in this, and in several other designs, was the
+original manner in which the Japanese artist had seized upon the
+traits of the modern battleship,--the powerful and sinister lines of
+its shape,--just as he would have caught for us the typical character
+of a beetle or a lobster. The lines have been just enough exaggerated
+to convey, at one glance, the real impression made by the aspect of
+these iron monsters,--vague impression of bulk and force and menace,
+very difficult to express by ordinary methods of drawing.
+
+Besides towels decorated with artistic sketches of this sort, there
+have been placed upon the market many kinds of towels bearing comic
+war pictures,--caricatures or cartoons which are amusing without being
+malignant. It will be remembered that at the time of the first attack
+made upon the Port Arthur squadron, several of the Russian officers
+were in the Dalny theatre,--never dreaming that the Japanese would
+dare to strike the first blow. This incident has been made the subject
+of a towel design. At one end of the towel is a comic study of the
+faces of the Russians, delightedly watching the gyrations of a
+ballet dancer. At the other end is a study of the faces of the same
+commanders when they find, on returning to the port, only the masts
+of their battleships above water. Another towel shows a procession
+of fish in front of a surgeon's office--waiting their turns to be
+relieved of sundry bayonets, swords, revolvers, and rifles, which have
+stuck in their throats. A third towel picture represents a Russian
+diver examining, with a prodigious magnifying-glass, the holes made by
+torpedoes in the hull of a sunken cruiser. Comic verses or legends, in
+cursive text, are printed beside these pictures.
+
+The great house of Mitsui, which placed the best of these designs on
+the market, also produced some beautiful souvenirs of the war, in
+the shape of _fukusa_. (A _fukusa_ is an ornamental silk covering,
+or wrapper, put over presents sent to friends on certain occasions,
+and returned after the present has been received.) These are made of
+the heaviest and costliest silk, and inclosed within appropriately
+decorated covers. Upon one _fukusa_ is a colored picture of the
+cruisers Nisshin and Kasuga, under full steam; and upon another has
+been printed, in beautiful Chinese characters, the full text of the
+Imperial Declaration of war.
+
+But the strangest things that I have seen in this line of production
+were silk dresses for baby girls,--figured stuffs which, when looked
+at from a little distance, appeared incomparably pretty, owing to the
+masterly juxtaposition of tints and colors. On closer inspection the
+charming design proved to be composed entirely of war pictures,--or,
+rather, fragments of pictures, blended into one astonishing
+combination: naval battles; burning warships; submarine mines
+exploding; torpedo boats attacking; charges of Cossacks repulsed by
+Japanese infantry; artillery rushing into position; storming of forts;
+long lines of soldiery advancing through mist. Here were colors of
+blood and fire, tints of morning haze and evening glow, noon-blue
+and starred night-purple, sea-gray and field-green,--most wonderful
+thing!... I suppose that the child of a military or naval officer
+might, without impropriety, be clad in such a robe. But then--the
+unspeakable pity of things!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The war toys are innumerable: I can attempt to mention only a few of
+the more remarkable kinds.
+
+Japanese children play many sorts of card games, some of which are
+old, others quite new. There are poetical card games, for example,
+played with a pack of which each card bears the text of a poem, or
+part of a poem; and the player should be able to remember the name of
+the author of any quotation in the set. Then there are geographical
+card games, in which each of the cards used bears the name, and
+perhaps a little picture, of some famous site, town, or temple; and
+the player should be able to remember the district and province in
+which the mentioned place is situated. The latest novelty in this line
+is a pack of cards with pictures upon them of the Russian war vessels;
+and the player should be able to state what has become of every vessel
+named,--whether sunk, disabled, or confined in Port Arthur.
+
+There is another card game in which the battleships, cruisers, and
+torpedo craft of both Japan and Russia are represented. The winner in
+this game destroys his "captures" by tearing the cards taken. But the
+shops keep packages of each class of warship cards in stock; and when
+all the destroyers or cruisers of one country have been put _hors
+de combat_, the defeated party can purchase new vessels abroad. One
+torpedo boat costs about one farthing; but five torpedo boats can be
+bought for a penny.
+
+The toy-shops are crammed with models of battleships,--in wood, clay,
+porcelain, lead, and tin,--of many sizes and prices. Some of the
+larger ones, moved by clockwork, are named after Japanese battleships:
+Shikishima, Fuji, Mikasa. One mechanical toy represents the sinking of
+a Russian vessel by a Japanese torpedo boat. Among cheaper things of
+this class is a box of colored sand, for the representation of naval
+engagements. Children arrange the sand so as to resemble waves; and
+with each box of sand are sold two fleets of tiny leaden vessels. The
+Japanese ships are white, and the Russian black; and explosions of
+torpedoes are to be figured by small cuttings of vermilion paper,
+planted in the sand.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The children of the poorest classes make their own war toys; and I
+have been wondering whether those ancient feudal laws (translated
+by Professor Wigmore), which fixed the cost and quality of toys to
+be given to children, did not help to develop that ingenuity which
+the little folk display. Recently I saw a group of children in
+our neighborhood playing at the siege of Port Arthur, with fleets
+improvised out of scraps of wood and some rusty nails. A tub of water
+represented Port Arthur. Battleships were figured by bits of plank,
+into which chop-sticks had been fixed to represent masts, and rolls of
+paper to represent funnels. Little flags, appropriately colored, were
+fastened to the masts with rice paste. Torpedo boats were imaged by
+splinters, into each of which a short thick nail had been planted to
+indicate a smokestack. Stationary submarine mines were represented
+by small squares of wood, each having one long nail driven into it;
+and these little things, when dropped into water with the nail-head
+downwards, would keep up a curious bobbing motion for a long time.
+Other squares of wood, having clusters of short nails driven into
+them, represented floating mines: and the mimic battleships were made
+to drag for these, with lines of thread. The pictures in the Japanese
+papers had doubtless helped the children to imagine the events of the
+war with tolerable accuracy.
+
+Naval caps for children have become, of course, more in vogue than
+ever before. Some of the caps bear, in Chinese characters of burnished
+metal, the name of a battleship, or the words _Nippon Teikoku_
+(Empire of Japan),--disposed like the characters upon the cap of a
+blue-jacket. On some caps, however, the ship's name appears in English
+letters,--Yashima, Fuji, etc.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The play-impulse, I had almost forgotten to say, is shared by the
+soldiers themselves,--though most of those called to the front do not
+expect to return in the body. They ask only to be remembered at the
+Spirit-Invoking Shrine (_Sh[=o]konsha_), where the shades of all who
+die for Emperor and country are believed to gather. The men of the
+regiments temporarily quartered in our suburb, on their way to the
+war, found time to play at mimic war with the small folk of the
+neighborhood. (At all times Japanese soldiers are very kind to
+children; and the children here march with them, join in their
+military songs, and correctly salute their officers, feeling sure
+that the gravest officer will return the salute of a little child.)
+When the last regiment went away, the men distributed toys among
+the children assembled at the station to give them a parting
+cheer,--hairpins, with military symbols for ornament, to the girls;
+wooden infantry and tin cavalry to the boys. The oddest present was
+a small clay model of a Russian soldier's head, presented with the
+jocose promise: "If we come back, we shall bring you some real ones."
+In the top of the head there is a small wire loop, to which a rubber
+string can be attached. At the time of the war with China, little clay
+models of Chinese heads, with very long queues, were favorite toys.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The war has also suggested a variety of new designs for that charming
+object, the _toko-niwa_. Few of my readers know what a _toko-niwa_, or
+"alcove-garden," is. It is a miniature garden--perhaps less than two
+feet square--contrived within an ornamental shallow basin of porcelain
+or other material, and placed in the alcove of a guest-room by way
+of decoration. You may see there a tiny pond; a streamlet crossed by
+humped bridges of Chinese pattern; dwarf trees forming a grove, and
+shading the model of a Shinto temple; imitations in baked clay of
+stone lanterns,--perhaps even the appearance of a hamlet of thatched
+cottages. If the _toko-niwa_ be not too small, you may see real fish
+swimming in the pond, or a pet tortoise crawling among the rockwork.
+Sometimes the miniature garden represents H[=o]rai, and the palace of
+the Dragon-King.
+
+Two new varieties have come into fashion. One is a model of Port
+Arthur, showing the harbor and the forts; and with the materials for
+the display there is sold a little map, showing how to place certain
+tiny battle-ships, representing the imprisoned and the investing
+fleets. The other _toko-niwa_ represents a Korean or Chinese
+landscape, with hill ranges and rivers and woods; and the appearance
+of a battle is created by masses of toy soldiers--cavalry, infantry,
+and artillery--in all positions of attack and defense. Minute forts of
+baked clay, bristling with cannon about the size of small pins, occupy
+elevated positions. When properly arranged the effect is panoramic.
+The soldiers in the foreground are about an inch long; those a little
+farther away about half as long; and those upon the hills are no
+larger than flies.
+
+But the most remarkable novelty of this sort yet produced is a kind
+of _toko-niwa_ recently on display at a famous shop in Ginza. A label
+bearing the inscription, _Kaď-téď no Ikken_ (View of the Ocean-Bed)
+sufficiently explained the design. The _suďbon_, or "water-tray,"
+containing the display was half filled with rocks and sand so as to
+resemble a sea-bottom; and little fishes appeared swarming in the
+fore-ground. A little farther back, upon an elevation, stood Otohimé,
+the Dragon-King's daughter, surrounded by her maiden attendants, and
+gazing, with just the shadow of a smile, at two men in naval uniform
+who were shaking hands,--dead heroes of the war: Admiral Makaroff and
+Commander Hirosé!... These had esteemed each other in life; and it was
+a happy thought thus to represent their friendly meeting in the world
+of Spirits.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Though his name is perhaps unfamiliar to English readers, Commander
+Takeo Hirosé has become, deservedly, one of Japan's national heroes.
+On the 27th of March, during the second attempt made to block the
+entrance to Port Arthur, he was killed while endeavoring to help a
+comrade,--a comrade who had formerly saved him from death. For five
+years Hirosé had been a naval attaché at St. Petersburg, and had made
+many friends in Russian naval and military circles. From boyhood his
+life had been devoted to study and duty; and it was commonly said of
+him that he had no particle of selfishness in his nature. Unlike most
+of his brother officers, he remained unmarried,--holding that no man
+who might be called on at any moment to lay down his life for his
+country had a moral right to marry. The only amusements in which
+he was ever known to indulge were physical exercises; and he was
+acknowledged one of the best _j[=u]jutsu_ (wrestlers) in the empire.
+The heroism of his death, at the age of thirty-six, had much less to
+do with the honors paid to his memory than the self-denying heroism of
+his life.
+
+Now his picture is in thousands of homes, and his name is celebrated
+in every village. It is celebrated also by the manufacture of
+various souvenirs, which are sold by myriads. For example, there
+is a new fashion in sleeve-buttons, called _Kinen-botan_, or
+"Commemoration-buttons." Each button bears a miniature portrait of
+the commander, with the inscription, _Shichi-sh[=o] h[=o]koku_, "Even
+in seven successive lives--for love of country." It is recorded that
+Hirosé often cited, to friends who criticised his ascetic devotion to
+duty, the famous utterance of Kusunoki Masashigé, who declared, ere
+laying down his life for the Emperor Go-Daigo, that he desired to die
+for his sovereign in seven successive existences.
+
+But the highest honor paid to the memory of Hirosé is of a sort now
+possible only in the East, though once possible also in the West, when
+the Greek or Roman patriot-hero might be raised, by the common love of
+his people, to the place of the Immortals.... Wine-cups of porcelain
+have been made, decorated with his portrait; and beneath the portrait
+appears, in ideographs of gold, the inscription, _Gunshin Hirosé
+Ch[=u]sa_. The character "gun" signifies war; the character "_shin_"
+a god,--either in the sense of _divus_ or _deus_, according to
+circumstances; and the Chinese text, read in the Japanese way, is
+_Ikusa no Kami_. Whether that stern and valiant spirit is really
+invoked by the millions who believe that no brave soul is doomed to
+extinction, no well-spent life laid down in vain, no heroism cast
+away, I do not know. But, in any event, human affection and gratitude
+can go no farther than this; and it must be confessed that Old Japan
+is still able to confer honors worth dying for.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Boys and girls in all the children's schools are now singing the Song
+of Hirosé Ch[=u]sa, which is a marching song. The words and the
+music are published in a little booklet, with a portrait of the late
+commander upon the cover. Everywhere, and at all hours of the day, one
+hears this song being sung:--
+
+    _He whose every word and deed gave to men an example of what
+    the war-folk of the_ _Empire of Nippon should be,--Commander
+    Hirosé: is he really dead?_
+
+    _Though the body die, the spirit dies not. He who wished to
+    be reborn seven times into this world, for the sake of
+    serving his country, for the sake of requiting the Imperial
+    favor,--Commander Hirosé: has he really died?_
+
+    _"Since I am a son of the Country of the Gods, the fire of the
+    evil-hearted Russians cannot touch me!"--The sturdy Takeo who
+    spoke thus: can he really be dead?..._
+
+    _Nay! that glorious war-death meant undying fame;--beyond a
+    thousand years the valiant heart shall live;--as to a god of
+    war shall reverence be paid to him...._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Observing the playful confidence of this wonderful people in their
+struggle for existence against the mightiest power of the West,--their
+perfect trust in the wisdom of their leaders and the valor of their
+armies,--the good humor of their irony when mocking the enemy's
+blunders,--their strange capacity to find, in the world-stirring
+events of the hour, the same amusement that they would find in
+watching a melodrama,--one is tempted to ask: "What would be the
+moral consequence of a national defeat?"... It would depend, I think,
+upon circumstances. Were Kuropatkin able to fulfill his rash threat
+of invading Japan, the nation would probably rise as one man. But
+otherwise the knowledge of any great disaster would be bravely borne.
+From time unknown Japan has been a land of cataclysms,--earth-quakes
+that ruin cities in the space of a moment; tidal waves, two hundred
+miles long, sweeping whole coast populations out of existence; floods
+submerging hundreds of leagues of well-tilled fields; eruptions
+burying provinces. Calamities like this have disciplined the race in
+resignation and in patience; and it has been well trained also to bear
+with courage all the misfortunes of war. Even by the foreign peoples
+that have been most closely in contact with her, the capacities of
+Japan remained unguessed. Perhaps her power to resist aggression is
+far surpassed by her power to endure.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Romance of the Milky Way, by Lafcadio Hearn
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+    <title>The Romance of the Milky Way and Other Studies &amp;
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+
+Project Gutenberg's The Romance of the Milky Way, by Lafcadio Hearn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Romance of the Milky Way
+       And Other Studies &amp; Stories
+
+Author: Lafcadio Hearn
+
+Release Date: March 10, 2005 [EBook #15320]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMANCE OF THE MILKY WAY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Ted Garvin, William Flis, and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+    <h4>SHORT STORY</h4>
+
+    <h1>THE ROMANCE OF THE MILKY WAY</h1>
+
+    <h2>AND OTHER STUDIES &amp; STORIES</h2>
+
+    <h2>BY LAFCADIO HEARN</h2>
+
+    <h4>HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY<br />
+    BOSTON AND NEW YORK 1905</h4>
+
+    <h4>COPYRIGHT 1905 BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN &amp; COMPANY ALL RIGHTS
+    RESERVED</h4>
+
+    <h4>PUBLISHED OCTOBER 1905</h4>
+
+    <h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p>THE ROMANCE OF THE MILKY WAY
+            <a href="#page1">1</a></p>
+        </div>
+
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p>GOBLIN POETRY <a href="#page51">51</a></p>
+        </div>
+
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p>"ULTIMATE QUESTIONS" <a href="#page103">103</a></p>
+        </div>
+
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p>THE MIRROR MAIDEN <a href="#page125">125</a></p>
+        </div>
+
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p>THE STORY OF IT&#332; NORISUKÉ
+            <a href="#page139">139</a></p>
+        </div>
+
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p>STRANGER THAN FICTION <a href="#page167">167</a></p>
+        </div>
+
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p>A LETTER FROM JAPAN <a href="#page179">179</a></p>
+        </div>
+    </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="pagevii"
+       id="pagevii"></a>[pg vii]</span>
+
+    <h2>INTRODUCTION</h2>
+
+    <p>Lafcadio Hearn, known to Nippon as Yakumo Koizumi, was born
+    in Leucadia in the Ionian Islands, June 27, 1850. His father
+    was an Irish surgeon in the British Army; his mother was a
+    Greek. Both parents died while Hearn was still a child, and he
+    was adopted by a great-aunt, and educated for the priesthood.
+    To this training he owed his Latin scholarship and, doubtless,
+    something of the subtlety of his intelligence. He soon found,
+    however, that the prospect of an ecclesiastical career was
+    alien from his inquiring mind and vivid temperament, and at the
+    age of nineteen he came to America to seek his fortune. After
+    working for a time as a proof-reader, he obtained employment as
+    a newspaper reporter in Cincinnati. Soon he rose to be an
+    editorial writer, and went in the course of a few years to New
+    Orleans to join the editorial staff of the "Times-Democrat."
+    Here he lived until 1887, writing odd fantasies and arabesques
+    for his paper, contributing articles and sketches
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="pageviii"
+       id="pageviii"></a>[pg viii]</span> to the magazines, and
+       publishing several curious little books, among them his
+       "Stray Leaves from Strange Literature," and his translations
+       from Gautier. In the winter of 1887 he began his pilgrimages
+       to exotic countries, being, as he wrote to a friend, "a
+       small literary bee in search of inspiring honey." After a
+       couple of years, spent chiefly in the French West Indies,
+       with periods of literary work in New York, he went in 1890
+       to Japan to prepare a series of articles for a magazine.
+       Here through some deep affinity of mood with the marvelous
+       people of that country he seems suddenly to have felt
+       himself at last at home. He married a Japanese woman; he
+       acquired Japanese citizenship in order to preserve the
+       succession of his property to his family there; he became a
+       lecturer in the Imperial University at T&#333;ky&#333;; and
+       in a series of remarkable books he made himself the
+       interpreter to the Western World of the very spirit of
+       Japanese life and art. He died there of paralysis of the
+       heart on the 26th of September, 1904.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>With the exception of a body of familiar letters now in
+    process of collection, the present volume contains all of
+    Hearn's writing <span class="pagenum"><a name="pageix"
+       id="pageix"></a>[pg ix]</span> that he left uncollected in
+       the magazines or in manuscript of a sufficient ripeness for
+       publication. It is worth noting, however, that perfect as is
+       the writing of "Ultimate Questions," and complete as the
+       essay is in itself, the author regarded it as unfinished,
+       and, had he lived, would have revised and amplified some
+       portions of it.</p>
+
+    <p>But if this volume lacks the incomparably exquisite touch of
+    its author in its arrangement and revision, it does,
+    nevertheless, present him in all of his most characteristic
+    veins, and it is in respect both to style and to substance
+    perhaps the most mature and significant of his works.</p>
+
+    <p>In his first days as a writer Hearn had conceived an ideal
+    of his art as specific as it was ambitious. Early in the
+    eighties he wrote from New Orleans in an unpublished letter to
+    the Rev. Wayland D. Ball of Washington: "The lovers of antique
+    loveliness are proving to me the future possibilities of a long
+    cherished dream,&mdash;the English realization of a Latin
+    style, modeled upon foreign masters, and rendered even more
+    forcible by that element of <i>strength</i> which is the
+    characteristic of Northern tongues. This no man can hope to
+    accomplish, but even a translator
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagex"
+       id="pagex"></a>[pg x]</span> may carry his stones to the
+       master-masons of a new architecture of language." In the
+       realization of his ideal Hearn took unremitting pains. He
+       gave a minute and analytical study to the writings of such
+       masters of style as Flaubert and Gautier, and he chose his
+       miscellaneous reading with a peculiar care. He wrote again
+       to the same friend: "I never read a book which does not
+       powerfully impress the imagination; but whatever contains
+       novel, curious, potent imagery I always read, no matter what
+       the subject. When the soil of fancy is really well enriched
+       with innumerable fallen leaves, the flowers of language grow
+       spontaneously." Finally, to the hard study of technique, to
+       vast but judicious reading, he added a long, creative
+       brooding time. To a Japanese friend, Nobushige Amenomori, he
+       wrote in a passage which contains by implication a deep
+       theory not only of literary composition, but of all
+       art:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"Now with regard to your own sketch or story. If you are
+    quite dissatisfied with it, I think this is probably due
+    <i>not</i> to what you suppose,&mdash;imperfection of
+    expression,&mdash;but rather to the fact that some
+    <i>latent</i> thought or emotion has not yet defined itself in
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexi"
+       id="pagexi"></a>[pg xi]</span> your mind with sufficient
+       sharpness. You feel something and have not been able to
+       express the feeling&mdash;only because you do not yet quite
+       know what it is. We feel without understanding feeling; and
+       our most powerful emotions are the most undefinable. This
+       must be so, because they are inherited accumulations of
+       feeling, and the multiplicity of them&mdash;superimposed one
+       over another&mdash;blurs them, and makes them dim, even
+       though enormously increasing their strength....
+       <i>Unconscious</i> brain work is the best to develop such
+       latent feeling or thought. By quietly writing the thing over
+       and over again, I find that the emotion or idea often
+       <i>develops itself</i> in the process,&mdash;unconsciously.
+       Again, it is often worth while to <i>try</i> to analyze the
+       feeling that remains dim. The effort of trying to understand
+       exactly what it is that moves us sometimes proves
+       successful.... If you have any feeling&mdash;no matter
+       what&mdash;strongly latent in the mind (even only a haunting
+       sadness or a mysterious joy), you may be sure that it is
+       expressible. Some feelings are, of course, very difficult to
+       develop. I shall show you one of these days, when we see
+       each other, a page that I worked at for <i>months</i> before
+       the idea came clearly.... When the best result comes, it
+       <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexii"
+       id="pagexii"></a>[pg xii]</span> ought to surprise you, for
+       our best work is out of the Unconscious."</p>
+
+    <p>Through this study, reading, and brooding Lafcadio Hearn's
+    prose ripened and mellowed consistently to the end. In mere
+    workmanship the present volume is one of his most admirable,
+    while in its heightened passages, like the final paragraph of
+    "The Romance of the Milky Way," the rich, melancholy music, the
+    profound suggestion, are not easily matched from any but the
+    very greatest English prose.</p>
+
+    <p>In substance the volume is equally significant. In 1884 he
+    wrote to one of the closest of his friends that he had at last
+    found his feet intellectually through the reading of Herbert
+    Spencer which had dispelled all "isms" from his mind and left
+    him "the vague but omnipotent consolation of the Great Doubt."
+    And in "Ultimate Questions," which strikes, so to say, the
+    dominant chord of this volume, we have an almost lyrical
+    expression of the meaning for him of the Spencerian philosophy
+    and psychology. In it is his characteristic mingling of
+    Buddhist and Shinto thought with English and French psychology,
+    strains which in his work "do not simply mix well," as he says
+    in one of his letters, but "absolutely unite, like chemical
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexiii"
+       id="pagexiii"></a>[pg xiii]</span> elements&mdash;rush
+       together with a shock;"&mdash;and in it he strikes his
+       deepest note. In his steady envisagement of the horror that
+       envelops the stupendous universe of science, in his power to
+       evoke and revive old myths and superstitions, and by their
+       glamour to cast a ghostly light of vanished suns over the
+       darkness of the abyss, he was the most Lucretian of modern
+       writers.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>In outward appearance Hearn, the man, was in no way
+    prepossessing. In the sharply lined picture of him drawn by one
+    of his Japanese comrades in the "Atlantic" for October, 1905,
+    he appears, "slightly corpulent in later years, short in
+    stature, hardly five feet high, of somewhat stooping gait. A
+    little brownish in complexion, and of rather hairy skin. A
+    thin, sharp, aquiline nose, large protruding eyes, of which the
+    left was blind and the right very near-sighted."</p>
+
+    <p>The same writer, Nobushige Amenomori, has set down a
+    reminiscence, not of Hearn the man, but of Hearn the genius,
+    wherewith this introduction to the last of his writings may
+    fitly conclude: "I shall ever retain the vivid remembrance of
+    the sight I had when I stayed over night at his house for the
+    first time. Being <span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexiv"
+       id="pagexiv"></a>[pg xiv]</span> used myself also to sit up
+       late, I read in bed that night. The clock struck one in the
+       morning, but there was a light in Hearn's study. I heard
+       some low, hoarse coughing. I was afraid my friend might be
+       ill; so I stepped out of my room and went to his study. Not
+       wanting, however, to disturb him, if he was at work, I
+       cautiously opened the door just a little, and peeped in. I
+       saw my friend intent in writing at his high desk, with his
+       nose almost touching the paper. Leaf after leaf he wrote on.
+       In a while he held up his head, and what did I see! It was
+       not the Hearn I was familiar with; it was another Hearn. His
+       face was mysteriously white; his large eye gleamed. He
+       appeared like one in touch with some unearthly presence.</p>
+
+    <p>"Within that homely looking man there burned something pure
+    as the vestal fire, and in that flame dwelt a mind that called
+    forth life and poetry out of dust, and grasped the highest
+    themes of human thought."</p>
+
+    <p class="author">F.G.</p>
+
+    <p>September, 1905.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page1"
+       id="page1"></a>[pg 1]</span>
+
+    <h2>THE ROMANCE, OF THE MILKY WAY</h2>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>Of old it was said: 'The River of Heaven is the Ghost of
+        Waters.' We behold it shifting its bed in the course of the
+        year as an earthly river sometimes does.</p>
+
+        <p class="author"><i>Ancient Scholar</i></p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page3"
+       id="page3"></a>[pg 3]</span>
+
+    <p>Among the many charming festivals celebrated by Old Japan,
+    the most romantic was the festival of Tanabata-Sama, the
+    Weaving-Lady of the Milky Way. In the chief cities her holiday
+    is now little observed; and in T&#333;ky&#333; it is almost
+    forgotten. But in many country districts, and even in villages,
+    near the capital, it is still celebrated in a small way. If you
+    happen to visit an old-fashioned country town or village, on
+    the seventh day of the seventh month (by the ancient calendar),
+    you will probably notice many freshly-cut bamboos fixed upon
+    the roofs of the houses, or planted in the ground beside them,
+    every bamboo having attached to it a number of strips of
+    colored <span class="pagenum"><a name="page4"
+       id="page4"></a>[pg 4]</span> paper. In some very poor
+       villages you might find that these papers are white, or of
+       one color only; but the general rule is that the papers
+       should be of five or seven different colors. Blue, green,
+       red, yellow, and white are the tints commonly displayed. All
+       these papers are inscribed with short poems written in
+       praise of Tanabata and her husband Hikoboshi. After the
+       festival the bamboos are taken down and thrown into the
+       nearest stream, together with the poems attached to
+       them.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>To understand the romance of this old festival, you must
+    know the legend of those astral divinities to whom offerings
+    used to be made, even by, the Imperial Household, on the
+    seventh day of the seventh month. The legend is Chinese. This
+    is the Japanese popular version of it:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>The great god of the firmament had a lovely daughter,
+    Tanabata-tsumé, who passed her days in weaving garments for her
+    august parent. She rejoiced in her work, and thought that there
+    was no greater pleasure than the
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page5"
+       id="page5"></a>[pg 5]</span> pleasure of weaving. But one
+       day, as she sat before her loom at the door of her heavenly
+       dwelling, she saw a handsome peasant lad pass by, leading an
+       ox, and she fell in love with him. Her august father,
+       divining her secret wish, gave her the youth for a husband.
+       But the wedded lovers became too fond of each other, and
+       neglected their duty to the god of the firmament; the sound
+       of the shuttle was no longer heard, and the ox wandered,
+       unheeded, over the plains of heaven. Therefore the great god
+       was displeased, and he separated the pair. They were
+       sentenced to live thereafter apart, with the Celestial River
+       between them; but it was permitted them to see each other
+       once a year, on the seventh night of the seventh moon. On
+       that night&mdash;providing the skies be clear&mdash;the
+       birds of heaven make, with their bodies and wings, a bridge
+       over the stream; and by means of that bridge the lovers can
+       meet. But if there be rain, the River of Heaven rises, and
+       becomes so wide that the bridge cannot be formed. So the
+       husband and wife cannot always meet, even on the seventh
+       night of the seventh <span class="pagenum"><a name="page6"
+       id="page6"></a>[pg 6]</span> month; it may happen, by reason
+       of bad weather, that they cannot meet for three or four
+       years at a time. But their love remains immortally young and
+       eternally patient; and they continue to fulfill their
+       respective duties each day without fault,&mdash;happy in
+       their hope of being able to meet on the seventh night of the
+       next seventh month.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>To ancient Chinese fancy, the Milky Way was a luminous
+    river,&mdash;the River of Heaven,&mdash;the Silver Stream. It
+    has been stated by Western writers that Tanabata, the
+    Weaving-Lady, is a star in Lyra; and the Herdsman, her beloved,
+    a star in Aquila, on the opposite side of the galaxy. But it
+    were more correct to say that both are represented, to
+    Far-Eastern imagination, by groups of stars. An old Japanese
+    book puts the matter thus plainly: "Kengy&#363; (the Ox-Leader)
+    is on the west side of the Heavenly River, and is represented
+    by three stars in a row, and looks like a man leading an ox.
+    Shokujo (the Weaving-Lady) is on the east side of the Heavenly
+    River: three stars <span class="pagenum"><a name="page7"
+       id="page7"></a>[pg 7]</span> so placed as to appear like the
+       figure of a woman seated at her loom.... The former presides
+       over all things relating to agriculture; the latter, over
+       all that relates to women's work."</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>In an old book called Zatsuwa-Shin, it is said that these
+    deities were of earthly origin. Once in this world they were
+    man and wife, and lived in China; and the husband was called
+    Ishi, and the wife Hakuy&#333;. They especially and most
+    devoutly reverenced the Moon. Every clear evening, after
+    sundown, they waited with eagerness to see her rise. And when
+    she began to sink towards the horizon, they would climb to the
+    top of a hill near their house, so that they might be able to
+    gaze upon her face as long as possible. Then, when she at last
+    disappeared from view, they would mourn together. At the age of
+    ninety and nine, the wife died; and her spirit rode up to
+    heaven on a magpie, and there became a star. The husband, who
+    was then one hundred and three years old, sought consolation
+    for his bereavement in looking at the Moon and when he welcomed
+    her <span class="pagenum"><a name="page8"
+       id="page8"></a>[pg 8]</span> rising and mourned her setting,
+       it seemed to him as if his wife were still beside him.</p>
+
+    <p>One summer night, Hakuy&#333;&mdash;now immortally beautiful
+    and young&mdash;descended from heaven upon her magpie, to visit
+    her husband; and he was made very happy by that visit. But from
+    that time he could think of nothing but the bliss of becoming a
+    star, and joining Hakuy&#333; beyond the River of Heaven. At
+    last he also ascended to the sky, riding upon a crow; and there
+    he became a star-god. But he could not join Hakuy&#333; at
+    once, as he had hoped;&mdash;for between his allotted place and
+    hers flowed the River of Heaven; and it was not permitted for
+    either star to cross the stream, because the Master of Heaven
+    (<i>Ten-Tei</i>) daily bathed in its waters. Moreover, there
+    was no bridge. But on one day every year&mdash;the seventh day
+    of the seventh month&mdash;they were allowed to see each other.
+    The Master of Heaven goes always on that day to the
+    Zenh&#333;do, to hear the preaching of the law of Buddha; and
+    then the magpies and the crows make, with their hovering bodies
+    and outspread wings, a bridge over the
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page9"
+       id="page9"></a>[pg 9]</span> Celestial Stream; and
+       Hakuy&#333; crosses that bridge to meet her husband.</p>
+
+    <p>There can be little doubt that the Japanese festival called
+    Tanabata was originally identical with the festival of the
+    Chinese Weaving-Goddess, Tchi-Niu; the Japanese holiday seems
+    to have been especially a woman's holiday, from the earliest
+    times; and the characters with which the word Tanabata is
+    written signify a weaving-girl. But as both of the star-deities
+    were worshiped on the seventh of the seventh month, some
+    Japanese scholars have not been satisfied with the common
+    explanation of the name, and have stated that it was originally
+    composed with the word <i>tané</i> (seed, or grain), and the
+    word <i>hata</i> (loom). Those who accept this etymology make
+    the appellation, Tanabata-Sama, plural instead of singular, and
+    render it as "the deities of grain and of the loom,"&mdash;that
+    is to say, those presiding over agriculture and weaving. In old
+    Japanese pictures the star-gods are represented according to
+    this conception of their respective attributes;&mdash;Hikoboshi
+    being figured as a peasant lad
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page10"
+       id="page10"></a>[pg 10]</span> leading an ox to drink of the
+       Heavenly River, on the farther side of which Orihimé
+       (Tanabata) appears, weaving at her loom. The garb of both is
+       Chinese; and the first Japanese pictures of these divinities
+       were probably copied from some Chinese original.</p>
+
+    <p>In the oldest collection of Japanese poetry
+    extant,&mdash;the Many&#333;sh&#363;, dating from 760
+    A.D.,&mdash;the male divinity is usually called Hikoboshi, and
+    the female Tanabata-tsumé; but in later times both have been
+    called Tanabata. In Izumo the male deity is popularly termed
+    O-Tanabata Sama, and the female Mé-Tanabata Sama. Both are
+    still known by many names. The male is called Kaiboshi as well
+    as Hikoboshi and Kengy&#363;; while the female is called
+    Asagao-himé ("Morning Glory Princess")<a id="footnotetag1"
+       name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a>,
+       Ito-ori-himé ("Thread-Weaving Princess"), Momoko-himé
+       ("Peach-Child Princess"), Takimono-himé ("Incense
+       Princess"), and Sasagani-himé ("Spider Princess"). Some of
+       these names are difficult to explain,&mdash;especially
+       <span class="pagenum"><a name="page11"
+       id="page11"></a>[pg 11]</span> the last, which reminds us of
+       the Greek legend of Arachne. Probably the Greek myth and the
+       Chinese story have nothing whatever in common; but in old
+       Chinese books there is recorded a curious fact which might
+       well suggest a relationship. In the time of the Chinese
+       Emperor Ming Hwang (whom the Japanese call Gens&#333;), it
+       was customary for the ladies of the court, on the seventh
+       day of the seventh month, to catch spiders and put them into
+       an incense-box for purposes of divination. On the morning of
+       the eighth day the box was opened; and if the spiders had
+       spun thick webs during the night the omen was good. But if
+       they had remained idle the omen was bad.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>There is a story that, many ages ago, a beautiful woman
+    visited the dwelling of a farmer in the mountains of Izumo, and
+    taught to the only daughter of the household an art of weaving
+    never before known. One evening the beautiful stranger vanished
+    away; and the people knew that they had seen the Weaving-Lady
+    of Heaven. The daughter of the farmer
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page12"
+       id="page12"></a>[pg 12]</span> became renowned for her skill
+       in weaving. But she would never marry,&mdash;because she had
+       been the companion of Tanabata-Sama.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>Then there is a Chinese story&mdash;delightfully
+    vague&mdash;about a man who once made a visit, unawares, to the
+    Heavenly Land. He had observed that every year, during the
+    eighth month, a raft of precious wood came floating to the
+    shore on which he lived; and he wanted to know where that wood
+    grew. So he loaded a boat with provisions for a two years'
+    voyage, and sailed away in the direction from which the rafts
+    used to drift. For months and months he sailed on, over an
+    always placid sea; and at last he arrived at a pleasant shore,
+    where wonderful trees were growing. He moored his boat, and
+    proceeded alone into the unknown land, until he came to the
+    bank of a river whose waters were bright as silver. On the
+    opposite shore he saw a pavilion; and in the pavilion a
+    beautiful woman sat weaving; she was white like moonshine, and
+    made a radiance all about her. Presently he saw a handsome
+    young peasant <span class="pagenum"><a name="page13"
+       id="page13"></a>[pg 13]</span> approaching, leading an ox to
+       the water; and he asked the young peasant to tell him the
+       name of the place and the country. But the youth seemed to
+       be displeased by the question, and answered in a severe
+       tone: "If you want to know the name of this place, go back
+       to where you came from, and ask
+       Gen-Kum-Pei."<a id="footnotetag2"
+       name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a>
+       So the voyager, feeling afraid, hastened to his boat, and
+       returned to China. There he sought out the sage Gen-Kum-Pei,
+       to whom he related the adventure. Gen-Kum-Pei clapped his
+       hands for wonder, and exclaimed, "So it was you!... On the
+       seventh day of the seventh month I was gazing at the
+       heavens, and I saw that the Herdsman and the Weaver were
+       about to meet;&mdash;but between them was a new Star, which
+       I took to be a Guest-Star. Fortunate man! you have been to
+       the River of Heaven, and have looked upon the face of the
+       Weaving-Lady!..."</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>&mdash;It is said that the meeting of the Herdsman and the
+    Weaver can be observed by
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page14"
+       id="page14"></a>[pg 14]</span> any one with good eyes; for
+       whenever it occurs those stars burn with five different
+       colors. That is why offerings of five colors are made to the
+       Tanabata divinities, and why the poems composed in their
+       praise are written upon paper of five different tints.</p>
+
+    <p>But, as I have said before, the pair can meet only in fair
+    weather. If there be the least rain upon the seventh night, the
+    River of Heaven will rise, and the lovers must wait another
+    whole year. Therefore the rain that happens to fall on Tanabata
+    night is called <i>Namida no Amé</i>, "The Rain of Tears."</p>
+
+    <p>When the sky is clear on the seventh night, the lovers are
+    fortunate; and their stars can be seen to sparkle with delight.
+    If the star Kengy&#363; then shines very brightly, there will
+    be great rice crops in the autumn. If the star Shokujo looks
+    brighter than usual, there will be a prosperous time for
+    weavers, and for every kind of female industry.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>In old Japan it was generally supposed that the meeting of
+    the pair signified <span class="pagenum"><a name="page15"
+       id="page15"></a>[pg 15]</span> good fortune to mortals. Even
+       to-day, in many parts of the country, children sing a little
+       song on the evening of the Tanabata festival,&mdash;<i>Tenki
+       ni nari!</i> ("O weather, be clear!") In the province of Iga
+       the young folks also sing a jesting song at the supposed
+       hour of the lovers' meeting:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Tanabata ya!</p>
+
+            <p>Amari isogaba,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Korobubéshi!<a id="footnotetag3"
+               name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <p>But in the province of Izumo, which is a very rainy
+    district, the contrary belief prevails; and it is thought that
+    if the sky be clear on the seventh day of the seventh month,
+    misfortune will follow. The local explanation of this belief is
+    that if the stars can meet, there will be born from their union
+    many evil deities who will afflict the country with drought and
+    other calamities.</p>
+    <hr />
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page16"
+       id="page16"></a>[pg 16]</span>
+
+    <p>The festival of Tanabata was first celebrated in Japan on
+    the seventh day of the seventh month of Tomby&#333;
+    Sh&#333;h&#333; (A.D. 755). Perhaps the Chinese origin of the
+    Tanabata divinities accounts for the fact that their public
+    worship was at no time represented by many temples.</p>
+
+    <p>I have been able to find record of only one temple to them,
+    called Tanabata-jinja, which was situated at a village called
+    Hoshiaimura, in the province of Owari, and surrounded by a
+    grove called Tanabata-mori.<a id="footnotetag4"
+       name="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+
+    <p>Even before Temby&#333; Sh&#333;h&#333;, however, the legend
+    of the Weaving-Maiden seems to have been well known in Japan;
+    for it is recorded that on the seventh night of the seventh
+    year of Y&#333;r&#333; (A.D. 723) the poet Yamagami no Okura
+    composed the song:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa,</p>
+
+            <p>Ai-muki tachité,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Waga
+            koďshi</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page17"
+               id="page17"></a>[pg 17]</span>
+
+            <p>Kimi kimasu nari&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Himo-toki makina!<a id="footnotetag5"
+               name="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a></p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <p>It would seem that the Tanabata festival was first
+    established in Japan eleven hundred and fifty years ago, as an
+    Imperial Court festival only, in accordance with Chinese
+    precedent. Subsequently the nobility and the military classes
+    everywhere followed imperial example; and the custom of
+    celebrating the Hoshi-mat-suri, or Star-Festival,&mdash;as it
+    was popularly called,&mdash;spread gradually downwards, until
+    at last the seventh day of the seventh month became, in the
+    full sense of the term, a national holiday. But the fashion of
+    its observance varied considerably at different eras and in
+    different provinces.</p>
+
+    <p>The ceremonies at the Imperial Court were of the most
+    elaborate character: a full account of them is given in the
+    <i>K&#333;ji Kongen</i>,&mdash;with explanatory illustrations.
+    On the evening of the seventh day of the seventh month,
+    mattings <span class="pagenum"><a name="page18"
+       id="page18"></a>[pg 18]</span> were laid down on the east
+       side of that portion of the Imperial Palace called the
+       Seir-y&#333;den; and upon these mattings were placed four
+       tables of offerings to the Star-deities. Besides the
+       customary food-offerings, there were placed upon these
+       tables rice-wine, incense, vases of red lacquer containing
+       flowers, a harp and flute, and a needle with five eyes,
+       threaded with threads of five different colors.
+       Black-lacquered oil-lamps were placed beside the tables, to
+       illuminate the feast. In another part of the grounds a tub
+       of water was so placed as to reflect the light of the
+       Tanabata-stars; and the ladies of the Imperial Household
+       attempted to thread a needle by the reflection. She who
+       succeeded was to be fortunate during the following year. The
+       court-nobility (<i>Kugé</i>) were obliged to make certain
+       offerings to the Imperial House on the day of the festival.
+       The character of these offerings, and the manner of their
+       presentation, were fixed by decree. They were conveyed to
+       the palace upon a tray, by a veiled lady of rank, in
+       ceremonial dress. Above her, as she walked, a great red
+       umbrella was borne <span class="pagenum"><a name="page19"
+       id="page19"></a>[pg 19]</span> by an attendant. On the tray
+       were placed seven <i>tanzaku</i> (longilateral slips of fine
+       tinted paper for the writing of poems); seven
+       <i>kudzu</i>-leaves;<a id="footnotetag6"
+       name="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a>
+       seven inkstones; seven strings of <i>s&#333;men</i> (a kind
+       of vermicelli); fourteen writing-brushes; and a bunch of
+       yam-leaves gathered at night, and thickly sprinkled with
+       dew. In the palace grounds the ceremony began at the Hour of
+       the Tiger,&mdash;4 A.M. Then the inkstones were carefully
+       washed,&mdash;prior to preparing the ink for the writing of
+       poems in praise of the Star-deities,&mdash;and each one set
+       upon a <i>kudzu</i>-leaf. One bunch of bedewed yam-leaves
+       was then laid upon every inkstone; and with this dew,
+       instead of water, the writing-ink was prepared. All the
+       ceremonies appear to have been copied from those in vogue at
+       the Chinese court in the time of the Emperor Ming-Hwang.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>It was not until the time of the Tokugawa Sh&#333;gunate
+    that the Tanabata festival became really a national holiday;
+    and the popular custom of attaching <i>tansaku</i> of different
+    colors <span class="pagenum"><a name="page20"
+       id="page20"></a>[pg 20]</span> to freshly-cut bamboos, in
+       celebration of the occasion, dates only from the era of
+       Bunser (1818). Previously the <i>tanzaku</i> had been made
+       of a very costly quality of paper; and the old aristocratic
+       ceremonies had been not less expensive than elaborate. But
+       in the time of the Tokugawa Sh&#333;gunate a very cheap
+       paper of various colors was manufactured; and the holiday
+       ceremonies were suffered to assume an inexpensive form, in
+       which even the poorest classes could indulge.</p>
+
+    <p>The popular customs relating to the festival differed
+    according to locality. Those of Izumo&mdash;where all classes
+    of society, <i>samurai</i> or common folk, celebrated the
+    holiday in much the same way&mdash;used to be particularly
+    interesting; and a brief account of them will suggest something
+    of the happy aspects of life in feudal times. At the Hour of
+    the Tiger, on the seventh night of the seventh month, everybody
+    was up; and the work of washing the inkstones and
+    writing-brushes was performed. Then, in the household garden,
+    dew was collected upon yam-leaves. This dew was called
+    <i>Amanogawa no suzuki</i>
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page21"
+       id="page21"></a>[pg 21]</span> ("drops from the River of
+       Heaven"); and it was used to make fresh ink for writing the
+       poems which were to be suspended to bamboos planted in the
+       garden. It was usual for friends to present each other with
+       new inkstones at the time of the Tanabata festival; and if
+       there were any new inkstones in the house, the fresh ink was
+       prepared in these. Each member of the family then wrote
+       poems. The adults composed verses, according to their
+       ability, in praise of the Star-deities; and the children
+       either wrote dictation or tried to improvise. Little folk
+       too young to use the writing-brush without help had their
+       small hands guided, by parent or elder sister or elder
+       brother, so as to shape on a <i>tanzaku</i> the character of
+       some single word or phrase relating to the
+       festival,&mdash;such as "Amanogawa," or "Tanabata," or
+       "Kasasagi no Hashi" (the Bridge of Magpies). In the garden
+       were planted two freshly-cut bamboos, with branches and
+       leaves entire,&mdash;a male bamboo (<i>otoko-daké</i>) and a
+       female bamboo (<i>onna-daké</i>). They were set up about six
+       feet apart, and to a cord extended between them were
+       suspended <span class="pagenum"><a name="page22"
+       id="page22"></a>[pg 22]</span> paper-cuttings of five
+       colors, and skeins of dyed thread of five colors. The
+       paper-cuttings represented upper-robes,&mdash;<i>kimono</i>.
+       To the leaves and branches of the bamboos were tied the
+       <i>tanzaku</i> on which poems had been written by the
+       members of the family. And upon a table, set between the
+       bamboos, or immediately before them, were placed vessels
+       containing various offerings to the
+       Star-deities,&mdash;fruits, <i>s&#333;men</i>, rice-wine,
+       and vegetables of different kinds, such as cucumbers and
+       watermelons.</p>
+
+    <p>But the most curious Izumo custom relating to the festival
+    was the <i>Nému-nagashi</i>, or "Sleep-wash-away" ceremony.
+    Before day-break the young folks used to go to some stream,
+    carrying with them bunches composed of <i>némuri</i>-leaves and
+    bean-leaves mixed together. On reaching the stream, they would
+    fling their bunches of leaves into the current, and sing a
+    little song:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p>Nému wa, nagaré yo!</p>
+
+            <p>Mamé no ha wa, tomaré!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <p>These verses might be rendered in two ways;
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page23"
+       id="page23"></a>[pg 23]</span> because the word <i>nému</i>
+       can be taken in the meaning either of <i>némuri</i> (sleep),
+       or of <i>nemuri-gi</i> or <i>némunoki</i>, the "sleep-plant"
+       (mimosa),&mdash;while the syllables <i>mamé</i>, as written
+       in <i>kana</i>, can signify either "bean," or "activity," or
+       "strength," "vigor," "health," etc. But the ceremony was
+       symbolical, and the intended meaning of the song
+       was:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p>Drowsiness, drift away!</p>
+
+            <p>Leaves of vigor, remain!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <p>After this, all the young folk would jump into the water, to
+    bathe or swim, in token of their resolve to shed all laziness
+    for the coming year, and to maintain a vigorous spirit of
+    endeavor.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>Yet it was probably in Yédo (now T&#333;ky&#333;) that the
+    Tanabata festival assumed its most picturesque aspects. During
+    the two days that the celebration lasted,&mdash;the sixth and
+    seventh of the seventh month,&mdash;the city used to present
+    the appearance of one vast bamboo grove; fresh bamboos, with
+    poems attached to them, being erected upon the roofs of the
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page24"
+       id="page24"></a>[pg 24]</span> houses. Peasants were in
+       those days able to do a great business in bamboos, which
+       were brought into town by hundreds of wagonloads for holiday
+       use. Another feature of the Yédo festival was the children's
+       procession, in which bamboos, with poems attached to them,
+       were carried about the city. To each such bamboo there was
+       also fastened a red plaque on which were painted, in Chinese
+       characters, the names of the Tanabata stars.</p>
+
+    <p>But almost everywhere, under the Tokugawa régime, the
+    Tanabata festival used to be a merry holiday for the young
+    people of all classes,&mdash;a holiday beginning with lantern
+    displays before sunrise, and lasting well into the following
+    night. Boys and girls on that day were dressed in their best,
+    and paid visits of ceremony to friends and neighbors.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>&mdash;The moon of the seventh month used to be called
+    <i>Tanabata-tsuki</i>, or "The Moon of Tanabata." And it was
+    also called <i>Fumi-tsuki</i>, or "The Literary Moon," because
+    during the seventh month poems were everywhere
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page25"
+       id="page25"></a>[pg 25]</span> composed in praise of the
+       Celestial Lovers.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>I think that my readers ought to be interested in the
+    following selection of ancient Japanese poems, treating of the
+    Tanabata legend. All are from the <i>Many&#333;sh&#363;</i>.
+    The <i>Many&#333;sh&#363;</i>, or "Gathering of a Myriad
+    Leaves," is a vast collection of poems composed before the
+    middle of the eighth century. It was compiled by Imperial
+    order, and completed early in the ninth century. The number of
+    the poems which it contains is upwards of four thousand; some
+    being "long poems" (<i>naga-uta</i>), but the great majority
+    <i>tanka</i>, or compositions limited to thirty-one syllables;
+    and the authors were courtiers or high officials. The first
+    eleven <i>tanka</i> hereafter translated were composed by
+    Yamagami no Okura, Governor of the province of Chikuzen more
+    than eleven hundred years ago. His fame as a poet is well
+    deserved; for not a little of his work will bear comparison
+    with <span class="pagenum"><a name="page26"
+       id="page26"></a>[pg 26]</span> some of the finer epigrams of
+       the Greek Anthology. The following verses, upon the death of
+       his little son Furubi, will serve as an example:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Wakakeréba</p>
+
+            <p>Nichi-yuki shiraji:</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Mahi wa sému,</p>
+
+            <p>Shitabé no tsukahi</p>
+
+            <p>Ohité-tohorasé.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>&mdash;[<i>As he is so young, he cannot know the way....
+        To the messenger of the Underworld I will give a bribe, and
+        entreat him, saying: "Do thou kindly take the little one
+        upon thy back along the road."</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <p>Eight hundred years earlier, the Greek poet Diodorus Zonas
+    of Sardis had written:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>"<i>Do thou, who rowest the boat of the dead in the
+        water of this reedy lake, for Hades, stretch out thy hand,
+        dark Charon, to the son of Kinyras, as he mounts the ladder
+        by the gang-way, and receive him. For his sandals will
+        cause the lad to slip, and he fears to set his feet naked
+        on the sand of the shore.</i>"</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page27"
+       id="page27"></a>[pg 27]</span>
+
+    <p>But the charming epigram of Diodorus was inspired only by a
+    myth,&mdash;for the "son of Kinyras" was no other than
+    Adonis,&mdash;whereas the verses of Okura express for us the
+    yearning of a father's heart.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>&mdash;Though the legend of Tanabata was indeed borrowed
+    from China, the reader will find nothing Chinese in the
+    following compositions. They represent the old classic poetry
+    at its purest, free from alien influence; and they offer us
+    many suggestions as to the condition of Japanese life and
+    thought twelve hundred years ago. Remembering that they were
+    written before any modern European literature had yet taken
+    form, one is startled to find how little the Japanese written
+    language has changed in the course of so many centuries.
+    Allowing for a few obsolete words, and sundry slight changes of
+    pronunciation, the ordinary Japanese reader to-day can enjoy
+    these early productions of his native muse with about as little
+    difficulty as the English reader finds in studying the poets of
+    the Elizabethan era. Moreover, the refinement and the
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page28"
+       id="page28"></a>[pg 28]</span> simple charm of the
+       <i>Many&#333;sh&#363;</i> compositions have never been
+       surpassed, and seldom equaled, by later Japanese poets.</p>
+
+    <p>As for the forty-odd <i>tanka</i> which I have translated,
+    their chief attraction lies, I think, in what they reveal to us
+    of the human nature of their authors. Tanabata-tsumé still
+    represents for us the Japanese wife, worshipfully
+    loving;&mdash;Hikoboshi appears to us with none of the
+    luminosity of the god, but as the young Japanese husband of the
+    sixth or seventh century, before Chinese ethical convention had
+    begun to exercise its restraint upon life and literature. Also
+    these poems interest us by their expression of the early
+    feeling for natural beauty. In them we find the scenery and the
+    seasons of Japan transported to the Blue Plain of High
+    Heaven;&mdash;the Celestial Stream with its rapids and
+    shallows, its sudden risings and clamourings within its stony
+    bed, and its water-grasses bending in the autumn wind, might
+    well be the Kamogawa;&mdash;and the mists that haunt its shores
+    are the very mists of Arashiyama. The boat of Hikoboshi,
+    impelled by a single oar working upon a
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page29"
+       id="page29"></a>[pg 29]</span> wooden peg, is not yet
+       obsolete; and at many a country ferry you may still see the
+       <i>hiki-funé</i> in which Tanabata-tsumé prayed her husband
+       to cross in a night of storm,&mdash;a flat broad barge
+       pulled over the river by cables. And maids and wives still
+       sit at their doors in country villages, on pleasant autumn
+       days, to weave as Tanabata-tsumé wove for the sake of her
+       lord and lover.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>&mdash;It will be observed that, in most of these verses, it
+    is not the wife who dutifully crosses the Celestial River to
+    meet her husband, but the husband who rows over the stream to
+    meet the wife; and there is no reference to the Bridge of
+    Birds.... As for my renderings, those readers who know by
+    experience the difficulty of translating Japanese verse will be
+    the most indulgent, I fancy. The Romaji system of spelling has
+    been followed (except in one or two cases where I thought it
+    better to indicate the ancient syllabication after the method
+    adopted by Aston); and words or phrases necessarily supplied
+    have been inclosed in
+    parentheses.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page30"
+       id="page30"></a>[pg 30]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa</p>
+
+            <p>Ai-muki tachité,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Waga koďshi</p>
+
+            <p>Kimi kimasu nari</p>
+
+            <p>Himo-toki makéna!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>He is coming, my long-desired lord, whom I have been
+        waiting to meet here, on the banks of the River of
+        Heaven.... The moment of loosening my girdle is
+        nigh!</i><a id="footnotetag7"
+           name="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Hisakata no<a id="footnotetag8"
+               name="footnotetag8"></a><a href="#footnote8"><sup>8</sup></a></p>
+
+            <p>Ama no kawasé ni,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Funé ukété,</p>
+
+            <p>Koyoď ka kimi ga</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Agari kimasan?</p>
+        </div>
+    </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page31"
+       id="page31"></a>[pg 31]</span>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Over the Rapids of the Everlasting Heaven, floating
+        in his boat, my lord will doubtless deign to come to me
+        this very night.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Kazé kumo wa</p>
+
+            <p>Futatsu no kishi ni</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Kayoëdomo,</p>
+
+            <p>Waga toho-tsuma no</p>
+
+            <p>Koto zo kayowanu!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Though winds and clouds to either bank may freely
+        come or go, between myself and my faraway spouse no message
+        whatever may pass.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Tsubuté<a id="footnotetag9"
+               name="footnotetag9"></a><a href="#footnote9"><sup>9</sup></a>
+               ni mo</p>
+
+            <p>Nagé koshitsu-béki,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa</p>
+
+            <p>Hédatéréba ka mo,</p>
+
+            <p>Amata subé-naki!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page32"
+       id="page32"></a>[pg 32]</span>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>To the opposite bank one might easily fling a
+        pebble; yet, being separated from him by the River of
+        Heaven, alas! to hope for a meeting (except in autumn) is
+        utterly useless.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Aki-kazé no</p>
+
+            <p>Fukinishi hi yori</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">"Itsushika" to&mdash;;</p>
+
+            <p>Waga machi koîshi</p>
+
+            <p>Kimi zo kimaséru.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>From the day that the autumn wind began to blow (I
+        kept saying to myself), "Ah! when shall we meet?"&mdash;but
+        now my beloved, for whom I waited and longed, has come
+        indeed!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa</p>
+
+            <p>Ito kawa-nami wa</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Tatanédomo,</p>
+
+            <p>Samorai gatashi&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Chikaki kono sé wo.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Though the waters of the River of Heaven have not
+        greatly risen, (yet to cross) this near stream and to wait
+        upon (my lord and lover) remains impossible.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page33"
+       id="page33"></a>[pg 33]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Sodé furaba</p>
+
+            <p>Mi mo kawashitsu-béku</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Chika-kerédo,</p>
+
+            <p>Wataru subé nashi,</p>
+
+            <p>Aki nishi aranéba.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Though she is so near that the waving of her (long)
+        sleeves can be distinctly seen, yet there is no way to
+        cross the stream before the season of autumn.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Kagéroď no</p>
+
+            <p>Honoka ni miété</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Wakarénaba;&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Motonaya koďn</p>
+
+            <p>Aü-toki madé wa!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>When we were separated, I had seen her for a moment
+        only,&mdash;and dimly as one sees a flying
+        midge;<a id="footnotetag10"
+           name="footnotetag10"></a><a href="#footnote10"><sup>10</sup></a>
+           now I must vainly long for her as before, until time of
+           our next meeting!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Hikoboshi no</p>
+
+            <p>Tsuma mukaë-buné</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Kogizurashi,&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Ama-no-Kawara ni</p>
+
+            <p>Kiri no tatéru wa.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page34"
+       id="page34"></a>[pg 34]</span>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Methinks that Hikoboshi must be rowing his boat to
+        meet his wife,&mdash;for a mist (as of oar-spray) is rising
+        over the course of the Heavenly Stream.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Kasumi tatsu</p>
+
+            <p>Ama-no-Kawara ni,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Kimi matsu to,&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Ikay&#333; hodo ni</p>
+
+            <p>Mono-suso nurenu.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>While awaiting my lord on the misty shore of the
+        River of Heaven, the skirts of my robe have somehow become
+        wet.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa,</p>
+
+            <p>Mi-tsu no nami oto</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Sawagu-nari:</p>
+
+            <p>Waga matsu-kimi no</p>
+
+            <p>Funadé-surashi mo.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>On the River of Heaven, at the place of the august
+        ferry, the sound of the water has become loud: perhaps my
+        long-awaited lord will soon be coming in his boat.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page35"
+       id="page35"></a>[pg 35]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Tanabata no</p>
+
+            <p>Sodé maku yoď no</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Akatoki wa,</p>
+
+            <p>Kawasé no tazu wa</p>
+
+            <p>Nakazu to mo yoshi.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>As Tanabata (slumbers) with her long sleeves rolled
+        up, until the reddening of the dawn, do not, O storks of
+        the river-shallows, awaken her by your
+        cries.</i><a id="footnotetag11"
+           name="footnotetag11"></a><a href="#footnote11"><sup>11</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa</p>
+
+            <p>Kiri-tachi-wataru:</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Ky&#333;, ky&#333;, to&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Waga matsu-koďshi</p>
+
+            <p>Funadé-surashi!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>(She sees that) a mist is spreading across the River
+        of Heaven.... "To-day, to-day," she thinks, "my
+        long-awaited lord will probably come over in his
+        boat."</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa,</p>
+
+            <p>Yasu no watari ni,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Funé
+            ukété;&mdash;</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page36"
+               id="page36"></a>[pg 36]</span>
+
+            <p>Waga tachi-matsu to</p>
+
+            <p>Imo ni tsugé koso.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>By the ferry of Yasu, on the River of Heaven, the
+        boat is floating: I pray you tell my younger
+        sister<a id="footnotetag12"
+           name="footnotetag12"></a><a href="#footnote12"><sup>12</sup></a>
+           that I stand here and wait.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">&#332;-sora yo</p>
+
+            <p>Kay&#333; waré sura,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Na ga yué ni,</p>
+
+            <p>Amanokawa-ji no</p>
+
+            <p>Nazumité zo koshi.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Though I (being a Star-god) can pass freely to and
+        fro, through the great sky,&mdash;yet to cross over the
+        River of Heaven, for your sake, was weary work
+        indeed!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Yachihoko no</p>
+
+            <p>Kami no mi-yo yori</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Tomoshi-zuma;&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Hito-shiri ni keri</p>
+
+            <p>Tsugitéshi omoëba.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page37"
+       id="page37"></a>[pg 37]</span>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>From the august Age of the
+        God-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears</i>,<a id="footnotetag13"
+           name="footnotetag13"></a><a href="#footnote13"><sup>13</sup></a>
+           <i>she had been my spouse in
+           secret</i><a id="footnotetag14"
+           name="footnotetag14"></a><a href="#footnote14"><sup>14</sup></a>
+           <i>only; yet now, because of my constant longing for
+           her, our relation has become known to men.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Amé tsuchi to</p>
+
+            <p>Wakaréshi toki yo</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Onoga tsuma;</p>
+
+            <p>Shika zo té ni aru</p>
+
+            <p>Aki matsu aré wa.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>From the time when heaven and earth were parted, she
+        has been my own wife;&mdash;yet, to be with her, I must
+        always wait till autumn.</i><a id="footnotetag15"
+           name="footnotetag15"></a><a href="#footnote15"><sup>15</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Waga k&#333;ru</p>
+
+            <p>Niho no omo
+            wa</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page38"
+               id="page38"></a>[pg 38]</span>
+
+            <p class="i2">Koyoď mo ka</p>
+
+            <p>Ama-no-kawara ni</p>
+
+            <p>Ishi-makura makan.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>With my beloved, of the ruddy-tinted
+        cheeks</i>,<a id="footnotetag16"
+           name="footnotetag16"></a><a href="#footnote16"><sup>16</sup></a>
+           <i>this night indeed will I descend into the bed of the
+           River of Heaven, to sleep on a pillow of stone.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa.</p>
+
+            <p>Mikomori-gusa no</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Aki-kazé ni</p>
+
+            <p>Nabikafu miréba,</p>
+
+            <p>Toki kitarurashi.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>When I see the water-grasses of the River of Heaven
+        bend in the autumn wind (I think to myself): "The time (for
+        our meeting) seems to have come."</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Waga séko ni</p>
+
+            <p>Ura-koi oréba,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa</p>
+
+            <p>Yo-funé kogi-toyomu</p>
+
+            <p>Kaji no 'to kikoyu.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page39"
+       id="page39"></a>[pg 39]</span>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>When I feel in my heart a sudden longing for my
+        husband</i>,<a id="footnotetag17"
+           name="footnotetag17"></a><a href="#footnote17"><sup>17</sup></a>
+           <i>then on the River of Heaven the sound of the rowing
+           of the night-boat is heard, and the plash of the oar
+           resounds.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">T&#333;-zuma to</p>
+
+            <p>Tamakura kawashi</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Nétaru yo wa,</p>
+
+            <p>Tori-gané na naki</p>
+
+            <p>Akéba aku to mo!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>In the night when I am reposing with my (now)
+        far-away spouse, having exchanged
+        jewel-pillows</i><a id="footnotetag18"
+           name="footnotetag18"></a><a href="#footnote18"><sup>18</sup></a>
+           <i>with her, let not the cock crow, even though the day
+           should dawn.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Yorozu-yo ni</p>
+
+            <p>Tazusawari ité</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Ai
+            mi-domo,</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page40"
+               id="page40"></a>[pg 40]</span>
+
+            <p>Omoi-sugu-béki</p>
+
+            <p>Koi naranaku ni.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Though for a myriad ages we should remain
+        hand-in-hand and face to face, our exceeding love could
+        never come to an end. (Why then should Heaven deem it
+        necessary to part us?)</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Waga tamé to,</p>
+
+            <p>Tanabata-tsumé no,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Sono yado ni,</p>
+
+            <p>Oreru shirotai</p>
+
+            <p>Nuďt ken kamo?</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>The white cloth which Tanabata has woven for my
+        sake, in that dwelling of hers, is now, I think, being made
+        into a robe for me.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Shirakumo no</p>
+
+            <p>I-ho é kakurité</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">T&#333;-kédomo,</p>
+
+            <p>Yoď-sarazu min</p>
+
+            <p>Imo ga atari wa.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Though she be far-away, and hidden from me by five
+        hundred layers of white cloud, still shall I turn my gaze
+        each night toward the dwelling-place of my younger sister
+        (wife).</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page41"
+       id="page41"></a>[pg 41]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Aki saréba</p>
+
+            <p>Kawagiri tatéru</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa,</p>
+
+            <p>Kawa ni muki-ité</p>
+
+            <p>Kru<a id="footnotetag19"
+               name="footnotetag19"></a><a href="#footnote19"><sup>19</sup></a>
+               yo zo &#333;ki!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>When autumn comes, and the river-mists spread over
+        the Heavenly Stream, I turn toward the river, (and long);
+        and the nights of my longing are many!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Hito-tosé ni</p>
+
+            <p>Nanuka no yo nomi</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Aü-hito no&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Koď mo tsuki-néba</p>
+
+            <p>Sayo zo aké ni keru!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>But once in the whole year, and only upon the
+        seventh night (of the seventh month), to meet the beloved
+        person&mdash;and lo! The day has dawned before our mutual
+        love could express itself!</i><a id="footnotetag20"
+           name="footnotetag20"></a><a href="#footnote20"><sup>20</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Toshi no koď</p>
+
+            <p>Koyoď tsukushíté,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Asu yori
+            wa,</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page42"
+               id="page42"></a>[pg 42]</span>
+
+            <p>Tsuné no gotoku ya</p>
+
+            <p>Waga koď oran.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>The love-longing of one whole year having ended
+        to-night, every day from to-morrow I must again pine for
+        him as before!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Hikoboshi to</p>
+
+            <p>Tanabata-tsumé to</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Koyoď aü;&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Ama-no-Kawa to ni</p>
+
+            <p>Nami tatsu-na yumé!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Hikoboshi and Tanabata-tsumé are to meet each other
+        to-night;&mdash;ye waves of the River of Heaven, take heed
+        that ye do not rise!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Aki-kazé no</p>
+
+            <p>Fuki tadayowasu</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Shirakumo wa,</p>
+
+            <p>Tanabata-tsumé no</p>
+
+            <p>Amatsu hiré kamo?</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Oh! that white cloud driven by the
+        autumn-wind&mdash;can it be the heavenly
+        hiré<a id="footnotetag21"
+           name="footnotetag21"></a><a href="#footnote21"><sup>21</sup></a>
+           of Tana-bata-tsumé?</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page43"
+       id="page43"></a>[pg 43]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Shiba-shiba mo</p>
+
+            <p>Ai minu kimi wo,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa</p>
+
+            <p>Funa-dé haya séyo</p>
+
+            <p>Yo no fukénu ma ni.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Because he is my not-often-to-be-met beloved, hasten
+        to row the boat across the River of Heaven ere the night be
+        advanced.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa</p>
+
+            <p>Kiri tachi-watari</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Hikoboshi no</p>
+
+            <p>Kaji no 'to kikoyu</p>
+
+            <p>Yo no fuké-yukéba.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Late in the night, a mist spreads over</i>]
+        <span class="pagenum"><a name="page44"
+           id="page44"></a>[pg 44]</span> <i>the River of Heaven;
+           and the sound of the oar<a id="footnotetag22"
+           name="footnotetag22"></a><a href="#footnote22"><sup>22</sup></a>
+           of Hikoboshi is heard.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa</p>
+
+            <p>Kawa 'to sayakéshi:</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Hikoboshi no</p>
+
+            <p>Haya kogu funé no</p>
+
+            <p>Nami no sawagi ka?</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>On the River of Heaven a sound of plashing can be
+        distinctly heard: is it the sound of the rippling made by
+        Hikoboshi quickly rowing his boat?</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Kono y&#363;bé,</p>
+
+            <p>Furikuru amé wa,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Hikoboshi no</p>
+
+            <p>Haya kogu funé no</p>
+
+            <p>Kaď no chiri ka mo.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Perhaps this evening shower is but the spray (flung
+        down) from the oar of Hikoboshi, rowing his boat in
+        haste.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page45"
+       id="page45"></a>[pg 45]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p>Waga tama-doko wo</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Asu yori wa</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Uchi haraď,</p>
+
+            <p>Kimi to inézuté</p>
+
+            <p>Hitori ka mo nen!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>From to-morrow, alas! after having put my jewel-bed
+        in order, no longer reposing with my lord, I must sleep
+        alone!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Kazé fukité,</p>
+
+            <p>Kawa-nami tachinu;&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Hiki-funé ni</p>
+
+            <p>Watari mo kimasé</p>
+
+            <p>Yo no fukénu ma ni.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>The wind having risen, the waves of the river have
+        become high;&mdash;this night cross over in a
+        towboat,<a id="footnotetag23"
+           name="footnotetag23"></a><a href="#footnote23"><sup>23</sup></a>
+           I pray thee, before the hour be late!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa</p>
+
+            <p>Nami wa tatsutomo,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Waga funé wa</p>
+
+            <p>Iza kogi iden</p>
+
+            <p>Yo no fukénu ma ni.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Even though the waves of the River of</i>
+        <span class="pagenum"><a name="page46"
+           id="page46"></a>[pg 46]</span> <i>Heaven run high, I
+           must row over quickly, before it becomes late in the
+           night.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Inishié ni</p>
+
+            <p>Oritéshi hata wo;</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Kono y&#363;bé</p>
+
+            <p>Koromo ni nuďté&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Kimi matsu aré wo!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Long ago I finished weaving the material; and, this
+        evening, having finished sewing the garment for
+        him&mdash;(why must) I still wait for my lord?</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa</p>
+
+            <p>Sé wo hayami ka mo?</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Nubatama no</p>
+
+            <p>Yo wa fuké ni tsutsu,</p>
+
+            <p>Awanu Hikoboshi!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <p>[<i>Is it that the current of the River of</i>
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page47"
+       id="page47"></a>[pg 47]</span> <i>Heaven (has become too)
+       rapid? The jet-black night<a id="footnotetag24"
+       name="footnotetag24"></a><a href="#footnote24"><sup>24</sup></a>
+       advances&mdash;and Hikoboshi has not come!</i>]</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Watashi-mori,</p>
+
+            <p>Funé haya watasé;&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Hito-tosé ni</p>
+
+            <p>Futatabi kay&#333;</p>
+
+            <p>Kimi naranaku ni!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Oh, ferryman, make speed across the stream!&mdash;my
+        lord is not one who can come and go twice in a
+        year!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Aki kazé no</p>
+
+            <p>Fukinishi hi yori,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Amanogawa</p>
+
+            <p>Kawasé ni dédachi;&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Matsu to tsugé koso!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>On the very day that the autumn-wind began to blow,
+        I set out for the shallows of the River of Heaven;&mdash;I
+        pray you, tell my lord that I am waiting here
+        still!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Tanabata no</p>
+
+            <p>Funanori surashi,&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">
+            Maso-kagami,</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page48"
+               id="page48"></a>[pg 48]</span>
+
+            <p>Kiyoki tsuki-yo ni</p>
+
+            <p>Kumo tachi-wataru.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Methinks Tanabata must be coming in her boat; for a
+        cloud is even now passing across the clear face of the
+        moon.</i><a id="footnotetag25"
+           name="footnotetag25"></a><a href="#footnote25"><sup>25</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <p>&mdash;And yet it has been gravely asserted that the old
+    Japanese poets could find no beauty in starry skies!...</p>
+
+    <p>Perhaps the legend of Tanabata, as it was understood by
+    those old poets, can make but a faint appeal to Western minds.
+    Nevertheless, in the silence of transparent nights, before the
+    rising of the moon, the charm of the ancient tale sometimes
+    descends upon me, out of the scintillant sky,&mdash;to make me
+    forget the monstrous facts of science, and the stupendous
+    horror of Space. Then I no longer behold the Milky Way as that
+    awful Ring of the Cosmos,
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page49"
+       id="page49"></a>[pg 49]</span> whose hundred million suns
+       are powerless to lighten the Abyss, but as the very
+       Amanogawa itself,&mdash;the River Celestial. I see the
+       thrill of its shining stream, and the mists that hover along
+       its verge, and the water-grasses that bend in the winds of
+       autumn. White Orihimé I see at her starry loom, and the Ox
+       that grazes on the farther shore;&mdash;and I know that the
+       falling dew is the spray from the Herdsman's oar. And the
+       heaven seems very near and warm and human; and the silence
+       about me is filled with the dream of a love unchanging,
+       immortal,&mdash;forever yearning and forever young, and
+       forever left unsatisfied by the paternal wisdom of the
+       gods.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page51"
+       id="page51"></a>[pg 51]</span>
+
+    <h2>GOBLIN POETRY</h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="page53"
+       id="page53"></a>[pg 53]</span>
+
+    <p>Recently, while groping about an old book shop, I found a
+    collection of Goblin Poetry in three volumes, containing many
+    pictures of goblins. The title of the collection is
+    <i>Ky&#333;ka Hyaku-Monogatari</i>, or "The Mad Poetry of the
+    <i>Hyaku-Monogatari</i>." The <i>Hyaku-Monogatari</i>, or
+    "Hundred Tales," is a famous book of ghost stories. On the
+    subject of each of the stories, poems were composed at
+    different times by various persons,&mdash;poems of the sort
+    called <i>Ky&#333;ka</i>, or Mad Poetry,&mdash;and these were
+    collected and edited to form the three volumes of which I
+    became the fortunate possessor. The collecting was done by a
+    certain Takumi Jingor&#333;, who wrote under the literary
+    pseudonym <span class="pagenum"><a name="page54"
+       id="page54"></a>[pg 54]</span> "Temmér Ré&#333;jin" (Ancient
+       of the Temmér Era). Takumi died in the first year of
+       Bunky&#363; (1861), at the good age of eighty; and his
+       collection seems to have been published in the sixth year of
+       Kaéď (1853). The pictures were made by an artist called
+       Masazumi, who worked under the pseudonym "Ry&#333;sai
+       Kanjin."</p>
+
+    <p>From a prefatory note it appears that Takumi Jingor&#333;
+    published his collection with the hope of reviving interest in
+    a once popular kind of poetry which had fallen into neglect
+    before the middle of the century. The word <i>ky&#333;ka</i> is
+    written with a Chinese character signifying "insane" or
+    "crazy;" and it means a particular and extraordinary variety of
+    comic poetry. The form is that of the classic <i>tanka</i> of
+    thirty-one syllables (arranged 57577);&mdash;but the subjects
+    are always the extreme reverse of classical; and the artistic
+    effects depend upon methods of verbal jugglery which cannot be
+    explained without the help of numerous examples. The collection
+    published by Takumi includes a good deal of matter in which a
+    Western reader can discover no merit; but the
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page55"
+       id="page55"></a>[pg 55]</span> best of it has a distinctly
+       grotesque quality that reminds one of Hood's weird
+       cleverness in playing with grim subjects. This quality, and
+       the peculiar Japanese method of mingling the playful with
+       the terrific, can be suggested and explained only by
+       reproducing in Romaji the texts of various
+       <i>ky&#333;ka</i>, with translations and notes.</p>
+
+    <p>The selection which I have made should prove interesting,
+    not merely because it will introduce the reader to a class of
+    Japanese poetry about which little or nothing has yet been
+    written in English, but much more because it will afford some
+    glimpses of a supernatural world which still remains for the
+    most part unexplored. Without knowledge of Far Eastern
+    superstitions and folk-tales, no real understanding of Japanese
+    fiction or drama or poetry will ever become possible.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>There are many hundreds of poems in the three volumes of the
+    <i>Ky&#333;ka Hyaku-Monogatari</i>; but the number of the
+    ghosts and goblins falls short of the one hundred suggested by
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page56"
+       id="page56"></a>[pg 56]</span> the title. There are just
+       ninety-five. I could not expect to interest my readers in
+       the whole of this goblinry, and my selection includes less
+       than one seventh of the subjects. The Faceless Babe, The
+       Long-Tongued Maiden, The Three-Eyed Monk, The Pillow-Mover,
+       The Thousand Heads, The Acolyte-with-the-Lantern, The
+       Stone-that-Cries-in-the-Night, The Goblin-Heron, The
+       Goblin-Wind, The Dragon-Lights, and The Mountain-Nurse, did
+       not much impress me. I omitted <i>ky&#333;ka</i> dealing
+       with fancies too gruesome for Western nerves,&mdash;such as
+       that of the <i>Obumédori</i>,&mdash;also those treating of
+       merely local tradition. The subjects chosen represent
+       national rather than provincial folklore,&mdash;old beliefs
+       (mostly of Chinese origin) once prevalent throughout the
+       country, and often referred to in its popular
+       literature.</p>
+
+    <h3>I. KITSUNÉ-BI</h3>
+
+    <p>The Will-o'-the-wisp is called <i>kitsuné-bi</i>
+    ("fox-fire"), because the goblin-fox was formerly supposed to
+    create it. In old Japanese
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page57"
+       id="page57"></a>[pg 57]</span> pictures it is represented as
+       a tongue of pale red flame, hovering in darkness, and
+       shedding no radiance upon the surfaces over which it
+       glides.</p>
+
+    <p>To understand some of the following <i>ky&#333;ka</i> on the
+    subject, the reader should know that certain superstitions
+    about the magical power of the fox have given rise to several
+    queer folk-sayings,&mdash;one of which relates to marrying a
+    stranger. Formerly a good citizen was expected to marry within
+    his own community, not outside of it; and the man who dared to
+    ignore traditional custom in this regard would have found it
+    difficult to appease the communal indignation. Even to-day the
+    villager who, after a long absence from his birthplace, returns
+    with a strange bride, is likely to hear unpleasant things
+    said,&mdash;such as: "<i>Wakaranai-mono we hippaté-kita!...
+    Doko no uma no honé da ka?</i>" ("Goodness knows what kind of a
+    thing he has dragged here after him! Where did he pick up that
+    old horse-bone?") The expression <i>uma no honé</i>, "old
+    horse-bone," requires
+    explanation.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page58"
+       id="page58"></a>[pg 58]</span>
+
+    <p>A goblin-fox has the power to assume many shapes; but, for
+    the purpose of deceiving <i>men</i>, he usually takes the form
+    of a pretty woman. When he wants to create a charming phantom
+    of this kind, he picks up an old horse-bone or cow-bone, and
+    holds it in his mouth. Presently the bone becomes luminous; and
+    the figure of a woman defines about it,&mdash;the figure of a
+    courtesan or singing-girl.... So the village query about the
+    man who marries a strange wife, "What old horse-bone has he
+    picked up?" signifies really, "What wanton has bewitched him?"
+    It further implies the suspicion that the stranger may be of
+    outcast blood: a certain class of women of pleasure having been
+    chiefly recruited, from ancient time, among the daughters of
+    Éta and other pariah-people.</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Hi tomoshité</p>
+
+            <p>Kitsuné no kwaséshi,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Asobimé<a id="footnotetag26"
+               name="footnotetag26"></a><a href="#footnote26"><sup>26</sup></a>
+               wa&mdash;</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page59"
+               id="page59"></a>[pg 59]</span>
+
+            <p>Izuka no uma no</p>
+
+            <p>Honé ni ya aruran!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>&mdash;Ah the wanton (lighting her
+        lantern)!&mdash;so a fox-fire is kindled in the time of
+        fox-transformation!... Perhaps she is really nothing more
+        than an old horse-bone from somewhere or other....</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Kitsuné-bi no</p>
+
+            <p>Moyuru ni tsukété,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Waga tama no</p>
+
+            <p>Kiyuru y&#333; nari</p>
+
+            <p>Kokoro-hoso-michi!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Because of that Fox-fire burning there, the very
+        soul of me is like to be extinguished in this narrow path
+        (or, in this heart-depressing
+        solitude).</i><a id="footnotetag27"
+           name="footnotetag27"></a><a href="#footnote27"><sup>27</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page60"
+       id="page60"></a>[pg 60]</span>
+
+    <h3>II. RIKOMBY&#332;</h3>
+
+    <p>The term <i>Rikomby&#333;</i> is composed with the word
+    <i>rikon</i>, signifying a "shade," "ghost," or "spectre," and
+    the word <i>by&#333;</i>, signifying "sickness," "disease." An
+    almost literal rendering would be "ghost-sickness." In
+    Japanese-English dictionaries you will find the meaning of
+    <i>Rikomby&#333;</i> given as "hypochondria;" and doctors
+    really use the term in this modern sense. But the ancient
+    meaning was <i>a disorder of the mind which produced a
+    Double</i>; and there is a whole strange literature about this
+    weird disease. It used to be supposed, both in China and Japan,
+    that under the influence of intense grief or longing, caused by
+    love, the spirit of the suffering person would create a Double.
+    Thus the victim of <i>Rikomby&#333;</i> would appear to have
+    two bodies, exactly alike; and one of these bodies would go to
+    join the absent beloved, while the other remained at home. (In
+    my "Exotics and Retrospectives," under the title "A Question in
+    the Zen Texts," the reader will find a typical
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page61"
+       id="page61"></a>[pg 61]</span> Chinese story on the
+       subject,&mdash;the story of the girl Ts'ing.) Some form of
+       the primitive belief in doubles and wraiths probably exists
+       in every part of the world; but this Far Eastern variety is
+       of peculiar interest because the double is supposed to be
+       caused by love, and the subjects of the affliction to belong
+       to the gentler sex.... The term <i>Rikomby&#333;</i> seems
+       to be applied to the apparition as well as to the mental
+       disorder supposed to produce the apparition: it signifies
+       "doppelgänger" as well as "ghost-disease."</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>&mdash;With these necessary explanations, the quality of the
+    following <i>ky&#333;ka</i> can be understood. A picture which
+    appears in the <i>Ky&#333;ka Hyaku-Monogatari</i> shows a
+    maid-servant anxious to offer a cup of tea to her
+    mistress,&mdash;a victim of the "ghost-sickness." The servant
+    cannot distinguish between the original and the apparitional
+    shapes before her; and the difficulties of the situation are
+    suggested in the first of the <i>ky&#333;ka</i> which I have
+    translated:&mdash;</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page62"
+       id="page62"></a>[pg 62]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Ko-ya, soré to?</p>
+
+            <p>Ayamé mo wakanu</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Rikomby&#333;:</p>
+
+            <p>Izuré we tsuma to</p>
+
+            <p>Hiku zo wazuraü!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Which one is this?&mdash;which one is that? Between
+        the two shapes of the Rikomby&#333; it is not possible to
+        distinguish. To find out which is the real wife&mdash;that
+        will be an affliction of spirit indeed!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Futatsu naki</p>
+
+            <p>Inochi nagara mo</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Kakégaë no</p>
+
+            <p>Karada no miyuru&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Kage no wazurai!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Two lives there certainly are
+        not;&mdash;nevertheless an extra body is visible, by reason
+        of the Shadow-Sickness.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Naga-tabi no</p>
+
+            <p>Oto we shitaďté</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Mi futatsu ni</p>
+
+            <p>Naru wa onna no</p>
+
+            <p>S&#257;ru rikomby&#333;.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page63"
+       id="page63"></a>[pg 63]</span>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Yearning after her far-journeying husband, the woman
+        has thus become two bodies, by reason of her ghostly
+        sickness.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Miru kagé mo</p>
+
+            <p>Naki wazurai no</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Rikomby&#333;,&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Omoi no hoka ni</p>
+
+            <p>Futatsu miru kagé!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Though (it was said that), because of her ghostly
+        sickness, there was not even a shadow of her left to be
+        seen,&mdash;yet, contrary to expectation, there are two
+        shadows of her to be seen!</i><a id="footnotetag28"
+           name="footnotetag28"></a><a href="#footnote28"><sup>28</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Rikomby&#333;</p>
+
+            <p>Hito ni kakushité</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">
+            Oku-zashiki,</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page64"
+               id="page64"></a>[pg 64]</span>
+
+            <p>Omoté y dëasanu</p>
+
+            <p>Kagé no wazurai.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Afflicted with the Rikomby&#333;, she hides away
+        from people in the back room, and never approaches the
+        front of the house,&mdash;because of her
+        Shadow-disease.</i><a id="footnotetag29"
+           name="footnotetag29"></a><a href="#footnote29"><sup>29</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Mi wa koko ni;</p>
+
+            <p>Tama wa otoko ni</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Soďné suru;&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Kokoro mo shiraga</p>
+
+            <p>Haha ga kaih&#333;.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Here her body lies; but her soul is far away, asleep
+        in the arms of a man;&mdash;and the white-haired mother,
+        little knowing her daughter's heart, is nursing (only the
+        body).</i><a id="footnotetag30"
+           name="footnotetag30"></a><a href="#footnote30"><sup>30</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page65"
+       id="page65"></a>[pg 65]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Tamakushigé</p>
+
+            <p>Futatsu no sugata</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Misénuru wa,</p>
+
+            <p>Awasé-kagami no</p>
+
+            <p>Kagé no wazurai.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>If, when seated before her toilet-stand, she sees
+        two faces reflected in her mirror,&mdash;that might be
+        caused by the mirror doubling itself under the influence of
+        the Shadow-Sickness.</i><a id="footnotetag31"
+           name="footnotetag31"></a><a href="#footnote31"><sup>31</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <h3>III. &#332;-GAMA</h3>
+
+    <p>In the old Chinese and Japanese literature the toad is
+    credited with supernatural
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page66"
+       id="page66"></a>[pg 66]</span> capacities,&mdash;such as the
+       power to call down clouds, the power to make rain, the power
+       to exhale from its mouth a magical mist which creates the
+       most beautiful illusions. Some toads are good
+       spirits,&mdash;friends of holy men; and in Japanese art a
+       famous Rishi called "Gama-Sennin" (Toad Rishi) is usually
+       represented with a white toad resting upon his shoulder, or
+       squatting beside him. Some toads are evil goblins, and
+       create phantasms for the purpose of luring men to
+       destruction. A typical story about a creature of this class
+       will be found in my "Kott&#333;," entitled "The Story of
+       Chug&#333;r&#333;."</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Mé wa kagami,</p>
+
+            <p>Kuchi wa tarai no</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Hodo ni aku:</p>
+
+            <p>Gama mo késh&#333; no</p>
+
+            <p>Mono to kos&#333; shiré.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>The eye of it, widely open, like a (round) mirror;
+        the mouth of it opening like a wash-basin&mdash;by these
+        things you may know that the Toad is a goblin-thing (or,
+        that the Toad is a toilet
+        article).</i><a id="footnotetag32"
+           name="footnotetag32"></a><a href="#footnote32"><sup>32</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page67"
+       id="page67"></a>[pg 67]</span>
+
+    <h3>IV. SHINKIR&#332;</h3>
+
+    <p>The term <i>Shinkir&#333;</i> is used in the meaning of
+    "mirage," and also as another name for H&#333;rai, the Elf-land
+    of Far Eastern fable. Various beings in Japanese myth are
+    credited with power to delude mortals by creating a mirage of
+    H&#333;rai. In old pictures one may see a toad represented in
+    the act of exhaling from its mouth a vapor that shapes the
+    apparition of H&#333;rai.</p>
+
+    <p>But the creature especially wont to produce this illusion is
+    the <i>Hamaguri</i>,&mdash;a Japanese mollusk much resembling a
+    clam. Opening its shell, it sends into the air a purplish misty
+    breath; and that mist takes form and defines, in tints of
+    mother-of-pearl, the luminous vision of H&#333;rai and the
+    palace of the Dragon-King.</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Hamaguri no</p>
+
+            <p>Kuchi aku toki
+            ya,</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page68"
+               id="page68"></a>[pg 68]</span>
+
+            <p class="i2">Shinkir&#333;!</p>
+
+            <p>Yo ni shiraré ken</p>
+
+            <p>Tatsu-no-miya-himé!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>When the hamaguri opens its mouth&mdash;lo!
+        Shinkir&#333; appears!... Then all can clearly see the
+        Maiden-Princess of the Dragon-Palace.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Shinkir&#333;&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Tatsu no miyako no</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Hinagata<a id="footnotetag33"
+               name="footnotetag33"></a><a href="#footnote33"><sup>33</sup></a>
+               wo</p>
+
+            <p>Shio-hi no oki ni</p>
+
+            <p>Misuru hamaguri!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Lo! in the offing at ebb-tide, the hamaguri makes
+        visible the miniature image of Shinkir&#333;&mdash;the
+        Dragon-Capital!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <h3>V. ROKURO-KUBI</h3>
+
+    <p>The etymological meaning of <i>Rokuro-Kubi</i> can scarcely
+    be indicated by any English rendering. The term <i>rokuro</i>
+    is indifferently used to designate many revolving
+    objects&mdash;objects <span class="pagenum"><a name="page69"
+       id="page69"></a>[pg 69]</span> as dissimilar as a pulley, a
+       capstan, a windlass, a turning lathe, and a potter's wheel.
+       Such renderings of Rokuro-Kubi as "Whirling-Neck" and
+       "Rotating-Neck" are unsatisfactory;&mdash;for the idea which
+       the term suggests to Japanese fancy is that of a neck which
+       revolves, <i>and lengthens or retracts according to the
+       direction of the revolution</i>.... As for the ghostly
+       meaning of the expression, a Rokuro-Kubi is either (1) a
+       person whose neck lengthens prodigiously during sleep, so
+       that the head can wander about in all directions, seeking
+       what it may devour, or (2) a person able to detach his or
+       her head completely from the body, and to rejoin it to the
+       neck afterwards. (About this last mentioned variety of
+       <i>Rokuro-Kubi</i> there is a curious story in my "Kwaidan,"
+       translated from the Japanese.) In Chinese mythology the
+       being whose neck is so constructed as to allow of the head
+       being completely detached belongs to a special class; but in
+       Japanese folk-tale this distinction is not always
+       maintained. One of the bad habits attributed to the
+       Rokuro-Kubi is that of drinking the oil in night-lamps. In
+       <span class="pagenum"><a name="page70"
+       id="page70"></a>[pg 70]</span> Japanese pictures the
+       Rokuro-Kubi is usually depicted as a woman; and old books
+       tell us that a woman might become a Rokuro-Kubi without
+       knowing it,&mdash;much as a somnambulist walks about while
+       asleep, without being aware of the fact.... The following
+       verses about the Rokuro-Kubi have been selected from a group
+       of twenty in the <i>Ky&#333;ka
+       Hyaku-Monogatari</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Nemidaré no</p>
+
+            <p>Nagaki kami woba</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Furi-wakété,</p>
+
+            <p>Chi hiro ni nobasu</p>
+
+            <p>Rokuro-Kubi kana!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Oh!... Shaking loose her long hair disheveled by
+        sleep, the Rokuro-Kubi stretches her neck to the length of
+        a thousand fathoms!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">"Atama naki</p>
+
+            <p>Bakémono nari"&mdash;to</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Rokuro-Kubi,</p>
+
+            <p>Mité odorokan</p>
+
+            <p>Onoga karada we.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Will not the Rokuro-Kubi, viewing with</i>
+        <span class="pagenum"><a name="page71"
+           id="page71"></a>[pg 71]</span> <i>astonishment her own
+           body (left behind) cry out, "Oh, what a headless goblin
+           have you become!</i>"]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Tsuka-no-ma ni</p>
+
+            <p>Hari we tsutawaru,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Rokuro-Kubi</p>
+
+            <p>Kéta-kéta warau&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Kao no kowasa yo!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Swiftly gliding along the roof-beam (and among the
+        props of the roof), the Rokuro-Kubi laughs with the sound
+        of "kéta-kéta"&mdash;oh! the fearfulness of her
+        face!</i><a id="footnotetag34"
+           name="footnotetag34"></a><a href="#footnote34"><sup>34</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Roku shaku no</p>
+
+            <p>By&#333;bu ni nobiru</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Rokuro-Kubi</p>
+
+            <p>Mité wa, go shaku no</p>
+
+            <p>Mi wo chijimi-kéri!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page72"
+       id="page72"></a>[pg 72]</span>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Beholding the Rokuro-Kubi rise up above the six-foot
+        screen, any five-foot person would have become shortened by
+        fear (or, "the stature of any person five feet high would
+        have been diminished").</i><a id="footnotetag35"
+           name="footnotetag35"></a><a href="#footnote35"><sup>35</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <h3>VI. YUKI-ONNA</h3>
+
+    <p>The Snow-Woman, or Snow-Spectre, assumes various forms; but
+    in most of the old folk-tales she appears as a beautiful
+    phantom, whose embrace is death. (A very curious story about
+    her can be found in my "Kwaidan.")</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Yuki-Onna&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Yos&#333; kushi mo</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Atsu k&#333;ri;</p>
+
+            <p>Sasu-k&#333;gai ya</p>
+
+            <p>K&#333;ri naruran.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>As for the Snow-Woman,&mdash;even her best comb, if
+        I mistake not, is made of thick ice; and her
+        hair-pin<a id="footnotetag36"
+           name="footnotetag36"></a><a href="#footnote36"><sup>36</sup></a>,
+           too, is probably made of ice.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page73"
+       id="page73"></a>[pg 73]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Honrai wa</p>
+
+            <p>K&#363; naru mono ka,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Yuki-Onna?</p>
+
+            <p>Yoku-yoku mireba</p>
+
+            <p>Ichi-butsu mo nashi!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Was she, then, a delusion from the very first, that
+        Snow-Woman,&mdash;a thing that vanishes into empty space?
+        When I look carefully all about me, not one trace of her is
+        to be seen!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Yo-akéréba</p>
+
+            <p>Kiété yuku é wa</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Shirayuki<a id="footnotetag37"
+               name="footnotetag37"></a><a href="#footnote37"><sup>37</sup></a>
+               no</p>
+
+            <p>Onna to mishi mo</p>
+
+            <p>Yanagi nari-keri!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Having vanished at daybreak (that Snow-Woman), none
+        could say whither she had gone. But what had seemed to be a
+        snow-white woman became indeed a willow-tree!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page74"
+       id="page74"></a>[pg 74]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Yuki-Onna</p>
+
+            <p>Mité wa yasathiku,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Matsu wo ori</p>
+
+            <p>Nama-daké hishigu</p>
+
+            <p>Chikara ari-keri!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Though the Snow-Woman appears to sight slender and
+        gentle, yet, to snap the pine-trees asunder and to crush
+        the live bamboos, she must have had strength.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Samukésa ni</p>
+
+            <p>Zotto<a id="footnotetag38"
+               name="footnotetag38"></a><a href="#footnote38"><sup>38</sup></a>
+               wa surédo</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">
+            Yuki-Onna,&mdash;</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page75"
+               id="page75"></a>[pg 75]</span>
+
+            <p>Yuki oré no naki</p>
+
+            <p>Yanagi-goshi ka mo!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <p>[<i>Though the Snow-Woman makes one shiver by her
+    coldness,&mdash;ah, the willowy grace of her form cannot be
+    broken by the snow (i.e. charms us in spite of the
+    cold).</i>]</p>
+
+    <h3>VII. FUNA-Y&#362;RÉĎ</h3>
+
+    <p>The spirits of the drowned are said to follow after ships,
+    calling for a bucket or a water-dipper (<i>hishaku</i>). To
+    refuse the bucket or the dipper is dangerous; but the bottom of
+    the utensil should be knocked out before the request is
+    complied with, and the spectres must not be allowed to see this
+    operation performed. If an undamaged bucket or dipper be thrown
+    to the ghosts, it will be used to fill and to sink the ship.
+    These phantoms are commonly called <i>Funa-Y&#363;réď</i>
+    ("Ship-Ghosts").</p>
+
+    <p>The spirits of those warriors of the Héďké clan who perished
+    in the great sea-fight at Dan-no-ura, in the year 1185, are
+    famous among Funa-Y&#363;réď. Taďra no Tomomori, one
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page76"
+       id="page76"></a>[pg 76]</span> of the chiefs of the clan, is
+       celebrated in this weird rôle: old pictures represent him,
+       followed by the ghosts of his warriors, running over the
+       waves to attack passing ships. Once he menaced a vessel in
+       which Benkéď, the celebrated retainer of Yoshitsuné, was
+       voyaging; and Benkéď was able to save the ship only by means
+       of his Buddhist rosary, which frightened the spectres
+       away....</p>
+
+    <p>Tomomori is frequently pictured as walking upon the sea,
+    carrying a ship's anchor on his back. He and his fellow-ghosts
+    are said to have been in the habit of uprooting and making off
+    with the anchors of vessels imprudently moored in their
+    particular domain,&mdash;the neighborhood of Shimonoséki.</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Erimoto yé</p>
+
+            <p>Mizu kakéraruru</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Kokochi seri,</p>
+
+            <p>"Hishaku kasé" ch&#333;</p>
+
+            <p>Funé no kowané ni.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>As if the nape of our necks had been sprinkled with
+        cold water,&mdash;so we felt while listening</i>
+        <span class="pagenum"><a name="page77"
+           id="page77"></a>[pg 77]</span> <i>to the voice of the
+           ship-ghost, saying:&mdash;"Lend me a
+           dipper!"</i><a id="footnotetag39"
+           name="footnotetag39"></a><a href="#footnote39"><sup>39</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Y&#363;rei ni</p>
+
+            <p>Kasu-hishaku yori</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Ichi-hayaku</p>
+
+            <p>Onoré ga koshi mo</p>
+
+            <p>Nukéru sench&#333;.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>The loins of the captain himself were knocked out
+        very much more quickly than the bottom of the dipper that
+        was to be given to the ghost.</i><a id="footnotetag40"
+           name="footnotetag40"></a><a href="#footnote40"><sup>40</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Benkéď no</p>
+
+            <p>Zuzu no kuriki ni</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Tomomori no</p>
+
+            <p>Sugata mo ukamu&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Funé no y&#363;réď.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>By the virtue of Benkéď's rosary, even</i>
+        <span class="pagenum"><a name="page78"
+           id="page78"></a>[pg 78]</span> <i>the ship-following
+           ghost&mdash;even the apparition of Tomomori&mdash;is
+           saved.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Y&#363;réď wa</p>
+
+            <p>Ki naru Izumi no</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Hito nagara,</p>
+
+            <p>Aö-umibara ni</p>
+
+            <p>Nadoté itsuran?</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Since any ghost must be an inhabitant of the Yellow
+        Springs, how should a ghost appear on the Blue
+        Sea-Plain?</i><a id="footnotetag41"
+           name="footnotetag41"></a><a href="#footnote41"><sup>41</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Sono sugata,</p>
+
+            <p>Ikari wo &#333;té,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Tsuki-matoü</p>
+
+            <p>Funé no hésaki ya</p>
+
+            <p>Tomomori no réď!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>That Shape, carrying the anchor on its back, and
+        following after the ship&mdash;now at the bow and now at
+        the stern&mdash;ah, the ghost of
+        Tomomori.</i><a id="footnotetag42"
+           name="footnotetag42"></a><a href="#footnote42"><sup>42</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page79"
+       id="page79"></a>[pg 79]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Tsumi fukaki</p>
+
+            <p>Umi ni shidzumishi,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Y&#363;réď no</p>
+
+            <p>"Ukaman" toté ya!</p>
+
+            <p>Funé ni sugaréru.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Crying, "Now perchance I shall be saved!" The ghost
+        that sank into the deep Sea of Sin clings to the passing
+        ship!</i><a id="footnotetag43"
+           name="footnotetag43"></a><a href="#footnote43"><sup>43</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page80"
+       id="page80"></a>[pg 80]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Ukaman to</p>
+
+            <p>Funé we shitaëru</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Yuréď wa,</p>
+
+            <p>Shidzumishi híto no</p>
+
+            <p>Omoď naruran.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>The ghosts following after our ship in their efforts
+        to rise again (or, "to be saved") might perhaps be the
+        (last vengeful) thoughts of drowned
+        men.</i><a id="footnotetag44"
+           name="footnotetag44"></a><a href="#footnote44"><sup>44</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Uraméshiki</p>
+
+            <p>Sugata wa sugoki</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Yuréď no,</p>
+
+            <p>Kaji we jama suru</p>
+
+            <p>Funé no Tomomori.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>With vengeful aspect, the grisly ghost of Tomomori
+        (rises) at the stern of the ship to hinder the play of her
+        rudder.</i><a id="footnotetag45"
+           name="footnotetag45"></a><a href="#footnote45"><sup>45</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page81"
+       id="page81"></a>[pg 81]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Ochi-irité,</p>
+
+            <p>Uwo no éjiki to</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Nari ni ken;&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Funa-y&#363;réď mo</p>
+
+            <p>Nama-kusaki kazé.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Having perished in the sea, (those Héďké) would
+        probably have become food for fishes. (Anyhow, whenever)
+        the ship-following ghosts (appear), the wind has a smell of
+        raw fish!</i><a id="footnotetag46"
+           name="footnotetag46"></a><a href="#footnote46"><sup>46</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <h3>VIII. HÉĎKÉGANÍ</h3>
+
+    <p>Readers can find in my "Kott&#333;" a paper about the
+    Héďké-Crabs, which have on their upper shells various
+    wrinklings that resemble the outlines of an angry face. At
+    Shimono-séki dried specimens of these curious creatures
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page82"
+       id="page82"></a>[pg 82]</span> are offered for sale.... The
+       Héďké-Crabs are said to be the transformed angry spirits of
+       the Héďké warriors who perished at Dan-no-ura.</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Shiwo-hi ni wa</p>
+
+            <p>Séďzoroë shité,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Héďkégani</p>
+
+            <p>Ukiyo no sama we</p>
+
+            <p>Yoko ni niramitsu.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Marshaled (on the beach) at the ebb of the tide, the
+        Héďké-crabs obliquely glare at the apparition of this
+        miserable world.</i><a id="footnotetag47"
+           name="footnotetag47"></a><a href="#footnote47"><sup>47</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Saikai ni</p>
+
+            <p>Shizumi-nurédomo,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Héďkégani</p>
+
+            <p>K&#333;ra no iro mo</p>
+
+            <p>Yahari aka-hata.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Though (the Héďké) long ago sank and perished in the
+        Western Sea, the Héďké-crabs still display</i>
+        <span class="pagenum"><a name="page83"
+           id="page83"></a>[pg 83]</span> <i>upon their upper
+           shells the color of the Red
+           Standard.</i><a id="footnotetag48"
+           name="footnotetag48"></a><a href="#footnote48"><sup>48</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Maké-ikusa</p>
+
+            <p>Munen to muné ni</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Hasami ken;&mdash;</p>
+
+            <p>Kao mo makka ni</p>
+
+            <p>Naru Héďkégani.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Because of the pain of defeat, claws have grown on
+        their breasts, I think;&mdash;even the faces of the
+        Héďké-crabs have become crimson (with anger and
+        shame).</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Mikata mina</p>
+
+            <p>Oshi-tsubusaréshi</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Héďkégani</p>
+
+            <p>Ikon we muné ni</p>
+
+            <p>Hasami mochikéri.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>All the (Héďké) party having been utterly crushed,
+        claws have grown upon the breasts of the Héďké-crabs
+        because of the resentment in their
+        hearts.</i><a id="footnotetag49"
+           name="footnotetag49"></a><a href="#footnote49"><sup>49</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page84"
+       id="page84"></a>[pg 84]</span>
+
+    <h3>IX. YANARI</h3>
+
+    <p>Modern dictionaries ignore the uncanny significations of the
+    word <i>Yanari</i>,&mdash;only telling us that it means the
+    sound of the shaking of a house during an earthquake. But the
+    word used to mean the noise of the shaking of a house moved by
+    a goblin; and the invisible shaker was also called
+    <i>Yanari</i>. When, without apparent cause, some house would
+    shudder and creak and groan in the night, folk used to suppose
+    that it was being shaken from without by supernatural
+    malevolence.</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Tokonoma ni</p>
+
+            <p>Ikéshi tachiki mo</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">
+            Taoré-keri;</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page85"
+               id="page85"></a>[pg 85]</span>
+
+            <p>Yanari ni yama no</p>
+
+            <p>Ugoku kakémono!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Even the live tree set in the alcove has fallen
+        down; and the mountains in the hanging picture tremble to
+        the quaking made by the Yanari!</i><a id="footnotetag50"
+           name="footnotetag50"></a><a href="#footnote50"><sup>50</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <h3>X. SAKASA-BASHIRA</h3>
+
+    <p>The term <i>Sakasa-bashira</i> (in these <i>ky&#333;ka</i>
+    often shortened into <i>saka-bashira</i>) literally means
+    "upside-down post." A wooden post or pillar, especially a
+    house-post, should be set up according to the original position
+    of the tree from which it was hewn,&mdash;that is to say, with
+    the part nearest to the roots downward. To erect a house-post
+    in the contrary way is thought to be unlucky;&mdash;formerly
+    such a blunder was believed to involve unpleasant consequences
+    of a ghostly kind, because an "upside-down" pillar would do
+    malignant things. It would moan and groan in the night, and
+    move all its cracks <span class="pagenum"><a name="page86"
+       id="page86"></a>[pg 86]</span> like mouths, and open all its
+       knots like eyes. Moreover, the spirit of it (for every
+       house-post has a spirit) would detach its long body from the
+       timber, and wander about the rooms, head-downwards, making
+       faces at people. Nor was this all. A <i>Sakasa-bashira</i>
+       knew how to make all the affairs of a household go
+       wrong,&mdash;how to foment domestic quarrels,&mdash;how to
+       contrive misfortune for each of the family and the
+       servants,&mdash;how to render existence almost insupportable
+       until such time as the carpenter's blunder should be
+       discovered and remedied.</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Saka-bashira</p>
+
+            <p>Tatéshi wa tazo ya?</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Kokoro ni mo</p>
+
+            <p>Fushi aru hito no</p>
+
+            <p>Shiwaza naruran.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Who set the house-pillar upside-down? Surely that
+        must have been the work of a man with a knot in his
+        heart.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Hidayama we</p>
+
+            <p>Kiri-kité tatéshi</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">
+            Saka-bashira&mdash;</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page87"
+               id="page87"></a>[pg 87]</span>
+
+            <p>Nanno takumi<a id="footnotetag51"
+               name="footnotetag51"></a><a href="#footnote51"><sup>51</sup></a>
+               no</p>
+
+            <p>Shiwaza naruran?</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>That house-pillar hewn in the mountains of Hida, and
+        thence brought here and erected upside-down&mdash;what
+        carpenter's work can it be? (or, "for what evil design can
+        this deed have been done?")</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Uë shita wo</p>
+
+            <p>Chigaëté tatéshi</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Hashira ni wa</p>
+
+            <p>Sakasama-goto no</p>
+
+            <p>Uréď aranan.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>As for that house-pillar mistakenly planted
+        upside-down, it will certainly cause adversity and
+        sorrow.</i><a id="footnotetag52"
+           name="footnotetag52"></a><a href="#footnote52"><sup>52</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Kabé ni mimi</p>
+
+            <p>Arité, kiké to ka?</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Sakashima
+            ni</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page88"
+               id="page88"></a>[pg 88]</span>
+
+            <p>Tateshi hashira ni</p>
+
+            <p>Yanari suru oto!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>O Ears that be in the wall!<a id="footnotetag53"
+           name="footnotetag53"></a><a href="#footnote53"><sup>53</sup></a>
+           listen, will ye? to the groaning and the creaking of the
+           house-post that was planted upside-down!</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Uri-iyé no</p>
+
+            <p>Aruji we toëba,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Oto arité:</p>
+
+            <p>Waré mé ga kuchi wo</p>
+
+            <p>Aku saka-bashira.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>When I inquired for the master of the house that was
+        for sale, there came to me only a strange sound by way of
+        reply,&mdash;the sound of the upside-down house-post
+        opening its eyes and mouth!<a id="footnotetag54"
+           name="footnotetag54"></a><a href="#footnote54"><sup>54</sup></a>
+           (i.e. its cracks).</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page89"
+       id="page89"></a>[pg 89]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Omo&#239;kiya!</p>
+
+            <p>Sakasa-bashira no</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Hashira-kaké</p>
+
+            <p>Kakinishit uta mo</p>
+
+            <p>Yamai ari to wa!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Who could have thought it!&mdash;even the poem
+        inscribed upon the pillar-tablet, attached to the pillar
+        which was planted upside-down, has taken the same (ghostly)
+        sickness.</i><a id="footnotetag55"
+           name="footnotetag55"></a><a href="#footnote55"><sup>55</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <h3>XI. BAKÉ-JIZÖ</h3>
+
+    <p>The figure of the Bodhi-sattva Jizö, the savior of
+    children's ghosts, is one of the most beautiful and humane in
+    Japanese Buddhism. Statues of this divinity may be seen in
+    almost every village and by every roadside. But some statues of
+    Jizö are said to do uncanny
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page90"
+       id="page90"></a>[pg 90]</span> things&mdash;such as to walk
+       about at night in various disguises. A statue of this kind
+       is called a <i>Baké-Jiz&#333;</i><a id="footnotetag56"
+       name="footnotetag56"></a><a href="#footnote56"><sup>56</sup></a>,&mdash;meaning
+       a Jiz&#333;; that undergoes transformation. A conventional
+       picture shows a little boy about to place the customary
+       child's-offering of rice-cakes before the stone image of
+       Jiz&#333;,&mdash;not suspecting that the statue moves, and
+       is slowly bending down towards him.</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Nanigé naki</p>
+
+            <p>Ishi no Jiz&#333; no</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Sugata saë,</p>
+
+            <p>Yo wa osoroshiki</p>
+
+            <p>Mikagé to zo naki.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Though the stone Jiz&#333; looks as if nothing were
+        the matter with it, they say that at night it assumes an
+        awful aspect (or, "Though this image appears to be a common
+        stone Jiz&#333;, they say that at night it becomes an awful
+        Jiz&#333;; of granite."</i><a id="footnotetag57"
+           name="footnotetag57"></a><a href="#footnote57"><sup>57</sup></a>)]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page91"
+       id="page91"></a>[pg 91]</span>
+
+    <h3>XII. UMI-B&#332;ZU</h3>
+
+    <p>Place a large cuttlefish on a table, body upwards and
+    tentacles downwards&mdash;and you will have before you the
+    grotesque reality that first suggested the fancy of the
+    <i>Umi-B&#333;zu</i>, or Priest of the Sea. For the great bald
+    body in this position, with the staring eyes below, bears a
+    distorted resemblance to the shaven head of a priest; while the
+    crawling tentacles underneath (which are in some species united
+    by a dark web) suggests the wavering motion of the priest's
+    upper robe.... The Umi-B&#333;zu figures a good deal in the
+    literature of Japanese goblinry, and in the old-fashioned
+    picture-books. He rises from the deep in foul weather to seize
+    his prey.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page92"
+       id="page92"></a>[pg 92]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Ita hitoë</p>
+
+            <p>Shita wa Jigoku ni,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Sumizomé no</p>
+
+            <p>B&#333;zu no umi ni</p>
+
+            <p>Déru mo ayashina!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Since there is but the thickness of a single plank
+        (between the voyager and the sea), and underneath is Hell,
+        'tis indeed a weird thing that a black-robed priest should
+        rise from the sea (or, "'tis surely a marvelous happening
+        that," etc.!</i><a id="footnotetag58"
+           name="footnotetag58"></a><a href="#footnote58"><sup>58</sup></a>)]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <h3>XIII. FUDA-HÉGASHI<a id="footnotetag59"
+       name="footnotetag59"></a><a href="#footnote59"><sup>59</sup></a></h3>
+
+    <p>Homes are protected from evil spirits by holy texts and
+    charms. In any Japanese <span class="pagenum"><a name="page93"
+       id="page93"></a>[pg 93]</span> village, or any city
+       by-street, you can see these texts when the sliding-doors
+       are closed at night: they are not visible by day, when the
+       sliding-doors have been pushed back into the
+       <i>tobukuro</i>. Such texts are called <i>o-fuda</i> (august
+       scripts): they are written in Chinese characters upon strips
+       of white paper, which are attached to the door with
+       rice-paste; and there are many kinds of them. Some are texts
+       selected from sutras&mdash;such as the Sűtra of Transcendent
+       Wisdom (Pragńa-Pâramitâ-Hridaya-Sűtra), or the Sűtra of the
+       Lotos of the Good Law (Saddharma-Pundarikâ-Sűtra). Some are
+       texts from the dhâranîs,&mdash;which are magical. Some are
+       invocations only, indicating the Buddhist sect of the
+       household.... Besides these you may see various smaller
+       texts, or little prints, pasted above or beside windows or
+       apertures,&mdash;some being names of Shinto gods; others,
+       symbolical pictures only, or pictures of Buddhas and
+       Bodhi-sattvas. All are holy charms,&mdash;<i>o-fuda</i>:
+       they protect the houses; and no goblin or ghost can enter by
+       night into a dwelling so protected, unless the <i>o-fuda</i>
+       be removed.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page94"
+       id="page94"></a>[pg 94]</span>
+
+    <p>Vengeful ghosts cannot themselves remove an <i>o-fuda</i>;
+    but they will endeavor by threats or promises or bribes to make
+    some person remove it for them. A ghost that wants to have the
+    <i>o-fuda</i> pulled off a door is called a
+    <i>Fuda-hégashi</i>.</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Hégasan to</p>
+
+            <p>Rokuji-no-fuda wo,</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Yuréď mo</p>
+
+            <p>Nam'mai d&#257; to</p>
+
+            <p>Kazoëté zo mini.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Even the ghost that would remove the charms written
+        with six characters actually tries to count them,
+        repeating: "How many sheets are there?" (or, repeating,
+        "Hail to thee, O Buddha Amitábha!"<a id="footnotetag60"
+           name="footnotetag60"></a><a href="#footnote60"><sup>60</sup></a>)</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page95"
+       id="page95"></a>[pg 95]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Tada ichi no</p>
+
+            <p>Kami no o-fuda wa</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Sasuga ni mo</p>
+
+            <p>Noriké naku to mo</p>
+
+            <p>Hégashi kanékéri.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Of the august written-charms of the god (which were
+        pasted upon the walls of the house), not even one could by
+        any effort be pulled off, though the rice-paste with which
+        they had been fastened was all gone.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <h3>XIV. FURU-TSUBAKI</h3>
+
+    <p>The old Japanese, like the old Greeks, had their
+    flower-spirits and their hamadryads, concerning whom some
+    charming stories are told. They also believed in trees
+    inhabited by malevolent beings,&mdash;goblin trees. Among other
+    weird trees, the beautiful <i>tsubaki</i> (<i>Camellia
+    Japonica</i>) was said to be an unlucky tree;&mdash;this was
+    said, at least, of the red-flowering variety, the
+    white-flowering kind having a better reputation and being
+    prized as a rarity. The large fleshy crimson flowers have this
+    curious habit: they detach themselves bodily from the
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page96"
+       id="page96"></a>[pg 96]</span> stem, when they begin to
+       fade; and they fall with an audible thud. To old Japanese
+       fancy the falling of these heavy red flowers was like the
+       falling of human heads under the sword; and the dull sound
+       of their dropping was said to be like the thud made by a
+       severed head striking the ground. Nevertheless the tsubaki
+       seems to have been a favorite in Japanese gardens because of
+       the beauty of its glossy foliage; and its flowers were used
+       for the decoration of alcoves. But in samurai homes it was a
+       rule never to place tsubaki-flowers in an alcove <i>during
+       war-time</i>.</p>
+
+    <p>The reader will notice that in the following
+    <i>ky&#333;ka</i>&mdash;which, as grotesques, seem to me the
+    best in the collection&mdash;the goblin-tsubaki is called
+    <i>furu-tsubaki</i>, "old tsubaki." The young tree was not
+    supposed to have goblin-propensities,&mdash;these being
+    developed only after many years. Other uncanny trees&mdash;such
+    as the willow and the <i>énoki</i>&mdash;were likewise said to
+    become dangerous only as they became old; and a similar belief
+    prevailed on the subject of uncanny animals, such as the
+    cat&mdash;innocent in kittenhood, but devilish in
+    age.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page97"
+       id="page97"></a>[pg 97]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Yo-arashi ni</p>
+
+            <p>Chishiho itadaku</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Furu tsubaki,</p>
+
+            <p>Hota-hota ochiru</p>
+
+            <p>Hana no nama-kubi.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>When by the night-storm is shaken the blood-crowned
+        and ancient tsubaki-tree, then one by one fall the gory
+        heads of the flowers, (with the sound of)
+        hota-hota!</i><a id="footnotetag61"
+           name="footnotetag61"></a><a href="#footnote61"><sup>61</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Kusa mo ki mo</p>
+
+            <p>Némuréru koro no</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Sayo kazé ni,</p>
+
+            <p>Méhana no ugoku</p>
+
+            <p>Furu-tsubaki kana!</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>When even the grass and the trees are sleeping under
+        the faint wind of the night,&mdash;then do the eyes and the
+        noses of the old tsubaki-tree (or "the buds and the flowers
+        of the old tsubaki-tree") move!</i><a id="footnotetag62"
+           name="footnotetag62"></a><a href="#footnote62"><sup>62</sup></a>]</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page98"
+       id="page98"></a>[pg 98]</span>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">Tomoshibi no</p>
+
+            <p>Kagé ayashigé ni</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Miyénuru wa</p>
+
+            <p>Abura shiborishi</p>
+
+            <p>Furu-tsubaki ka-mo?</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>As for (the reason why) the light of that lamp
+        appears to be a Weirdness,<a id="footnotetag63"
+           name="footnotetag63"></a><a href="#footnote63"><sup>63</sup></a>&mdash;perhaps
+           the oil was expressed from (the nuts of) the ancient
+           tsu-baki?</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <hr />
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page99"
+       id="page99"></a>[pg 99]</span>
+
+    <p>&mdash;Nearly all the stories and folk-beliefs about which
+    these <i>ky&#333;ka</i> were written seem to have come from
+    China; and most of the Japanese tales of tree-spirits appear to
+    have had a Chinese origin. As the flower-spirits and hamadryads
+    of the Far East are as yet little known to Western readers, the
+    following Chinese story may be found interesting.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>There was a Chinese scholar&mdash;called, in Japanese books,
+    T&#333; no Busanshi&mdash;who was famous for his love of
+    flowers. He was particularly fond of peonies, and cultivated
+    them with great skill and patience.<a id="footnotetag64"
+       name="footnotetag64"></a><a href="#footnote64"><sup>64</sup></a></p>
+
+    <p>One day a very comely girl came to the house of Busanshi,
+    and begged to be taken into his service. She said that
+    circumstances obliged her to seek humble employment, but that
+    she had received a literary education, and
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page100"
+       id="page100"></a>[pg 100]</span> therefore wished to enter,
+       if possible, into the service of a scholar. Busanshi was
+       charmed by her beauty, and took her into his household
+       without further questioning. She proved to be much more than
+       a good domestic: indeed, the nature of her accomplishments
+       made Busanshi suspect that she had been brought up in the
+       court of some prince, or in the palace of some great lord.
+       She displayed a perfect knowledge of the etiquette and the
+       polite arts which are taught only to ladies of the highest
+       rank; and she possessed astonishing skill in calligraphy, in
+       painting, and in every kind of poetical composition.
+       Busanshi presently fell in love with her, and thought only
+       of how to please her. When scholar-friends or other visitors
+       of importance came to the house, he would send for the new
+       maid that she might entertain and wait upon his guests; and
+       all who saw her were amazed by her grace and charm.</p>
+
+    <p>One day Busanshi received a visit from the great
+    Teki-Shin-Ketsu, a famous teacher of moral doctrine; and the
+    maid did not respond to her master's call. Busanshi went
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page101"
+       id="page101"></a>[pg 101]</span> himself to seek her, being
+       desirous that Teki-Shin-Ketsu should see her and admire her;
+       but she was nowhere to be found. After having searched the
+       whole house in vain, Busanshi was returning to the
+       guest-room when he suddenly caught sight of the maid,
+       gliding soundlessly before him along a corridor. He called
+       to her, and hurried after her. Then she turned half-round,
+       and flattened herself against the wall like a spider; and as
+       he reached her she sank backwards into the wall, so that
+       there remained of her nothing visible but a colored
+       shadow,&mdash;level like a picture painted on the plaster.
+       But the shadow moved its lips and eyes, and spoke to him in
+       a whisper, saying:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"Pardon me that I did not obey your august call!... I am not
+    a mankind-person;&mdash;I am only the Soul of a Peony. Because
+    you loved peonies so much, I was able to take human shape, and
+    to serve you. But now this Teki-Shin-Ketsu has come,&mdash;and
+    he is a person of dreadful propriety,&mdash;and I dare not keep
+    this form any longer.... I must return to the place from which
+    I came."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page102"
+       id="page102"></a>[pg 102]</span>
+
+    <p>Then she sank back into the wall, and vanished altogether:
+    there was nothing where she had been except the naked plaster.
+    And Busanshi never saw her again.</p>
+
+    <p>This story is written in a Chinese book which the Japanese
+    call "Kai-ten-i-ji."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page103"
+       id="page103"></a>[pg 103]</span>
+
+    <h2>"ULTIMATE
+    QUESTIONS"</h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="page105"
+       id="page105"></a>[pg 105]</span>
+
+    <p>A memory of long ago.... I am walking upon a granite
+    pavement that rings like iron, between buildings of granite
+    bathed in the light of a cloudless noon. Shadows are short and
+    sharp: there is no stir in the hot bright air; and the sound of
+    my footsteps, strangely loud, is the only sound in the
+    street.... Suddenly an odd feeling comes to me, with a sort of
+    tingling shock,&mdash;a feeling, or suspicion, of universal
+    illusion. The pavement, the bulks of hewn stone, the iron
+    rails, and all things visible, are dreams! Light, color, form,
+    weight, solidity&mdash;all sensed existences&mdash;are but
+    phantoms of being, manifestations only of one infinite
+    ghostliness for which the language of man has not any
+    word....</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page106"
+       id="page106"></a>[pg 106]</span>
+
+    <p>This experience had been produced by study of the first
+    volume of the Synthetic Philosophy, which an American friend
+    had taught me how to read. I did not find it easy reading;
+    partly because I am a slow thinker, but chiefly because my mind
+    had never been trained to sustained effort in such directions.
+    To learn the "First Principles" occupied me many months: no
+    other volume of the series gave me equal trouble. I would read
+    one section at a time,&mdash;rarely two,&mdash;never venturing
+    upon a fresh section until I thought that I had made sure of
+    the preceding. Very cautious and slow my progress was, like
+    that of a man mounting, for the first time, a long series of
+    ladders in darkness. Reaching the light at last, I caught a
+    sudden new vision of things,&mdash;a momentary perception of
+    the illusion of surfaces,&mdash;and from that time the world
+    never again appeared to me quite the same as it had appeared
+    before.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>&mdash;This memory of more than twenty years ago, and the
+    extraordinary thrill of the moment, were recently revived for
+    me by the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page107"
+       id="page107"></a>[pg 107]</span> reading of the essay
+       "Ultimate Questions," in the last and not least precious
+       volume bequeathed us by the world's greatest thinker. The
+       essay contains his final utterance about the riddle of life
+       and death, as that riddle presented itself to his vast mind
+       in the dusk of a lifetime of intellectual toil. Certainly
+       the substance of what he had to tell us might have been
+       inferred from the Synthetic Philosophy; but the particular
+       interest of this last essay is made by the writer's
+       expression of personal sentiment regarding the problem that
+       troubles all deep thinkers. Perhaps few of us could have
+       remained satisfied with his purely scientific position. Even
+       while fully accepting his declaration of the identity of the
+       power that "wells up in us under the form of consciousness"
+       with that Power Unknowable which shapes all things, most
+       disciples of the master must have longed for some chance to
+       ask him directly, "But how do <i>you</i> feel in regard to
+       the prospect of personal dissolution?" And this merely
+       emotional question he has answered as frankly and as fully
+       as any of us could have desired,&mdash;perhaps
+       <span class="pagenum"><a name="page108"
+       id="page108"></a>[pg 108]</span> even more frankly. "Old
+       people," he remarks apologetically, "must have many
+       reflections in common. Doubtless one which I have now in
+       mind is very familiar. For years past, when watching the
+       unfolding buds in the spring, there has arisen the thought,
+       'Shall I ever again see the buds unfold? Shall I ever again
+       be awakened at dawn by the song of the thrush?' Now that the
+       end is not likely to be long postponed, there results an
+       increasing tendency to meditate upon ultimate questions."...
+       Then he tells us that these ultimate questions&mdash;"of the
+       How and the Why, of the Whence and the Whither"&mdash;occupy
+       much more space in the minds of those who cannot accept the
+       creed of Christendom, than the current conception fills in
+       the minds of the majority of men. The enormity of the
+       problem of existence becomes manifest only to those who have
+       permitted themselves to think freely and widely and deeply,
+       with all such aids to thought as exact science can furnish;
+       and the larger the knowledge of the thinker, the more
+       pressing and tremendous the problem appears, and
+       <span class="pagenum"><a name="page109"
+       id="page109"></a>[pg 109]</span> the more hopelessly
+       unanswerable. To Herbert Spencer himself it must have
+       assumed a vastness beyond the apprehension of the average
+       mind; and it weighed upon him more and more inexorably the
+       nearer he approached to death. He could not avoid the
+       conviction&mdash;plainly suggested in his magnificent
+       Psychology and in other volumes of his great work&mdash;that
+       there exists no rational evidence for any belief in the
+       continuance of conscious personality after death:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>"After studying primitive beliefs, and finding that
+        there is no origin for the idea of an after-life, save the
+        conclusion which the savage draws, from the notion
+        suggested by dreams, of a wandering double which comes back
+        on awaking, and which goes away for an indefinite time at
+        death;&mdash;and after contemplating the inscrutable
+        relation between brain and consciousness, and finding that
+        we can get no evidence of the existence of the last without
+        the activity of the first,&mdash;we seem obliged to
+        relinquish the thought that consciousness continues after
+        physical organization has become inactive."</p>
+    </blockquote><span class="pagenum"><a name="page110"
+       id="page110"></a>[pg 110]</span>
+
+    <p>In this measured utterance there is no word of hope; but
+    there is at least a carefully stated doubt, which those who
+    will may try to develop into the germ of a hope. The guarded
+    phrase, "we <i>seem</i> obliged to relinquish," certainly
+    suggests that, although in the present state of human knowledge
+    we have no reason to believe in the perpetuity of
+    consciousness, some larger future knowledge might help us to a
+    less forlorn prospect. From the prospect as it now appears even
+    this mightiest of thinkers recoiled:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>... "But it seems a strange and repugnant conclusion
+        that with the cessation of consciousness at death there
+        ceases to be any knowledge of having existed. With his last
+        breath it becomes to each the same thing as though he had
+        never lived.</p>
+
+        <p>"And then the consciousness itself&mdash;what is it
+        during the time that it continues? And what becomes of it
+        when it ends? We can only infer that it is a specialized
+        and individualized form of that Infinite and Eternal Energy
+        which transcends both our knowledge and our imagination;
+        <span class="pagenum"><a name="page111"
+           id="page111"></a>[pg 111]</span> and that at death its
+           elements lapse into that Infinite and Eternal Energy
+           whence they were derived."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>&mdash;<i>With his last breath it becomes to each the same
+    thing as though he had never lived?</i> To the individual,
+    perhaps&mdash;surely not to the humanity made wiser and better
+    by his labors.... But the world must pass away: will it
+    thereafter be the same for the universe as if humanity had
+    never existed? That might depend upon the possibilities of
+    future inter-planetary communication.... But the whole universe
+    of suns and planets must also perish: thereafter will it be the
+    same as if no intelligent life had ever toiled and suffered
+    upon those countless worlds? We have at least the certainty
+    that the energies of life cannot be destroyed, and the strong
+    probability that they will help to form another life and
+    thought in universes yet to be evolved.... Nevertheless,
+    allowing for all imagined possibilities,&mdash;granting even
+    the likelihood of some inapprehensible relation between all
+    past and all future <span class="pagenum"><a name="page112"
+       id="page112"></a>[pg 112]</span>
+       conditioned-being,&mdash;the tremendous question remains:
+       What signifies the whole of apparitional existence to the
+       Unconditioned? As flickers of sheet-lightning leave no
+       record in the night, so in that Darkness a million billion
+       trillion universes might come and go, and leave no trace of
+       their having been.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>To every aspect of the problem Herbert Spencer must have
+    given thought; but he has plainly declared that the human
+    intellect, as at present constituted, can offer no solution.
+    The greatest mind that this world has yet produced&mdash;the
+    mind that systematized all human knowledge, that revolutionized
+    modern science, that dissipated materialism forever, that
+    revealed to us the ghostly unity of all existence, that
+    reestablished all ethics upon an immutable and eternal
+    foundation,&mdash;the mind that could expound with equal
+    lucidity, and by the same universal formula, the history of a
+    gnat or the history of a sun&mdash;confessed itself, before the
+    Riddle of Existence, scarcely less helpless than the mind of a
+    child.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page113"
+       id="page113"></a>[pg 113]</span>
+
+    <p>But for me the supreme value of this last essay is made by
+    the fact that in its pathetic statement of uncertainties and
+    probabilities one can discern something very much resembling a
+    declaration of faith. Though assured that we have yet no
+    foundation for any belief in the persistence of consciousness
+    after the death of the brain, we are bidden to remember that
+    the ultimate nature of consciousness remains inscrutable.
+    Though we cannot surmise the relation of consciousness to the
+    unseen, we are reminded that it must be considered as a
+    manifestation of the Infinite Energy, and that its elements, if
+    dissociated by death, will return to the timeless and
+    measureless Source of Life.... Science to-day also assures us
+    that whatever existence has been&mdash;all individual life that
+    ever moved in animal or plant,&mdash;all feeling and thought
+    that ever stirred in human consciousness&mdash;must have
+    flashed self-record beyond the sphere of sentiency; and though
+    we cannot know, we cannot help imagining that the best of such
+    registration may be destined to perpetuity. On this latter
+    subject, for <span class="pagenum"><a name="page114"
+       id="page114"></a>[pg 114]</span> obvious reasons, Herbert
+       Spencer has remained silent; but the reader may ponder a
+       remarkable paragraph in the final sixth edition of the
+       "First Principles,"&mdash;a paragraph dealing with the
+       hypothesis that consciousness may belong to the cosmic
+       ether. This hypothesis has not been lightly dismissed by
+       him; and even while proving its inadequacy, he seems to
+       intimate that it may represent imperfectly some truth yet
+       inapprehensible by the human mind:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>"The only supposition having consistency is that that in
+        which consciousness inheres is the all-pervading ether.
+        This we know can be affected by molecules of matter in
+        motion, and conversely can affect the motions of
+        molecules;&mdash;as witness the action of light on the
+        retina. In pursuance of this supposition we may assume that
+        the ether, which pervades not only all space but all
+        matter, is, under special conditions in certain parts of
+        the nervous system, capable of being affected by the
+        nervous changes in such way as to result in feeling, and is
+        reciprocally capable under these conditions of affecting
+        the nervous changes. But if we accept this explanation, we
+        must assume that the potentiality
+        <span class="pagenum"><a name="page115"
+           id="page115"></a>[pg 115]</span> of feeling is
+           universal, and that the evolution of feeling in the
+           ether takes place only under the extremely complex
+           conditions occurring in certain nervous centres. This,
+           however, is but a semblance of an explanation, since we
+           know not what the ether is, and since, by confession of
+           those most capable of judging, no hypothesis that has
+           been framed accounts for all its powers. Such an
+           explanation may be said to do no more than symbolize the
+           phenomena by symbols of unknown natures."&mdash;["First
+           Principles," § 71 <i>c</i>, definitive edition of
+           1900.]</p>
+
+        <p>&mdash;"Inscrutable is this complex consciousness which
+        has slowly evolved out of infantine
+        vacuity&mdash;consciousness which, in other shapes, is
+        manifested by animate beings at large&mdash;consciousness
+        which, during the development of every creature, makes its
+        appearance out of what seems unconscious matter;
+        <i>suggesting the thought that consciousness, in some
+        rudimentary form, is omnipresent.</i>"<a id="footnotetag65"
+           name="footnotetag65"></a><a href="#footnote65"><sup>65</sup></a></p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <p>&mdash;Of all modern thinkers, Spencer was perhaps the most
+    careful to avoid giving encouragement to any hypothesis
+    unsupported <span class="pagenum"><a name="page116"
+       id="page116"></a>[pg 116]</span> by powerful evidence. Even
+       the simple sum of his own creed is uttered only, with due
+       reservation, as a statement of three probabilities: that
+       consciousness represents a specialized and individualized
+       form of the infinite Energy; that it is dissolved by death;
+       and that its elements then return to the source of all
+       being. As for our mental attitude toward the infinite
+       Mystery, his advice is plain. We must resign ourselves to
+       the eternal law, and endeavor to vanquish our ancient
+       inheritance of superstitious terrors, remembering that,
+       "merciless as is the Cosmic process worked out by an Unknown
+       Power, yet vengeance is nowhere to be found in
+       it."<a id="footnotetag66"
+       name="footnotetag66"></a><a href="#footnote66"><sup>66</sup></a></p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>In the same brief essay there is another confession of
+    singular interest,&mdash;an acknowledgment of the terror of
+    Space. To even the ordinary mind, the notion of infinite
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page117"
+       id="page117"></a>[pg 117]</span> Space, as forced upon us by
+       those monstrous facts of astronomy which require no serious
+       study to apprehend, is terrifying;&mdash;I mean the mere
+       vague idea of that everlasting Night into which the blazing
+       of millions of suns can bring neither light nor warmth. But
+       to the intellect of Herbert Spencer the idea of Space must
+       have presented itself after a manner incomparably more
+       mysterious and stupendous. The mathematician alone will
+       comprehend the full significance of the paragraph dealing
+       with the Geometry of Position and the mystery of
+       space-relations,&mdash;or the startling declaration that
+       "even could we penetrate the mysteries of existence, there
+       would remain still more transcendent mysteries." But Herbert
+       Spencer tells us that, apart from the conception of these
+       geometrical mysteries, the problem of naked Space itself
+       became for him, in the twilight of his age, an obsession and
+       a dismay:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>... "And then comes the thought of this universal matrix
+        itself, anteceding alike creation or evolution, whichever
+        be assumed, and infinitely
+        <span class="pagenum"><a name="page118"
+           id="page118"></a>[pg 118]</span> transcending both,
+           alike in extent and duration; since both, if conceived
+           at all, must be conceived as having had beginnings,
+           while Space had no beginning. The thought of this blank
+           form of existence which, explored in all directions as
+           far as imagination can reach, has, beyond that, an
+           unexplored region compared with which the part which
+           imagination has traversed is but
+           infinitesimal,&mdash;the thought of a Space compared
+           with which our immeasurable sidereal system dwindles to
+           a point is a thought too overwhelming to be dwelt upon.
+           Of late years the consciousness that without origin or
+           cause infinite Space has ever existed and must ever
+           exist, produces in me a feeling from which I
+           shrink."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>How the idea of infinite Space may affect a mind
+    incomparably more powerful than my own, I cannot
+    know;&mdash;neither can I divine the nature of certain problems
+    which the laws of space-relation present to the geometrician.
+    But when I try to determine the cause of the horror which that
+    idea evokes within my own feeble imagination, I am able to
+    distinguish different elements of the emotion,&mdash;particular
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page119"
+       id="page119"></a>[pg 119]</span> forms of terror responding
+       to particular ideas (rational and irrational) suggested by
+       the revelations of science. One feeling&mdash;perhaps the
+       main element of the horror&mdash;is made by the thought of
+       being <i>prisoned</i> forever and ever within that
+       unutterable Viewlessness which occupies infinite Space.</p>
+
+    <p>Behind this feeling there is more than the thought of
+    eternal circumscription;&mdash;there is also the idea of being
+    perpetually penetrated, traversed, thrilled by the
+    Nameless;&mdash;there is likewise the certainty that no least
+    particle of innermost secret Self could shun the eternal touch
+    of It;&mdash;there is furthermore the tremendous conviction
+    that could the Self of me rush with the swiftness of
+    light,&mdash;with more than the swiftness of
+    light,&mdash;beyond all galaxies, beyond durations of time so
+    vast that Science knows no sign by which their magnitudes might
+    be indicated,&mdash;and still flee onward, onward, downward,
+    upward,&mdash;always, always,&mdash;never could that Self of me
+    reach nearer to any verge, never speed farther from any centre.
+    For, in that Silence, all vastitude
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page120"
+       id="page120"></a>[pg 120]</span> and height and depth and
+       time and direction are swallowed up: relation therein could
+       have no meaning but for the speck of my fleeting
+       consciousness,&mdash;atom of terror pulsating alone through
+       atomless, soundless, nameless, illimitable potentiality.</p>
+
+    <p>And the idea of that potentiality awakens another quality of
+    horror,&mdash;the horror of infinite Possibility. For this
+    Inscrutable that pulses through substance as if substance were
+    not at all,&mdash;so subtly that none can feel the flowing of
+    its tides, yet so swiftly that no life-time would suffice to
+    count the number of the oscillations which it makes within the
+    fraction of one second,&mdash;thrills to us out of
+    endlessness;&mdash;and the force of infinity dwells in its
+    lightest tremor; the weight of eternity presses behind its
+    faintest shudder. To that phantom-Touch, the tinting of a
+    blossom or the dissipation of a universe were equally facile:
+    here it caresses the eye with the charm and illusion of color;
+    there it bestirs into being a cluster of giant suns. All that
+    human mind is capable of conceiving as possible (and how much
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page121"
+       id="page121"></a>[pg 121]</span> also that human mind must
+       forever remain incapable of conceiving?) may be wrought
+       anywhere, everywhere, by a single tremor of that
+       Abyss....</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>Is it true, as some would have us believe, that the fear of
+    the extinction of self is the terror supreme?... For the
+    thought of personal perpetuity in the infinite vortex is enough
+    to evoke sudden trepidations that no tongue can
+    utter,&mdash;fugitive instants of a horror too vast to enter
+    wholly into consciousness: a horror that can be endured in
+    swift black glimpsings only. And the trust that we are one with
+    the Absolute&mdash;dim points of thrilling in the abyss of
+    It&mdash;can prove a consoling faith only to those who find
+    themselves obliged to think that consciousness dissolves with
+    the crumbling of the brain.... It seems to me that few (or
+    none) dare to utter frankly those stupendous doubts and fears
+    which force mortal intelligence to recoil upon itself at every
+    fresh attempt to pass the barrier of the Knowable. Were that
+    barrier unexpectedly pushed
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page122"
+       id="page122"></a>[pg 122]</span> back,&mdash;were knowledge
+       to be suddenly and vastly expanded beyond its present
+       limits,&mdash;perhaps we should find ourselves unable to
+       endure the revelation....</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>Mr. Percival Lowell's astonishing book, "Mars," sets one to
+    thinking about the results of being able to hold communication
+    with the habitants of an older and a wiser world,&mdash;some
+    race of beings more highly evolved than we, both intellectually
+    and morally, and able to interpret a thousand mysteries that
+    still baffle our science. Perhaps, in such event, we should not
+    find ourselves able to comprehend the methods, even could we
+    borrow the results, of wisdom older than all our civilization
+    by myriads or hundreds of myriads of years. But would not the
+    sudden advent of larger knowledge from some elder planet prove
+    for us, by reason, of the present moral condition of mankind,
+    nothing less than a catastrophe?&mdash;might it not even result
+    in the extinction of the human species?...</p>
+
+    <p>The rule seems to be that the dissemination of dangerous
+    higher knowledge, before
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page123"
+       id="page123"></a>[pg 123]</span> the masses of a people are
+       ethically prepared to receive it, will always be prevented
+       by the conservative instinct; and we have reason to suppose
+       (allowing for individual exceptions) that the power to gain
+       higher knowledge is developed only as the moral ability to
+       profit by such knowledge is evolved. I fancy that if the
+       power of holding intellectual converse with other worlds
+       could now serve us, we should presently obtain it. But if,
+       by some astonishing chance,&mdash;as by the discovery, let
+       us suppose, of some method of ether-telegraphy,&mdash;this
+       power were prematurely acquired, its exercise would in all
+       probability be prohibited.... Imagine, for example, what
+       would have happened during the Middle Ages to the person
+       guilty of discovering means to communicate with the people
+       of a neighboring planet! Assuredly that inventor and his
+       apparatus and his records would have been burned; every
+       trace and memory of his labors would have been extirpated.
+       Even to-day the sudden discovery of truths unsupported by
+       human experience, the sudden revelation of facts totally
+       opposed to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page124"
+       id="page124"></a>[pg 124]</span> existing convictions, might
+       evoke some frantic revival of superstitious
+       terrors,&mdash;some religious panic-fury that would strangle
+       science, and replunge the world in mental darkness for a
+       thousand years.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page125"
+       id="page125"></a>[pg 125]</span>
+
+    <h2>THE MIRROR
+    MAIDEN</h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="page127"
+       id="page127"></a>[pg 127]</span>
+
+    <p>In the period of the Ashikaga Sh&#333;gunate the shrine of
+    Ogawachi-My&#333;jin, at Minami-Isé, fell into decay; and the
+    daimy&#333; of the district, the Lord Kitahataké, found himself
+    unable, by reason of war and other circumstances, to provide
+    for the reparation of the building. Then the Shint&#333; priest
+    in charge, Matsumura Hy&#333;go, sought help at Ky&#333;to from
+    the great daimy&#333; Hosokawa, who was known to have influence
+    with the Sh&#333;gun. The Lord Hosokawa received the priest
+    kindly, and promised to speak to the Sh&#333;gun about the
+    condition of Ogawachi-My&#333;jin. But he said that, in any
+    event, a grant for the restoration of the temple could not be
+    made without due investigation and considerable
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page128"
+       id="page128"></a>[pg 128]</span> delay; and he advised
+       Matsumura to remain in the capital while the matter was
+       being arranged. Matsumura therefore brought his family to
+       Ky&#333;to, and rented a house in the old Ky&#333;goku
+       quarter.</p>
+
+    <p>This house, although handsome and spacious, had been long
+    unoccupied. It was said to be an unlucky house. On the
+    northeast side of it there was a well; and several former
+    tenants had drowned themselves in that well, without any known
+    cause. But Matsumura, being a Shint&#333; priest, had no fear
+    of evil spirits; and he soon made himself very comfortable in
+    his new home.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>In the summer of that year there was a great drought. For
+    months no rain had fallen in the Five Home-Provinces; the
+    river-beds dried up, the wells failed; and even in the capital
+    there was a dearth of water. But the well in Matsumura's garden
+    remained nearly full; and the water&mdash;which was very cold
+    and clear, with a faint bluish tinge&mdash;seemed to be
+    supplied by a spring. During the hot season many
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page129"
+       id="page129"></a>[pg 129]</span> people came from all parts
+       of the city to beg for water; and Matsumura allowed them to
+       draw as much as they pleased. Nevertheless the supply did
+       not appear to be diminished.</p>
+
+    <p>But one morning the dead body of a young servant, who had
+    been sent from a neighboring residence to fetch water, was
+    found floating in the well. No cause for a suicide could be
+    imagined; and Matsumura, remembering many unpleasant stories
+    about the well, began to suspect some invisible malevolence. He
+    went to examine the well, with the intention of having a fence
+    built around it; and while standing there alone he was startled
+    by a sudden motion in the water, as of something alive. The
+    motion soon ceased; and then he perceived, clearly reflected in
+    the still surface, the figure of a young woman, apparently
+    about nineteen or twenty years of age. She seemed to be
+    occupied with her toilet: he distinctly saw her touching her
+    lips with <i>béni</i><a id="footnotetag67"
+       name="footnotetag67"></a><a href="#footnote67"><sup>67</sup></a>
+       At first her face was visible in profile only; but presently
+       she turned towards him and smiled. Immediately he felt a
+       strange shock <span class="pagenum"><a name="page130"
+       id="page130"></a>[pg 130]</span> at his heart, and a
+       dizziness came upon him like the dizziness of wine, and
+       everything became dark, except that smiling
+       face,&mdash;white and beautiful as moonlight, and always
+       seeming to grow more beautiful, and to be drawing him
+       down&mdash;down&mdash;down into the darkness. But with a
+       desperate effort he recovered his will and closed his eyes.
+       When he opened them again, the face was gone, and the light
+       had returned; and he found himself leaning down over the
+       curb of the well. A moment more of that dizziness,&mdash;a
+       moment more of that dazzling lure,&mdash;and he would never
+       again have looked upon the sun...</p>
+
+    <p>Returning to the house, he gave orders to his people not to
+    approach the well under any circumstances, or allow any person
+    to draw water from it. And the next day he had a strong fence
+    built round the well.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>About a week after the fence had been built, the long
+    drought was broken by a great rain-storm, accompanied by wind
+    and lightning and thunder,&mdash;thunder so tremendous
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page131"
+       id="page131"></a>[pg 131]</span> that the whole city shook
+       to the rolling of it, as if shaken by an earthquake. For
+       three days and three nights the downpour and the lightnings
+       and the thunder continued; and the Kamogawa rose as it had
+       never risen before, carrying away many bridges. During the
+       third night of the storm, at the Hour of the Ox, there was
+       heard a knocking at the door of the priest's dwelling, and
+       the voice of a woman pleading for admittance. But Matsumura,
+       warned by his experience at the well, forbade his servants
+       to answer the appeal. He went himself to the entrance, and
+       asked,&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"Who calls?"</p>
+
+    <p>A feminine voice responded:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"Pardon! it is I,&mdash;Yayoi!<a id="footnotetag68"
+       name="footnotetag68"></a><a href="#footnote68"><sup>68</sup></a>...
+       I have something to say to Matsumura Sama,&mdash;something
+       of great moment. Please open!"...</p>
+
+    <p>Matsumura half opened the door, very cautiously; and he saw
+    the same beautiful face that had smiled upon him from the well.
+    But it was not smiling now: it had a very sad look.</p>
+
+    <p>"Into my house you shall not come,"
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page132"
+       id="page132"></a>[pg 132]</span> the priest exclaimed. "You
+       are not a human being, but a Well-Person.... Why do you thus
+       wickedly try to delude and destroy people?"</p>
+
+    <p>The Well-Person made answer in a voice musical as a tinkling
+    of jewels (<i>tama-wo-korogasu-koë</i>.):&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"It is of that very matter that I want to speak.... I have
+    never wished to injure human beings. But from ancient time a
+    Poison-Dragon dwelt in that well. He was the Master of the
+    Well; and because of him the well was always full. Long ago I
+    fell into the water there, and so became subject to him; and he
+    had power to make me lure people to death, in order that he
+    might drink their blood. But now the Heavenly Ruler has
+    commanded the Dragon to dwell hereafter in the lake called
+    Torii-no-Iké, in the Province of Shinsh&#363;; and the gods
+    have decided that he shall never be allowed to return to this
+    city. So to-night, after he had gone away, I was able to come
+    out, to beg for your kindly help. There is now very little
+    water in the well, because of the
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page133"
+       id="page133"></a>[pg 133]</span> Dragon's departure; and if
+       you will order search to be made, my body will be found
+       there. I pray you to save my body from the well without
+       delay; and I shall certainly return your
+       benevolence."...</p>
+
+    <p>So saying, she vanished into the night.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>Before dawn the tempest had passed; and when the sun arose
+    there was no trace of cloud in the pure blue sky. Matsumura
+    sent at an early hour for well-cleaners to search the well.
+    Then, to everybody's surprise, the well proved to be almost
+    dry. It was easily cleaned; and at the bottom of it were found
+    some hair-ornaments of a very ancient fashion, and a metal
+    mirror of curious form&mdash;but no trace of any body, animal
+    or human.</p>
+
+    <p>Matusmura imagined, however, that the mirror might yield
+    some explanation of the mystery; for every such mirror is a
+    weird thing, having a soul of its own,&mdash;and the soul of a
+    mirror is feminine. This mirror, which seemed to be very old,
+    was deeply crusted with scurf. But when it had been carefully
+    cleaned, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page134"
+       id="page134"></a>[pg 134]</span> by the priest's order, it
+       proved to be of rare and costly workmanship; and there were
+       wonderful designs upon the back of it,&mdash;also several
+       characters. Some of the characters had become
+       indistinguishable; but there could still be discerned part
+       of a date, and ideographs signifying, "<i>third month, the
+       third day</i>." Now the third month used to be termed
+       <i>Yayoi</i> (meaning, the Month of Increase); and the third
+       day of the third month, which is a festival day, is still
+       called <i>Yayoi-no-sekku</i>. Remembering that the
+       Well-Person called herself "Yayoi," Matsumura felt almost
+       sure that his ghostly visitant had been none other than the
+       Soul of the Mirror.</p>
+
+    <p>He therefore resolved to treat the mirror with all the
+    consideration due to a Spirit. After having caused it to be
+    carefully repolished and resilvered, he had a case of precious
+    wood made for it, and a particular room in the house prepared
+    to receive it. On the evening of the same day that it had been
+    respectfully deposited in that room, Yayoi herself unexpectedly
+    appeared before the priest as he sat alone in his study. She
+    looked even more lovely than
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page135"
+       id="page135"></a>[pg 135]</span> before; but the light of
+       her beauty was now soft as the light of a summer moon
+       shining through pure white clouds. After having humbly
+       saluted Matsumura, she said in her sweetly tinkling
+       voice:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"Now that you have saved me from solitude and sorrow, I have
+    come to thank you.... I am indeed, as you supposed, the Spirit
+    of the Mirror. It was in the time of the Emperor Saimei that I
+    was first brought here from Kudara; and I dwelt in the august
+    residence until the time of the Emperor Saga, when I was
+    augustly bestowed upon the Lady Kamo, Naishinn&#333; of the
+    Imperial Court.<a id="footnotetag69"
+       name="footnotetag69"></a><a href="#footnote69"><sup>69</sup></a>
+       Thereafter I became an heirloom in the House of Fuji-wara,
+       and so remained until the period of H&#333;gen, when I was
+       dropped into the well. There I was left and forgotten during
+       the years <span class="pagenum"><a name="page136"
+       id="page136"></a>[pg 136]</span> of the great
+       war.<a id="footnotetag70"
+       name="footnotetag70"></a><a href="#footnote70"><sup>70</sup></a>
+       The Master of the Well<a id="footnotetag71"
+       name="footnotetag71"></a><a href="#footnote71"><sup>71</sup></a>
+       was a venomous Dragon, who used to live in a lake that once
+       covered a great part of this district. After the lake had
+       been filled in, by government order, in order that houses
+       might be built upon the place of it, the Dragon took
+       possession of the well; and when I fell into the well I
+       became subject to him; and he compelled me to lure many
+       people to their deaths. But the gods have banished him
+       forever.... Now I have one more favor to beseech: I entreat
+       that you will cause me to be offered up to the Sh&#333;gun,
+       the Lord Yoshimasa, who by descent is related to my former
+       possessors. Do me but this last great kindness, and it will
+       bring you <span class="pagenum"><a name="page137"
+       id="page137"></a>[pg 137]</span> good-fortune.... But I have
+       also to warn you of a danger. In this house, after
+       to-morrow, you must not stay, because it will be
+       destroyed."... And with these words of warning Yayoi
+       disappeared.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>Matsumura was able to profit by this premonition. He removed
+    his people and his belongings to another district the next day;
+    and almost immediately afterwards another storm arose, even
+    more violent than the first, causing a flood which swept away
+    the house in which he had been residing.</p>
+
+    <p>Some time later, by favor of the Lord Hosokawa, Matsumura
+    was enabled to obtain an audience of the Sh&#333;gun Yoshimasa,
+    to whom he presented the mirror, together with a written
+    account of its wonderful history. Then the prediction of the
+    Spirit of the Mirror was fulfilled; for the Sh&#333;gun,
+    greatly pleased with this strange gift, not only bestowed
+    costly presents upon Matsumura, but also made an ample grant of
+    money for the rebuilding of the Temple of
+    Ogawachi-My&#333;jin.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page139"
+       id="page139"></a>[pg 139]</span>
+
+    <h2>THE STORY OF IT&#332;
+    NORISUKÉ</h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="page141"
+       id="page141"></a>[pg 141]</span>
+
+    <p>In the town of Uji, in the province of Yamashiro, there
+    lived, about six hundred years ago, a young samurai named
+    It&#333; Tatéwaki Norisuké, whose ancestors were of the Héďké
+    clan. It&#333; was of handsome person and amiable character, a
+    good scholar and apt at arms. But his family were poor; and he
+    had no patron among the military nobility,&mdash;so that his
+    prospects were small. He lived in a very quiet way, devoting
+    himself to the study of literature, and having (says the
+    Japanese story-teller) "only the Moon and the Wind for
+    friends."</p>
+
+    <p>One autumn evening, as he was taking a solitary walk in the
+    neighborhood of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page142"
+       id="page142"></a>[pg 142]</span> hill called Kotobikiyama,
+       he happened to overtake a young girl who was following the
+       same path. She was richly dressed, and seemed to be about
+       eleven or twelve years old. It&#333; greeted her, and said,
+       "The sun will soon be setting, damsel, and this is rather a
+       lonesome place. May I ask if you have lost your way?" She
+       looked up at him with a bright smile, and answered
+       deprecatingly: "Nay! I am a
+       <i>miya-dzukai</i>,<a id="footnotetag72"
+       name="footnotetag72"></a><a href="#footnote72"><sup>72</sup></a>
+       serving in this neighborhood; and I have only a little way
+       to go."</p>
+
+    <p>By her use of the term <i>miya-dzukai</i>, It&#333; knew
+    that the girl must be in the service of persons of rank; and
+    her statement surprised him, because he had never heard of any
+    family of distinction residing in that vicinity. But he only
+    said: "I am returning to Uji, where my home is. Perhaps you
+    will allow me to accompany you on the way, as this is a very
+    lonesome place." She thanked him gracefully, seeming pleased by
+    his offer; and they walked on together, chatting as they went.
+    She talked about the weather, the flowers, the butterflies,
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page143"
+       id="page143"></a>[pg 143]</span> and the birds; about a
+       visit that she had once made to Uji, about the famous sights
+       of the capital, where she had been born;&mdash;and the
+       moments passed pleasantly for It&#333;, as he listened to
+       her fresh prattle. Presently, at a turn in the road, they
+       entered a hamlet, densely shadowed by a grove of young
+       trees.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>[Here I must interrupt the story to tell you that, without
+    having actually seen them, you cannot imagine how dark some
+    Japanese country villages remain even in the brightest and
+    hottest weather. In the neighborhood of T&#333;ky&#333; itself
+    there are many villages of this kind. At a short distance from
+    such a settlement you see no houses: nothing is visible but a
+    dense grove of evergreen trees. The grove, which is usually
+    composed of young cedars and bamboos, serves to shelter the
+    village from storms, and also to supply timber for various
+    purposes. So closely are the trees planted that there is no
+    room to pass between the trunks of them: they stand straight as
+    masts, and mingle their crests so as to form a roof that
+    excludes <span class="pagenum"><a name="page144"
+       id="page144"></a>[pg 144]</span> the sun. Each thatched
+       cottage occupies a clear space in the plantation, the trees
+       forming a fence about it, double the height of the building.
+       Under the trees it is always twilight, even at high noon;
+       and the houses, morning or evening, are half in shadow. What
+       makes the first impression of such a village almost
+       disquieting is, not the transparent gloom, which has a
+       certain weird charm of its own, but the stillness. There may
+       be fifty or a hundred dwellings; but you see nobody; and you
+       hear no sound but the twitter of invisible birds, the
+       occasional crowing of cocks, and the shrilling of cicadć.
+       Even the cicadć, however, find these groves too dim, and
+       sing faintly; being sun-lovers, they prefer the trees
+       outside the village. I forgot to say that you may sometimes
+       hear a viewless shuttle&mdash;<i>chaka-ton,
+       chaka-ton</i>;&mdash;but that familiar sound, in the great
+       green silence, seems an elfish happening. The reason of the
+       hush is simply that the people are not at home. All the
+       adults, excepting some feeble elders, have gone to the
+       neighboring fields, the women carrying their babies on their
+       backs; and most <span class="pagenum"><a name="page145"
+       id="page145"></a>[pg 145]</span> of the children have gone
+       to the nearest school, perhaps not less than a mile away.
+       Verily, in these dim hushed villages, one seems to behold
+       the mysterious perpetuation of conditions recorded in the
+       texts of Kwang-Tze:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>"<i>The ancients who had the nourishment of the world
+        wished for nothing, and the world had enough:&mdash;they
+        did nothing, and all things were transformed:&mdash;their
+        stillness was abysmal, and the people were all
+        composed.</i>"]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>... The village was very dark when It&#333; reached it; for
+    the sun had set, and the after-glow made no twilight in the
+    shadowing of the trees. "Now, kind sir," the child said,
+    pointing to a narrow lane opening upon the main road, "I have
+    to go this way." "Permit me, then, to see you home," It&#333;
+    responded; and he turned into the lane with her, feeling rather
+    than seeing his way. But the girl soon stopped before a small
+    gate, dimly visible in the gloom,&mdash;a gate of trelliswork,
+    beyond which the lights of a dwelling could be seen. "Here,"
+    she said, "is the honorable residence in which I serve.
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page146"
+       id="page146"></a>[pg 146]</span> As you have come thus far
+       out of your way, kind sir, will you not deign to enter and
+       to rest a while?" It&#333; assented. He was pleased by the
+       informal invitation; and he wished to learn what persons of
+       superior condition had chosen to reside in so lonesome a
+       village. He knew that sometimes a family of rank would
+       retire in this manner from public life, by reason of
+       government displeasure or political trouble; and he imagined
+       that such might be the history of the occupants of the
+       dwelling before him. Passing the gate, which his young guide
+       opened for him, he found himself in a large quaint garden. A
+       miniature landscape, traversed by a winding stream, was
+       faintly distinguishable. "Deign for one little moment to
+       wait," the child said; "I go to announce the honorable
+       coming;" and hurried toward the house. It was a spacious
+       house, but seemed very old, and built in the fashion of
+       another time. The sliding doors were not closed; but the
+       lighted interior was concealed by a beautiful bamboo curtain
+       extending along the gallery front. Behind it shadows were
+       moving&mdash;shadows of women;&mdash;and suddenly
+       <span class="pagenum"><a name="page147"
+       id="page147"></a>[pg 147]</span> the music of a <i>koto</i>
+       rippled into the night. So light and sweet was the playing
+       that It&#333; could scarcely believe the evidence of his
+       senses. A slumbrous feeling of delight stole over him as he
+       listened,&mdash;a delight strangely mingled with sadness. He
+       wondered how any woman could have learned to play
+       thus,&mdash;wondered whether the player could be a
+       woman,&mdash;wondered even whether he was hearing earthly
+       music; for enchantment seemed to have entered into his blood
+       with the sound of it.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>The soft music ceased; and almost at the same moment
+    It&#333; found the little <i>miya-dzukai</i> beside him. "Sir,"
+    she said, "it is requested that you will honorably enter." She
+    conducted him to the entrance, where he removed his sandals;
+    and an aged woman, whom he thought to be the <i>R&#333;jo</i>,
+    or matron of the household, came to welcome him at the
+    threshold. The old woman then led him through many apartments
+    to a large and well-lighted room in the rear of the house, and
+    with many respectful salutations requested him to take the
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page148"
+       id="page148"></a>[pg 148]</span> place of honor accorded to
+       guests of distinction. He was surprised by the stateliness
+       of the chamber, and the curious beauty of its decorations.
+       Presently some maid-servants brought refreshments; and he
+       noticed that the cups and other vessels set before him were
+       of rare and costly workmanship, and ornamented with a design
+       indicating the high rank of the possessor. More and more he
+       wondered what noble person had chosen this lonely retreat,
+       and what happening could have inspired the wish for such
+       solitude. But the aged attendant suddenly interrupted his
+       reflections with the question:</p>
+
+    <p>"Am I wrong in supposing that you are It&#333; Sama, of
+    Uji,&mdash;It&#333; Tatéwaki Norisuké?"</p>
+
+    <p>It&#333; bowed in assent. He had not told his name to the
+    little <i>miya-dzukai</i>, and the manner of the inquiry
+    startled him.</p>
+
+    <p>"Please do not think my question rude," continued the
+    attendant. "An old woman like myself may ask questions without
+    improper curiosity. When you came to the house, I thought that
+    I knew your face; and I <span class="pagenum"><a name="page149"
+       id="page149"></a>[pg 149]</span> asked your name only to
+       clear away all doubt, before speaking of other matters. I
+       have some thing of moment to tell you. You often pass
+       through this village, and our young
+       Himégimi-Sama<a id="footnotetag73"
+       name="footnotetag73"></a><a href="#footnote73"><sup>73</sup></a>
+       happened one morning to see you going by; and ever since
+       that moment she has been thinking about you, day and night.
+       Indeed, she thought so much that she became ill; and we have
+       been very uneasy about her. For that reason I took means to
+       find out your name and residence; and I was on the point of
+       sending you a letter when&mdash;so unexpectedly!&mdash;you
+       came to our gate with the little attendant. Now, to say how
+       happy I am to see you is not possible; it seems almost too
+       fortunate a happening to be true! Really I think that this
+       meeting must have been brought about by the favor of
+       Enmusubi-no-Kami,&mdash;that great God of Izumo who ties the
+       knots of fortunate union. And now that so lucky a destiny
+       has led you hither, perhaps you will not refuse&mdash;if
+       there <span class="pagenum"><a name="page150"
+       id="page150"></a>[pg 150]</span> be no obstacle in the way
+       of such a union&mdash;to make happy the heart of our
+       Himégimi-Sama?"</p>
+
+    <p>For the moment It&#333; did not know how to reply. If the
+    old woman had spoken the truth, an extraordinary chance was
+    being offered to him. Only a great passion could impel the
+    daughter of a noble house to seek, of her own will, the
+    affection of an obscure and masterless samurai, possessing
+    neither wealth nor any sort of prospects. On the other hand, it
+    was not in the honorable nature of the man to further his own
+    interests by taking advantage of a feminine weakness. Moreover,
+    the circumstances were disquietingly mysterious. Yet how to
+    decline the proposal, so unexpectedly made, troubled him not a
+    little. After a short silence, he replied:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"There would be no obstacle, as I have no wife, and no
+    betrothed, and no relation with any woman. Until now I have
+    lived with my parents; and the matter of my marriage was never
+    discussed by them. You must know that I am a poor samurai,
+    without any patron among persons of rank; and I did not
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page151"
+       id="page151"></a>[pg 151]</span> wish to marry until I could
+       find some chance to improve my condition. As to the proposal
+       which you have done me the very great honor to make, I can
+       only say that I know myself yet unworthy of the notice of
+       any noble maiden."</p>
+
+    <p>The old woman smiled as if pleased by these words, and
+    responded:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"Until you have seen our Himégimi-Sama, it were better that
+    you make no decision. Perhaps you will feel no hesitation after
+    you have seen her. Deign now to come with me, that I may
+    present you to her."</p>
+
+    <p>She conducted him to another larger guest-room, where
+    preparations for a feast had been made, and having shown him
+    the place of honor, left him for a moment alone. She returned
+    accompanied by the Himégimi-Sama; and, at the first sight of
+    the young mistress, It&#333; felt again the strange thrill of
+    wonder and delight that had come to him in the garden, as he
+    listened to the music of the <i>koto</i>. Never had he dreamed
+    of so beautiful a being. Light seemed to radiate from her
+    presence, and to shine through her garments, as the light of
+    the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page152"
+       id="page152"></a>[pg 152]</span> moon through flossy clouds;
+       her loosely flowing hair swayed about her as she moved, like
+       the boughs of the drooping willow bestirred by the breezes
+       of spring; her lips were like flowers of the peach
+       besprinkled with morning dew. It&#333; was bewildered by the
+       vision. He asked himself whether he was not looking upon the
+       person of Amano-kawara-no-Ori-Himé herself,&mdash;the
+       Weaving-Maiden who dwells by the shining River of
+       Heaven.</p>
+
+    <p>Smiling, the aged woman turned to the fair one, who remained
+    speechless, with downcast eyes and flushing cheeks, and said to
+    her:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"See, my child!&mdash;at the moment when we could least have
+    hoped for such a thing, the very person whom you wished to meet
+    has come of his own accord. So fortunate a happening could have
+    been brought about only by the will of the high gods. To think
+    of it makes me weep for joy." And she sobbed aloud. "But now,"
+    she continued, wiping away her tears with her sleeve, "it only
+    remains for you both&mdash;unless either prove unwilling,
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page153"
+       id="page153"></a>[pg 153]</span> which I doubt&mdash;to
+       pledge yourselves to each other, and to partake of your
+       wedding feast."</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>It&#333; answered by no word: the incomparable vision before
+    him had numbed his will and tied his tongue. Maid-servants
+    entered, bearing dishes and wine: the wedding feast was spread
+    before the pair; and the pledges were given. It&#333;
+    nevertheless remained as in a trance: the marvel of the
+    adventure, and the wonder of the beauty of the bride, still
+    bewildered him. A gladness, beyond aught that he had ever known
+    before, filled his heart&mdash;like a great silence. But
+    gradually he recovered his wonted calm; and thereafter he found
+    himself able to converse without embarrassment. Of the wine he
+    partook freely; and he ventured to speak, in a
+    self-depreciating but merry way, about the doubts and fears
+    that had oppressed him. Meanwhile the bride remained still as
+    moonlight, never lifting her eyes, and replying only by a blush
+    or a smile when he addressed her.</p>
+
+    <p>It&#333; said to the aged attendant:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"Many times, in my solitary walks, I
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page154"
+       id="page154"></a>[pg 154]</span> have passed through this
+       village without knowing of the existence of this honorable
+       dwelling. And ever since entering here, I have been
+       wondering why this noble household should have chosen so
+       lonesome a place of sojourn.... Now that your Himégimi-Sama
+       and I have become pledged to each other, it seems to me a
+       strange thing that I do not yet know the name of her august
+       family."</p>
+
+    <p>At this utterance, a shadow passed over the kindly face of
+    the old woman; and the bride, who had yet hardly spoken, turned
+    pale, and appeared to become painfully anxious. After some
+    moments of silence, the aged woman responded:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"To keep our secret from you much longer would be difficult;
+    and I think that, under any circumstances, you should be made
+    aware of the facts, now that you are one of us. Know then, Sir
+    It&#333;, that your bride is the daughter of
+    Shigéhira-Ky&#333;, the great and unfortunate San-mi
+    Chüj&#333;."</p>
+
+    <p>At those words&mdash;"Shigéhira-Ky&#333;, San-mi
+    Chüj&#333;"&mdash;the young samurai felt a
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page155"
+       id="page155"></a>[pg 155]</span> chill, as of ice, strike
+       through all his veins. Shigéhira-Ky&#333;, the great Héďké
+       general and statesman, had been dust for centuries. And
+       It&#333; suddenly understood that everything around
+       him&mdash;the chamber and the lights and the
+       banquet&mdash;was a dream of the past; that the forms before
+       him were not people, but shadows of people dead.</p>
+
+    <p>But in another instant the icy chill had passed; and the
+    charm returned, and seemed to deepen about him; and he felt no
+    fear. Though his bride had come to him out of Yomi,&mdash;out
+    of the place of the Yellow Springs of death,&mdash;his heart
+    had been wholly won. Who weds a ghost must become a
+    ghost;&mdash;yet he knew himself ready to die, not once, but
+    many times, rather than betray by word or look one thought that
+    might bring a shadow of pain to the brow of the beautiful
+    illusion before him. Of the affection proffered he had no
+    misgiving: the truth had been told him when any unloving
+    purpose might better have been served by deception. But these
+    thoughts and emotions passed in a flash, leaving him resolved
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page156"
+       id="page156"></a>[pg 156]</span> to accept the strange
+       situation as it had presented itself, and to act just as he
+       would have done if chosen, in the years of Jü-ei, by
+       Shigéhira's daughter.</p>
+
+    <p>"Ah, the pity of it!" he exclaimed; "I have heard of the
+    cruel fate of the august Lord Shigéhira."</p>
+
+    <p>"Ay," responded the aged woman, sobbing as she
+    spoke;&mdash;"it was indeed a cruel fate. His horse, you know,
+    was killed by an arrow, and fell upon him; and when he called
+    for help, those who had lived upon his bounty deserted him in
+    his need. Then he was taken prisoner, and sent to Kamakura,
+    where they treated him shamefully, and at last put him to
+    death.<a id="footnotetag74"
+       name="footnotetag74"></a><a href="#footnote74"><sup>74</sup></a>
+       His wife and child&mdash;this dear maid
+       <span class="pagenum"><a name="page157"
+       id="page157"></a>[pg 157]</span> here&mdash;were then in
+       hiding; for everywhere the Héďké were being sought out and
+       killed. When the news of the Lord Shigéhira's death reached
+       us, the pain proved too great for the mother to bear, so the
+       child was left with no one to care for her but
+       me,&mdash;since her kindred had all perished or disappeared.
+       She was only five years old. I had been her milk-nurse, and
+       I did what I could for her. Year after year we wandered from
+       place to place, traveling in pilgrim-garb.... But these
+       tales of grief are ill-timed," exclaimed the nurse, wiping
+       away her tears;&mdash;"pardon the foolish heart of an old
+       woman who cannot forget the past. See! the little maid whom
+       I fostered has now become a Himégimi-Sama indeed!&mdash;were
+       we living in the good days of the Emperor Takakura, what a
+       destiny might be reserved for her! However, she has obtained
+       the husband <span class="pagenum"><a name="page158"
+       id="page158"></a>[pg 158]</span> whom she desired; that is
+       the greatest happiness.... But the hour is late. The
+       bridal-chamber has been prepared; and I must now leave you
+       to care for each other until morning."</p>
+
+    <p>She rose, and sliding back the screens parting the
+    guest-room from the adjoining chamber, ushered them to their
+    sleeping apartment. Then, with many words of joy and
+    congratulation, she withdrew; and It&#333; was left alone with
+    his bride.</p>
+
+    <p>As they reposed together, It&#333; said:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"Tell me, my loved one, when was it that you first wished to
+    have me for your husband."</p>
+
+    <p>(For everything appeared so real that he had almost ceased
+    to think of the illusion woven around him.)</p>
+
+    <p>She answered, in a voice like a dove's voice:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"My august lord and husband, it was at the temple of
+    Ishiyama, where I went with my foster-mother, that I saw you
+    for the first time. And because of seeing you, the world became
+    changed to me from that hour and
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page159"
+       id="page159"></a>[pg 159]</span> moment. But you do not
+       remember, because our meeting was not in this, your present
+       life: it was very, very long ago. Since that time you have
+       passed through many deaths and births, and have had many
+       comely bodies. But I have remained always that which you see
+       me now: I could not obtain another body, nor enter into
+       another state of existence, because of my great wish for
+       you. My dear lord and husband, I have waited for you through
+       many ages of men."</p>
+
+    <p>And the bridegroom felt nowise afraid at hearing these
+    strange words, but desired nothing more in life, or in all his
+    lives to come, than to feel her arms about him, and to hear the
+    caress of her voice.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>But the pealing of a temple-bell proclaimed the coming of
+    dawn. Birds began to twitter; a morning breeze set all the
+    trees a-whispering. Suddenly the old nurse pushed apart the
+    sliding screens of the bridal-chamber, and
+    exclaimed:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"My children, it is time to separate! By daylight you must
+    not be together, even for
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page160"
+       id="page160"></a>[pg 160]</span> an instant: that were
+       fatal! You must bid each other good-by."</p>
+
+    <p>Without a word, It&#333; made ready to depart. He vaguely
+    understood the warning uttered, and resigned himself wholly to
+    destiny. His will belonged to him no more; he desired only to
+    please his shadowy bride.</p>
+
+    <p>She placed in his hands a little <i>suzuri</i>, or
+    ink-stone, curiously carved, and said:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"My young lord and husband is a scholar; therefore this
+    small gift will probably not be despised by him. It is of
+    strange fashion because it is old, having been augustly
+    bestowed upon my father by the favor of the Emperor Takakura.
+    For that reason only, I thought it to be a precious thing."</p>
+
+    <p>It&#333;, in return, besought her to accept for a
+    remembrance the <i>k&#333;gai</i><a id="footnotetag75"
+       name="footnotetag75"></a><a href="#footnote75"><sup>75</sup></a>
+       of his sword, which were decorated with inlaid work of
+       silver and gold, representing plum-flowers and
+       nightingales.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page161"
+       id="page161"></a>[pg 161]</span>
+
+    <p>Then the little <i>miya-dzukai</i> came to guide him through
+    the garden, and his bride with her foster-mother accompanied
+    him to the threshold.</p>
+
+    <p>As he turned at the foot of the steps to make his parting
+    salute, the old woman said:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"We shall meet again the next Year of the Boar, at the same
+    hour of the same day of the same month that you came here. This
+    being the Year of the Tiger, you will have to wait ten years.
+    But, for reasons which I must not say, we shall not be able to
+    meet again in this place; we are going to the neighborhood of
+    Ky&#333;to, where the good Emperor Takakura and our fathers and
+    many of our people are dwelling. All the Héďké will be rejoiced
+    by your coming. We shall send a
+    <i>kago</i><a id="footnotetag76"
+       name="footnotetag76"></a><a href="#footnote76"><sup>76</sup></a>
+       for you on the appointed day."</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>Above the village the stars were burning as It&#333; passed
+    the gate; but on reaching the open road he saw the dawn
+    brightening beyond <span class="pagenum"><a name="page162"
+       id="page162"></a>[pg 162]</span> leagues of silent fields.
+       In his bosom he carried the gift of his bride. The charm of
+       her voice lingered in his ears,&mdash;and nevertheless, had
+       it not been for the memento which he touched with
+       questioning fingers, he could have persuaded himself that
+       the memories of the night were memories of sleep, and that
+       his life still belonged to him.</p>
+
+    <p>But the certainty that he had doomed himself evoked no least
+    regret: he was troubled only by the pain of separation, and the
+    thought of the seasons that would have to pass before the
+    illusion could be renewed for him. Ten years!&mdash;and every
+    day of those years would seem how long! The mystery of the
+    delay he could not hope to solve; the secret ways of the dead
+    are known to the gods alone.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>Often and often, in his solitary walks, It&#333; revisited
+    the village at Kotobikiyama, vaguely hoping to obtain another
+    glimpse of the past. But never again, by night or by day, was
+    he able to find the rustic gate in the shadowed lane; never
+    again could he perceive the figure
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page163"
+       id="page163"></a>[pg 163]</span> of the little
+       <i>miya-dzukai</i>, walking alone in the sunset-glow.</p>
+
+    <p>The village people, whom he questioned carefully, thought
+    him bewitched. No person of rank, they said, had ever dwelt in
+    the settlement; and there had never been, in the neighborhood,
+    any such garden as he described. But there had once been a
+    great Buddhist temple near the place of which he spoke; and
+    some gravestones of the temple-cemetery were still to be seen.
+    It&#333; discovered the monuments in the middle of a dense
+    thicket. They were of an ancient Chinese form, and were covered
+    with moss and lichens. The characters that had been cut upon
+    them could no longer be deciphered.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>Of his adventure It&#333; spoke to no one. But friends and
+    kindred soon perceived a great change in his appearance and
+    manner. Day by day he seemed to become more pale and thin,
+    though physicians declared that he had no bodily ailment; he
+    looked like a ghost, and moved like a shadow. Thoughtful and
+    solitary he had always been, but now he appeared indifferent
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page164"
+       id="page164"></a>[pg 164]</span> to everything which had
+       formerly given him pleasure,&mdash;even to those literary
+       studies by means of which he might have hoped to win
+       distinction. To his mother&mdash;who thought that marriage
+       might quicken his former ambition, and revive his interest
+       in life&mdash;he said that he had made a vow to marry no
+       living woman. And the months dragged by.</p>
+
+    <p>At last came the Year of the Boar, and the season of autumn;
+    but I to could no longer take the solitary walks that he loved.
+    He could not even rise from his bed. His life was ebbing,
+    though none could divine the cause; and he slept so deeply and
+    so long that his sleep was often mistaken for death.</p>
+
+    <p>Out of such a sleep he was startled, one bright evening, by
+    the voice of a child; and he saw at his bedside the little
+    <i>miya-dsukai</i> who had guided him, ten years before, to the
+    gate of the vanished garden. She saluted him, and smiled, and
+    said: "I am bidden to tell you that you will be received
+    to-night at Öhara, near Ky&#333;to, where the new home is, and
+    that a <i>kago</i> has been sent for you." Then she
+    disappeared.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page165"
+       id="page165"></a>[pg 165]</span>
+
+    <p>It&#333; knew that he was being summoned away from the light
+    of the sun; but the message so rejoiced him that he found
+    strength to sit up and call his mother. To her he then for the
+    first time related the story of his bridal, and he showed her
+    the ink-stone which had been given him. He asked that it should
+    be placed in his coffin,&mdash;and then he died.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>The ink-stone was buried with him. But before the funeral
+    ceremonies it was examined by experts, who said that it had
+    been made in the period of <i>J&#333;-an</i>(1169 A.D.), and
+    that it bore the seal-mark of an artist who had lived in the
+    time of the Emperor
+    Takakura.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page167"
+       id="page167"></a>[pg 167]</span>
+
+    <h2>STRANGER THAN
+    FICTION</h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="page169"
+       id="page169"></a>[pg 169]</span>
+
+    <p>It was a perfect West Indian day. My friend the notary and I
+    were crossing the island by a wonderful road which wound up
+    through tropic forest to the clouds, and thence looped down
+    again, through gold-green slopes of cane, and scenery amazing
+    of violet and blue and ghost-gray peaks, to the roaring coast
+    of the trade winds. All the morning we had been
+    ascending,&mdash;walking after our carriage, most of the time,
+    for the sake of the brave little mule;&mdash;and the sea had
+    been climbing behind us till it looked like a monstrous wall of
+    blue, pansy-blue, under the ever heightening horizon. The heat
+    was like the heat of a vapor-bath, but the air was good to
+    breathe with its tropical odor,&mdash;an odor made up of smells
+    of strange <span class="pagenum"><a name="page170"
+       id="page170"></a>[pg 170]</span> saps, queer spicy scents of
+       mould, exhalations of aromatic decay. Moreover, the views
+       were glimpses of Paradise; and it was a joy to watch the
+       torrents roaring down their gorges under shadows of
+       tree-fern and bamboo.</p>
+
+    <p>My friend stopped the carriage before a gateway set into a
+    hedge full of flowers that looked like pink-and-white
+    butterflies. "I have to make a call here," he said;&mdash;"come
+    in with me." We dismounted, and he knocked on the gate with the
+    butt of his whip. Within, at the end of a shady garden, I could
+    see the porch of a planter's house; beyond were rows of cocoa
+    palms, and glimpses of yellowing cane. Presently a negro,
+    wearing only a pair of canvas trousers and a great straw hat,
+    came hobbling to open the gate,&mdash;followed by a multitude,
+    an astonishing multitude, of chippering chickens. Under the
+    shadow of that huge straw hat I could not see the negro's face;
+    but I noticed that his limbs and body were strangely
+    shrunken,&mdash;looked as if withered to the bone. A weirder
+    creature I had never beheld; and I wondered at his following of
+    chickens.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page171"
+       id="page171"></a>[pg 171]</span>
+
+    <p>"Eh!" exclaimed the notary, "your chickens are as lively as
+    ever!... I want to see Madame Floran."</p>
+
+    <p>"<i>Moin ké di</i>," the goblin responded huskily, in his
+    patois; and he limped on before us, all the chickens hopping
+    and cheeping at his withered heels.</p>
+
+    <p>"That fellow," my friend observed, "was bitten by a
+    <i>fer-de-lance</i> about eight or nine years ago. He got
+    cured, or at least half-cured, in some extraordinary way; but
+    ever since then he has been a skeleton. See how he limps!"</p>
+
+    <p>The skeleton passed out of sight behind the house, and we
+    waited a while at the front porch. Then a
+    métisse&mdash;turbaned in wasp colors, and robed in iris
+    colors, and wonderful to behold&mdash;came to tell us that
+    Madame hoped we would rest ourselves in the garden, as the
+    house was very warm. Chairs and a little table were then set
+    for us in a shady place, and the métisse brought out lemons,
+    sugar-syrup, a bottle of the clear plantation rum that smells
+    like apple juice, and ice-cold water in a <i>dobanne</i> of
+    thick red clay. My friend prepared the
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page172"
+       id="page172"></a>[pg 172]</span> refreshments; and then our
+       hostess came to greet us, and to sit with us,&mdash;a nice
+       old lady with hair like newly minted silver. I had never
+       seen a smile sweeter than that with which she bade us
+       welcome; and I wondered whether she could ever have been
+       more charming in her Creole girlhood than she now
+       appeared,&mdash;with her kindly wrinkles, and argent hair,
+       and frank, black, sparkling eyes....</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>In the conversation that followed I was not able to take
+    part, as it related only to some question of title. The notary
+    soon arranged whatever there was to arrange; and, after some
+    charmingly spoken words of farewell from the gentle lady, we
+    took our departure. Again the mummified negro hobbled before
+    us, to open the gate,&mdash;followed by all his callow rabble
+    of chickens. As we resumed our places in the carriage we could
+    still hear the chippering of the creatures, pursuing after that
+    ancient scarecrow.</p>
+
+    <p>"Is it African sorcery?" I queried.... "How does he bewitch
+    those chickens?"</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page173"
+       id="page173"></a>[pg 173]</span>
+
+    <p>"Queer&mdash;is it not?" the notary responded as we drove
+    away. "That negro must now be at least eighty years old; and he
+    may live for twenty years more,&mdash;the wretch!"</p>
+
+    <p>The tone in which my friend uttered this epithet&mdash;<i>le
+    miserable!</i>&mdash;somewhat surprised me, as I knew him to be
+    one of the kindliest men in the world, and singularly free from
+    prejudice. I suspected that a story was coming, and I waited
+    for it in silence.</p>
+
+    <p>"Listen," said the notary, after a pause, during which we
+    left the plantation well behind us; "that old sorcerer, as you
+    call him, was born upon the estate, a slave. The estate
+    belonged to M. Floran,&mdash;the husband of the lady whom we
+    visited; and she was a cousin, and the marriage was a
+    love-match. They had been married about two years when the
+    revolt occurred (fortunately there were no children),&mdash;the
+    black revolt of eighteen hundred and forty-eight. Several
+    planters were murdered; and M. Floran was one of the first to
+    be killed. And the old negro whom we saw to-day&mdash;the old
+    sorcerer, as you call him&mdash;left the
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page174"
+       id="page174"></a>[pg 174]</span> plantation, and joined the
+       rising: do you understand?"</p>
+
+    <p>"Yes," I said; "but he might have done that through fear of
+    the mob."</p>
+
+    <p>"Certainly: the other hands did the same. But it was he that
+    killed M. Floran,&mdash;for no reason whatever,&mdash;cut him
+    up with a cutlass. M. Floran was riding home when the attack
+    was made,&mdash;about a mile below the plantation.... Sober,
+    that negro would not have dared to face M. Floran: the
+    scoundrel was drunk, of course,&mdash;raving drunk. Most of the
+    blacks had been drinking tafia, with dead wasps in it, to give
+    themselves courage."</p>
+
+    <p>"But," I interrupted, "how does it happen that the fellow is
+    still on the Floran plantation?"</p>
+
+    <p>"Wait a moment!... When the military got control of the mob,
+    search was made everywhere for the murderer of M. Floran; but
+    he could not be found. He was lying out in the cane,&mdash;in
+    M. Floran's cane!&mdash;like a field-rat, like a snake. One
+    morning, while the gendarmes were still looking for him, he
+    rushed <span class="pagenum"><a name="page175"
+       id="page175"></a>[pg 175]</span> into the house, and threw
+       himself down in front of Madame, weeping and screaming,
+       '<i>Aďe-yaďe-yaďe-yaďe!&mdash;moin té tchoué y! moin té
+       tchoué y!&mdash;aďe-yaďe-yaďe!</i>' Those were his very
+       words:&mdash;'I killed him! I killed him!' And he begged for
+       mercy. When he was asked why he killed M. Floran, he cried
+       out that it was the devil&mdash;<i>diabe-ŕ</i>&mdash;that
+       had made him do it!... Well, Madame forgave him!"</p>
+
+    <p>"But how could she?" I queried.</p>
+
+    <p>"Oh, she had always been very religious," my friend
+    responded,&mdash;"sincerely religious. She only said, 'May God
+    pardon me as I now pardon you!' She made her servants hide the
+    creature and feed him; and they kept him hidden until the
+    excitement was over. Then she sent him back to work; and he has
+    been working for her ever since. Of course he is now too old to
+    be of any use in the field;&mdash;he only takes care of the
+    chickens."</p>
+
+    <p>"But how," I persisted, "could the relatives allow Madame to
+    forgive him?"</p>
+
+    <p>"Well, Madame insisted that he was not mentally
+    responsible,&mdash;that he was only a
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page176"
+       id="page176"></a>[pg 176]</span> poor fool who had killed
+       without knowing what he was doing; and she argued that if
+       <i>she</i> could forgive him, others could more easily do
+       the same. There was a consultation; and the relatives
+       decided so to arrange matters that Madame could have her own
+       way."</p>
+
+    <p>"But why?"</p>
+
+    <p>"Because they knew that she found a sort of religious
+    consolation&mdash;a kind of religious comfort&mdash;in
+    forgiving the wretch. She imagined that it was her duty as a
+    Christian, not only to forgive him, but to take care of him. We
+    thought that she was mistaken,&mdash;but we could
+    understand.... Well, there is an example of what religion can
+    do."...</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>The surprise of a new fact, or the sudden perception of
+    something never before imagined, may cause an involuntary
+    smile. Unconsciously I smiled, while my friend was yet
+    speaking; and the good notary's brow darkened.</p>
+
+    <p>"Ah, you laugh!" he exclaimed,&mdash;"you laugh! That is
+    wrong!&mdash;that is a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page177"
+       id="page177"></a>[pg 177]</span> mistake!... But you do not
+       believe: you do not know what it is,&mdash;the true
+       religion,&mdash;the real Christianity!"</p>
+
+    <p>Earnestly I made answer:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <p>"Pardon me! I do believe every word of what you have told
+    me. If I laughed unthinkingly, it was only because I could not
+    help wondering" ...</p>
+
+    <p>"At what?" he questioned gravely.</p>
+
+    <p>"At the marvelous instinct of that negro."</p>
+
+    <p>"Ah, yes!" he returned approvingly. "Yes, the cunning of the
+    animal it was,&mdash;the instinct of the brute!... She was the
+    only person in the world who could have saved him."</p>
+
+    <p>"And he knew it," I ventured to add.</p>
+
+    <p>"No&mdash;no&mdash;no!" my friend emphatically
+    dissented,&mdash;"he never could have known it! He only
+    <i>felt</i> it!... Find me an instinct like that, and I will
+    show you a brain incapable of any knowledge, any thinking, any
+    understanding: not the mind of a man, but the brain of a
+    beast!"</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page179"
+       id="page179"></a>[pg 179]</span>
+
+    <h2>A LETTER FROM
+    JAPAN</h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="page181"
+       id="page181"></a>[pg 181]</span>
+
+    <p>Tokyo, August 1, 1904.</p>
+
+    <p>Here, in this quiet suburb, where the green peace is broken
+    only by the voices of children at play and the shrilling of
+    cicadć, it is difficult to imagine that, a few hundred miles
+    away, there is being carried on one of the most tremendous wars
+    of modern times, between armies aggregating more than half a
+    million of men, or that, on the intervening sea, a hundred
+    ships of war have been battling. This contest, between the
+    mightiest of Western powers and a people that began to study
+    Western science only within the recollection of many persons
+    still in vigorous life, is, on one side at least, a struggle
+    for national existence. It was inevitable,
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page182"
+       id="page182"></a>[pg 182]</span> this struggle,&mdash;might
+       perhaps have been delayed, but certainly not averted. Japan
+       has boldly challenged an empire capable of threatening
+       simultaneously the civilizations of the East and the
+       West,&mdash;a medićval power that, unless vigorously
+       checked, seems destined to absorb Scandinavia and to
+       dominate China. For all industrial civilization the contest
+       is one of vast moment;&mdash;for Japan it is probably the
+       supreme crisis in her national life. As to what her fleets
+       and her armies have been doing, the world is fully informed;
+       but as to what her people are doing at home, little has been
+       written.</p>
+
+    <p>To inexperienced observation they would appear to be doing
+    nothing unusual; and this strange calm is worthy of record. At
+    the beginning of hostilities an Imperial mandate was issued,
+    bidding all non-combatants to pursue their avocations as usual,
+    and to trouble themselves as little as possible about exterior
+    events;&mdash;and this command has been obeyed to the letter.
+    It would be natural to suppose that all the sacrifices,
+    tragedies, and uncertainties of the contest had thrown their
+    gloom over the life of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page183"
+       id="page183"></a>[pg 183]</span> the capital in especial;
+       but there is really nothing whatever to indicate a condition
+       of anxiety or depression. On the contrary, one is astonished
+       by the joyous tone of public confidence, and the admirably
+       restrained pride of the nation in its victories. Western
+       tides have strewn the coast with Japanese corpses; regiments
+       have been blown out of existence in the storming of
+       positions defended by wire-entanglements; battleships have
+       been lost: yet at no moment has there been the least public
+       excitement. The people are following their daily occupations
+       just as they did before the war; the cheery aspect of things
+       is just the same; the theatres and flower displays are not
+       less well patronized. The life of T&#333;ky&#333; has been,
+       to outward seeming, hardly more affected by the events of
+       the war than the life of nature beyond it, where the flowers
+       are blooming and the butterflies hovering as in other
+       summers. Except after the news of some great
+       victory,&mdash;celebrated with fireworks and lantern
+       processions,&mdash;there are no signs of public emotion; and
+       but for the frequent distribution of newspaper extras, by
+       runners ringing bells, you
+       <span class="pagenum"><a name="page184"
+       id="page184"></a>[pg 184]</span> could almost persuade
+       yourself that the whole story of the war is an evil
+       dream.</p>
+
+    <p>Yet there has been, of necessity, a vast amount of
+    suffering&mdash;viewless and voiceless
+    suffering&mdash;repressed by that sense of social and patriotic
+    duty which is Japanese religion. As a seventeen-syllable poem
+    of the hour tells us, the news of every victory must bring pain
+    as well as joy:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <div class="poem">
+        <div class="stanza">
+            <p class="i2">G&#333;gwai no</p>
+
+            <p>Tabi teki mikata</p>
+
+            <p class="i2">Goké ga fuč.</p>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p>[<i>Each time that an extra is circulated the widows of
+        foes and friends have increased in multitude.</i>]</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <p>The great quiet and the smiling tearlessness testify to the
+    more than Spartan discipline of the race. Anciently the people
+    were trained, not only to conceal their emotions, but to speak
+    in a cheerful voice and to show a pleasant face under any
+    stress of moral suffering; and they are obedient to that
+    teaching to-day. It would still be thought a shame to betray
+    personal <span class="pagenum"><a name="page185"
+       id="page185"></a>[pg 185]</span> sorrow for the loss of
+       those who die for Emperor and fatherland. The public seem to
+       view the events of the war as they would watch the scenes of
+       a popular play. They are interested without being excited;
+       and their extraordinary self-control is particularly shown
+       in various manifestations of the "Play-impulse." Everywhere
+       the theatres are producing war dramas (based upon actual
+       fact); the newspapers and magazines are publishing war
+       stories and novels; the cinematograph exhibits the monstrous
+       methods of modern warfare; and numberless industries are
+       turning out objects of art or utility designed to
+       commemorate the Japanese triumphs.</p>
+
+    <p>But the present psychological condition, the cheerful and
+    even playful tone of public feeling, can be indicated less by
+    any general statement than by the mention of ordinary
+    facts,&mdash;every-day matters recorded in the writer's
+    diary.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>Never before were the photographers so busy; it is said that
+    they have not been able <span class="pagenum"><a name="page186"
+       id="page186"></a>[pg 186]</span> to fulfill half of the
+       demands made upon them. The hundreds of thousands of men
+       sent to the war wished to leave photographs with their
+       families, and also to take with them portraits of parents,
+       children, and other beloved persons. The nation was being
+       photographed during the past six months.</p>
+
+    <p>A fact of sociological interest is that photography has
+    added something new to the poetry of the domestic faith. From
+    the time of its first introduction, photography became popular
+    in Japan; and none of those superstitions, which inspire fear
+    of the camera among less civilized races, offered any obstacle
+    to the rapid development of a new industry. It is true that
+    there exists some queer-folk beliefs about
+    photographs,&mdash;ideas of mysterious relation between the
+    sun-picture and the person imaged. For example: if, in the
+    photograph of a group, one figure appear indistinct or blurred,
+    that is thought to be an omen of sickness or death. But this
+    superstition has its industrial value: it has compelled
+    photographers to be careful about their work,&mdash;especially
+    in these days of war, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page187"
+       id="page187"></a>[pg 187]</span> when everybody wants to
+       have a good clear portrait, because the portrait might be
+       needed for another purpose than preservation in an
+       album.</p>
+
+    <p>During the last twenty years there has gradually come into
+    existence the custom of placing the photograph of a dead
+    parent, brother, husband, or child, beside the mortuary tablet
+    kept in the Buddhist household shrine. For this reason, also,
+    the departing soldier wishes to leave at home a good likeness
+    of himself.</p>
+
+    <p>The rites of domestic affection, in old samurai families,
+    are not confined to the cult of the dead. On certain occasions,
+    the picture of the absent parent, husband, brother, or
+    betrothed, is placed in the alcove of the guest-room, and a
+    feast laid out before it. The photograph, in such cases, is
+    fixed upon a little stand (<i>dai</i>); and the feast is served
+    as if the person were present. This pretty custom of preparing
+    a meal for the absent is probably more ancient than any art of
+    portraiture; but the modern photograph adds to the human poetry
+    of the rite. In feudal time it was the
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page188"
+       id="page188"></a>[pg 188]</span> rule to set the repast
+       facing the direction in which the absent person had
+       gone&mdash;north, south, east, or west. After a brief
+       interval the covers of the vessels containing the cooked
+       food were lifted and examined. If the lacquered inner
+       surface was thickly beaded with vapor, all was well; but if
+       the surface was dry, that was an omen of death, a sign that
+       the disembodied spirit had returned to absorb the essence of
+       the offerings.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>As might have been expected, in a country where the
+    "play-impulse" is stronger, perhaps, than in any other part of
+    the world, the Zeitgeist found manifestation in the flower
+    displays of the year. I visited those in my neighborhood, which
+    is the Quarter of the Gardeners. This quarter is famous for its
+    azaleas (<i>tsutsuji</i>); and every spring the azalea gardens
+    attract thousands of visitors,&mdash;not only by the wonderful
+    exhibition then made of shrubs which look like solid masses of
+    blossom (ranging up from snowy white, through all shades of
+    pink, to a flamboyant purple) but also by displays
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page189"
+       id="page189"></a>[pg 189]</span> of effigies: groups of
+       figures ingeniously formed with living leaves and flowers.
+       These figures, life-size, usually represent famous incidents
+       of history or drama. In many cases&mdash;though not in
+       all&mdash;the bodies and the costumes are composed of
+       foliage and flowers trained to grow about a framework; while
+       the faces, feet, and hands are represented by some kind of
+       flesh-colored composition.</p>
+
+    <p>This year, however, a majority of the displays represented
+    scenes of the war,&mdash;such as an engagement between Japanese
+    infantry and mounted Cossacks, a night attack by torpedo boats,
+    the sinking of a battleship. In the last-mentioned display,
+    Russian bluejackets appeared, swimming for their lives in a
+    rough sea;&mdash;the pasteboard waves and the swimming figures
+    being made to rise and fall by the pulling of a string; while
+    the crackling of quick-firing guns was imitated by a mechanism
+    contrived with sheets of zinc.</p>
+
+    <p>It is said that Admiral T&#333;g&#333; sent to
+    T&#333;ky&#333; for some flowering-trees in pots&mdash;inasmuch
+    as his responsibilities allowed him no
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page190"
+       id="page190"></a>[pg 190]</span> chance of seeing the
+       cherry-flowers and the plum-blossoms in their
+       season,&mdash;and that the gardeners responded even too
+       generously.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>Almost immediately after the beginning of hostilities,
+    thousands of "war pictures"&mdash;mostly cheap
+    lithographs&mdash;were published. The drawing and coloring were
+    better than those of the prints issued at the time of the war
+    with China; but the details were to a great extent
+    imaginary,&mdash;altogether imaginary as to the appearance of
+    Russian troops. Pictures of the engagements with the Russian
+    fleet were effective, despite some lurid exaggeration. The most
+    startling things were pictures of Russian defeats in Korea,
+    published before a single military engagement had taken
+    place;&mdash;the artist had "flushed to anticipate the scene."
+    In these prints the Russians were depicted as fleeing in utter
+    rout, leaving their officers&mdash;very fine-looking
+    officers&mdash;dead upon the field; while the Japanese
+    infantry, with dreadfully determined faces, were coming up at a
+    double. The propriety and the wisdom of thus pictorially
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page191"
+       id="page191"></a>[pg 191]</span> predicting victory, and
+       easy victory to boot, may be questioned. But I am told that
+       the custom of so doing is an old one; and it is thought that
+       to realize the common hope thus imaginatively is lucky. At
+       all events, there is no attempt at deception in these
+       pictorial undertakings;&mdash;they help to keep up the
+       public courage, and they ought to be pleasing to the
+       gods.</p>
+
+    <p>Some of the earlier pictures have now been realized in grim
+    fact. The victories in China had been similarly foreshadowed:
+    they amply justified the faith of the artist.... To-day the war
+    pictures continue to multiply; but they have changed character.
+    The inexorable truth of the photograph, and the sketches of the
+    war correspondent, now bring all the vividness and violence of
+    fact to help the artist's imagination. There was something
+    naďve and theatrical in the drawings of anticipation; but the
+    pictures of the hour represent the most tragic
+    reality,&mdash;always becoming more terrible. At this writing,
+    Japan has yet lost no single battle; but not a few of her
+    victories have been dearly
+    won.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page192"
+       id="page192"></a>[pg 192]</span>
+
+    <p>To enumerate even a tenth of the various articles ornamented
+    with designs inspired by the war&mdash;articles such as combs,
+    clasps, fans, brooches, card-cases, purses&mdash;would require
+    a volume. Even cakes and confectionery are stamped with naval
+    or military designs; and the glass or paper windows of
+    shops&mdash;not to mention the signboards&mdash;have pictures
+    of Japanese victories painted upon them. At night the shop
+    lanterns proclaim the pride of the nation in its fleets and
+    armies; and a whole chapter might easily be written about the
+    new designs in transparencies and toy lanterns. A new revolving
+    lantern&mdash;turned by the air-current which its own flame
+    creates&mdash;has become very popular. It represents a charge
+    of Japanese infantry upon Russian defenses; and holes pierced
+    in the colored paper, so as to produce a continuous vivid
+    flashing while the transparency revolves, suggest the exploding
+    of shells and the volleying of machine guns.</p>
+
+    <p>Some displays of the art-impulse, as inspired by the war,
+    have been made in directions entirely unfamiliar to Western
+    experience,&mdash;in <span class="pagenum"><a name="page193"
+       id="page193"></a>[pg 193]</span> the manufacture, for
+       example, of women's hair ornaments and dress materials.
+       Dress goods decorated with war pictures have actually become
+       a fashion,&mdash;especially crępe silks for underwear, and
+       figured silk linings for cloaks and sleeves. More remarkable
+       than these are the new hairpins;&mdash;by hairpins I mean
+       those long double-pronged ornaments of flexible metal which
+       are called <i>kanzashi</i>, and are more or less ornamented
+       according to the age of the wearer. (The <i>kanzashi</i>
+       made for young girls are highly decorative; those worn by
+       older folk are plain, or adorned only with a ball of coral
+       or polished stone.) The new hairpins might be called
+       commemorative: one, of which the decoration represents a
+       British and a Japanese flag intercrossed, celebrates the
+       Anglo-Japanese alliance; another represents an officer's cap
+       and sword; and the best of all is surmounted by a tiny metal
+       model of a battleship. The battleship-pin is not merely
+       fantastic: it is actually pretty!</p>
+
+    <p>As might have been expected, military and naval subjects
+    occupy a large place among the year's designs for toweling. The
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page194"
+       id="page194"></a>[pg 194]</span> towel designs celebrating
+       naval victories have been particularly successful: they are
+       mostly in white, on a blue ground; or in black, on a white
+       ground. One of the best&mdash;blue and
+       white&mdash;represented only a flock of gulls wheeling about
+       the masthead of a sunken iron-clad, and, far away, the
+       silhouettes of Japanese battleships passing to the
+       horizon.... What especially struck me in this, and in
+       several other designs, was the original manner in which the
+       Japanese artist had seized upon the traits of the modern
+       battleship,&mdash;the powerful and sinister lines of its
+       shape,&mdash;just as he would have caught for us the typical
+       character of a beetle or a lobster. The lines have been just
+       enough exaggerated to convey, at one glance, the real
+       impression made by the aspect of these iron
+       monsters,&mdash;vague impression of bulk and force and
+       menace, very difficult to express by ordinary methods of
+       drawing.</p>
+
+    <p>Besides towels decorated with artistic sketches of this
+    sort, there have been placed upon the market many kinds of
+    towels bearing comic war pictures,&mdash;caricatures or
+    cartoons <span class="pagenum"><a name="page195"
+       id="page195"></a>[pg 195]</span> which are amusing without
+       being malignant. It will be remembered that at the time of
+       the first attack made upon the Port Arthur squadron, several
+       of the Russian officers were in the Dalny
+       theatre,&mdash;never dreaming that the Japanese would dare
+       to strike the first blow. This incident has been made the
+       subject of a towel design. At one end of the towel is a
+       comic study of the faces of the Russians, delightedly
+       watching the gyrations of a ballet dancer. At the other end
+       is a study of the faces of the same commanders when they
+       find, on returning to the port, only the masts of their
+       battleships above water. Another towel shows a procession of
+       fish in front of a surgeon's office&mdash;waiting their
+       turns to be relieved of sundry bayonets, swords, revolvers,
+       and rifles, which have stuck in their throats. A third towel
+       picture represents a Russian diver examining, with a
+       prodigious magnifying-glass, the holes made by torpedoes in
+       the hull of a sunken cruiser. Comic verses or legends, in
+       cursive text, are printed beside these pictures.</p>
+
+    <p>The great house of Mitsui, which
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page196"
+       id="page196"></a>[pg 196]</span> placed the best of these
+       designs on the market, also produced some beautiful
+       souvenirs of the war, in the shape of <i>fukusa</i>. (A
+       <i>fukusa</i> is an ornamental silk covering, or wrapper,
+       put over presents sent to friends on certain occasions, and
+       returned after the present has been received.) These are
+       made of the heaviest and costliest silk, and inclosed within
+       appropriately decorated covers. Upon one <i>fukusa</i> is a
+       colored picture of the cruisers Nisshin and Kasuga, under
+       full steam; and upon another has been printed, in beautiful
+       Chinese characters, the full text of the Imperial
+       Declaration of war.</p>
+
+    <p>But the strangest things that I have seen in this line of
+    production were silk dresses for baby girls,&mdash;figured
+    stuffs which, when looked at from a little distance, appeared
+    incomparably pretty, owing to the masterly juxtaposition of
+    tints and colors. On closer inspection the charming design
+    proved to be composed entirely of war pictures,&mdash;or,
+    rather, fragments of pictures, blended into one astonishing
+    combination: naval battles; burning warships; submarine mines
+    exploding; torpedo boats attacking;
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page197"
+       id="page197"></a>[pg 197]</span> charges of Cossacks
+       repulsed by Japanese infantry; artillery rushing into
+       position; storming of forts; long lines of soldiery
+       advancing through mist. Here were colors of blood and fire,
+       tints of morning haze and evening glow, noon-blue and
+       starred night-purple, sea-gray and field-green,&mdash;most
+       wonderful thing!... I suppose that the child of a military
+       or naval officer might, without impropriety, be clad in such
+       a robe. But then&mdash;the unspeakable pity of things!</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>The war toys are innumerable: I can attempt to mention only
+    a few of the more remarkable kinds.</p>
+
+    <p>Japanese children play many sorts of card games, some of
+    which are old, others quite new. There are poetical card games,
+    for example, played with a pack of which each card bears the
+    text of a poem, or part of a poem; and the player should be
+    able to remember the name of the author of any quotation in the
+    set. Then there are geographical card games, in which each of
+    the cards used bears the name, and perhaps a little picture, of
+    some famous site, town, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page198"
+       id="page198"></a>[pg 198]</span> or temple; and the player
+       should be able to remember the district and province in
+       which the mentioned place is situated. The latest novelty in
+       this line is a pack of cards with pictures upon them of the
+       Russian war vessels; and the player should be able to state
+       what has become of every vessel named,&mdash;whether sunk,
+       disabled, or confined in Port Arthur.</p>
+
+    <p>There is another card game in which the battleships,
+    cruisers, and torpedo craft of both Japan and Russia are
+    represented. The winner in this game destroys his "captures" by
+    tearing the cards taken. But the shops keep packages of each
+    class of warship cards in stock; and when all the destroyers or
+    cruisers of one country have been put <i>hors de combat</i>,
+    the defeated party can purchase new vessels abroad. One torpedo
+    boat costs about one farthing; but five torpedo boats can be
+    bought for a penny.</p>
+
+    <p>The toy-shops are crammed with models of
+    battleships,&mdash;in wood, clay, porcelain, lead, and
+    tin,&mdash;of many sizes and prices. Some of the larger ones,
+    moved by clockwork, are named after Japanese battleships:
+    Shikishima, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page199"
+       id="page199"></a>[pg 199]</span> Fuji, Mikasa. One
+       mechanical toy represents the sinking of a Russian vessel by
+       a Japanese torpedo boat. Among cheaper things of this class
+       is a box of colored sand, for the representation of naval
+       engagements. Children arrange the sand so as to resemble
+       waves; and with each box of sand are sold two fleets of tiny
+       leaden vessels. The Japanese ships are white, and the
+       Russian black; and explosions of torpedoes are to be figured
+       by small cuttings of vermilion paper, planted in the
+       sand.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>The children of the poorest classes make their own war toys;
+    and I have been wondering whether those ancient feudal laws
+    (translated by Professor Wigmore), which fixed the cost and
+    quality of toys to be given to children, did not help to
+    develop that ingenuity which the little folk display. Recently
+    I saw a group of children in our neighborhood playing at the
+    siege of Port Arthur, with fleets improvised out of scraps of
+    wood and some rusty nails. A tub of water represented Port
+    Arthur. Battleships were figured by bits of plank, into
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page200"
+       id="page200"></a>[pg 200]</span> which chop-sticks had been
+       fixed to represent masts, and rolls of paper to represent
+       funnels. Little flags, appropriately colored, were fastened
+       to the masts with rice paste. Torpedo boats were imaged by
+       splinters, into each of which a short thick nail had been
+       planted to indicate a smokestack. Stationary submarine mines
+       were represented by small squares of wood, each having one
+       long nail driven into it; and these little things, when
+       dropped into water with the nail-head downwards, would keep
+       up a curious bobbing motion for a long time. Other squares
+       of wood, having clusters of short nails driven into them,
+       represented floating mines: and the mimic battleships were
+       made to drag for these, with lines of thread. The pictures
+       in the Japanese papers had doubtless helped the children to
+       imagine the events of the war with tolerable accuracy.</p>
+
+    <p>Naval caps for children have become, of course, more in
+    vogue than ever before. Some of the caps bear, in Chinese
+    characters of burnished metal, the name of a battleship, or the
+    words <i>Nippon Teikoku</i> (Empire of Japan),&mdash;disposed
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page201"
+       id="page201"></a>[pg 201]</span> like the characters upon
+       the cap of a blue-jacket. On some caps, however, the ship's
+       name appears in English letters,&mdash;Yashima, Fuji,
+       etc.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>The play-impulse, I had almost forgotten to say, is shared
+    by the soldiers themselves,&mdash;though most of those called
+    to the front do not expect to return in the body. They ask only
+    to be remembered at the Spirit-Invoking Shrine
+    (<i>Sh&#333;konsha</i>), where the shades of all who die for
+    Emperor and country are believed to gather. The men of the
+    regiments temporarily quartered in our suburb, on their way to
+    the war, found time to play at mimic war with the small folk of
+    the neighborhood. (At all times Japanese soldiers are very kind
+    to children; and the children here march with them, join in
+    their military songs, and correctly salute their officers,
+    feeling sure that the gravest officer will return the salute of
+    a little child.) When the last regiment went away, the men
+    distributed toys among the children assembled at the station to
+    give them a parting <span class="pagenum"><a name="page202"
+       id="page202"></a>[pg 202]</span> cheer,&mdash;hairpins, with
+       military symbols for ornament, to the girls; wooden infantry
+       and tin cavalry to the boys. The oddest present was a small
+       clay model of a Russian soldier's head, presented with the
+       jocose promise: "If we come back, we shall bring you some
+       real ones." In the top of the head there is a small wire
+       loop, to which a rubber string can be attached. At the time
+       of the war with China, little clay models of Chinese heads,
+       with very long queues, were favorite toys.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>The war has also suggested a variety of new designs for that
+    charming object, the <i>toko-niwa</i>. Few of my readers know
+    what a <i>toko-niwa</i>, or "alcove-garden," is. It is a
+    miniature garden&mdash;perhaps less than two feet
+    square&mdash;contrived within an ornamental shallow basin of
+    porcelain or other material, and placed in the alcove of a
+    guest-room by way of decoration. You may see there a tiny pond;
+    a streamlet crossed by humped bridges of Chinese pattern; dwarf
+    trees forming a grove, and shading the model of a Shinto
+    temple; imitations <span class="pagenum"><a name="page203"
+       id="page203"></a>[pg 203]</span> in baked clay of stone
+       lanterns,&mdash;perhaps even the appearance of a hamlet of
+       thatched cottages. If the <i>toko-niwa</i> be not too small,
+       you may see real fish swimming in the pond, or a pet
+       tortoise crawling among the rockwork. Sometimes the
+       miniature garden represents H&#333;rai, and the palace of
+       the Dragon-King.</p>
+
+    <p>Two new varieties have come into fashion. One is a model of
+    Port Arthur, showing the harbor and the forts; and with the
+    materials for the display there is sold a little map, showing
+    how to place certain tiny battle-ships, representing the
+    imprisoned and the investing fleets. The other <i>toko-niwa</i>
+    represents a Korean or Chinese landscape, with hill ranges and
+    rivers and woods; and the appearance of a battle is created by
+    masses of toy soldiers&mdash;cavalry, infantry, and
+    artillery&mdash;in all positions of attack and defense. Minute
+    forts of baked clay, bristling with cannon about the size of
+    small pins, occupy elevated positions. When properly arranged
+    the effect is panoramic. The soldiers in the foreground are
+    about an inch long; those a little farther away about
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page204"
+       id="page204"></a>[pg 204]</span> half as long; and those
+       upon the hills are no larger than flies.</p>
+
+    <p>But the most remarkable novelty of this sort yet produced is
+    a kind of <i>toko-niwa</i> recently on display at a famous shop
+    in Ginza. A label bearing the inscription, <i>Kaď-téď no
+    Ikken</i> (View of the Ocean-Bed) sufficiently explained the
+    design. The <i>suďbon</i>, or "water-tray," containing the
+    display was half filled with rocks and sand so as to resemble a
+    sea-bottom; and little fishes appeared swarming in the
+    fore-ground. A little farther back, upon an elevation, stood
+    Otohimé, the Dragon-King's daughter, surrounded by her maiden
+    attendants, and gazing, with just the shadow of a smile, at two
+    men in naval uniform who were shaking hands,&mdash;dead heroes
+    of the war: Admiral Makaroff and Commander Hirosé!... These had
+    esteemed each other in life; and it was a happy thought thus to
+    represent their friendly meeting in the world of Spirits.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>Though his name is perhaps unfamiliar to English readers,
+    Commander Takeo Hirosé <span class="pagenum"><a name="page205"
+       id="page205"></a>[pg 205]</span> has become, deservedly, one
+       of Japan's national heroes. On the 27th of March, during the
+       second attempt made to block the entrance to Port Arthur, he
+       was killed while endeavoring to help a comrade,&mdash;a
+       comrade who had formerly saved him from death. For five
+       years Hirosé had been a naval attaché at St. Petersburg, and
+       had made many friends in Russian naval and military circles.
+       From boyhood his life had been devoted to study and duty;
+       and it was commonly said of him that he had no particle of
+       selfishness in his nature. Unlike most of his brother
+       officers, he remained unmarried,&mdash;holding that no man
+       who might be called on at any moment to lay down his life
+       for his country had a moral right to marry. The only
+       amusements in which he was ever known to indulge were
+       physical exercises; and he was acknowledged one of the best
+       <i>j&#363;jutsu</i> (wrestlers) in the empire. The heroism
+       of his death, at the age of thirty-six, had much less to do
+       with the honors paid to his memory than the self-denying
+       heroism of his life.</p>
+
+    <p>Now his picture is in thousands of
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page206"
+       id="page206"></a>[pg 206]</span> homes, and his name is
+       celebrated in every village. It is celebrated also by the
+       manufacture of various souvenirs, which are sold by myriads.
+       For example, there is a new fashion in sleeve-buttons,
+       called <i>Kinen-botan</i>, or "Commemoration-buttons." Each
+       button bears a miniature portrait of the commander, with the
+       inscription, <i>Shichi-sh&#333; h&#333;koku</i>, "Even in
+       seven successive lives&mdash;for love of country." It is
+       recorded that Hirosé often cited, to friends who criticised
+       his ascetic devotion to duty, the famous utterance of
+       Kusunoki Masashigé, who declared, ere laying down his life
+       for the Emperor Go-Daigo, that he desired to die for his
+       sovereign in seven successive existences.</p>
+
+    <p>But the highest honor paid to the memory of Hirosé is of a
+    sort now possible only in the East, though once possible also
+    in the West, when the Greek or Roman patriot-hero might be
+    raised, by the common love of his people, to the place of the
+    Immortals.... Wine-cups of porcelain have been made, decorated
+    with his portrait; and beneath the portrait appears, in
+    ideographs of gold, the inscription,
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page207"
+       id="page207"></a>[pg 207]</span> <i>Gunshin Hirosé
+       Ch&#363;sa</i>. The character "gun" signifies war; the
+       character "<i>shin</i>" a god,&mdash;either in the sense of
+       <i>divus</i> or <i>deus</i>, according to circumstances; and
+       the Chinese text, read in the Japanese way, is <i>Ikusa no
+       Kami</i>. Whether that stern and valiant spirit is really
+       invoked by the millions who believe that no brave soul is
+       doomed to extinction, no well-spent life laid down in vain,
+       no heroism cast away, I do not know. But, in any event,
+       human affection and gratitude can go no farther than this;
+       and it must be confessed that Old Japan is still able to
+       confer honors worth dying for.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>Boys and girls in all the children's schools are now singing
+    the Song of Hirosé Ch&#363;sa, which is a marching song. The
+    words and the music are published in a little booklet, with a
+    portrait of the late commander upon the cover. Everywhere, and
+    at all hours of the day, one hears this song being
+    sung:&mdash;</p>
+
+    <blockquote>
+        <p><i>He whose every word and deed gave to men an example
+        of what the war-folk of the</i>
+        <span class="pagenum"><a name="page208"
+           id="page208"></a>[pg 208]</span> <i>Empire of Nippon
+           should be,&mdash;Commander Hirosé: is he really
+           dead?</i></p>
+
+        <p><i>Though the body die, the spirit dies not. He who
+        wished to be reborn seven times into this world, for the
+        sake of serving his country, for the sake of requiting the
+        Imperial favor,&mdash;Commander Hirosé: has he really
+        died?</i></p>
+
+        <p><i>"Since I am a son of the Country of the Gods, the
+        fire of the evil-hearted Russians cannot touch
+        me!"&mdash;The sturdy Takeo who spoke thus: can he really
+        be dead?...</i></p>
+
+        <p><i>Nay! that glorious war-death meant undying
+        fame;&mdash;beyond a thousand years the valiant heart shall
+        live;&mdash;as to a god of war shall reverence be paid to
+        him....</i></p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <hr />
+
+    <p>Observing the playful confidence of this wonderful people in
+    their struggle for existence against the mightiest power of the
+    West,&mdash;their perfect trust in the wisdom of their leaders
+    and the valor of their armies,&mdash;the good humor of their
+    irony when mocking the enemy's blunders,&mdash;their strange
+    capacity to find, in the world-stirring events of the hour,
+    <span class="pagenum"><a name="page209"
+       id="page209"></a>[pg 209]</span> the same amusement that
+       they would find in watching a melodrama,&mdash;one is
+       tempted to ask: "What would be the moral consequence of a
+       national defeat?"... It would depend, I think, upon
+       circumstances. Were Kuropatkin able to fulfill his rash
+       threat of invading Japan, the nation would probably rise as
+       one man. But otherwise the knowledge of any great disaster
+       would be bravely borne. From time unknown Japan has been a
+       land of cataclysms,&mdash;earth-quakes that ruin cities in
+       the space of a moment; tidal waves, two hundred miles long,
+       sweeping whole coast populations out of existence; floods
+       submerging hundreds of leagues of well-tilled fields;
+       eruptions burying provinces. Calamities like this have
+       disciplined the race in resignation and in patience; and it
+       has been well trained also to bear with courage all the
+       misfortunes of war. Even by the foreign peoples that have
+       been most closely in contact with her, the capacities of
+       Japan remained unguessed. Perhaps her power to resist
+       aggression is far surpassed by her power to endure.</p>
+    <hr />
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote1"
+                    name="footnote1"></a><b>Footnote 1:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>Asagao (lit., "morning-face") is the Japanese name for
+        the beautiful climbing plant which we call "morning
+        glory."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote2"
+                    name="footnote2"></a><b>Footnote 2:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>This is the Japanese reading of the Chinese name.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote3"
+                    name="footnote3"></a><b>Footnote 3:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag3">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>"Ho! Tanabata! if you hurry too much, you will tumble
+        down!"</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote4"
+                    name="footnote4"></a><b>Footnote 4:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag4">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>There is no mention, however, of any such village in any
+        modern directory.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote5"
+                    name="footnote5"></a><b>Footnote 5:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag5">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>For a translation and explanation of this song, see
+        <i>infra</i>, page 30.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote6"
+                    name="footnote6"></a><b>Footnote 6:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag6">(return)</a>
+
+        <p><i>Pueraria Thunbergiana.</i></p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote7"
+                    name="footnote7"></a><b>Footnote 7:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag7">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The last line alludes to a charming custom of which
+        mention is made in the most ancient Japanese literature.
+        Lovers, ere parting, were wont to tie each other's inner
+        girdle (<i>himo</i>) and pledge themselves to leave the
+        knot untouched until the time of their next meeting. This
+        poem is said to have been composed in the seventh year of
+        Y&#333;r&#333;,&mdash;A.D. 723,&mdash;eleven hundred and
+        eighty-two years ago.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote8"
+                    name="footnote8"></a><b>Footnote 8:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag8">(return)</a>
+
+        <p><i>Hisakata-no</i> is a "pillow-word" used by the old
+        poets in relation to celestial objects; and it is often
+        difficult to translate. Mr. Aston thinks that the literal
+        meaning of <i>hisakata</i> is simply "long-hard," in the
+        sense of long-enduring,&mdash;<i>hisa</i> (long),
+        <i>katai</i> (hard, or firm),&mdash;so that
+        <i>hisakata-no</i> would have the meaning of "firmamental."
+        Japanese commentators, however, say that the term is
+        composed with the three words, <i>hi</i> (sun), <i>sasu</i>
+        (shine), and <i>kata</i> (side);&mdash;and this etymology
+        would justify the rendering of <i>hisakata-no</i> by some
+        such expression as "light-shedding," "radiance-giving." On
+        the subject of pillow-words, see Aston's <i>Grammar of the
+        Japanese Written Language</i>.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote9"
+                    name="footnote9"></a><b>Footnote 9:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag9">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The old text has <i>tabuté</i>.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote10"
+                    name="footnote10"></a><b>Footnote 10:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag10">(return)</a>
+
+        <p><i>Kagéroď</i> is an obsolete form of
+        <i>kagér&#333;</i>, meaning an ephemera.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote11"
+                    name="footnote11"></a><b>Footnote 11:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag11">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>Lit., "not to cry out (will be) good"&mdash;but a
+        literal translation of the poem is scarcely possible.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote12"
+                    name="footnote12"></a><b>Footnote 12:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag12">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>That is to say, "wife." In archaic Japanese the word
+        <i>imo</i> signified both "wife" and "younger sister." The
+        term might also be rendered "darling" or "beloved."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote13"
+                    name="footnote13"></a><b>Footnote 13:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag13">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>Yachihoko-no-Kami, who has many other names, is the
+        Great God of Izumo, and is commonly known by his
+        appellation Oho-kuni-nushi-no-Kami, or the
+        "Deity-Master-of-the Great-Land." He is locally worshiped
+        also as the god of marriage,&mdash;for which reason,
+        perhaps, the poet thus refers to him.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote14"
+                    name="footnote14"></a><b>Footnote 14:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag14">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>Or, "my seldom-visited spouse." The word <i>tsuma</i>
+        (<i>zuma</i>), in ancient Japanese, signified either wife
+        or husband; and this poem might be rendered so as to
+        express either the wife's or the husband's thoughts.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote15"
+                    name="footnote15"></a><b>Footnote 15:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag15">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>By the ancient calendar, the seventh day of the seventh
+        month would fall in the autumn season.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote16"
+                    name="footnote16"></a><b>Footnote 16:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag16">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The literal meaning is "<i>béni</i>-tinted
+        face,"&mdash;that is to say, a face of which the cheeks and
+        lips have been tinted with <i>béni</i>, a kind of
+        rouge.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote17"
+                    name="footnote17"></a><b>Footnote 17:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag17">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>In ancient Japanese the word <i>séko</i> signified
+        either husband or elder brother. The beginning of the poem
+        might also be rendered thus:&mdash;"When I feel a secret
+        longing for my husband," etc.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote18"
+                    name="footnote18"></a><b>Footnote 18:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag18">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>"To exchange jewel-pillows" signifies to use each
+        other's arms for pillows. This poetical phrase is often
+        used in the earliest Japanese literature. The word for
+        jewel, <i>tama</i>, often appears in compounds as an
+        equivalent of "precious," "dear," etc.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote19"
+                    name="footnote19"></a><b>Footnote 19:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag19">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>For <i>kofuru</i>.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote20"
+                    name="footnote20"></a><b>Footnote 20:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag20">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>Or "satisfy itself." A literal rendering is
+        difficult.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote21"
+                    name="footnote21"></a><b>Footnote 21:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag21">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>At different times, in the history of Japanese female
+        costume, different articles of dress were called by this
+        name. In the present instance, the <i>hiré</i> referred to
+        was probably a white scarf, worn about the neck and carried
+        over the shoulders to the breast, where its ends were
+        either allowed to hang loose, or were tied into an
+        ornamental knot. The <i>hiré</i> was often used to make
+        signals with, much as handkerchiefs are waved to-day for
+        the same purpose;&mdash;and the question uttered in the
+        poem seems to signify: "Can that be Tanabata waving her
+        scarf&mdash;to call me?" In very early times, the ordinary
+        costumes worn were white.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote22"
+                    name="footnote22"></a><b>Footnote 22:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag22">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>Or, "the creaking of the oar." (The word <i>kaji</i>
+        to-day means "helm";&mdash;the single oar, or scull,
+        working upon a pivot, and serving at once for rudder and
+        oar, being now called <i>ro</i>.) The mist passing across
+        the Amanogawa is, according to commentators, the spray from
+        the Star-god's oar.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote23"
+                    name="footnote23"></a><b>Footnote 23:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag23">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>Lit. "pull-boat" (<i>hiki-funé</i>),&mdash;a barge or
+        boat pulled by a rope.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote24"
+                    name="footnote24"></a><b>Footnote 24:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag24">(return)</a>
+
+        <p><i>Nubatama no yo</i> might better be rendered by some
+        such phrase as "the berry-black night,"&mdash;but the
+        intended effect would be thus lost in translation.
+        <i>Nubatama-no</i> (a "pillow-word") is written with
+        characters signifying "like the black fruits of
+        <i>Karasu-&#332;gi</i>;" and the ancient phrase
+        "<i>nubatama no yo</i>" therefore may be said to have the
+        same meaning as our expressions "jet-black night," or
+        "pitch-dark night."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote25"
+                    name="footnote25"></a><b>Footnote 25:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag25">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>Composed by the famous poet &#332;tomo no Sukuné
+        Yakamochi, while gazing at the Milky Way, on the seventh
+        night of the seventh month of the tenth year of Tampy&#333;
+        (A.D. 738). The pillow-word in the third line
+        (<i>maso-kagami</i>) is untranslatable.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote26"
+                    name="footnote26"></a><b>Footnote 26:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag26">(return)</a>
+
+        <p><i>Asobimé</i>, a courtesan: lit., "sporting-woman." The
+        Éta and other pariah classes furnished a large proportion
+        of these women. The whole meaning of the poem is as
+        follows: "See that young wanton with her lantern! It is a
+        pretty sight&mdash;but so is the sight of a fox, when the
+        creature kindles his goblin-fire and assumes the shape of a
+        girl. And just as your fox-woman will prove to be no more
+        than an old horse-bone, so that young courtesan, whose
+        beauty deludes men to folly, may be nothing better than an
+        Éta."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote27"
+                    name="footnote27"></a><b>Footnote 27:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag27">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The supposed utterance of a belated traveler frightened
+        by a will-o'-the-wisp. The last line allows of two
+        readings. <i>Kokoro-hosoi</i> means "timid;" and <i>hosoi
+        michi</i> (<i>hoso-michi</i>) means a "narrow path," and,
+        by implication, a "lonesome path."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote28"
+                    name="footnote28"></a><b>Footnote 28:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag28">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The Japanese say of a person greatly emaciated by
+        sickness, <i>miru-kagé mo naki</i>: "Even a visible shadow
+        of him is not!"&mdash;Another rendering is made possible by
+        the fact that the same expression is used in the sense of
+        "unfit to be seen,"&mdash;"though the face of the person
+        afflicted with this ghostly sickness is unfit to be seen,
+        yet by reason of her secret longing [for another man] there
+        are now two of her faces to be seen." The phrase <i>omoi no
+        hoka</i>, in the fourth line, means "contrary to
+        expectation;" but it is ingeniously made to suggest also
+        the idea of secret longing.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote29"
+                    name="footnote29"></a><b>Footnote 29:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag29">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>There is a curious play on words in the fourth line. The
+        word <i>omoté</i>, meaning "the front," might, in reading,
+        be sounded as <i>omotté</i>, "thinking." The verses
+        therefore might also be thus translated:&mdash;"She keeps
+        her real thoughts hidden in the back part of the house, and
+        never allows them to be seen in the front part of the
+        house,&mdash;because she is suffering from the
+        'Shadow-Sickness' [of love]."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote30"
+                    name="footnote30"></a><b>Footnote 30:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag30">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>There is a double meaning, suggested rather than
+        expressed, in the fourth line. The word <i>shiraga</i>,
+        "white-hair," suggests <i>shirazu</i>, "not knowing."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote31"
+                    name="footnote31"></a><b>Footnote 31:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag31">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>There is in this poem a multiplicity of suggestion
+        impossible to render in translation. While making her
+        toilet, the Japanese woman uses two mirrors
+        (<i>awasé-kagami</i>)&mdash;one of which, a hand-mirror,
+        serves to show her the appearance of the back part of her
+        coiffure, by reflecting it into the larger stationary
+        mirror. But in this case of Rikomby&#333;, the woman sees
+        more than her face and the back of her head in the larger
+        mirror: she sees her own double. The verses indicate that
+        one of the mirrors may have caught the Shadow-Sickness, and
+        doubled itself. And there is a further suggestion of the
+        ghostly sympathy said to exist between a mirror and the
+        soul of its possessor.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote32"
+                    name="footnote32"></a><b>Footnote 32:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag32">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>There are two Japanese words, <i>kesh&#333;</i>, which
+        in <i>kana</i> are written alike and pronounced alike,
+        though represented by very different Chinese characters. As
+        written in <i>kana</i>, the term <i>kesh&#333;-no-mono</i>
+        may signify either "toilet articles" or "a monstrous
+        being," "a goblin."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote33"
+                    name="footnote33"></a><b>Footnote 33:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag33">(return)</a>
+
+        <p><i>Hinagata</i> means especially "a model," "a miniature
+        copy," "a drawn plan," etc.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote34"
+                    name="footnote34"></a><b>Footnote 34:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag34">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>It is not possible to render all the double meanings in
+        this composition. <i>Tsuka-no-ma</i> signifies "in a
+        moment" or "quickly"; but it may also mean "in the space
+        [<i>ma</i>] between the roof-props" [<i>tsuka</i>].
+        "<i>Kéta</i>" means a cross-beam, but <i>kéta-kéta
+        warau</i> means to chuckle or laugh in a mocking way.
+        Ghosts are said to laugh with the sound of kéta-kéta.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote35"
+                    name="footnote35"></a><b>Footnote 35:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag35">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The ordinary height of a full screen is six Japanese
+        feet.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote36"
+                    name="footnote36"></a><b>Footnote 36:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag36">(return)</a>
+
+        <p><i>K&#333;gai</i> is the name now given to a
+        quadrangular bar of tortoise-shell passed under the
+        coiffure, which leaves only the ends of the bar exposed.
+        The true hair-pin is called <i>kanzashi</i>.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote37"
+                    name="footnote37"></a><b>Footnote 37:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag37">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The term <i>shirayuki</i>, as here used, offers an
+        example of what Japanese poets call <i>Keny&#333;gen</i>,
+        or "double-purpose words." Joined to the words immediately
+        following, it makes the phrase "white-snow woman"
+        (<i>shirayuki no onna</i>);&mdash;united with the words
+        immediately preceding, it suggests the reading,
+        "whither-gone not-knowing" (<i>yuku é wa
+        shira[zu]</i>).</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote38"
+                    name="footnote38"></a><b>Footnote 38:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag38">(return)</a>
+
+        <p><i>Zotto</i> is a difficult word to render literally:
+        perhaps the nearest English equivalent is "thrilling."
+        <i>Zotto suru</i> signifies "to cause a thrill" or "to give
+        a shock," or "to make shiver;" and of a very beautiful
+        person it is said "<i>Zotto-suru hodo no
+        bijin</i>,"&mdash;meaning! "She is so pretty that it gives
+        one a shock merely to look at her." The term
+        <i>yanagi-goshi</i> ("willow-loins") in the last line is a
+        common expression designating a slender and graceful
+        figure; and the reader should observe that the first half
+        of the term is ingeniously made to do double duty
+        here,&mdash;suggesting, with the context, not only the
+        grace of willow branches weighed down by snow, but also the
+        grace of a human figure that one must stop to admire, in
+        spite of the cold.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote39"
+                    name="footnote39"></a><b>Footnote 39:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag39">(return)</a>
+
+        <p><i>Hishaku</i>, a wooden dipper with a long handle, used
+        to transfer water from a bucket to smaller vessels.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote40"
+                    name="footnote40"></a><b>Footnote 40:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag40">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The common expression <i>Koshi ga nukéru</i> (to have
+        one's loins taken out) means to be unable to stand up by
+        reason of fear. The suggestion is that while the captain
+        was trying to knock out the bottom of a dipper, before
+        giving it to the ghost, he fell senseless from fright.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote41"
+                    name="footnote41"></a><b>Footnote 41:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag41">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The Underworld of the Dead&mdash;<i>Yomi</i> or
+        K&#333;sen&mdash;is called "The Yellow Springs;" these
+        names being written with two Chinese characters
+        respectively signifying "yellow" and "fountain." A very
+        ancient term for the ocean, frequently used in the old
+        Shint&#333; rituals, is "The Blue Sea-Plain."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote42"
+                    name="footnote42"></a><b>Footnote 42:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag42">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>There is an untranslatable play upon words in the last
+        two lines. The above rendering includes two possible
+        readings.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote43"
+                    name="footnote43"></a><b>Footnote 43:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag43">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>There is more weirdness in this poem than the above
+        rendering suggests. The word <i>ukaman</i> in the fourth
+        line can be rendered as "shall perhaps float," or as "shall
+        perhaps be saved" (in the Buddhist sense of
+        salvation),&mdash;as there are two verbs <i>ukami</i>.
+        According to an old superstition, the spirits of the
+        drowned must continue to dwell in the waters <i>until such
+        time as they can lure the living to destruction</i>. When
+        the ghost of any drowned person succeeds in drowning
+        somebody, it may be able to obtain rebirth, and to leave
+        the sea forever. The exclamation of the ghost in this poem
+        really means, "Now perhaps I shall be able to drown
+        somebody." (A very similar superstition is said to exist on
+        the Breton coast.) A common Japanese saying about a child
+        or any person who follows another too closely and
+        persistently is: <i>Kawa de shinda-y&#363;réď no yona
+        tsuré-hoshigaru!</i>&mdash;"Wants to follow you everywhere
+        like the ghost of a drowned person."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote44"
+                    name="footnote44"></a><b>Footnote 44:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag44">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>Here I cannot attempt to render the various plays upon
+        words; but the term "<i>omoď</i>" needs explanation. It
+        means "thought" or "thoughts;" but in colloquial
+        phraseology it is often used as a euphemism for a dying
+        person's last desire of vengeance. In various dramas it has
+        been used in the signification of "avenging ghost." Thus
+        the exclamation, "His <i>thought</i> has come
+        back!"&mdash;in reference to a dead man&mdash;really means:
+        "His angry ghost appears!"</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote45"
+                    name="footnote45"></a><b>Footnote 45:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag45">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>There is a double meaning given by the use of the name
+        <i>Tomomori</i> in the last line. <i>Tomo</i> means "the
+        stern" of a ship; <i>mori</i> means "to leak." So the poem
+        suggests that the ghost of Tomomori not only interferes
+        with the ship's rudder, but causes her to leak.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote46"
+                    name="footnote46"></a><b>Footnote 46:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag46">(return)</a>
+
+        <p><i>Namakusaki-kaze</i> really means a wind having a "raw
+        stench;" but the smell of bait is suggested by the second
+        line of the poem. A literal rendering is not possible in
+        this case; the art of the composition being altogether
+        suggestive.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote47"
+                    name="footnote47"></a><b>Footnote 47:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag47">(return)</a>
+
+        <p><i>Hi</i>, the third syllable of the first line of the
+        poem, does duty for <i>hi</i>, signifying "ebb," and for
+        <i>hikata</i>, "dry beach." <i>Séďzoroë</i> is a noun
+        signifying "battle-array"&mdash;in the sense of the Roman
+        term <i>acies</i>;&mdash;and <i>séďzoroé shité</i> means
+        "drawn up in battle-array."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote48"
+                    name="footnote48"></a><b>Footnote 48:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag48">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The ensign of the Héďké, or Taďra clan was red; while
+        that of their rivals, the Genji or Minamot&#333;, was
+        white.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote49"
+                    name="footnote49"></a><b>Footnote 49:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag49">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The use of the word <i>hasami</i> in the fifth line is a
+        very good example of <i>keny&#333;gen</i>. There is a noun
+        <i>hasami</i>, meaning the nippers of a crab, or a pair of
+        scissors; and there is a verb <i>hasami</i>, meaning to
+        harbor, to cherish, or to entertain. (<i>Ikon wo hasamu</i>
+        means "to harbor resentment against.") Reading the word
+        only in connection with those which follow it, we have the
+        phrase <i>hasami mochikéri</i>, "got claws;" but, reading
+        it with the words preceding, we have the expression <i>ikon
+        wo muné ni hasami</i>, "resentment in their breasts
+        nourishing."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote50"
+                    name="footnote50"></a><b>Footnote 50:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag50">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The <i>tokonoma</i> in a Japanese room is a sort of
+        ornamental recess or alcove, in which a picture is usually
+        hung, and vases of flowers, or a dwarf tree, are
+        placed.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote51"
+                    name="footnote51"></a><b>Footnote 51:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag51">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The word <i>takumi</i>, as written in <i>kana</i>, may
+        signify either "carpenter" or "intrigue," "evil plot,"
+        "wicked device." Thus two readings are possible. According
+        to one reading, the post was fixed upside-down through
+        inadvertence; according to the other, it was so fixed with
+        malice prepense.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote52"
+                    name="footnote52"></a><b>Footnote 52:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag52">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>Lit., "upside-down-matter-sorrow." <i>Sakasama-goto</i>,
+        "up-side-down affair," is a common expression for calamity,
+        contrariety, adversity, vexation.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote53"
+                    name="footnote53"></a><b>Footnote 53:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag53">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>Alluding to the proverb, <i>Kabé ni mimi ari</i> ("There
+        are ears in the wall"), which signifies: "Be careful how
+        you talk about other people, even in private."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote54"
+                    name="footnote54"></a><b>Footnote 54:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag54">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>There is a pun in the fourth line which suggests more
+        than even a free translation can express. <i>Waré</i> means
+        "I," or "mine," or "one's own," etc., according to
+        circumstances; and <i>waré mé</i> (written separately)
+        might be rendered "its own eyes." But <i>warémé</i> (one
+        word) means a crack, rent, split, or fissure. The reader
+        should remember that the term <i>saka-bashira</i> means not
+        only "upside-down post," but also the goblin or spectre of
+        the upside-down post.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote55"
+                    name="footnote55"></a><b>Footnote 55:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag55">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>That is to say, "Even the poem on the tablet is
+        up-side-down,"&mdash;all wrong. <i>Hashira-kaké</i>
+        ("pillar-suspended thing") is the name given to a thin
+        tablet of fine wood, inscribed or painted, which is hung to
+        a post by way of ornament.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote56"
+                    name="footnote56"></a><b>Footnote 56:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag56">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>Perhaps the term might be rendered "Shape-changing
+        Jiz&#333;." The verb <i>bakéru</i> means to change shape,
+        to undergo metamorphosis, to haunt, and many other
+        supernatural things.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote57"
+                    name="footnote57"></a><b>Footnote 57:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag57">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The Japanese word for granite is <i>mikagé</i>; and
+        there is also an honorific term <i>mikagé</i>, applied to
+        divinities and emperors, which signifies "august aspect,"
+        "sacred presence," etc.... No literal rendering can suggest
+        the effect, in the fifth line, of the latter reading.
+        <i>Kagé</i> signifies "shadow," "aspect," and
+        "power"&mdash;especially occult power; the honorific prefix
+        <i>mi</i>, attached to names and attributes of divinities,
+        may be rendered "august."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote58"
+                    name="footnote58"></a><b>Footnote 58:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag58">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The puns are too much for me.... <i>Ayashii</i> means
+        "suspicious," "marvelous," "supernatural," "weird,"
+        "doubtful."&mdash;In the first two lines there is a
+        reference to the Buddhist proverb: <i>Funa-ita ichi-mai
+        shita wa Jigoku</i> ("under the thickness of a single
+        ship's-plank is Hell"). (See my <i>Gleanings in
+        Buddha-Fields</i>, p. 206, for another reference to this
+        saying.)</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote59"
+                    name="footnote59"></a><b>Footnote 59:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag59">(return)</a>
+
+        <p><i>Hégashi</i> is the causative form of the verb
+        <i>hégu</i>, "to pull off," "peel off," "strip off," "split
+        off." The term <i>Fuda-hégashi</i> signifies
+        "Make-peel-off-august-charm Ghost." In my <i>Ghostly
+        Japan</i> the reader can find a good Japanese story about a
+        <i>Fuda-hégashi</i>.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote60"
+                    name="footnote60"></a><b>Footnote 60:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag60">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The fourth line gives these two readings:&mdash;</p>
+
+        <p><i>Nam'mai da?</i>&mdash;"How many sheets are
+        there?"</p>
+
+        <p><i>Nam[u] A&#623;ida!</i>&mdash;"Hail, O Amitâbha!"</p>
+
+        <p>The invocation, <i>Namu Amida Butsu</i>, is chiefly used
+        by members of the great Shin sect; but it is also used by
+        other sects, and especially in praying for the dead. While
+        repeating it, the person praying numbers the utterances
+        upon his Buddhist rosary; and this custom is suggested by
+        the use of the word <i>kazoëté</i>, "counting."</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote61"
+                    name="footnote61"></a><b>Footnote 61:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag61">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The word <i>furu</i> in the third line is made to do
+        double duty,&mdash;as the adjective, <i>furu[i]</i>,
+        "ancient"; and as the verb <i>furu</i>, "to shake." The old
+        term <i>nama-kuhi</i> (lit., "raw head") means a human
+        head, freshly-severed, from which the blood is still
+        oozing.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote62"
+                    name="footnote62"></a><b>Footnote 62:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag62">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>Two Japanese words are written, in <i>kana</i>, as
+        "mé"&mdash;one meaning "a bud;" the other "eye." The
+        syllables "hana" in like fashion, may signify either
+        "flower" or "nose." As a grotesque, this little poem is
+        decidedly successful.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote63"
+                    name="footnote63"></a><b>Footnote 63:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag63">(return)</a>
+
+        <p><i>Ayashigé</i> is a noun formed from the adjective
+        <i>ayashi</i>, "suspicious," "strange," "supernatural,"
+        "doubtful." The word <i>kagé</i> signifies both "light" and
+        "shadow,"&mdash;and is here used with double
+        suggestiveness. The vegetable oil used in the old Japanese
+        lamps used to be obtained from the nuts of the
+        <i>tsubaki</i>. The reader should remember that the
+        expression "ancient tsubaki" is equivalent to the
+        expression "goblin-tsubaki,"&mdash;the tsubaki being
+        supposed to turn into a goblin-tree only when it becomes
+        old.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote64"
+                    name="footnote64"></a><b>Footnote 64:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag64">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The tree-peony (<i>botan</i>) is here referred
+        to,&mdash;a flower much esteemed in Japan. It is said to
+        have been introduced from China during the eighth century;
+        and no less than five hundred varieties of it are now
+        cultivated by Japanese gardeners.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote65"
+                    name="footnote65"></a><b>Footnote 65:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag65">(return)</a>
+
+        <p><i>Autobiography</i>, vol. ii, p. 470.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote66"
+                    name="footnote66"></a><b>Footnote 66:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag66">(return)</a>
+
+        <p><i>Facts and Comments</i>, p. 201.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote67"
+                    name="footnote67"></a><b>Footnote 67:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag67">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>A kind of rouge, now used only to color the lips.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote68"
+                    name="footnote68"></a><b>Footnote 68:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag68">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>This name, though uncommon, is still in use.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote69"
+                    name="footnote69"></a><b>Footnote 69:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag69">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>The Emperor Saimei reigned from 655 to 662 (A.D.); the
+        Emperor Saga from 810 to 842.&mdash;Kudara was an ancient
+        kingdom in southwestern Korea, frequently mentioned in
+        early Japanese history.&mdash;A <i>Naishinn&#333;</i> was
+        of Imperial blood. In the ancient court-hierarchy there
+        were twenty-five ranks or grades of noble
+        ladies;&mdash;that of <i>Naishinno</i> was seventh in order
+        of precedence.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote70"
+                    name="footnote70"></a><b>Footnote 70:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag70">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>For centuries the wives of the emperors and the ladies
+        of the Imperial Court were chosen from the Fujiwara
+        clan&mdash;The period called H&#333;gen lasted from 1156 to
+        1159: the war referred to is the famous war between the
+        Taira and Minamoto clans.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote71"
+                    name="footnote71"></a><b>Footnote 71:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag71">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>In old-time belief every lake or spring had its
+        invisible guardian, supposed to sometimes take the form of
+        a serpent or dragon. The spirit of a lake or pond was
+        commonly spoken of as <i>Iké-no-Mushi</i>, the Master of
+        the Lake. Here we find the title "Master" given to a dragon
+        living in a well; but the guardian of wells is really the
+        god Suijin.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote72"
+                    name="footnote72"></a><b>Footnote 72:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag72">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>August-residence servant.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote73"
+                    name="footnote73"></a><b>Footnote 73:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag73">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>A scarcely translatable honorific title compounded of
+        the word <i>himé</i> (princess) and <i>kimi</i> (sovereign,
+        master or mistress, lord or lady, etc.).</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote74"
+                    name="footnote74"></a><b>Footnote 74:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag74">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>Shigéhira, after a brave fight in defense of the
+        capital,&mdash;then held by the Taďra (or Héďké)
+        party,&mdash;was surprised and routed by Yoshitsuné, leader
+        of the Minamoto forces. A soldier named Iyénaga, who was a
+        skilled archer, shot down Shigéhira's horse; and Shigéhira
+        fell under the struggling animal. He cried to an attendant
+        to bring another horse; but the man fled. Shigéhira was
+        then captured by Iyénaga, and eventually given up to
+        Yoritomo, head of the Minamoto clan, who caused him to be
+        sent in a cage to Kamakura. There, after sundry
+        humiliations, he was treated for a time with
+        consideration,&mdash;having been able, by a Chinese poem,
+        to touch even the cruel heart of Yoritomo. But in the
+        following year he was executed by request of the Buddhist
+        priests of Nanto, against whom he had formerly waged war by
+        order of Kiyomori.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote75"
+                    name="footnote75"></a><b>Footnote 75:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag75">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>This was the name given to a pair of metal rods attached
+        to a sword-sheath, and used like chop-sticks. They were
+        sometimes exquisitely ornamented.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+
+    <blockquote class="footnote">
+        <a id="footnote76"
+                    name="footnote76"></a><b>Footnote 76:</b>
+                    <a href="#footnotetag76">(return)</a>
+
+        <p>A kind of palanquin.</p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <hr class="full" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Romance of the Milky Way, by Lafcadio Hearn
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+</body>
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diff --git a/15320.txt b/15320.txt
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+Project Gutenberg's The Romance of the Milky Way, by Lafcadio Hearn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Romance of the Milky Way
+       And Other Studies & Stories
+
+Author: Lafcadio Hearn
+
+Release Date: March 10, 2005 [EBook #15320]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMANCE OF THE MILKY WAY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Ted Garvin, William Flis, and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+  Transcriber's Note: Phonetic characters are represented by the
+      following symbols:
+  [=x] = any letter "x" with superior macron
+  [`x] = any letter "x" with grave accent
+  ['x] = any letter "x" with acute accent
+  [.x] = any letter "x" with superior dot (semi-dieresis)
+  [:x] = any letter "x" with superior double-dot (dieresis)
+  [^x] = any letter "x" with superior circumflex
+  [~x] = any letter "x" with superior tilde
+  [x,] = any letter "x" with cedilla
+  [Sect.] = Section sign
+
+
+
+
+SHORT STORY
+
+
+
+
+THE ROMANCE OF THE MILKY WAY
+
+AND OTHER STUDIES & STORIES
+
+BY LAFCADIO HEARN
+
+
+HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY BOSTON AND NEW YORK 1905
+
+
+
+
+COPYRIGHT 1905 BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN & COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
+
+PUBLISHED OCTOBER 1905
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  THE ROMANCE OF THE MILKY WAY       1
+
+  GOBLIN POETRY      51
+
+  "ULTIMATE QUESTIONS"      103
+
+  THE MIRROR MAIDEN      125
+
+  THE STORY OF IT[=O] NORISUK['E]      139
+
+  STRANGER THAN FICTION      167
+
+  A LETTER FROM JAPAN      179
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+Lafcadio Hearn, known to Nippon as Yakumo Koizumi, was born in
+Leucadia in the Ionian Islands, June 27, 1850. His father was an Irish
+surgeon in the British Army; his mother was a Greek. Both parents died
+while Hearn was still a child, and he was adopted by a great-aunt,
+and educated for the priesthood. To this training he owed his
+Latin scholarship and, doubtless, something of the subtlety of
+his intelligence. He soon found, however, that the prospect of an
+ecclesiastical career was alien from his inquiring mind and vivid
+temperament, and at the age of nineteen he came to America to seek
+his fortune. After working for a time as a proof-reader, he obtained
+employment as a newspaper reporter in Cincinnati. Soon he rose to
+be an editorial writer, and went in the course of a few years to New
+Orleans to join the editorial staff of the "Times-Democrat." Here he
+lived until 1887, writing odd fantasies and arabesques for his paper,
+contributing articles and sketches to the magazines, and publishing
+several curious little books, among them his "Stray Leaves from
+Strange Literature," and his translations from Gautier. In the winter
+of 1887 he began his pilgrimages to exotic countries, being, as
+he wrote to a friend, "a small literary bee in search of inspiring
+honey." After a couple of years, spent chiefly in the French West
+Indies, with periods of literary work in New York, he went in 1890
+to Japan to prepare a series of articles for a magazine. Here through
+some deep affinity of mood with the marvelous people of that country
+he seems suddenly to have felt himself at last at home. He married a
+Japanese woman; he acquired Japanese citizenship in order to preserve
+the succession of his property to his family there; he became a
+lecturer in the Imperial University at T[=o]ky[=o]; and in a series
+of remarkable books he made himself the interpreter to the Western
+World of the very spirit of Japanese life and art. He died there of
+paralysis of the heart on the 26th of September, 1904.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With the exception of a body of familiar letters now in process of
+collection, the present volume contains all of Hearn's writing that
+he left uncollected in the magazines or in manuscript of a sufficient
+ripeness for publication. It is worth noting, however, that perfect as
+is the writing of "Ultimate Questions," and complete as the essay is
+in itself, the author regarded it as unfinished, and, had he lived,
+would have revised and amplified some portions of it.
+
+But if this volume lacks the incomparably exquisite touch of its
+author in its arrangement and revision, it does, nevertheless, present
+him in all of his most characteristic veins, and it is in respect both
+to style and to substance perhaps the most mature and significant of
+his works.
+
+In his first days as a writer Hearn had conceived an ideal of his art
+as specific as it was ambitious. Early in the eighties he wrote from
+New Orleans in an unpublished letter to the Rev. Wayland D. Ball
+of Washington: "The lovers of antique loveliness are proving to me
+the future possibilities of a long cherished dream,--the English
+realization of a Latin style, modeled upon foreign masters, and
+rendered even more forcible by that element of _strength_ which
+is the characteristic of Northern tongues. This no man can hope
+to accomplish, but even a translator may carry his stones to the
+master-masons of a new architecture of language." In the realization
+of his ideal Hearn took unremitting pains. He gave a minute and
+analytical study to the writings of such masters of style as Flaubert
+and Gautier, and he chose his miscellaneous reading with a peculiar
+care. He wrote again to the same friend: "I never read a book
+which does not powerfully impress the imagination; but whatever
+contains novel, curious, potent imagery I always read, no matter
+what the subject. When the soil of fancy is really well enriched
+with innumerable fallen leaves, the flowers of language grow
+spontaneously." Finally, to the hard study of technique, to vast
+but judicious reading, he added a long, creative brooding time.
+To a Japanese friend, Nobushige Amenomori, he wrote in a passage
+which contains by implication a deep theory not only of literary
+composition, but of all art:--
+
+"Now with regard to your own sketch or story. If you are quite
+dissatisfied with it, I think this is probably due _not_ to what you
+suppose,--imperfection of expression,--but rather to the fact that
+some _latent_ thought or emotion has not yet defined itself in your
+mind with sufficient sharpness. You feel something and have not been
+able to express the feeling--only because you do not yet quite know
+what it is. We feel without understanding feeling; and our most
+powerful emotions are the most undefinable. This must be so, because
+they are inherited accumulations of feeling, and the multiplicity of
+them--superimposed one over another--blurs them, and makes them dim,
+even though enormously increasing their strength.... _Unconscious_
+brain work is the best to develop such latent feeling or thought. By
+quietly writing the thing over and over again, I find that the emotion
+or idea often _develops itself_ in the process,--unconsciously. Again,
+it is often worth while to _try_ to analyze the feeling that remains
+dim. The effort of trying to understand exactly what it is that moves
+us sometimes proves successful.... If you have any feeling--no matter
+what--strongly latent in the mind (even only a haunting sadness or
+a mysterious joy), you may be sure that it is expressible. Some
+feelings are, of course, very difficult to develop. I shall show you
+one of these days, when we see each other, a page that I worked at
+for _months_ before the idea came clearly.... When the best result
+comes, it ought to surprise you, for our best work is out of the
+Unconscious."
+
+Through this study, reading, and brooding Lafcadio Hearn's prose
+ripened and mellowed consistently to the end. In mere workmanship the
+present volume is one of his most admirable, while in its heightened
+passages, like the final paragraph of "The Romance of the Milky Way,"
+the rich, melancholy music, the profound suggestion, are not easily
+matched from any but the very greatest English prose.
+
+In substance the volume is equally significant. In 1884 he wrote
+to one of the closest of his friends that he had at last found his
+feet intellectually through the reading of Herbert Spencer which
+had dispelled all "isms" from his mind and left him "the vague
+but omnipotent consolation of the Great Doubt." And in "Ultimate
+Questions," which strikes, so to say, the dominant chord of this
+volume, we have an almost lyrical expression of the meaning for him of
+the Spencerian philosophy and psychology. In it is his characteristic
+mingling of Buddhist and Shinto thought with English and French
+psychology, strains which in his work "do not simply mix well," as
+he says in one of his letters, but "absolutely unite, like chemical
+elements--rush together with a shock;"--and in it he strikes his
+deepest note. In his steady envisagement of the horror that envelops
+the stupendous universe of science, in his power to evoke and revive
+old myths and superstitions, and by their glamour to cast a ghostly
+light of vanished suns over the darkness of the abyss, he was the most
+Lucretian of modern writers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In outward appearance Hearn, the man, was in no way prepossessing. In
+the sharply lined picture of him drawn by one of his Japanese comrades
+in the "Atlantic" for October, 1905, he appears, "slightly corpulent
+in later years, short in stature, hardly five feet high, of somewhat
+stooping gait. A little brownish in complexion, and of rather hairy
+skin. A thin, sharp, aquiline nose, large protruding eyes, of which
+the left was blind and the right very near-sighted."
+
+The same writer, Nobushige Amenomori, has set down a reminiscence, not
+of Hearn the man, but of Hearn the genius, wherewith this introduction
+to the last of his writings may fitly conclude: "I shall ever retain
+the vivid remembrance of the sight I had when I stayed over night at
+his house for the first time. Being used myself also to sit up late, I
+read in bed that night. The clock struck one in the morning, but there
+was a light in Hearn's study. I heard some low, hoarse coughing. I was
+afraid my friend might be ill; so I stepped out of my room and went to
+his study. Not wanting, however, to disturb him, if he was at work,
+I cautiously opened the door just a little, and peeped in. I saw
+my friend intent in writing at his high desk, with his nose almost
+touching the paper. Leaf after leaf he wrote on. In a while he held
+up his head, and what did I see! It was not the Hearn I was familiar
+with; it was another Hearn. His face was mysteriously white; his
+large eye gleamed. He appeared like one in touch with some unearthly
+presence.
+
+"Within that homely looking man there burned something pure as the
+vestal fire, and in that flame dwelt a mind that called forth life and
+poetry out of dust, and grasped the highest themes of human thought."
+
+F.G.
+
+September, 1905.
+
+
+
+
+THE ROMANCE, OF THE MILKY WAY
+
+
+    Of old it was said: 'The River of Heaven is the Ghost of
+    Waters.' We behold it shifting its bed in the course of the
+    year as an earthly river sometimes does.
+
+    _Ancient Scholar_
+
+
+Among the many charming festivals celebrated by Old Japan, the most
+romantic was the festival of Tanabata-Sama, the Weaving-Lady of the
+Milky Way. In the chief cities her holiday is now little observed; and
+in T[=o]ky[=o] it is almost forgotten. But in many country districts,
+and even in villages, near the capital, it is still celebrated in a
+small way. If you happen to visit an old-fashioned country town or
+village, on the seventh day of the seventh month (by the ancient
+calendar), you will probably notice many freshly-cut bamboos fixed
+upon the roofs of the houses, or planted in the ground beside them,
+every bamboo having attached to it a number of strips of colored
+paper. In some very poor villages you might find that these papers are
+white, or of one color only; but the general rule is that the papers
+should be of five or seven different colors. Blue, green, red, yellow,
+and white are the tints commonly displayed. All these papers are
+inscribed with short poems written in praise of Tanabata and her
+husband Hikoboshi. After the festival the bamboos are taken down and
+thrown into the nearest stream, together with the poems attached to
+them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+To understand the romance of this old festival, you must know the
+legend of those astral divinities to whom offerings used to be made,
+even by, the Imperial Household, on the seventh day of the seventh
+month. The legend is Chinese. This is the Japanese popular version
+of it:--
+
+The great god of the firmament had a lovely daughter,
+Tanabata-tsum['e], who passed her days in weaving garments for her
+august parent. She rejoiced in her work, and thought that there was
+no greater pleasure than the pleasure of weaving. But one day, as she
+sat before her loom at the door of her heavenly dwelling, she saw a
+handsome peasant lad pass by, leading an ox, and she fell in love with
+him. Her august father, divining her secret wish, gave her the youth
+for a husband. But the wedded lovers became too fond of each other,
+and neglected their duty to the god of the firmament; the sound of
+the shuttle was no longer heard, and the ox wandered, unheeded, over
+the plains of heaven. Therefore the great god was displeased, and he
+separated the pair. They were sentenced to live thereafter apart, with
+the Celestial River between them; but it was permitted them to see
+each other once a year, on the seventh night of the seventh moon. On
+that night--providing the skies be clear--the birds of heaven make,
+with their bodies and wings, a bridge over the stream; and by means
+of that bridge the lovers can meet. But if there be rain, the River of
+Heaven rises, and becomes so wide that the bridge cannot be formed. So
+the husband and wife cannot always meet, even on the seventh night of
+the seventh month; it may happen, by reason of bad weather, that they
+cannot meet for three or four years at a time. But their love remains
+immortally young and eternally patient; and they continue to fulfill
+their respective duties each day without fault,--happy in their hope
+of being able to meet on the seventh night of the next seventh month.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+To ancient Chinese fancy, the Milky Way was a luminous river,--the
+River of Heaven,--the Silver Stream. It has been stated by Western
+writers that Tanabata, the Weaving-Lady, is a star in Lyra; and the
+Herdsman, her beloved, a star in Aquila, on the opposite side of the
+galaxy. But it were more correct to say that both are represented, to
+Far-Eastern imagination, by groups of stars. An old Japanese book puts
+the matter thus plainly: "Kengy[=u] (the Ox-Leader) is on the west
+side of the Heavenly River, and is represented by three stars in a
+row, and looks like a man leading an ox. Shokujo (the Weaving-Lady)
+is on the east side of the Heavenly River: three stars so placed as
+to appear like the figure of a woman seated at her loom.... The former
+presides over all things relating to agriculture; the latter, over all
+that relates to women's work."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In an old book called Zatsuwa-Shin, it is said that these deities
+were of earthly origin. Once in this world they were man and wife,
+and lived in China; and the husband was called Ishi, and the wife
+Hakuy[=o]. They especially and most devoutly reverenced the Moon.
+Every clear evening, after sundown, they waited with eagerness to see
+her rise. And when she began to sink towards the horizon, they would
+climb to the top of a hill near their house, so that they might be
+able to gaze upon her face as long as possible. Then, when she at last
+disappeared from view, they would mourn together. At the age of ninety
+and nine, the wife died; and her spirit rode up to heaven on a magpie,
+and there became a star. The husband, who was then one hundred and
+three years old, sought consolation for his bereavement in looking at
+the Moon and when he welcomed her rising and mourned her setting, it
+seemed to him as if his wife were still beside him.
+
+One summer night, Hakuy[=o]--now immortally beautiful and
+young--descended from heaven upon her magpie, to visit her husband;
+and he was made very happy by that visit. But from that time he
+could think of nothing but the bliss of becoming a star, and joining
+Hakuy[=o] beyond the River of Heaven. At last he also ascended to the
+sky, riding upon a crow; and there he became a star-god. But he could
+not join Hakuy[=o] at once, as he had hoped;--for between his allotted
+place and hers flowed the River of Heaven; and it was not permitted
+for either star to cross the stream, because the Master of Heaven
+(_Ten-Tei_) daily bathed in its waters. Moreover, there was no bridge.
+But on one day every year--the seventh day of the seventh month--they
+were allowed to see each other. The Master of Heaven goes always
+on that day to the Zenh[=o]do, to hear the preaching of the law of
+Buddha; and then the magpies and the crows make, with their hovering
+bodies and outspread wings, a bridge over the Celestial Stream; and
+Hakuy[=o] crosses that bridge to meet her husband.
+
+There can be little doubt that the Japanese festival called
+Tanabata was originally identical with the festival of the Chinese
+Weaving-Goddess, Tchi-Niu; the Japanese holiday seems to have
+been especially a woman's holiday, from the earliest times; and
+the characters with which the word Tanabata is written signify a
+weaving-girl. But as both of the star-deities were worshiped on the
+seventh of the seventh month, some Japanese scholars have not been
+satisfied with the common explanation of the name, and have stated
+that it was originally composed with the word _tan['e]_ (seed, or
+grain), and the word _hata_ (loom). Those who accept this etymology
+make the appellation, Tanabata-Sama, plural instead of singular, and
+render it as "the deities of grain and of the loom,"--that is to say,
+those presiding over agriculture and weaving. In old Japanese pictures
+the star-gods are represented according to this conception of their
+respective attributes;--Hikoboshi being figured as a peasant lad
+leading an ox to drink of the Heavenly River, on the farther side of
+which Orihim['e] (Tanabata) appears, weaving at her loom. The garb of
+both is Chinese; and the first Japanese pictures of these divinities
+were probably copied from some Chinese original.
+
+In the oldest collection of Japanese poetry extant,--the
+Many[=o]sh[=u], dating from 760 A.D.,--the male divinity is usually
+called Hikoboshi, and the female Tanabata-tsum['e]; but in later times
+both have been called Tanabata. In Izumo the male deity is popularly
+termed O-Tanabata Sama, and the female M['e]-Tanabata Sama. Both are
+still known by many names. The male is called Kaiboshi as well as
+Hikoboshi and Kengy[=u]; while the female is called Asagao-him['e]
+("Morning Glory Princess")[1], Ito-ori-him['e] ("Thread-Weaving
+Princess"), Momoko-him['e] ("Peach-Child Princess"), Takimono-him['e]
+("Incense Princess"), and Sasagani-him['e] ("Spider Princess"). Some
+of these names are difficult to explain,--especially the last, which
+reminds us of the Greek legend of Arachne. Probably the Greek myth and
+the Chinese story have nothing whatever in common; but in old Chinese
+books there is recorded a curious fact which might well suggest a
+relationship. In the time of the Chinese Emperor Ming Hwang (whom the
+Japanese call Gens[=o]), it was customary for the ladies of the court,
+on the seventh day of the seventh month, to catch spiders and put them
+into an incense-box for purposes of divination. On the morning of the
+eighth day the box was opened; and if the spiders had spun thick webs
+during the night the omen was good. But if they had remained idle the
+omen was bad.
+
+[Footnote 1: Asagao (lit., "morning-face") is the Japanese name for
+the beautiful climbing plant which we call "morning glory."]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There is a story that, many ages ago, a beautiful woman visited the
+dwelling of a farmer in the mountains of Izumo, and taught to the
+only daughter of the household an art of weaving never before known.
+One evening the beautiful stranger vanished away; and the people knew
+that they had seen the Weaving-Lady of Heaven. The daughter of the
+farmer became renowned for her skill in weaving. But she would never
+marry,--because she had been the companion of Tanabata-Sama.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Then there is a Chinese story--delightfully vague--about a man who
+once made a visit, unawares, to the Heavenly Land. He had observed
+that every year, during the eighth month, a raft of precious wood came
+floating to the shore on which he lived; and he wanted to know where
+that wood grew. So he loaded a boat with provisions for a two years'
+voyage, and sailed away in the direction from which the rafts used to
+drift. For months and months he sailed on, over an always placid sea;
+and at last he arrived at a pleasant shore, where wonderful trees
+were growing. He moored his boat, and proceeded alone into the unknown
+land, until he came to the bank of a river whose waters were bright as
+silver. On the opposite shore he saw a pavilion; and in the pavilion
+a beautiful woman sat weaving; she was white like moonshine, and made
+a radiance all about her. Presently he saw a handsome young peasant
+approaching, leading an ox to the water; and he asked the young
+peasant to tell him the name of the place and the country. But the
+youth seemed to be displeased by the question, and answered in a
+severe tone: "If you want to know the name of this place, go back
+to where you came from, and ask Gen-Kum-Pei."[2] So the voyager,
+feeling afraid, hastened to his boat, and returned to China. There he
+sought out the sage Gen-Kum-Pei, to whom he related the adventure.
+Gen-Kum-Pei clapped his hands for wonder, and exclaimed, "So it was
+you!... On the seventh day of the seventh month I was gazing at
+the heavens, and I saw that the Herdsman and the Weaver were about
+to meet;--but between them was a new Star, which I took to be a
+Guest-Star. Fortunate man! you have been to the River of Heaven, and
+have looked upon the face of the Weaving-Lady!..."
+
+[Footnote 2: This is the Japanese reading of the Chinese name.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--It is said that the meeting of the Herdsman and the Weaver can be
+observed by any one with good eyes; for whenever it occurs those stars
+burn with five different colors. That is why offerings of five colors
+are made to the Tanabata divinities, and why the poems composed in
+their praise are written upon paper of five different tints.
+
+But, as I have said before, the pair can meet only in fair weather.
+If there be the least rain upon the seventh night, the River of Heaven
+will rise, and the lovers must wait another whole year. Therefore
+the rain that happens to fall on Tanabata night is called _Namida no
+Am['e]_, "The Rain of Tears."
+
+When the sky is clear on the seventh night, the lovers are fortunate;
+and their stars can be seen to sparkle with delight. If the star
+Kengy[=u] then shines very brightly, there will be great rice crops
+in the autumn. If the star Shokujo looks brighter than usual, there
+will be a prosperous time for weavers, and for every kind of female
+industry.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In old Japan it was generally supposed that the meeting of the pair
+signified good fortune to mortals. Even to-day, in many parts of the
+country, children sing a little song on the evening of the Tanabata
+festival,--_Tenki ni nari!_ ("O weather, be clear!") In the province
+of Iga the young folks also sing a jesting song at the supposed hour
+of the lovers' meeting:--
+
+    Tanabata ya!
+  Amari isogaba,
+    Korobub['e]shi![3]
+
+But in the province of Izumo, which is a very rainy district, the
+contrary belief prevails; and it is thought that if the sky be clear
+on the seventh day of the seventh month, misfortune will follow. The
+local explanation of this belief is that if the stars can meet, there
+will be born from their union many evil deities who will afflict the
+country with drought and other calamities.
+
+[Footnote 3: "Ho! Tanabata! if you hurry too much, you will tumble
+down!"]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The festival of Tanabata was first celebrated in Japan on the seventh
+day of the seventh month of Tomby[=o] Sh[=o]h[=o] (A.D. 755). Perhaps
+the Chinese origin of the Tanabata divinities accounts for the fact
+that their public worship was at no time represented by many temples.
+
+I have been able to find record of only one temple to them, called
+Tanabata-jinja, which was situated at a village called Hoshiaimura,
+in the province of Owari, and surrounded by a grove called
+Tanabata-mori.[4]
+
+[Footnote 4: There is no mention, however, of any such village in any
+modern directory.]
+
+Even before Temby[=o] Sh[=o]h[=o], however, the legend of the
+Weaving-Maiden seems to have been well known in Japan; for it is
+recorded that on the seventh night of the seventh year of Y[=o]r[=o]
+(A.D. 723) the poet Yamagami no Okura composed the song:--
+
+    Amanogawa,
+  Ai-muki tachit['e],
+    Waga ko[:i]shi
+  Kimi kimasu nari--
+  Himo-toki makina![5]
+
+It would seem that the Tanabata festival was first established
+in Japan eleven hundred and fifty years ago, as an Imperial Court
+festival only, in accordance with Chinese precedent. Subsequently
+the nobility and the military classes everywhere followed imperial
+example; and the custom of celebrating the Hoshi-mat-suri, or
+Star-Festival,--as it was popularly called,--spread gradually
+downwards, until at last the seventh day of the seventh month became,
+in the full sense of the term, a national holiday. But the fashion of
+its observance varied considerably at different eras and in different
+provinces.
+
+[Footnote 5: For a translation and explanation of this song, see
+_infra_, page 30.]
+
+The ceremonies at the Imperial Court were of the most elaborate
+character: a full account of them is given in the _K[=o]ji
+Kongen_,--with explanatory illustrations. On the evening of the
+seventh day of the seventh month, mattings were laid down on the east
+side of that portion of the Imperial Palace called the Seir-y[=o]den;
+and upon these mattings were placed four tables of offerings to the
+Star-deities. Besides the customary food-offerings, there were placed
+upon these tables rice-wine, incense, vases of red lacquer containing
+flowers, a harp and flute, and a needle with five eyes, threaded
+with threads of five different colors. Black-lacquered oil-lamps were
+placed beside the tables, to illuminate the feast. In another part of
+the grounds a tub of water was so placed as to reflect the light of
+the Tanabata-stars; and the ladies of the Imperial Household attempted
+to thread a needle by the reflection. She who succeeded was to be
+fortunate during the following year. The court-nobility (_Kug['e]_)
+were obliged to make certain offerings to the Imperial House on the
+day of the festival. The character of these offerings, and the manner
+of their presentation, were fixed by decree. They were conveyed to
+the palace upon a tray, by a veiled lady of rank, in ceremonial
+dress. Above her, as she walked, a great red umbrella was borne by
+an attendant. On the tray were placed seven _tanzaku_ (longilateral
+slips of fine tinted paper for the writing of poems); seven
+_kudzu_-leaves;[6] seven inkstones; seven strings of _s[=o]men_
+(a kind of vermicelli); fourteen writing-brushes; and a bunch of
+yam-leaves gathered at night, and thickly sprinkled with dew. In the
+palace grounds the ceremony began at the Hour of the Tiger,--4 A.M.
+Then the inkstones were carefully washed,--prior to preparing the ink
+for the writing of poems in praise of the Star-deities,--and each one
+set upon a _kudzu_-leaf. One bunch of bedewed yam-leaves was then
+laid upon every inkstone; and with this dew, instead of water, the
+writing-ink was prepared. All the ceremonies appear to have been
+copied from those in vogue at the Chinese court in the time of the
+Emperor Ming-Hwang.
+
+[Footnote 6: _Pueraria Thunbergiana._]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was not until the time of the Tokugawa Sh[=o]gunate that the
+Tanabata festival became really a national holiday; and the popular
+custom of attaching _tansaku_ of different colors to freshly-cut
+bamboos, in celebration of the occasion, dates only from the era
+of Bunser (1818). Previously the _tanzaku_ had been made of a very
+costly quality of paper; and the old aristocratic ceremonies had been
+not less expensive than elaborate. But in the time of the Tokugawa
+Sh[=o]gunate a very cheap paper of various colors was manufactured;
+and the holiday ceremonies were suffered to assume an inexpensive
+form, in which even the poorest classes could indulge.
+
+The popular customs relating to the festival differed according to
+locality. Those of Izumo--where all classes of society, _samurai_ or
+common folk, celebrated the holiday in much the same way--used to be
+particularly interesting; and a brief account of them will suggest
+something of the happy aspects of life in feudal times. At the Hour
+of the Tiger, on the seventh night of the seventh month, everybody
+was up; and the work of washing the inkstones and writing-brushes
+was performed. Then, in the household garden, dew was collected upon
+yam-leaves. This dew was called _Amanogawa no suzuki_ ("drops from the
+River of Heaven"); and it was used to make fresh ink for writing the
+poems which were to be suspended to bamboos planted in the garden. It
+was usual for friends to present each other with new inkstones at the
+time of the Tanabata festival; and if there were any new inkstones
+in the house, the fresh ink was prepared in these. Each member of
+the family then wrote poems. The adults composed verses, according
+to their ability, in praise of the Star-deities; and the children
+either wrote dictation or tried to improvise. Little folk too young
+to use the writing-brush without help had their small hands guided,
+by parent or elder sister or elder brother, so as to shape on a
+_tanzaku_ the character of some single word or phrase relating to
+the festival,--such as "Amanogawa," or "Tanabata," or "Kasasagi
+no Hashi" (the Bridge of Magpies). In the garden were planted two
+freshly-cut bamboos, with branches and leaves entire,--a male bamboo
+(_otoko-dak['e]_) and a female bamboo (_onna-dak['e]_). They were
+set up about six feet apart, and to a cord extended between them were
+suspended paper-cuttings of five colors, and skeins of dyed thread of
+five colors. The paper-cuttings represented upper-robes,--_kimono_.
+To the leaves and branches of the bamboos were tied the _tanzaku_
+on which poems had been written by the members of the family.
+And upon a table, set between the bamboos, or immediately before
+them, were placed vessels containing various offerings to the
+Star-deities,--fruits, _s[=o]men_, rice-wine, and vegetables of
+different kinds, such as cucumbers and watermelons.
+
+But the most curious Izumo custom relating to the festival was the
+_N['e]mu-nagashi_, or "Sleep-wash-away" ceremony. Before day-break
+the young folks used to go to some stream, carrying with them bunches
+composed of _n['e]muri_-leaves and bean-leaves mixed together. On
+reaching the stream, they would fling their bunches of leaves into the
+current, and sing a little song:--
+
+  N['e]mu wa, nagar['e] yo!
+  Mam['e] no ha wa, tomar['e]!
+
+These verses might be rendered in two ways; because the word _n['e]mu_
+can be taken in the meaning either of _n['e]muri_ (sleep), or of
+_nemuri-gi_ or _n['e]munoki_, the "sleep-plant" (mimosa),--while the
+syllables _mam['e]_, as written in _kana_, can signify either "bean,"
+or "activity," or "strength," "vigor," "health," etc. But the ceremony
+was symbolical, and the intended meaning of the song was:--
+
+  Drowsiness, drift away!
+  Leaves of vigor, remain!
+
+After this, all the young folk would jump into the water, to bathe or
+swim, in token of their resolve to shed all laziness for the coming
+year, and to maintain a vigorous spirit of endeavor.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Yet it was probably in Y['e]do (now T[=o]ky[=o]) that the Tanabata
+festival assumed its most picturesque aspects. During the two days
+that the celebration lasted,--the sixth and seventh of the seventh
+month,--the city used to present the appearance of one vast bamboo
+grove; fresh bamboos, with poems attached to them, being erected upon
+the roofs of the houses. Peasants were in those days able to do a
+great business in bamboos, which were brought into town by hundreds
+of wagonloads for holiday use. Another feature of the Y['e]do festival
+was the children's procession, in which bamboos, with poems attached
+to them, were carried about the city. To each such bamboo there
+was also fastened a red plaque on which were painted, in Chinese
+characters, the names of the Tanabata stars.
+
+But almost everywhere, under the Tokugawa r['e]gime, the Tanabata
+festival used to be a merry holiday for the young people of all
+classes,--a holiday beginning with lantern displays before sunrise,
+and lasting well into the following night. Boys and girls on that day
+were dressed in their best, and paid visits of ceremony to friends and
+neighbors.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--The moon of the seventh month used to be called _Tanabata-tsuki_, or
+"The Moon of Tanabata." And it was also called _Fumi-tsuki_, or "The
+Literary Moon," because during the seventh month poems were everywhere
+composed in praise of the Celestial Lovers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I think that my readers ought to be interested in the following
+selection of ancient Japanese poems, treating of the Tanabata legend.
+All are from the _Many[=o]sh[=u]_. The _Many[=o]sh[=u]_, or "Gathering
+of a Myriad Leaves," is a vast collection of poems composed before the
+middle of the eighth century. It was compiled by Imperial order, and
+completed early in the ninth century. The number of the poems which
+it contains is upwards of four thousand; some being "long poems"
+(_naga-uta_), but the great majority _tanka_, or compositions limited
+to thirty-one syllables; and the authors were courtiers or high
+officials. The first eleven _tanka_ hereafter translated were composed
+by Yamagami no Okura, Governor of the province of Chikuzen more than
+eleven hundred years ago. His fame as a poet is well deserved; for
+not a little of his work will bear comparison with some of the finer
+epigrams of the Greek Anthology. The following verses, upon the death
+of his little son Furubi, will serve as an example:--
+
+    Wakaker['e]ba
+  Nichi-yuki shiraji:
+    Mahi wa s['e]mu,
+  Shitab['e] no tsukahi
+  Ohit['e]-tohoras['e].
+
+    --[_As he is so young, he cannot know the way.... To the
+    messenger of the Underworld I will give a bribe, and entreat
+    him, saying: "Do thou kindly take the little one upon thy back
+    along the road."_]
+
+Eight hundred years earlier, the Greek poet Diodorus Zonas of Sardis
+had written:--
+
+    "_Do thou, who rowest the boat of the dead in the water
+    of this reedy lake, for Hades, stretch out thy hand, dark
+    Charon, to the son of Kinyras, as he mounts the ladder by the
+    gang-way, and receive him. For his sandals will cause the lad
+    to slip, and he fears to set his feet naked on the sand of the
+    shore._"
+
+But the charming epigram of Diodorus was inspired only by a myth,--for
+the "son of Kinyras" was no other than Adonis,--whereas the verses of
+Okura express for us the yearning of a father's heart.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--Though the legend of Tanabata was indeed borrowed from China, the
+reader will find nothing Chinese in the following compositions.
+They represent the old classic poetry at its purest, free from alien
+influence; and they offer us many suggestions as to the condition of
+Japanese life and thought twelve hundred years ago. Remembering that
+they were written before any modern European literature had yet taken
+form, one is startled to find how little the Japanese written language
+has changed in the course of so many centuries. Allowing for a few
+obsolete words, and sundry slight changes of pronunciation, the
+ordinary Japanese reader to-day can enjoy these early productions of
+his native muse with about as little difficulty as the English reader
+finds in studying the poets of the Elizabethan era. Moreover, the
+refinement and the simple charm of the _Many[=o]sh[=u]_ compositions
+have never been surpassed, and seldom equaled, by later Japanese
+poets.
+
+As for the forty-odd _tanka_ which I have translated, their chief
+attraction lies, I think, in what they reveal to us of the human
+nature of their authors. Tanabata-tsum['e] still represents for us
+the Japanese wife, worshipfully loving;--Hikoboshi appears to us with
+none of the luminosity of the god, but as the young Japanese husband
+of the sixth or seventh century, before Chinese ethical convention
+had begun to exercise its restraint upon life and literature. Also
+these poems interest us by their expression of the early feeling for
+natural beauty. In them we find the scenery and the seasons of Japan
+transported to the Blue Plain of High Heaven;--the Celestial Stream
+with its rapids and shallows, its sudden risings and clamourings
+within its stony bed, and its water-grasses bending in the autumn
+wind, might well be the Kamogawa;--and the mists that haunt its shores
+are the very mists of Arashiyama. The boat of Hikoboshi, impelled by
+a single oar working upon a wooden peg, is not yet obsolete; and at
+many a country ferry you may still see the _hiki-fun['e]_ in which
+Tanabata-tsum['e] prayed her husband to cross in a night of storm,--a
+flat broad barge pulled over the river by cables. And maids and wives
+still sit at their doors in country villages, on pleasant autumn days,
+to weave as Tanabata-tsum['e] wove for the sake of her lord and lover.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--It will be observed that, in most of these verses, it is not the
+wife who dutifully crosses the Celestial River to meet her husband,
+but the husband who rows over the stream to meet the wife; and there
+is no reference to the Bridge of Birds.... As for my renderings, those
+readers who know by experience the difficulty of translating Japanese
+verse will be the most indulgent, I fancy. The Romaji system of
+spelling has been followed (except in one or two cases where I thought
+it better to indicate the ancient syllabication after the method
+adopted by Aston); and words or phrases necessarily supplied have been
+inclosed in parentheses.
+
+    Amanogawa
+  Ai-muki tachit['e],
+    Waga ko[:i]shi
+  Kimi kimasu nari
+  Himo-toki mak['e]na!
+
+    [_He is coming, my long-desired lord, whom I have been waiting
+    to meet here, on the banks of the River of Heaven.... The
+    moment of loosening my girdle is nigh!_[7]]
+
+[Footnote 7: The last line alludes to a charming custom of which
+mention is made in the most ancient Japanese literature. Lovers,
+ere parting, were wont to tie each other's inner girdle (_himo_) and
+pledge themselves to leave the knot untouched until the time of their
+next meeting. This poem is said to have been composed in the seventh
+year of Y[=o]r[=o],--A.D. 723,--eleven hundred and eighty-two years
+ago.]
+
+    Hisakata no[8]
+  Ama no kawas['e] ni,
+    Fun['e] uk['e]t['e],
+  Koyo[:i] ka kimi ga
+    Agari kimasan?
+
+[Footnote 8: _Hisakata-no_ is a "pillow-word" used by the old poets in
+relation to celestial objects; and it is often difficult to translate.
+Mr. Aston thinks that the literal meaning of _hisakata_ is simply
+"long-hard," in the sense of long-enduring,--_hisa_ (long), _katai_
+(hard, or firm),--so that _hisakata-no_ would have the meaning of
+"firmamental." Japanese commentators, however, say that the term
+is composed with the three words, _hi_ (sun), _sasu_ (shine), and
+_kata_ (side);--and this etymology would justify the rendering
+of _hisakata-no_ by some such expression as "light-shedding,"
+"radiance-giving." On the subject of pillow-words, see Aston's
+_Grammar of the Japanese Written Language_.]
+
+    [_Over the Rapids of the Everlasting Heaven, floating in his
+    boat, my lord will doubtless deign to come to me this very
+    night._]
+
+    Kaz['e] kumo wa
+  Futatsu no kishi ni
+    Kayo[:e]domo,
+  Waga toho-tsuma no
+  Koto zo kayowanu!
+
+    [_Though winds and clouds to either bank may freely come or
+    go, between myself and my faraway spouse no message whatever
+    may pass._]
+
+    Tsubut['e][9] ni mo
+  Nag['e] koshitsu-b['e]ki,
+    Amanogawa
+  H['e]dat['e]r['e]ba ka mo,
+  Amata sub['e]-naki!
+
+    [_To the opposite bank one might easily fling a pebble; yet,
+    being separated from him by the River of Heaven, alas! to hope
+    for a meeting (except in autumn) is utterly useless._]
+
+[Footnote 9: The old text has _tabut['e]_.]
+
+    Aki-kaz['e] no
+  Fukinishi hi yori
+    "Itsushika" to--;
+  Waga machi ko[^i]shi
+  Kimi zo kimas['e]ru.
+
+    [_From the day that the autumn wind began to blow (I kept
+    saying to myself), "Ah! when shall we meet?"--but now my
+    beloved, for whom I waited and longed, has come indeed!_]
+
+    Amanogawa
+  Ito kawa-nami wa
+    Tatan['e]domo,
+  Samorai gatashi--
+  Chikaki kono s['e] wo.
+
+    [_Though the waters of the River of Heaven have not greatly
+    risen, (yet to cross) this near stream and to wait upon (my
+    lord and lover) remains impossible._]
+
+    Sod['e] furaba
+  Mi mo kawashitsu-b['e]ku
+    Chika-ker['e]do,
+  Wataru sub['e] nashi,
+  Aki nishi aran['e]ba.
+
+    [_Though she is so near that the waving of her (long) sleeves
+    can be distinctly seen, yet there is no way to cross the
+    stream before the season of autumn._]
+
+    Kag['e]ro[:i] no
+  Honoka ni mi['e]t['e]
+    Wakar['e]naba;--
+  Motonaya ko[:i]n
+  A[:u]-toki mad['e] wa!
+
+    [_When we were separated, I had seen her for a moment
+    only,--and dimly as one sees a flying midge;[10] now I
+    must vainly long for her as before, until time of our next
+    meeting!_]
+
+    Hikoboshi no
+  Tsuma muka[:e]-bun['e]
+    Kogizurashi,--
+  Ama-no-Kawara ni
+  Kiri no tat['e]ru wa.
+
+[Footnote 10: _Kag['e]ro[:i]_ is an obsolete form of _kag['e]r[=o]_,
+meaning an ephemera.]
+
+    [_Methinks that Hikoboshi must be rowing his boat to meet his
+    wife,--for a mist (as of oar-spray) is rising over the course
+    of the Heavenly Stream._]
+
+    Kasumi tatsu
+  Ama-no-Kawara ni,
+    Kimi matsu to,--
+  Ikay[=o] hodo ni
+  Mono-suso nurenu.
+
+    [_While awaiting my lord on the misty shore of the River of
+    Heaven, the skirts of my robe have somehow become wet._]
+
+    Amanogawa,
+  Mi-tsu no nami oto
+    Sawagu-nari:
+  Waga matsu-kimi no
+  Funad['e]-surashi mo.
+
+    [_On the River of Heaven, at the place of the august
+    ferry, the sound of the water has become loud: perhaps my
+    long-awaited lord will soon be coming in his boat._]
+
+    Tanabata no
+  Sod['e] maku yo[:i] no
+    Akatoki wa,
+  Kawas['e] no tazu wa
+  Nakazu to mo yoshi.
+
+    [_As Tanabata (slumbers) with her long sleeves rolled up,
+    until the reddening of the dawn, do not, O storks of the
+    river-shallows, awaken her by your cries._[11]]
+
+[Footnote 11: Lit., "not to cry out (will be) good"--but a literal
+translation of the poem is scarcely possible.]
+
+    Amanogawa
+  Kiri-tachi-wataru:
+    Ky[=o], ky[=o], to--
+  Waga matsu-ko[:i]shi
+  Funad['e]-surashi!
+
+    [_(She sees that) a mist is spreading across the River of
+    Heaven.... "To-day, to-day," she thinks, "my long-awaited lord
+    will probably come over in his boat."_]
+
+    Amanogawa,
+  Yasu no watari ni,
+    Fun['e] uk['e]t['e];--
+  Waga tachi-matsu to
+  Imo ni tsug['e] koso.
+
+    [_By the ferry of Yasu, on the River of Heaven, the boat is
+    floating: I pray you tell my younger sister[12] that I stand
+    here and wait._]
+
+[Footnote 12: That is to say, "wife." In archaic Japanese the word
+_imo_ signified both "wife" and "younger sister." The term might also
+be rendered "darling" or "beloved."]
+
+    [=O]-sora yo
+  Kay[=o] war['e] sura,
+    Na ga yu['e] ni,
+  Amanokawa-ji no
+  Nazumit['e] zo koshi.
+
+    [_Though I (being a Star-god) can pass freely to and fro,
+    through the great sky,--yet to cross over the River of Heaven,
+    for your sake, was weary work indeed!_]
+
+    Yachihoko no
+  Kami no mi-yo yori
+    Tomoshi-zuma;--
+  Hito-shiri ni keri
+  Tsugit['e]shi omo[:e]ba.
+
+    [_From the august Age of the
+    God-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears_,[13] _she had been my spouse in
+    secret_[14] _only; yet now, because of my constant longing for
+    her, our relation has become known to men._]
+
+[Footnote 13: Yachihoko-no-Kami, who has many other names, is
+the Great God of Izumo, and is commonly known by his appellation
+Oho-kuni-nushi-no-Kami, or the "Deity-Master-of-the Great-Land." He
+is locally worshiped also as the god of marriage,--for which reason,
+perhaps, the poet thus refers to him.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Or, "my seldom-visited spouse." The word _tsuma_
+(_zuma_), in ancient Japanese, signified either wife or husband; and
+this poem might be rendered so as to express either the wife's or the
+husband's thoughts.]
+
+    Am['e] tsuchi to
+  Wakar['e]shi toki yo
+    Onoga tsuma;
+  Shika zo t['e] ni aru
+  Aki matsu ar['e] wa.
+
+    [_From the time when heaven and earth were parted, she has
+    been my own wife;--yet, to be with her, I must always wait
+    till autumn._[15]]
+
+[Footnote 15: By the ancient calendar, the seventh day of the seventh
+month would fall in the autumn season.]
+
+    Waga k[=o]ru
+  Niho no omo wa
+    Koyo[:i] mo ka
+  Ama-no-kawara ni
+  Ishi-makura makan.
+
+    [_With my beloved, of the ruddy-tinted cheeks_,[16] _this
+    night indeed will I descend into the bed of the River of
+    Heaven, to sleep on a pillow of stone._]
+
+[Footnote 16: The literal meaning is "_b['e]ni_-tinted face,"--that
+is to say, a face of which the cheeks and lips have been tinted with
+_b['e]ni_, a kind of rouge.]
+
+    Amanogawa.
+  Mikomori-gusa no
+    Aki-kaz['e] ni
+  Nabikafu mir['e]ba,
+  Toki kitarurashi.
+
+    [_When I see the water-grasses of the River of Heaven bend
+    in the autumn wind (I think to myself): "The time (for our
+    meeting) seems to have come."_]
+
+    Waga s['e]ko ni
+  Ura-koi or['e]ba,
+    Amanogawa
+  Yo-fun['e] kogi-toyomu
+  Kaji no 'to kikoyu.
+
+    [_When I feel in my heart a sudden longing for my
+    husband_,[17] _then on the River of Heaven the sound of the
+    rowing of the night-boat is heard, and the plash of the oar
+    resounds._]
+
+[Footnote 17: In ancient Japanese the word _s['e]ko_ signified either
+husband or elder brother. The beginning of the poem might also be
+rendered thus:--"When I feel a secret longing for my husband," etc.]
+
+    T[=o]-zuma to
+  Tamakura kawashi
+    N['e]taru yo wa,
+  Tori-gan['e] na naki
+  Ak['e]ba aku to mo!
+
+    [_In the night when I am reposing with my (now) far-away
+    spouse, having exchanged jewel-pillows_[18] _with her, let not
+    the cock crow, even though the day should dawn._]
+
+[Footnote 18: "To exchange jewel-pillows" signifies to use each
+other's arms for pillows. This poetical phrase is often used in
+the earliest Japanese literature. The word for jewel, _tama_, often
+appears in compounds as an equivalent of "precious," "dear," etc.]
+
+    Yorozu-yo ni
+  Tazusawari it['e]
+    Ai mi-domo,
+  Omoi-sugu-b['e]ki
+  Koi naranaku ni.
+
+    [_Though for a myriad ages we should remain hand-in-hand and
+    face to face, our exceeding love could never come to an end.
+    (Why then should Heaven deem it necessary to part us?)_]
+
+    Waga tam['e] to,
+  Tanabata-tsum['e] no,
+    Sono yado ni,
+  Oreru shirotai
+  Nu[:i]t ken kamo?
+
+    [_The white cloth which Tanabata has woven for my sake, in
+    that dwelling of hers, is now, I think, being made into a robe
+    for me._]
+
+    Shirakumo no
+  I-ho ['e] kakurit['e]
+    T[=o]-k['e]domo,
+  Yo[:i]-sarazu min
+  Imo ga atari wa.
+
+    [_Though she be far-away, and hidden from me by five hundred
+    layers of white cloud, still shall I turn my gaze each night
+    toward the dwelling-place of my younger sister (wife)._]
+
+    Aki sar['e]ba
+  Kawagiri tat['e]ru
+    Amanogawa,
+  Kawa ni muki-it['e]
+  Kru[19] yo zo [=o]ki!
+
+[Footnote 19: For _kofuru_.]
+
+    [_When autumn comes, and the river-mists spread over the
+    Heavenly Stream, I turn toward the river, (and long); and the
+    nights of my longing are many!_]
+
+    Hito-tos['e] ni
+  Nanuka no yo nomi
+    A[:u]-hito no--
+  Ko[:i] mo tsuki-n['e]ba
+  Sayo zo ak['e] ni keru!
+
+    [_But once in the whole year, and only upon the seventh night
+    (of the seventh month), to meet the beloved person--and
+    lo! The day has dawned before our mutual love could express
+    itself!_[20]]
+
+[Footnote 20: Or "satisfy itself." A literal rendering is difficult.]
+
+    Toshi no ko[:i]
+  Koyo[:i] tsukush['i]t['e],
+    Asu yori wa,
+  Tsun['e] no gotoku ya
+  Waga ko[:i] oran.
+
+    [_The love-longing of one whole year having ended to-night,
+    every day from to-morrow I must again pine for him as
+    before!_]
+
+    Hikoboshi to
+  Tanabata-tsum['e] to
+    Koyo[:i] a[:u];--
+  Ama-no-Kawa to ni
+  Nami tatsu-na yum['e]!
+
+    [_Hikoboshi and Tanabata-tsum['e] are to meet each other
+    to-night;--ye waves of the River of Heaven, take heed that ye
+    do not rise!_]
+
+    Aki-kaz['e] no
+  Fuki tadayowasu
+    Shirakumo wa,
+  Tanabata-tsum['e] no
+  Amatsu hir['e] kamo?
+
+    [_Oh! that white cloud driven by the autumn-wind--can it be
+    the heavenly hir['e][21] of Tana-bata-tsum['e]?_]
+
+[Footnote 21: At different times, in the history of Japanese female
+costume, different articles of dress were called by this name. In
+the present instance, the _hir['e]_ referred to was probably a white
+scarf, worn about the neck and carried over the shoulders to the
+breast, where its ends were either allowed to hang loose, or were
+tied into an ornamental knot. The _hir['e]_ was often used to make
+signals with, much as handkerchiefs are waved to-day for the same
+purpose;--and the question uttered in the poem seems to signify: "Can
+that be Tanabata waving her scarf--to call me?" In very early times,
+the ordinary costumes worn were white.]
+
+    Shiba-shiba mo
+  Ai minu kimi wo,
+    Amanogawa
+  Funa-d['e] haya s['e]yo
+  Yo no fuk['e]nu ma ni.
+
+    [_Because he is my not-often-to-be-met beloved, hasten to
+    row the boat across the River of Heaven ere the night be
+    advanced._]
+
+    Amanogawa
+  Kiri tachi-watari
+    Hikoboshi no
+  Kaji no 'to kikoyu
+  Yo no fuk['e]-yuk['e]ba.
+
+    [_Late in the night, a mist spreads over_] _the River of
+    Heaven; and the sound of the oar[22] of Hikoboshi is heard._]
+
+[Footnote 22: Or, "the creaking of the oar." (The word _kaji_ to-day
+means "helm";--the single oar, or scull, working upon a pivot, and
+serving at once for rudder and oar, being now called _ro_.) The mist
+passing across the Amanogawa is, according to commentators, the spray
+from the Star-god's oar.]
+
+    Amanogawa
+  Kawa 'to sayak['e]shi:
+    Hikoboshi no
+  Haya kogu fun['e] no
+  Nami no sawagi ka?
+
+    [_On the River of Heaven a sound of plashing can be distinctly
+    heard: is it the sound of the rippling made by Hikoboshi
+    quickly rowing his boat?_]
+
+    Kono y[=u]b['e],
+  Furikuru am['e] wa,
+    Hikoboshi no
+  Haya kogu fun['e] no
+  Ka[:i] no chiri ka mo.
+
+    [_Perhaps this evening shower is but the spray (flung down)
+    from the oar of Hikoboshi, rowing his boat in haste._]
+
+  Waga tama-doko wo
+    Asu yori wa
+    Uchi hara[:i],
+  Kimi to in['e]zut['e]
+  Hitori ka mo nen!
+
+    [_From to-morrow, alas! after having put my jewel-bed in
+    order, no longer reposing with my lord, I must sleep alone!_]
+
+    Kaz['e] fukit['e],
+  Kawa-nami tachinu;--
+    Hiki-fun['e] ni
+  Watari mo kimas['e]
+  Yo no fuk['e]nu ma ni.
+
+    [_The wind having risen, the waves of the river have become
+    high;--this night cross over in a towboat,[23] I pray thee,
+    before the hour be late!_]
+
+[Footnote 23: Lit. "pull-boat" (_hiki-fun['e]_),--a barge or boat
+pulled by a rope.]
+
+    Amanogawa
+  Nami wa tatsutomo,
+    Waga fun['e] wa
+  Iza kogi iden
+  Yo no fuk['e]nu ma ni.
+
+    [_Even though the waves of the River of_ _Heaven run high, I
+    must row over quickly, before it becomes late in the night._]
+
+    Inishi['e] ni
+  Orit['e]shi hata wo;
+    Kono y[=u]b['e]
+  Koromo ni nu[:i]t['e]--
+  Kimi matsu ar['e] wo!
+
+    [_Long ago I finished weaving the material; and, this evening,
+    having finished sewing the garment for him--(why must) I still
+    wait for my lord?_]
+
+    Amanogawa
+  S['e] wo hayami ka mo?
+    Nubatama no
+  Yo wa fuk['e] ni tsutsu,
+  Awanu Hikoboshi!
+
+[_Is it that the current of the River of_ _Heaven (has become too)
+rapid? The jet-black night[24] advances--and Hikoboshi has not come!_]
+
+[Footnote 24: _Nubatama no yo_ might better be rendered by some such
+phrase as "the berry-black night,"--but the intended effect would be
+thus lost in translation. _Nubatama-no_ (a "pillow-word") is written
+with characters signifying "like the black fruits of _Karasu-[=O]gi_;"
+and the ancient phrase "_nubatama no yo_" therefore may be said
+to have the same meaning as our expressions "jet-black night," or
+"pitch-dark night."]
+
+    Watashi-mori,
+  Fun['e] haya watas['e];--
+    Hito-tos['e] ni
+  Futatabi kay[=o]
+  Kimi naranaku ni!
+
+    [_Oh, ferryman, make speed across the stream!--my lord is not
+    one who can come and go twice in a year!_]
+
+    Aki kaz['e] no
+  Fukinishi hi yori,
+    Amanogawa
+  Kawas['e] ni d['e]dachi;--
+  Matsu to tsug['e] koso!
+
+    [_On the very day that the autumn-wind began to blow, I set
+    out for the shallows of the River of Heaven;--I pray you, tell
+    my lord that I am waiting here still!_]
+
+    Tanabata no
+  Funanori surashi,--
+    Maso-kagami,
+  Kiyoki tsuki-yo ni
+  Kumo tachi-wataru.
+
+    [_Methinks Tanabata must be coming in her boat; for a cloud is
+    even now passing across the clear face of the moon._[25]]
+
+[Footnote 25: Composed by the famous poet [=O]tomo no Sukun['e]
+Yakamochi, while gazing at the Milky Way, on the seventh night of
+the seventh month of the tenth year of Tampy[=o] (A.D. 738). The
+pillow-word in the third line (_maso-kagami_) is untranslatable.]
+
+--And yet it has been gravely asserted that the old Japanese poets
+could find no beauty in starry skies!...
+
+Perhaps the legend of Tanabata, as it was understood by those old
+poets, can make but a faint appeal to Western minds. Nevertheless,
+in the silence of transparent nights, before the rising of the moon,
+the charm of the ancient tale sometimes descends upon me, out of the
+scintillant sky,--to make me forget the monstrous facts of science,
+and the stupendous horror of Space. Then I no longer behold the Milky
+Way as that awful Ring of the Cosmos, whose hundred million suns are
+powerless to lighten the Abyss, but as the very Amanogawa itself,--the
+River Celestial. I see the thrill of its shining stream, and the mists
+that hover along its verge, and the water-grasses that bend in the
+winds of autumn. White Orihim['e] I see at her starry loom, and the Ox
+that grazes on the farther shore;--and I know that the falling dew is
+the spray from the Herdsman's oar. And the heaven seems very near and
+warm and human; and the silence about me is filled with the dream of
+a love unchanging, immortal,--forever yearning and forever young, and
+forever left unsatisfied by the paternal wisdom of the gods.
+
+
+
+
+GOBLIN POETRY
+
+
+Recently, while groping about an old book shop, I found a collection
+of Goblin Poetry in three volumes, containing many pictures of
+goblins. The title of the collection is _Ky[=o]ka Hyaku-Monogatari_,
+or "The Mad Poetry of the _Hyaku-Monogatari_." The _Hyaku-Monogatari_,
+or "Hundred Tales," is a famous book of ghost stories. On the subject
+of each of the stories, poems were composed at different times
+by various persons,--poems of the sort called _Ky[=o]ka_, or Mad
+Poetry,--and these were collected and edited to form the three volumes
+of which I became the fortunate possessor. The collecting was done by
+a certain Takumi Jingor[=o], who wrote under the literary pseudonym
+"Temm['e]r R['e][=o]jin" (Ancient of the Temm['e]r Era). Takumi died
+in the first year of Bunky[=u] (1861), at the good age of eighty;
+and his collection seems to have been published in the sixth year
+of Ka['e][:i] (1853). The pictures were made by an artist called
+Masazumi, who worked under the pseudonym "Ry[=o]sai Kanjin."
+
+From a prefatory note it appears that Takumi Jingor[=o] published
+his collection with the hope of reviving interest in a once popular
+kind of poetry which had fallen into neglect before the middle of
+the century. The word _ky[=o]ka_ is written with a Chinese character
+signifying "insane" or "crazy;" and it means a particular and
+extraordinary variety of comic poetry. The form is that of the classic
+_tanka_ of thirty-one syllables (arranged 57577);--but the subjects
+are always the extreme reverse of classical; and the artistic effects
+depend upon methods of verbal jugglery which cannot be explained
+without the help of numerous examples. The collection published by
+Takumi includes a good deal of matter in which a Western reader can
+discover no merit; but the best of it has a distinctly grotesque
+quality that reminds one of Hood's weird cleverness in playing with
+grim subjects. This quality, and the peculiar Japanese method of
+mingling the playful with the terrific, can be suggested and explained
+only by reproducing in Romaji the texts of various _ky[=o]ka_, with
+translations and notes.
+
+The selection which I have made should prove interesting, not merely
+because it will introduce the reader to a class of Japanese poetry
+about which little or nothing has yet been written in English, but
+much more because it will afford some glimpses of a supernatural world
+which still remains for the most part unexplored. Without knowledge
+of Far Eastern superstitions and folk-tales, no real understanding of
+Japanese fiction or drama or poetry will ever become possible.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There are many hundreds of poems in the three volumes of the _Ky[=o]ka
+Hyaku-Monogatari_; but the number of the ghosts and goblins falls
+short of the one hundred suggested by the title. There are just
+ninety-five. I could not expect to interest my readers in the whole
+of this goblinry, and my selection includes less than one seventh
+of the subjects. The Faceless Babe, The Long-Tongued Maiden,
+The Three-Eyed Monk, The Pillow-Mover, The Thousand Heads, The
+Acolyte-with-the-Lantern, The Stone-that-Cries-in-the-Night,
+The Goblin-Heron, The Goblin-Wind, The Dragon-Lights, and The
+Mountain-Nurse, did not much impress me. I omitted _ky[=o]ka_ dealing
+with fancies too gruesome for Western nerves,--such as that of the
+_Obum['e]dori_,--also those treating of merely local tradition.
+The subjects chosen represent national rather than provincial
+folklore,--old beliefs (mostly of Chinese origin) once prevalent
+throughout the country, and often referred to in its popular
+literature.
+
+
+I. KITSUN['E]-BI
+
+The Will-o'-the-wisp is called _kitsun['e]-bi_ ("fox-fire"), because
+the goblin-fox was formerly supposed to create it. In old Japanese
+pictures it is represented as a tongue of pale red flame, hovering
+in darkness, and shedding no radiance upon the surfaces over which it
+glides.
+
+To understand some of the following _ky[=o]ka_ on the subject, the
+reader should know that certain superstitions about the magical power
+of the fox have given rise to several queer folk-sayings,--one of
+which relates to marrying a stranger. Formerly a good citizen was
+expected to marry within his own community, not outside of it; and the
+man who dared to ignore traditional custom in this regard would have
+found it difficult to appease the communal indignation. Even to-day
+the villager who, after a long absence from his birthplace, returns
+with a strange bride, is likely to hear unpleasant things said,--such
+as: "_Wakaranai-mono we hippat['e]-kita!... Doko no uma no hon['e] da
+ka?_" ("Goodness knows what kind of a thing he has dragged here after
+him! Where did he pick up that old horse-bone?") The expression _uma
+no hon['e]_, "old horse-bone," requires explanation.
+
+A goblin-fox has the power to assume many shapes; but, for the purpose
+of deceiving _men_, he usually takes the form of a pretty woman. When
+he wants to create a charming phantom of this kind, he picks up an old
+horse-bone or cow-bone, and holds it in his mouth. Presently the bone
+becomes luminous; and the figure of a woman defines about it,--the
+figure of a courtesan or singing-girl.... So the village query about
+the man who marries a strange wife, "What old horse-bone has he picked
+up?" signifies really, "What wanton has bewitched him?" It further
+implies the suspicion that the stranger may be of outcast blood: a
+certain class of women of pleasure having been chiefly recruited, from
+ancient time, among the daughters of ['E]ta and other pariah-people.
+
+    Hi tomoshit['e]
+  Kitsun['e] no kwas['e]shi,
+    Asobim['e][26] wa--
+  Izuka no uma no
+  Hon['e] ni ya aruran!
+
+[Footnote 26: _Asobim['e]_, a courtesan: lit., "sporting-woman." The
+['E]ta and other pariah classes furnished a large proportion of these
+women. The whole meaning of the poem is as follows: "See that young
+wanton with her lantern! It is a pretty sight--but so is the sight of
+a fox, when the creature kindles his goblin-fire and assumes the shape
+of a girl. And just as your fox-woman will prove to be no more than an
+old horse-bone, so that young courtesan, whose beauty deludes men to
+folly, may be nothing better than an ['E]ta."]
+
+    [_--Ah the wanton (lighting her lantern)!--so a fox-fire is
+    kindled in the time of fox-transformation!... Perhaps she is
+    really nothing more than an old horse-bone from somewhere or
+    other...._]
+
+    Kitsun['e]-bi no
+  Moyuru ni tsuk['e]t['e],
+    Waga tama no
+  Kiyuru y[=o] nari
+  Kokoro-hoso-michi!
+
+    [_Because of that Fox-fire burning there, the very soul of me
+    is like to be extinguished in this narrow path (or, in this
+    heart-depressing solitude)._[27]]
+
+[Footnote 27: The supposed utterance of a belated traveler frightened
+by a will-o'-the-wisp. The last line allows of two readings.
+_Kokoro-hosoi_ means "timid;" and _hosoi michi_ (_hoso-michi_) means a
+"narrow path," and, by implication, a "lonesome path."]
+
+
+II. RIKOMBY[=O]
+
+The term _Rikomby[=o]_ is composed with the word _rikon_, signifying
+a "shade," "ghost," or "spectre," and the word _by[=o]_, signifying
+"sickness," "disease." An almost literal rendering would be
+"ghost-sickness." In Japanese-English dictionaries you will find the
+meaning of _Rikomby[=o]_ given as "hypochondria;" and doctors really
+use the term in this modern sense. But the ancient meaning was _a
+disorder of the mind which produced a Double_; and there is a whole
+strange literature about this weird disease. It used to be supposed,
+both in China and Japan, that under the influence of intense grief
+or longing, caused by love, the spirit of the suffering person would
+create a Double. Thus the victim of _Rikomby[=o]_ would appear to have
+two bodies, exactly alike; and one of these bodies would go to join
+the absent beloved, while the other remained at home. (In my "Exotics
+and Retrospectives," under the title "A Question in the Zen Texts,"
+the reader will find a typical Chinese story on the subject,--the
+story of the girl Ts'ing.) Some form of the primitive belief in
+doubles and wraiths probably exists in every part of the world; but
+this Far Eastern variety is of peculiar interest because the double
+is supposed to be caused by love, and the subjects of the affliction
+to belong to the gentler sex.... The term _Rikomby[=o]_ seems to be
+applied to the apparition as well as to the mental disorder supposed
+to produce the apparition: it signifies "doppelg[:a]nger" as well as
+"ghost-disease."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--With these necessary explanations, the quality of the following
+_ky[=o]ka_ can be understood. A picture which appears in the _Ky[=o]ka
+Hyaku-Monogatari_ shows a maid-servant anxious to offer a cup of tea
+to her mistress,--a victim of the "ghost-sickness." The servant cannot
+distinguish between the original and the apparitional shapes before
+her; and the difficulties of the situation are suggested in the first
+of the _ky[=o]ka_ which I have translated:--
+
+    Ko-ya, sor['e] to?
+  Ayam['e] mo wakanu
+    Rikomby[=o]:
+  Izur['e] we tsuma to
+  Hiku zo wazura[:u]!
+
+    [_Which one is this?--which one is that? Between the two
+    shapes of the Rikomby[=o] it is not possible to distinguish.
+    To find out which is the real wife--that will be an affliction
+    of spirit indeed!_]
+
+    Futatsu naki
+  Inochi nagara mo
+    Kak['e]ga[:e] no
+  Karada no miyuru--
+  Kage no wazurai!
+
+    [_Two lives there certainly are not;--nevertheless an extra
+    body is visible, by reason of the Shadow-Sickness._]
+
+    Naga-tabi no
+  Oto we shita[:i]t['e]
+    Mi futatsu ni
+  Naru wa onna no
+  S[=a]ru rikomby[=o].
+
+    [_Yearning after her far-journeying husband, the woman has
+    thus become two bodies, by reason of her ghostly sickness._]
+
+    Miru kag['e] mo
+  Naki wazurai no
+    Rikomby[=o],--
+  Omoi no hoka ni
+  Futatsu miru kag['e]!
+
+    [_Though (it was said that), because of her ghostly sickness,
+    there was not even a shadow of her left to be seen,--yet,
+    contrary to expectation, there are two shadows of her to be
+    seen!_[28]]
+
+[Footnote 28: The Japanese say of a person greatly emaciated by
+sickness, _miru-kag['e] mo naki_: "Even a visible shadow of him is
+not!"--Another rendering is made possible by the fact that the same
+expression is used in the sense of "unfit to be seen,"--"though the
+face of the person afflicted with this ghostly sickness is unfit to be
+seen, yet by reason of her secret longing [for another man] there are
+now two of her faces to be seen." The phrase _omoi no hoka_, in the
+fourth line, means "contrary to expectation;" but it is ingeniously
+made to suggest also the idea of secret longing.]
+
+    Rikomby[=o]
+  Hito ni kakushit['e]
+    Oku-zashiki,
+  Omot['e] y d[:e]asanu
+  Kag['e] no wazurai.
+
+    [_Afflicted with the Rikomby[=o], she hides away from people
+    in the back room, and never approaches the front of the
+    house,--because of her Shadow-disease._[29]]
+
+[Footnote 29: There is a curious play on words in the fourth line. The
+word _omot['e]_, meaning "the front," might, in reading, be sounded
+as _omott['e]_, "thinking." The verses therefore might also be thus
+translated:--"She keeps her real thoughts hidden in the back part
+of the house, and never allows them to be seen in the front part of
+the house,--because she is suffering from the 'Shadow-Sickness' [of
+love]."]
+
+    Mi wa koko ni;
+  Tama wa otoko ni
+    So[:i]n['e] suru;--
+  Kokoro mo shiraga
+  Haha ga kaih[=o].
+
+    [_Here her body lies; but her soul is far away, asleep in the
+    arms of a man;--and the white-haired mother, little knowing
+    her daughter's heart, is nursing (only the body)._[30]]
+
+[Footnote 30: There is a double meaning, suggested rather than
+expressed, in the fourth line. The word _shiraga_, "white-hair,"
+suggests _shirazu_, "not knowing."]
+
+    Tamakushig['e]
+  Futatsu no sugata
+    Mis['e]nuru wa,
+  Awas['e]-kagami no
+  Kag['e] no wazurai.
+
+    [_If, when seated before her toilet-stand, she sees two faces
+    reflected in her mirror,--that might be caused by the
+    mirror doubling itself under the influence of the
+    Shadow-Sickness._[31]]
+
+[Footnote 31: There is in this poem a multiplicity of suggestion
+impossible to render in translation. While making her toilet, the
+Japanese woman uses two mirrors (_awas['e]-kagami_)--one of which, a
+hand-mirror, serves to show her the appearance of the back part of
+her coiffure, by reflecting it into the larger stationary mirror. But
+in this case of Rikomby[=o], the woman sees more than her face and
+the back of her head in the larger mirror: she sees her own double.
+The verses indicate that one of the mirrors may have caught the
+Shadow-Sickness, and doubled itself. And there is a further suggestion
+of the ghostly sympathy said to exist between a mirror and the soul of
+its possessor.]
+
+
+III. [=O]-GAMA
+
+In the old Chinese and Japanese literature the toad is credited with
+supernatural capacities,--such as the power to call down clouds, the
+power to make rain, the power to exhale from its mouth a magical
+mist which creates the most beautiful illusions. Some toads are good
+spirits,--friends of holy men; and in Japanese art a famous Rishi
+called "Gama-Sennin" (Toad Rishi) is usually represented with a white
+toad resting upon his shoulder, or squatting beside him. Some toads
+are evil goblins, and create phantasms for the purpose of luring men
+to destruction. A typical story about a creature of this class will be
+found in my "Kott[=o]," entitled "The Story of Chug[=o]r[=o]."
+
+    M['e] wa kagami,
+  Kuchi wa tarai no
+    Hodo ni aku:
+  Gama mo k['e]sh[=o] no
+  Mono to kos[=o] shir['e].
+
+    [_The eye of it, widely open, like a (round) mirror; the mouth
+    of it opening like a wash-basin--by these things you may know
+    that the Toad is a goblin-thing (or, that the Toad is a toilet
+    article)._[32]]
+
+[Footnote 32: There are two Japanese words, _kesh[=o]_, which in
+_kana_ are written alike and pronounced alike, though represented
+by very different Chinese characters. As written in _kana_, the
+term _kesh[=o]-no-mono_ may signify either "toilet articles" or "a
+monstrous being," "a goblin."]
+
+
+IV. SHINKIR[=O]
+
+The term _Shinkir[=o]_ is used in the meaning of "mirage," and also as
+another name for H[=o]rai, the Elf-land of Far Eastern fable. Various
+beings in Japanese myth are credited with power to delude mortals
+by creating a mirage of H[=o]rai. In old pictures one may see a toad
+represented in the act of exhaling from its mouth a vapor that shapes
+the apparition of H[=o]rai.
+
+But the creature especially wont to produce this illusion is the
+_Hamaguri_,--a Japanese mollusk much resembling a clam. Opening its
+shell, it sends into the air a purplish misty breath; and that mist
+takes form and defines, in tints of mother-of-pearl, the luminous
+vision of H[=o]rai and the palace of the Dragon-King.
+
+    Hamaguri no
+  Kuchi aku toki ya,
+    Shinkir[=o]!
+  Yo ni shirar['e] ken
+  Tatsu-no-miya-him['e]!
+
+    [_When the hamaguri opens its mouth--lo! Shinkir[=o]
+    appears!... Then all can clearly see the Maiden-Princess of
+    the Dragon-Palace._]
+
+    Shinkir[=o]--
+  Tatsu no miyako no
+    Hinagata[33] wo
+  Shio-hi no oki ni
+  Misuru hamaguri!
+
+    [_Lo! in the offing at ebb-tide, the hamaguri makes visible
+    the miniature image of Shinkir[=o]--the Dragon-Capital!_]
+
+[Footnote 33: _Hinagata_ means especially "a model," "a miniature
+copy," "a drawn plan," etc.]
+
+
+V. ROKURO-KUBI
+
+The etymological meaning of _Rokuro-Kubi_ can scarcely be indicated
+by any English rendering. The term _rokuro_ is indifferently used to
+designate many revolving objects--objects as dissimilar as a pulley,
+a capstan, a windlass, a turning lathe, and a potter's wheel. Such
+renderings of Rokuro-Kubi as "Whirling-Neck" and "Rotating-Neck" are
+unsatisfactory;--for the idea which the term suggests to Japanese
+fancy is that of a neck which revolves, _and lengthens or retracts
+according to the direction of the revolution_.... As for the ghostly
+meaning of the expression, a Rokuro-Kubi is either (1) a person whose
+neck lengthens prodigiously during sleep, so that the head can wander
+about in all directions, seeking what it may devour, or (2) a person
+able to detach his or her head completely from the body, and to rejoin
+it to the neck afterwards. (About this last mentioned variety of
+_Rokuro-Kubi_ there is a curious story in my "Kwaidan," translated
+from the Japanese.) In Chinese mythology the being whose neck is so
+constructed as to allow of the head being completely detached belongs
+to a special class; but in Japanese folk-tale this distinction is not
+always maintained. One of the bad habits attributed to the Rokuro-Kubi
+is that of drinking the oil in night-lamps. In Japanese pictures the
+Rokuro-Kubi is usually depicted as a woman; and old books tell us
+that a woman might become a Rokuro-Kubi without knowing it,--much as
+a somnambulist walks about while asleep, without being aware of the
+fact.... The following verses about the Rokuro-Kubi have been selected
+from a group of twenty in the _Ky[=o]ka Hyaku-Monogatari_:--
+
+    Nemidar['e] no
+  Nagaki kami woba
+    Furi-wak['e]t['e],
+  Chi hiro ni nobasu
+  Rokuro-Kubi kana!
+
+    [_Oh!... Shaking loose her long hair disheveled by sleep, the
+    Rokuro-Kubi stretches her neck to the length of a thousand
+    fathoms!_]
+
+    "Atama naki
+  Bak['e]mono nari"--to
+    Rokuro-Kubi,
+  Mit['e] odorokan
+  Onoga karada we.
+
+    [_Will not the Rokuro-Kubi, viewing with_ _astonishment her
+    own body (left behind) cry out, "Oh, what a headless goblin
+    have you become!_"]
+
+    Tsuka-no-ma ni
+  Hari we tsutawaru,
+    Rokuro-Kubi
+  K['e]ta-k['e]ta warau--
+  Kao no kowasa yo!
+
+    [_Swiftly gliding along the roof-beam (and among the props
+    of the roof), the Rokuro-Kubi laughs with the sound of
+    "k['e]ta-k['e]ta"--oh! the fearfulness of her face!_[34]]
+
+[Footnote 34: It is not possible to render all the double meanings in
+this composition. _Tsuka-no-ma_ signifies "in a moment" or "quickly";
+but it may also mean "in the space [_ma_] between the roof-props"
+[_tsuka_]. "_K['e]ta_" means a cross-beam, but _k['e]ta-k['e]ta warau_
+means to chuckle or laugh in a mocking way. Ghosts are said to laugh
+with the sound of k['e]ta-k['e]ta.]
+
+    Roku shaku no
+  By[=o]bu ni nobiru
+    Rokuro-Kubi
+  Mit['e] wa, go shaku no
+  Mi wo chijimi-k['e]ri!
+
+    [_Beholding the Rokuro-Kubi rise up above the six-foot screen,
+    any five-foot person would have become shortened by fear (or,
+    "the stature of any person five feet high would have been
+    diminished")._[35]]
+
+[Footnote 35: The ordinary height of a full screen is six Japanese
+feet.]
+
+
+VI. YUKI-ONNA
+
+The Snow-Woman, or Snow-Spectre, assumes various forms; but in most
+of the old folk-tales she appears as a beautiful phantom, whose
+embrace is death. (A very curious story about her can be found in my
+"Kwaidan.")
+
+    Yuki-Onna--
+  Yos[=o] kushi mo
+    Atsu k[=o]ri;
+  Sasu-k[=o]gai ya
+  K[=o]ri naruran.
+
+    [_As for the Snow-Woman,--even her best comb, if I mistake
+    not, is made of thick ice; and her hair-pin[36], too, is
+    probably made of ice._]
+
+
+[Footnote 36: _K[=o]gai_ is the name now given to a quadrangular bar
+of tortoise-shell passed under the coiffure, which leaves only the
+ends of the bar exposed. The true hair-pin is called _kanzashi_.]
+
+    Honrai wa
+  K[=u] naru mono ka,
+    Yuki-Onna?
+  Yoku-yoku mireba
+  Ichi-butsu mo nashi!
+
+    [_Was she, then, a delusion from the very first, that
+    Snow-Woman,--a thing that vanishes into empty space? When I
+    look carefully all about me, not one trace of her is to be
+    seen!_]
+
+    Yo-ak['e]r['e]ba
+  Ki['e]t['e] yuku ['e] wa
+    Shirayuki[37] no
+  Onna to mishi mo
+  Yanagi nari-keri!
+
+    [_Having vanished at daybreak (that Snow-Woman), none
+    could say whither she had gone. But what had seemed to be a
+    snow-white woman became indeed a willow-tree!_]
+
+[Footnote 37: The term _shirayuki_, as here used, offers an example
+of what Japanese poets call _Keny[=o]gen_, or "double-purpose words."
+Joined to the words immediately following, it makes the phrase
+"white-snow woman" (_shirayuki no onna_);--united with the words
+immediately preceding, it suggests the reading, "whither-gone
+not-knowing" (_yuku ['e] wa shira[zu]_).]
+
+    Yuki-Onna
+  Mit['e] wa yasathiku,
+    Matsu wo ori
+  Nama-dak['e] hishigu
+  Chikara ari-keri!
+
+    [_Though the Snow-Woman appears to sight slender and gentle,
+    yet, to snap the pine-trees asunder and to crush the live
+    bamboos, she must have had strength._]
+
+    Samuk['e]sa ni
+  Zotto[38] wa sur['e]do
+    Yuki-Onna,--
+  Yuki or['e] no naki
+  Yanagi-goshi ka mo!
+
+[_Though the Snow-Woman makes one shiver by her coldness,--ah, the
+willowy grace of her form cannot be broken by the snow (i.e. charms us
+in spite of the cold)._]
+
+[Footnote 38: _Zotto_ is a difficult word to render literally: perhaps
+the nearest English equivalent is "thrilling." _Zotto suru_ signifies
+"to cause a thrill" or "to give a shock," or "to make shiver;"
+and of a very beautiful person it is said "_Zotto-suru hodo no
+bijin_,"--meaning! "She is so pretty that it gives one a shock merely
+to look at her." The term _yanagi-goshi_ ("willow-loins") in the
+last line is a common expression designating a slender and graceful
+figure; and the reader should observe that the first half of the term
+is ingeniously made to do double duty here,--suggesting, with the
+context, not only the grace of willow branches weighed down by snow,
+but also the grace of a human figure that one must stop to admire, in
+spite of the cold.]
+
+
+VII. FUNA-Y[=U]R['E][:I]
+
+The spirits of the drowned are said to follow after ships, calling for
+a bucket or a water-dipper (_hishaku_). To refuse the bucket or the
+dipper is dangerous; but the bottom of the utensil should be knocked
+out before the request is complied with, and the spectres must not
+be allowed to see this operation performed. If an undamaged bucket or
+dipper be thrown to the ghosts, it will be used to fill and to sink
+the ship. These phantoms are commonly called _Funa-Y[=u]r['e][:i]_
+("Ship-Ghosts").
+
+The spirits of those warriors of the H['e][:i]k['e] clan who perished
+in the great sea-fight at Dan-no-ura, in the year 1185, are famous
+among Funa-Y[=u]r['e][:i]. Ta[:i]ra no Tomomori, one of the chiefs of
+the clan, is celebrated in this weird r[^o]le: old pictures represent
+him, followed by the ghosts of his warriors, running over the waves to
+attack passing ships. Once he menaced a vessel in which Benk['e][:i],
+the celebrated retainer of Yoshitsun['e], was voyaging; and
+Benk['e][:i] was able to save the ship only by means of his Buddhist
+rosary, which frightened the spectres away....
+
+Tomomori is frequently pictured as walking upon the sea, carrying a
+ship's anchor on his back. He and his fellow-ghosts are said to have
+been in the habit of uprooting and making off with the anchors
+of vessels imprudently moored in their particular domain,--the
+neighborhood of Shimonos['e]ki.
+
+    Erimoto y['e]
+  Mizu kak['e]raruru
+    Kokochi seri,
+  "Hishaku kas['e]" ch[=o]
+  Fun['e] no kowan['e] ni.
+
+    [_As if the nape of our necks had been sprinkled with cold
+    water,--so we felt while listening_ _to the voice of the
+    ship-ghost, saying:--"Lend me a dipper!"_[39]]
+
+[Footnote 39: _Hishaku_, a wooden dipper with a long handle, used to
+transfer water from a bucket to smaller vessels.]
+
+    Y[=u]rei ni
+  Kasu-hishaku yori
+    Ichi-hayaku
+  Onor['e] ga koshi mo
+  Nuk['e]ru sench[=o].
+
+    [_The loins of the captain himself were knocked out very much
+    more quickly than the bottom of the dipper that was to be
+    given to the ghost._[40]]
+
+[Footnote 40: The common expression _Koshi ga nuk['e]ru_ (to have
+one's loins taken out) means to be unable to stand up by reason of
+fear. The suggestion is that while the captain was trying to knock
+out the bottom of a dipper, before giving it to the ghost, he fell
+senseless from fright.]
+
+    Benk['e][:i] no
+  Zuzu no kuriki ni
+    Tomomori no
+  Sugata mo ukamu--
+  Fun['e] no y[=u]r['e][:i].
+
+    [_By the virtue of Benk['e][:i]'s rosary, even_ _the
+    ship-following ghost--even the apparition of Tomomori--is
+    saved._]
+
+    Y[=u]r['e][:i] wa
+  Ki naru Izumi no
+    Hito nagara,
+  A[:o]-umibara ni
+  Nadot['e] itsuran?
+
+    [_Since any ghost must be an inhabitant of the Yellow Springs,
+    how should a ghost appear on the Blue Sea-Plain?_[41]]
+
+[Footnote 41: The Underworld of the Dead--_Yomi_ or K[=o]sen--is
+called "The Yellow Springs;" these names being written with two
+Chinese characters respectively signifying "yellow" and "fountain." A
+very ancient term for the ocean, frequently used in the old Shint[=o]
+rituals, is "The Blue Sea-Plain."]
+
+    Sono sugata,
+  Ikari wo [=o]t['e],
+    Tsuki-mato[:u]
+  Fun['e] no h['e]saki ya
+  Tomomori no r['e][:i]!
+
+    [_That Shape, carrying the anchor on its back, and following
+    after the ship--now at the bow and now at the stern--ah, the
+    ghost of Tomomori._[42]]
+
+[Footnote 42: There is an untranslatable play upon words in the last
+two lines. The above rendering includes two possible readings.]
+
+    Tsumi fukaki
+  Umi ni shidzumishi,
+    Y[=u]r['e][:i] no
+  "Ukaman" tot['e] ya!
+  Fun['e] ni sugar['e]ru.
+
+    [_Crying, "Now perchance I shall be saved!" The ghost
+    that sank into the deep Sea of Sin clings to the passing
+    ship!_[43]]
+
+[Footnote 43: There is more weirdness in this poem than the above
+rendering suggests. The word _ukaman_ in the fourth line can be
+rendered as "shall perhaps float," or as "shall perhaps be saved" (in
+the Buddhist sense of salvation),--as there are two verbs _ukami_.
+According to an old superstition, the spirits of the drowned must
+continue to dwell in the waters _until such time as they can lure the
+living to destruction_. When the ghost of any drowned person succeeds
+in drowning somebody, it may be able to obtain rebirth, and to leave
+the sea forever. The exclamation of the ghost in this poem really
+means, "Now perhaps I shall be able to drown somebody." (A very
+similar superstition is said to exist on the Breton coast.) A common
+Japanese saying about a child or any person who follows another too
+closely and persistently is: _Kawa de shinda-y[=u]r['e][:i] no yona
+tsur['e]-hoshigaru!_--"Wants to follow you everywhere like the ghost
+of a drowned person."]
+
+    Ukaman to
+  Fun['e] we shita[:e]ru
+    Yur['e][:i] wa,
+  Shidzumishi h['i]to no
+  Omo[:i] naruran.
+
+    [_The ghosts following after our ship in their efforts to rise
+    again (or, "to be saved") might perhaps be the (last vengeful)
+    thoughts of drowned men.[44]]
+
+[Footnote 44: Here I cannot attempt to render the various plays upon
+words; but the term "_omo[:i]_" needs explanation. It means "thought"
+or "thoughts;" but in colloquial phraseology it is often used as a
+euphemism for a dying person's last desire of vengeance. In various
+dramas it has been used in the signification of "avenging ghost." Thus
+the exclamation, "His _thought_ has come back!"--in reference to a
+dead man--really means: "His angry ghost appears!"]
+
+    Uram['e]shiki
+  Sugata wa sugoki
+    Yur['e][:i] no,
+  Kaji we jama suru
+  Fun['e] no Tomomori.
+
+    [_With vengeful aspect, the grisly ghost of Tomomori
+    (rises) at the stern of the ship to hinder the play of her
+    rudder._[45]]
+
+[Footnote 45: There is a double meaning given by the use of the name
+_Tomomori_ in the last line. _Tomo_ means "the stern" of a ship;
+_mori_ means "to leak." So the poem suggests that the ghost of
+Tomomori not only interferes with the ship's rudder, but causes her to
+leak.]
+
+    Ochi-irit['e],
+  Uwo no ['e]jiki to
+    Nari ni ken;--
+  Funa-y[=u]r['e][:i] mo
+  Nama-kusaki kaz['e].
+
+    [_Having perished in the sea, (those H['e][:i]k['e]) would
+    probably have become food for fishes. (Anyhow, whenever) the
+    ship-following ghosts (appear), the wind has a smell of raw
+    fish!_[46]]
+
+[Footnote 46: _Namakusaki-kaze_ really means a wind having a "raw
+stench;" but the smell of bait is suggested by the second line of the
+poem. A literal rendering is not possible in this case; the art of the
+composition being altogether suggestive.]
+
+
+VIII. H['E][:I]K['E]GAN[`I]
+
+Readers can find in my "Kott[=o]" a paper about the
+H['e][:i]k['e]-Crabs, which have on their upper shells various
+wrinklings that resemble the outlines of an angry face. At
+Shimono-s['e]ki dried specimens of these curious creatures are offered
+for sale.... The H['e][:i]k['e]-Crabs are said to be the transformed
+angry spirits of the H['e][:i]k['e] warriors who perished at
+Dan-no-ura.
+
+    Shiwo-hi ni wa
+  S['e][:i]zoro[:e] shit['e],
+    H['e][:i]k['e]gani
+  Ukiyo no sama we
+  Yoko ni niramitsu.
+
+    [_Marshaled (on the beach) at the ebb of the tide, the
+    H['e][:i]k['e]-crabs obliquely glare at the apparition of this
+    miserable world._[47]]
+
+[Footnote 47: _Hi_, the third syllable of the first line of the poem,
+does duty for _hi_, signifying "ebb," and for _hikata_, "dry beach."
+_S['e][:i]zoro[:e]_ is a noun signifying "battle-array"--in the sense
+of the Roman term _acies_;--and _s['e][:i]zoro['e] shit['e]_ means
+"drawn up in battle-array."]
+
+    Saikai ni
+  Shizumi-nur['e]domo,
+    H['e][:i]k['e]gani
+  K[=o]ra no iro mo
+  Yahari aka-hata.
+
+    [_Though (the H['e][:i]k['e]) long ago sank and perished in
+    the Western Sea, the H['e][:i]k['e]-crabs still display_ _upon
+    their upper shells the color of the Red Standard._[48]]
+
+[Footnote 48: The ensign of the H['e][:i]k['e], or Ta[:i]ra clan was
+red; while that of their rivals, the Genji or Minamot[=o], was white.]
+
+    Mak['e]-ikusa
+  Munen to mun['e] ni
+    Hasami ken;--
+  Kao mo makka ni
+  Naru H['e][:i]k['e]gani.
+
+    [_Because of the pain of defeat, claws have grown on their
+    breasts, I think;--even the faces of the H['e][:i]k['e]-crabs
+    have become crimson (with anger and shame)._]
+
+    Mikata mina
+  Oshi-tsubusar['e]shi
+    H['e][:i]k['e]gani
+  Ikon we mun['e] ni
+  Hasami mochik['e]ri.
+
+    [_All the (H['e][:i]k['e]) party having been utterly crushed,
+    claws have grown upon the breasts of the H['e][:i]k['e]-crabs
+    because of the resentment in their hearts._[49]]
+
+[Footnote 49: The use of the word _hasami_ in the fifth line is a
+very good example of _keny[=o]gen_. There is a noun _hasami_, meaning
+the nippers of a crab, or a pair of scissors; and there is a verb
+_hasami_, meaning to harbor, to cherish, or to entertain. (_Ikon wo
+hasamu_ means "to harbor resentment against.") Reading the word only
+in connection with those which follow it, we have the phrase _hasami
+mochik['e]ri_, "got claws;" but, reading it with the words preceding,
+we have the expression _ikon wo mun['e] ni hasami_, "resentment in
+their breasts nourishing."]
+
+
+IX. YANARI
+
+Modern dictionaries ignore the uncanny significations of the word
+_Yanari_,--only telling us that it means the sound of the shaking of
+a house during an earthquake. But the word used to mean the noise of
+the shaking of a house moved by a goblin; and the invisible shaker was
+also called _Yanari_. When, without apparent cause, some house would
+shudder and creak and groan in the night, folk used to suppose that it
+was being shaken from without by supernatural malevolence.
+
+    Tokonoma ni
+  Ik['e]shi tachiki mo
+    Taor['e]-keri;
+  Yanari ni yama no
+  Ugoku kak['e]mono!
+
+    [_Even the live tree set in the alcove has fallen down; and
+    the mountains in the hanging picture tremble to the quaking
+    made by the Yanari!_[50]]
+
+[Footnote 50: The _tokonoma_ in a Japanese room is a sort of
+ornamental recess or alcove, in which a picture is usually hung, and
+vases of flowers, or a dwarf tree, are placed.]
+
+
+X. SAKASA-BASHIRA
+
+The term _Sakasa-bashira_ (in these _ky[=o]ka_ often shortened into
+_saka-bashira_) literally means "upside-down post." A wooden post or
+pillar, especially a house-post, should be set up according to the
+original position of the tree from which it was hewn,--that is to say,
+with the part nearest to the roots downward. To erect a house-post in
+the contrary way is thought to be unlucky;--formerly such a blunder
+was believed to involve unpleasant consequences of a ghostly kind,
+because an "upside-down" pillar would do malignant things. It would
+moan and groan in the night, and move all its cracks like mouths, and
+open all its knots like eyes. Moreover, the spirit of it (for every
+house-post has a spirit) would detach its long body from the timber,
+and wander about the rooms, head-downwards, making faces at people.
+Nor was this all. A _Sakasa-bashira_ knew how to make all the affairs
+of a household go wrong,--how to foment domestic quarrels,--how to
+contrive misfortune for each of the family and the servants,--how
+to render existence almost insupportable until such time as the
+carpenter's blunder should be discovered and remedied.
+
+    Saka-bashira
+  Tat['e]shi wa tazo ya?
+    Kokoro ni mo
+  Fushi aru hito no
+  Shiwaza naruran.
+
+    [_Who set the house-pillar upside-down? Surely that must have
+    been the work of a man with a knot in his heart._]
+
+    Hidayama we
+  Kiri-kit['e] tat['e]shi
+    Saka-bashira--
+  Nanno takumi[51] no
+  Shiwaza naruran?
+
+    [_That house-pillar hewn in the mountains of Hida, and thence
+    brought here and erected upside-down--what carpenter's work
+    can it be? (or, "for what evil design can this deed have been
+    done?")_]
+
+[Footnote 51: The word _takumi_, as written in _kana_, may signify
+either "carpenter" or "intrigue," "evil plot," "wicked device." Thus
+two readings are possible. According to one reading, the post was
+fixed upside-down through inadvertence; according to the other, it was
+so fixed with malice prepense.]
+
+    U[:e] shita wo
+  Chiga[:e]t['e] tat['e]shi
+    Hashira ni wa
+  Sakasama-goto no
+  Ur['e][:i] aranan.
+
+    [_As for that house-pillar mistakenly planted upside-down, it
+    will certainly cause adversity and sorrow._[52]]
+
+[Footnote 52: Lit., "upside-down-matter-sorrow." _Sakasama-goto_,
+"up-side-down affair," is a common expression for calamity,
+contrariety, adversity, vexation.]
+
+    Kab['e] ni mimi
+  Arit['e], kik['e] to ka?
+    Sakashima ni
+  Tateshi hashira ni
+  Yanari suru oto!
+
+    [_O Ears that be in the wall![53] listen, will ye? to the
+    groaning and the creaking of the house-post that was planted
+    upside-down!_]
+
+[Footnote 53: Alluding to the proverb, _Kab['e] ni mimi ari_ ("There
+are ears in the wall"), which signifies: "Be careful how you talk
+about other people, even in private."]
+
+    Uri-iy['e] no
+  Aruji we to[:e]ba,
+    Oto arit['e]:
+  War['e] m['e] ga kuchi wo
+  Aku saka-bashira.
+
+    [_When I inquired for the master of the house that was
+    for sale, there came to me only a strange sound by way of
+    reply,--the sound of the upside-down house-post opening its
+    eyes and mouth![54] (i.e. its cracks)._]
+
+[Footnote 54: There is a pun in the fourth line which suggests more
+than even a free translation can express. _War['e]_ means "I," or
+"mine," or "one's own," etc., according to circumstances; and _war['e]
+m['e]_ (written separately) might be rendered "its own eyes." But
+_war['e]m['e]_ (one word) means a crack, rent, split, or fissure. The
+reader should remember that the term _saka-bashira_ means not only
+"upside-down post," but also the goblin or spectre of the upside-down
+post.]
+
+    Omo[:i]kiya!
+  Sakasa-bashira no
+    Hashira-kak['e]
+  Kakinishit uta mo
+  Yamai ari to wa!
+
+    [_Who could have thought it!--even the poem inscribed upon
+    the pillar-tablet, attached to the pillar which was planted
+    upside-down, has taken the same (ghostly) sickness._[55]]
+
+[Footnote 55: That is to say, "Even the poem on the tablet is
+up-side-down,"--all wrong. _Hashira-kak['e]_ ("pillar-suspended
+thing") is the name given to a thin tablet of fine wood, inscribed or
+painted, which is hung to a post by way of ornament.]
+
+
+XI. BAK['E]-JIZ[:O]
+
+The figure of the Bodhi-sattva Jiz[:o], the savior of children's
+ghosts, is one of the most beautiful and humane in Japanese Buddhism.
+Statues of this divinity may be seen in almost every village and by
+every roadside. But some statues of Jiz[:o] are said to do uncanny
+things--such as to walk about at night in various disguises. A statue
+of this kind is called a _Bak['e]-Jiz[=o]_[56],--meaning a Jiz[=o];
+that undergoes transformation. A conventional picture shows a little
+boy about to place the customary child's-offering of rice-cakes before
+the stone image of Jiz[=o],--not suspecting that the statue moves, and
+is slowly bending down towards him.
+
+[Footnote 56: Perhaps the term might be rendered "Shape-changing
+Jiz[=o]." The verb _bak['e]ru_ means to change shape, to undergo
+metamorphosis, to haunt, and many other supernatural things.]
+
+    Nanig['e] naki
+  Ishi no Jiz[=o] no
+    Sugata sa[:e],
+  Yo wa osoroshiki
+  Mikag['e] to zo naki.
+
+    [_Though the stone Jiz[=o] looks as if nothing were the matter
+    with it, they say that at night it assumes an awful aspect
+    (or, "Though this image appears to be a common stone Jiz[=o],
+    they say that at night it becomes an awful Jiz[=o]; of
+    granite."_[57])]
+
+[Footnote 57: The Japanese word for granite is _mikag['e]_; and there
+is also an honorific term _mikag['e]_, applied to divinities and
+emperors, which signifies "august aspect," "sacred presence," etc....
+No literal rendering can suggest the effect, in the fifth line, of
+the latter reading. _Kag['e]_ signifies "shadow," "aspect," and
+"power"--especially occult power; the honorific prefix _mi_, attached
+to names and attributes of divinities, may be rendered "august."]
+
+
+XII. UMI-B[=O]ZU
+
+Place a large cuttlefish on a table, body upwards and tentacles
+downwards--and you will have before you the grotesque reality that
+first suggested the fancy of the _Umi-B[=o]zu_, or Priest of the Sea.
+For the great bald body in this position, with the staring eyes below,
+bears a distorted resemblance to the shaven head of a priest; while
+the crawling tentacles underneath (which are in some species united
+by a dark web) suggests the wavering motion of the priest's upper
+robe.... The Umi-B[=o]zu figures a good deal in the literature of
+Japanese goblinry, and in the old-fashioned picture-books. He rises
+from the deep in foul weather to seize his prey.
+
+    Ita hito[:e]
+  Shita wa Jigoku ni,
+    Sumizom['e] no
+  B[=o]zu no umi ni
+  D['e]ru mo ayashina!
+
+    [_Since there is but the thickness of a single plank (between
+    the voyager and the sea), and underneath is Hell, 'tis indeed
+    a weird thing that a black-robed priest should rise from
+    the sea (or, "'tis surely a marvelous happening that,"
+    etc.!_[58])]
+
+[Footnote 58: The puns are too much for me.... _Ayashii_ means
+"suspicious," "marvelous," "supernatural," "weird," "doubtful."--In
+the first two lines there is a reference to the Buddhist proverb:
+_Funa-ita ichi-mai shita wa Jigoku_ ("under the thickness of a single
+ship's-plank is Hell"). (See my _Gleanings in Buddha-Fields_, p. 206,
+for another reference to this saying.)]
+
+
+XIII. FUDA-H['E]GASHI[59]
+
+Homes are protected from evil spirits by holy texts and charms. In any
+Japanese village, or any city by-street, you can see these texts when
+the sliding-doors are closed at night: they are not visible by day,
+when the sliding-doors have been pushed back into the _tobukuro_.
+Such texts are called _o-fuda_ (august scripts): they are written in
+Chinese characters upon strips of white paper, which are attached
+to the door with rice-paste; and there are many kinds of them. Some
+are texts selected from sutras--such as the S[^u]tra of Transcendent
+Wisdom (Prag[~n]a-P[^a]ramit[^a]-Hridaya-S[^u]tra), or the S[^u]tra
+of the Lotos of the Good Law (Saddharma-Pundarik[^a]-S[^u]tra). Some
+are texts from the dh[^a]ran[^i]s,--which are magical. Some are
+invocations only, indicating the Buddhist sect of the household....
+Besides these you may see various smaller texts, or little prints,
+pasted above or beside windows or apertures,--some being names of
+Shinto gods; others, symbolical pictures only, or pictures of Buddhas
+and Bodhi-sattvas. All are holy charms,--_o-fuda_: they protect the
+houses; and no goblin or ghost can enter by night into a dwelling so
+protected, unless the _o-fuda_ be removed.
+
+[Footnote 59: _H['e]gashi_ is the causative form of the verb
+_h['e]gu_, "to pull off," "peel off," "strip off," "split off." The
+term _Fuda-h['e]gashi_ signifies "Make-peel-off-august-charm Ghost."
+In my _Ghostly Japan_ the reader can find a good Japanese story about
+a _Fuda-h['e]gashi_.]
+
+Vengeful ghosts cannot themselves remove an _o-fuda_; but they will
+endeavor by threats or promises or bribes to make some person remove
+it for them. A ghost that wants to have the _o-fuda_ pulled off a door
+is called a _Fuda-h['e]gashi_.
+
+    H['e]gasan to
+  Rokuji-no-fuda wo,
+    Yur['e][:i] mo
+  Nam'mai d[=a] to
+  Kazo[:e]t['e] zo mini.
+
+    [_Even the ghost that would remove the charms written with six
+    characters actually tries to count them, repeating: "How many
+    sheets are there?" (or, repeating, "Hail to thee, O Buddha
+    Amit['a]bha!"[60])_]
+
+[Footnote 60: The fourth line gives these two readings:--
+
+_Nam'mai da?_--"How many sheets are there?"
+
+_Nam[u] A[m]ida!_--"Hail, O Amit[^a]bha!"
+
+The invocation, _Namu Amida Butsu_, is chiefly used by members of the
+great Shin sect; but it is also used by other sects, and especially in
+praying for the dead. While repeating it, the person praying numbers
+the utterances upon his Buddhist rosary; and this custom is suggested
+by the use of the word _kazo[:e]t['e]_, "counting."]
+
+    Tada ichi no
+  Kami no o-fuda wa
+    Sasuga ni mo
+  Norik['e] naku to mo
+  H['e]gashi kan['e]k['e]ri.
+
+    [_Of the august written-charms of the god (which were pasted
+    upon the walls of the house), not even one could by any effort
+    be pulled off, though the rice-paste with which they had been
+    fastened was all gone._]
+
+
+XIV. FURU-TSUBAKI
+
+The old Japanese, like the old Greeks, had their flower-spirits and
+their hamadryads, concerning whom some charming stories are told. They
+also believed in trees inhabited by malevolent beings,--goblin trees.
+Among other weird trees, the beautiful _tsubaki_ (_Camellia Japonica_)
+was said to be an unlucky tree;--this was said, at least, of the
+red-flowering variety, the white-flowering kind having a better
+reputation and being prized as a rarity. The large fleshy crimson
+flowers have this curious habit: they detach themselves bodily from
+the stem, when they begin to fade; and they fall with an audible thud.
+To old Japanese fancy the falling of these heavy red flowers was like
+the falling of human heads under the sword; and the dull sound of
+their dropping was said to be like the thud made by a severed head
+striking the ground. Nevertheless the tsubaki seems to have been
+a favorite in Japanese gardens because of the beauty of its glossy
+foliage; and its flowers were used for the decoration of alcoves. But
+in samurai homes it was a rule never to place tsubaki-flowers in an
+alcove _during war-time_.
+
+The reader will notice that in the following _ky[=o]ka_--which, as
+grotesques, seem to me the best in the collection--the goblin-tsubaki
+is called _furu-tsubaki_, "old tsubaki." The young tree was not
+supposed to have goblin-propensities,--these being developed only
+after many years. Other uncanny trees--such as the willow and the
+_['e]noki_--were likewise said to become dangerous only as they became
+old; and a similar belief prevailed on the subject of uncanny animals,
+such as the cat--innocent in kittenhood, but devilish in age.
+
+    Yo-arashi ni
+  Chishiho itadaku
+    Furu tsubaki,
+  Hota-hota ochiru
+  Hana no nama-kubi.
+
+    [_When by the night-storm is shaken the blood-crowned and
+    ancient tsubaki-tree, then one by one fall the gory heads of
+    the flowers, (with the sound of) hota-hota!_[61]]
+
+[Footnote 61: The word _furu_ in the third line is made to do double
+duty,--as the adjective, _furu[i]_, "ancient"; and as the verb _furu_,
+"to shake." The old term _nama-kuhi_ (lit., "raw head") means a human
+head, freshly-severed, from which the blood is still oozing.]
+
+    Kusa mo ki mo
+  N['e]mur['e]ru koro no
+    Sayo kaz['e] ni,
+  M['e]hana no ugoku
+  Furu-tsubaki kana!
+
+    [_When even the grass and the trees are sleeping under the
+    faint wind of the night,--then do the eyes and the noses of
+    the old tsubaki-tree (or "the buds and the flowers of the old
+    tsubaki-tree") move!_[62]]
+
+[Footnote 62: Two Japanese words are written, in _kana_, as
+"m['e]"--one meaning "a bud;" the other "eye." The syllables "hana" in
+like fashion, may signify either "flower" or "nose." As a grotesque,
+this little poem is decidedly successful.]
+
+    Tomoshibi no
+  Kag['e] ayashig['e] ni
+    Miy['e]nuru wa
+  Abura shiborishi
+  Furu-tsubaki ka-mo?
+
+    [_As for (the reason why) the light of that lamp appears to be
+    a Weirdness,[63]--perhaps the oil was expressed from (the nuts
+    of) the ancient tsu-baki?_]
+
+[Footnote 63: _Ayashig['e]_ is a noun formed from the adjective
+_ayashi_, "suspicious," "strange," "supernatural," "doubtful." The
+word _kag['e]_ signifies both "light" and "shadow,"--and is here used
+with double suggestiveness. The vegetable oil used in the old Japanese
+lamps used to be obtained from the nuts of the _tsubaki_. The reader
+should remember that the expression "ancient tsubaki" is equivalent to
+the expression "goblin-tsubaki,"--the tsubaki being supposed to turn
+into a goblin-tree only when it becomes old.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--Nearly all the stories and folk-beliefs about which these _ky[=o]ka_
+were written seem to have come from China; and most of the Japanese
+tales of tree-spirits appear to have had a Chinese origin. As the
+flower-spirits and hamadryads of the Far East are as yet little
+known to Western readers, the following Chinese story may be found
+interesting.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There was a Chinese scholar--called, in Japanese books, T[=o] no
+Busanshi--who was famous for his love of flowers. He was particularly
+fond of peonies, and cultivated them with great skill and
+patience.[64]
+
+[Footnote 64: The tree-peony (_botan_) is here referred to,--a flower
+much esteemed in Japan. It is said to have been introduced from China
+during the eighth century; and no less than five hundred varieties of
+it are now cultivated by Japanese gardeners.]
+
+One day a very comely girl came to the house of Busanshi, and begged
+to be taken into his service. She said that circumstances obliged
+her to seek humble employment, but that she had received a literary
+education, and therefore wished to enter, if possible, into the
+service of a scholar. Busanshi was charmed by her beauty, and took her
+into his household without further questioning. She proved to be much
+more than a good domestic: indeed, the nature of her accomplishments
+made Busanshi suspect that she had been brought up in the court of
+some prince, or in the palace of some great lord. She displayed
+a perfect knowledge of the etiquette and the polite arts which
+are taught only to ladies of the highest rank; and she possessed
+astonishing skill in calligraphy, in painting, and in every kind of
+poetical composition. Busanshi presently fell in love with her, and
+thought only of how to please her. When scholar-friends or other
+visitors of importance came to the house, he would send for the new
+maid that she might entertain and wait upon his guests; and all who
+saw her were amazed by her grace and charm.
+
+One day Busanshi received a visit from the great Teki-Shin-Ketsu, a
+famous teacher of moral doctrine; and the maid did not respond to her
+master's call. Busanshi went himself to seek her, being desirous that
+Teki-Shin-Ketsu should see her and admire her; but she was nowhere to
+be found. After having searched the whole house in vain, Busanshi was
+returning to the guest-room when he suddenly caught sight of the maid,
+gliding soundlessly before him along a corridor. He called to her, and
+hurried after her. Then she turned half-round, and flattened herself
+against the wall like a spider; and as he reached her she sank
+backwards into the wall, so that there remained of her nothing visible
+but a colored shadow,--level like a picture painted on the plaster.
+But the shadow moved its lips and eyes, and spoke to him in a whisper,
+saying:--
+
+"Pardon me that I did not obey your august call!... I am not a
+mankind-person;--I am only the Soul of a Peony. Because you loved
+peonies so much, I was able to take human shape, and to serve you.
+But now this Teki-Shin-Ketsu has come,--and he is a person of dreadful
+propriety,--and I dare not keep this form any longer.... I must return
+to the place from which I came."
+
+Then she sank back into the wall, and vanished altogether: there was
+nothing where she had been except the naked plaster. And Busanshi
+never saw her again.
+
+This story is written in a Chinese book which the Japanese call
+"Kai-ten-i-ji."
+
+
+
+
+"ULTIMATE QUESTIONS"
+
+
+A memory of long ago.... I am walking upon a granite pavement that
+rings like iron, between buildings of granite bathed in the light of
+a cloudless noon. Shadows are short and sharp: there is no stir in
+the hot bright air; and the sound of my footsteps, strangely loud, is
+the only sound in the street.... Suddenly an odd feeling comes to me,
+with a sort of tingling shock,--a feeling, or suspicion, of universal
+illusion. The pavement, the bulks of hewn stone, the iron rails,
+and all things visible, are dreams! Light, color, form, weight,
+solidity--all sensed existences--are but phantoms of being,
+manifestations only of one infinite ghostliness for which the language
+of man has not any word....
+
+This experience had been produced by study of the first volume of
+the Synthetic Philosophy, which an American friend had taught me
+how to read. I did not find it easy reading; partly because I am a
+slow thinker, but chiefly because my mind had never been trained to
+sustained effort in such directions. To learn the "First Principles"
+occupied me many months: no other volume of the series gave me equal
+trouble. I would read one section at a time,--rarely two,--never
+venturing upon a fresh section until I thought that I had made sure
+of the preceding. Very cautious and slow my progress was, like that
+of a man mounting, for the first time, a long series of ladders in
+darkness. Reaching the light at last, I caught a sudden new vision of
+things,--a momentary perception of the illusion of surfaces,--and from
+that time the world never again appeared to me quite the same as it
+had appeared before.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--This memory of more than twenty years ago, and the extraordinary
+thrill of the moment, were recently revived for me by the reading of
+the essay "Ultimate Questions," in the last and not least precious
+volume bequeathed us by the world's greatest thinker. The essay
+contains his final utterance about the riddle of life and death,
+as that riddle presented itself to his vast mind in the dusk of a
+lifetime of intellectual toil. Certainly the substance of what he had
+to tell us might have been inferred from the Synthetic Philosophy;
+but the particular interest of this last essay is made by the writer's
+expression of personal sentiment regarding the problem that troubles
+all deep thinkers. Perhaps few of us could have remained satisfied
+with his purely scientific position. Even while fully accepting his
+declaration of the identity of the power that "wells up in us under
+the form of consciousness" with that Power Unknowable which shapes
+all things, most disciples of the master must have longed for some
+chance to ask him directly, "But how do _you_ feel in regard to
+the prospect of personal dissolution?" And this merely emotional
+question he has answered as frankly and as fully as any of us could
+have desired,--perhaps even more frankly. "Old people," he remarks
+apologetically, "must have many reflections in common. Doubtless
+one which I have now in mind is very familiar. For years past, when
+watching the unfolding buds in the spring, there has arisen the
+thought, 'Shall I ever again see the buds unfold? Shall I ever again
+be awakened at dawn by the song of the thrush?' Now that the end is
+not likely to be long postponed, there results an increasing tendency
+to meditate upon ultimate questions."... Then he tells us that these
+ultimate questions--"of the How and the Why, of the Whence and the
+Whither"--occupy much more space in the minds of those who cannot
+accept the creed of Christendom, than the current conception fills
+in the minds of the majority of men. The enormity of the problem of
+existence becomes manifest only to those who have permitted themselves
+to think freely and widely and deeply, with all such aids to thought
+as exact science can furnish; and the larger the knowledge of the
+thinker, the more pressing and tremendous the problem appears, and the
+more hopelessly unanswerable. To Herbert Spencer himself it must have
+assumed a vastness beyond the apprehension of the average mind; and
+it weighed upon him more and more inexorably the nearer he approached
+to death. He could not avoid the conviction--plainly suggested in his
+magnificent Psychology and in other volumes of his great work--that
+there exists no rational evidence for any belief in the continuance of
+conscious personality after death:--
+
+    "After studying primitive beliefs, and finding that there is
+    no origin for the idea of an after-life, save the conclusion
+    which the savage draws, from the notion suggested by dreams,
+    of a wandering double which comes back on awaking, and
+    which goes away for an indefinite time at death;--and after
+    contemplating the inscrutable relation between brain and
+    consciousness, and finding that we can get no evidence of the
+    existence of the last without the activity of the first,--we
+    seem obliged to relinquish the thought that consciousness
+    continues after physical organization has become inactive."
+
+In this measured utterance there is no word of hope; but there is
+at least a carefully stated doubt, which those who will may try
+to develop into the germ of a hope. The guarded phrase, "we _seem_
+obliged to relinquish," certainly suggests that, although in the
+present state of human knowledge we have no reason to believe in the
+perpetuity of consciousness, some larger future knowledge might help
+us to a less forlorn prospect. From the prospect as it now appears
+even this mightiest of thinkers recoiled:--
+
+    ... "But it seems a strange and repugnant conclusion that with
+    the cessation of consciousness at death there ceases to be any
+    knowledge of having existed. With his last breath it becomes
+    to each the same thing as though he had never lived.
+
+    "And then the consciousness itself--what is it during the time
+    that it continues? And what becomes of it when it ends? We can
+    only infer that it is a specialized and individualized form
+    of that Infinite and Eternal Energy which transcends both our
+    knowledge and our imagination; and that at death its elements
+    lapse into that Infinite and Eternal Energy whence they were
+    derived."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+--_With his last breath it becomes to each the same thing as though
+he had never lived?_ To the individual, perhaps--surely not to the
+humanity made wiser and better by his labors.... But the world must
+pass away: will it thereafter be the same for the universe as if
+humanity had never existed? That might depend upon the possibilities
+of future inter-planetary communication.... But the whole universe
+of suns and planets must also perish: thereafter will it be the
+same as if no intelligent life had ever toiled and suffered upon
+those countless worlds? We have at least the certainty that the
+energies of life cannot be destroyed, and the strong probability
+that they will help to form another life and thought in universes
+yet to be evolved.... Nevertheless, allowing for all imagined
+possibilities,--granting even the likelihood of some inapprehensible
+relation between all past and all future conditioned-being,--the
+tremendous question remains: What signifies the whole of apparitional
+existence to the Unconditioned? As flickers of sheet-lightning leave
+no record in the night, so in that Darkness a million billion trillion
+universes might come and go, and leave no trace of their having been.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+To every aspect of the problem Herbert Spencer must have given
+thought; but he has plainly declared that the human intellect, as at
+present constituted, can offer no solution. The greatest mind that
+this world has yet produced--the mind that systematized all human
+knowledge, that revolutionized modern science, that dissipated
+materialism forever, that revealed to us the ghostly unity of all
+existence, that reestablished all ethics upon an immutable and eternal
+foundation,--the mind that could expound with equal lucidity, and by
+the same universal formula, the history of a gnat or the history of a
+sun--confessed itself, before the Riddle of Existence, scarcely less
+helpless than the mind of a child.
+
+But for me the supreme value of this last essay is made by the fact
+that in its pathetic statement of uncertainties and probabilities one
+can discern something very much resembling a declaration of faith.
+Though assured that we have yet no foundation for any belief in the
+persistence of consciousness after the death of the brain, we are
+bidden to remember that the ultimate nature of consciousness remains
+inscrutable. Though we cannot surmise the relation of consciousness
+to the unseen, we are reminded that it must be considered as a
+manifestation of the Infinite Energy, and that its elements, if
+dissociated by death, will return to the timeless and measureless
+Source of Life.... Science to-day also assures us that whatever
+existence has been--all individual life that ever moved in animal
+or plant,--all feeling and thought that ever stirred in human
+consciousness--must have flashed self-record beyond the sphere of
+sentiency; and though we cannot know, we cannot help imagining that
+the best of such registration may be destined to perpetuity. On this
+latter subject, for obvious reasons, Herbert Spencer has remained
+silent; but the reader may ponder a remarkable paragraph in the final
+sixth edition of the "First Principles,"--a paragraph dealing with
+the hypothesis that consciousness may belong to the cosmic ether.
+This hypothesis has not been lightly dismissed by him; and even while
+proving its inadequacy, he seems to intimate that it may represent
+imperfectly some truth yet inapprehensible by the human mind:--
+
+    "The only supposition having consistency is that that in which
+    consciousness inheres is the all-pervading ether. This we
+    know can be affected by molecules of matter in motion, and
+    conversely can affect the motions of molecules;--as witness
+    the action of light on the retina. In pursuance of this
+    supposition we may assume that the ether, which pervades not
+    only all space but all matter, is, under special conditions
+    in certain parts of the nervous system, capable of being
+    affected by the nervous changes in such way as to result in
+    feeling, and is reciprocally capable under these conditions
+    of affecting the nervous changes. But if we accept this
+    explanation, we must assume that the potentiality of feeling
+    is universal, and that the evolution of feeling in the ether
+    takes place only under the extremely complex conditions
+    occurring in certain nervous centres. This, however, is but a
+    semblance of an explanation, since we know not what the ether
+    is, and since, by confession of those most capable of judging,
+    no hypothesis that has been framed accounts for all its
+    powers. Such an explanation may be said to do no more
+    than symbolize the phenomena by symbols of unknown
+    natures."--["First Principles," [Section] 71 _c_, definitive
+    edition of 1900.]
+
+    --"Inscrutable is this complex consciousness which has
+    slowly evolved out of infantine vacuity--consciousness
+    which, in other shapes, is manifested by animate beings at
+    large--consciousness which, during the development of every
+    creature, makes its appearance out of what seems unconscious
+    matter; _suggesting the thought that consciousness, in some
+    rudimentary form, is omnipresent._"[65]
+
+[Footnote 65: _Autobiography_, vol. ii, p. 470.]
+
+--Of all modern thinkers, Spencer was perhaps the most careful to
+avoid giving encouragement to any hypothesis unsupported by powerful
+evidence. Even the simple sum of his own creed is uttered only,
+with due reservation, as a statement of three probabilities: that
+consciousness represents a specialized and individualized form of the
+infinite Energy; that it is dissolved by death; and that its elements
+then return to the source of all being. As for our mental attitude
+toward the infinite Mystery, his advice is plain. We must resign
+ourselves to the eternal law, and endeavor to vanquish our ancient
+inheritance of superstitious terrors, remembering that, "merciless as
+is the Cosmic process worked out by an Unknown Power, yet vengeance is
+nowhere to be found in it."[66]
+
+[Footnote 66: _Facts and Comments_, p. 201.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the same brief essay there is another confession of singular
+interest,--an acknowledgment of the terror of Space. To even the
+ordinary mind, the notion of infinite Space, as forced upon us by
+those monstrous facts of astronomy which require no serious study
+to apprehend, is terrifying;--I mean the mere vague idea of that
+everlasting Night into which the blazing of millions of suns can bring
+neither light nor warmth. But to the intellect of Herbert Spencer the
+idea of Space must have presented itself after a manner incomparably
+more mysterious and stupendous. The mathematician alone will
+comprehend the full significance of the paragraph dealing with the
+Geometry of Position and the mystery of space-relations,--or the
+startling declaration that "even could we penetrate the mysteries of
+existence, there would remain still more transcendent mysteries."
+But Herbert Spencer tells us that, apart from the conception of these
+geometrical mysteries, the problem of naked Space itself became for
+him, in the twilight of his age, an obsession and a dismay:--
+
+    ... "And then comes the thought of this universal matrix
+    itself, anteceding alike creation or evolution, whichever be
+    assumed, and infinitely transcending both, alike in extent and
+    duration; since both, if conceived at all, must be conceived
+    as having had beginnings, while Space had no beginning. The
+    thought of this blank form of existence which, explored in
+    all directions as far as imagination can reach, has, beyond
+    that, an unexplored region compared with which the part which
+    imagination has traversed is but infinitesimal,--the thought
+    of a Space compared with which our immeasurable sidereal
+    system dwindles to a point is a thought too overwhelming to
+    be dwelt upon. Of late years the consciousness that without
+    origin or cause infinite Space has ever existed and must ever
+    exist, produces in me a feeling from which I shrink."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+How the idea of infinite Space may affect a mind incomparably more
+powerful than my own, I cannot know;--neither can I divine the nature
+of certain problems which the laws of space-relation present to the
+geometrician. But when I try to determine the cause of the horror
+which that idea evokes within my own feeble imagination, I am able
+to distinguish different elements of the emotion,--particular forms
+of terror responding to particular ideas (rational and irrational)
+suggested by the revelations of science. One feeling--perhaps the
+main element of the horror--is made by the thought of being _prisoned_
+forever and ever within that unutterable Viewlessness which occupies
+infinite Space.
+
+Behind this feeling there is more than the thought of eternal
+circumscription;--there is also the idea of being perpetually
+penetrated, traversed, thrilled by the Nameless;--there is likewise
+the certainty that no least particle of innermost secret Self could
+shun the eternal touch of It;--there is furthermore the tremendous
+conviction that could the Self of me rush with the swiftness of
+light,--with more than the swiftness of light,--beyond all galaxies,
+beyond durations of time so vast that Science knows no sign by which
+their magnitudes might be indicated,--and still flee onward, onward,
+downward, upward,--always, always,--never could that Self of me reach
+nearer to any verge, never speed farther from any centre. For, in that
+Silence, all vastitude and height and depth and time and direction are
+swallowed up: relation therein could have no meaning but for the speck
+of my fleeting consciousness,--atom of terror pulsating alone through
+atomless, soundless, nameless, illimitable potentiality.
+
+And the idea of that potentiality awakens another quality of
+horror,--the horror of infinite Possibility. For this Inscrutable that
+pulses through substance as if substance were not at all,--so subtly
+that none can feel the flowing of its tides, yet so swiftly that no
+life-time would suffice to count the number of the oscillations which
+it makes within the fraction of one second,--thrills to us out of
+endlessness;--and the force of infinity dwells in its lightest tremor;
+the weight of eternity presses behind its faintest shudder. To that
+phantom-Touch, the tinting of a blossom or the dissipation of a
+universe were equally facile: here it caresses the eye with the charm
+and illusion of color; there it bestirs into being a cluster of
+giant suns. All that human mind is capable of conceiving as possible
+(and how much also that human mind must forever remain incapable of
+conceiving?) may be wrought anywhere, everywhere, by a single tremor
+of that Abyss....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Is it true, as some would have us believe, that the fear of the
+extinction of self is the terror supreme?... For the thought of
+personal perpetuity in the infinite vortex is enough to evoke sudden
+trepidations that no tongue can utter,--fugitive instants of a horror
+too vast to enter wholly into consciousness: a horror that can be
+endured in swift black glimpsings only. And the trust that we are one
+with the Absolute--dim points of thrilling in the abyss of It--can
+prove a consoling faith only to those who find themselves obliged to
+think that consciousness dissolves with the crumbling of the brain....
+It seems to me that few (or none) dare to utter frankly those
+stupendous doubts and fears which force mortal intelligence to
+recoil upon itself at every fresh attempt to pass the barrier of the
+Knowable. Were that barrier unexpectedly pushed back,--were knowledge
+to be suddenly and vastly expanded beyond its present limits,--perhaps
+we should find ourselves unable to endure the revelation....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mr. Percival Lowell's astonishing book, "Mars," sets one to thinking
+about the results of being able to hold communication with the
+habitants of an older and a wiser world,--some race of beings more
+highly evolved than we, both intellectually and morally, and able to
+interpret a thousand mysteries that still baffle our science. Perhaps,
+in such event, we should not find ourselves able to comprehend the
+methods, even could we borrow the results, of wisdom older than all
+our civilization by myriads or hundreds of myriads of years. But would
+not the sudden advent of larger knowledge from some elder planet prove
+for us, by reason, of the present moral condition of mankind, nothing
+less than a catastrophe?--might it not even result in the extinction
+of the human species?...
+
+The rule seems to be that the dissemination of dangerous higher
+knowledge, before the masses of a people are ethically prepared to
+receive it, will always be prevented by the conservative instinct; and
+we have reason to suppose (allowing for individual exceptions) that
+the power to gain higher knowledge is developed only as the moral
+ability to profit by such knowledge is evolved. I fancy that if the
+power of holding intellectual converse with other worlds could now
+serve us, we should presently obtain it. But if, by some astonishing
+chance,--as by the discovery, let us suppose, of some method of
+ether-telegraphy,--this power were prematurely acquired, its exercise
+would in all probability be prohibited.... Imagine, for example, what
+would have happened during the Middle Ages to the person guilty of
+discovering means to communicate with the people of a neighboring
+planet! Assuredly that inventor and his apparatus and his records
+would have been burned; every trace and memory of his labors would
+have been extirpated. Even to-day the sudden discovery of truths
+unsupported by human experience, the sudden revelation of facts
+totally opposed to existing convictions, might evoke some frantic
+revival of superstitious terrors,--some religious panic-fury that
+would strangle science, and replunge the world in mental darkness for
+a thousand years.
+
+
+
+
+THE MIRROR MAIDEN
+
+
+In the period of the Ashikaga Sh[=o]gunate the shrine of
+Ogawachi-My[=o]jin, at Minami-Is['e], fell into decay; and the
+daimy[=o] of the district, the Lord Kitahatak['e], found himself
+unable, by reason of war and other circumstances, to provide for
+the reparation of the building. Then the Shint[=o] priest in charge,
+Matsumura Hy[=o]go, sought help at Ky[=o]to from the great daimy[=o]
+Hosokawa, who was known to have influence with the Sh[=o]gun. The
+Lord Hosokawa received the priest kindly, and promised to speak to
+the Sh[=o]gun about the condition of Ogawachi-My[=o]jin. But he said
+that, in any event, a grant for the restoration of the temple could
+not be made without due investigation and considerable delay; and he
+advised Matsumura to remain in the capital while the matter was being
+arranged. Matsumura therefore brought his family to Ky[=o]to, and
+rented a house in the old Ky[=o]goku quarter.
+
+This house, although handsome and spacious, had been long unoccupied.
+It was said to be an unlucky house. On the northeast side of it there
+was a well; and several former tenants had drowned themselves in
+that well, without any known cause. But Matsumura, being a Shint[=o]
+priest, had no fear of evil spirits; and he soon made himself very
+comfortable in his new home.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the summer of that year there was a great drought. For months no
+rain had fallen in the Five Home-Provinces; the river-beds dried
+up, the wells failed; and even in the capital there was a dearth
+of water. But the well in Matsumura's garden remained nearly full;
+and the water--which was very cold and clear, with a faint bluish
+tinge--seemed to be supplied by a spring. During the hot season many
+people came from all parts of the city to beg for water; and Matsumura
+allowed them to draw as much as they pleased. Nevertheless the supply
+did not appear to be diminished.
+
+But one morning the dead body of a young servant, who had been sent
+from a neighboring residence to fetch water, was found floating in
+the well. No cause for a suicide could be imagined; and Matsumura,
+remembering many unpleasant stories about the well, began to suspect
+some invisible malevolence. He went to examine the well, with the
+intention of having a fence built around it; and while standing
+there alone he was startled by a sudden motion in the water, as of
+something alive. The motion soon ceased; and then he perceived,
+clearly reflected in the still surface, the figure of a young woman,
+apparently about nineteen or twenty years of age. She seemed to be
+occupied with her toilet: he distinctly saw her touching her lips
+with _b['e]ni_[67] At first her face was visible in profile only; but
+presently she turned towards him and smiled. Immediately he felt a
+strange shock at his heart, and a dizziness came upon him like the
+dizziness of wine, and everything became dark, except that smiling
+face,--white and beautiful as moonlight, and always seeming to grow
+more beautiful, and to be drawing him down--down--down into the
+darkness. But with a desperate effort he recovered his will and closed
+his eyes. When he opened them again, the face was gone, and the light
+had returned; and he found himself leaning down over the curb of the
+well. A moment more of that dizziness,--a moment more of that dazzling
+lure,--and he would never again have looked upon the sun...
+
+[Footnote 67: A kind of rouge, now used only to color the lips.]
+
+Returning to the house, he gave orders to his people not to approach
+the well under any circumstances, or allow any person to draw water
+from it. And the next day he had a strong fence built round the well.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+About a week after the fence had been built, the long drought was
+broken by a great rain-storm, accompanied by wind and lightning and
+thunder,--thunder so tremendous that the whole city shook to the
+rolling of it, as if shaken by an earthquake. For three days and three
+nights the downpour and the lightnings and the thunder continued; and
+the Kamogawa rose as it had never risen before, carrying away many
+bridges. During the third night of the storm, at the Hour of the Ox,
+there was heard a knocking at the door of the priest's dwelling, and
+the voice of a woman pleading for admittance. But Matsumura, warned by
+his experience at the well, forbade his servants to answer the appeal.
+He went himself to the entrance, and asked,--
+
+"Who calls?"
+
+A feminine voice responded:--
+
+"Pardon! it is I,--Yayoi![68]... I have something to say to Matsumura
+Sama,--something of great moment. Please open!"...
+
+[Footnote 68: This name, though uncommon, is still in use.]
+
+Matsumura half opened the door, very cautiously; and he saw the same
+beautiful face that had smiled upon him from the well. But it was not
+smiling now: it had a very sad look.
+
+"Into my house you shall not come," the priest exclaimed. "You are not
+a human being, but a Well-Person.... Why do you thus wickedly try to
+delude and destroy people?"
+
+The Well-Person made answer in a voice musical as a tinkling of jewels
+(_tama-wo-korogasu-ko[:e]_.):--
+
+"It is of that very matter that I want to speak.... I have never
+wished to injure human beings. But from ancient time a Poison-Dragon
+dwelt in that well. He was the Master of the Well; and because of him
+the well was always full. Long ago I fell into the water there, and
+so became subject to him; and he had power to make me lure people to
+death, in order that he might drink their blood. But now the Heavenly
+Ruler has commanded the Dragon to dwell hereafter in the lake called
+Torii-no-Ik['e], in the Province of Shinsh[=u]; and the gods have
+decided that he shall never be allowed to return to this city. So
+to-night, after he had gone away, I was able to come out, to beg for
+your kindly help. There is now very little water in the well, because
+of the Dragon's departure; and if you will order search to be made,
+my body will be found there. I pray you to save my body from the well
+without delay; and I shall certainly return your benevolence."...
+
+So saying, she vanished into the night.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Before dawn the tempest had passed; and when the sun arose there was
+no trace of cloud in the pure blue sky. Matsumura sent at an early
+hour for well-cleaners to search the well. Then, to everybody's
+surprise, the well proved to be almost dry. It was easily cleaned; and
+at the bottom of it were found some hair-ornaments of a very ancient
+fashion, and a metal mirror of curious form--but no trace of any body,
+animal or human.
+
+Matusmura imagined, however, that the mirror might yield some
+explanation of the mystery; for every such mirror is a weird thing,
+having a soul of its own,--and the soul of a mirror is feminine. This
+mirror, which seemed to be very old, was deeply crusted with scurf.
+But when it had been carefully cleaned, by the priest's order, it
+proved to be of rare and costly workmanship; and there were wonderful
+designs upon the back of it,--also several characters. Some of the
+characters had become indistinguishable; but there could still be
+discerned part of a date, and ideographs signifying, "_third month,
+the third day_." Now the third month used to be termed _Yayoi_
+(meaning, the Month of Increase); and the third day of the third
+month, which is a festival day, is still called _Yayoi-no-sekku_.
+Remembering that the Well-Person called herself "Yayoi," Matsumura
+felt almost sure that his ghostly visitant had been none other than
+the Soul of the Mirror.
+
+He therefore resolved to treat the mirror with all the consideration
+due to a Spirit. After having caused it to be carefully repolished
+and resilvered, he had a case of precious wood made for it, and a
+particular room in the house prepared to receive it. On the evening
+of the same day that it had been respectfully deposited in that room,
+Yayoi herself unexpectedly appeared before the priest as he sat alone
+in his study. She looked even more lovely than before; but the light
+of her beauty was now soft as the light of a summer moon shining
+through pure white clouds. After having humbly saluted Matsumura, she
+said in her sweetly tinkling voice:--
+
+"Now that you have saved me from solitude and sorrow, I have come to
+thank you.... I am indeed, as you supposed, the Spirit of the Mirror.
+It was in the time of the Emperor Saimei that I was first brought here
+from Kudara; and I dwelt in the august residence until the time of
+the Emperor Saga, when I was augustly bestowed upon the Lady Kamo,
+Naishinn[=o] of the Imperial Court.[69] Thereafter I became an
+heirloom in the House of Fuji-wara, and so remained until the period
+of H[=o]gen, when I was dropped into the well. There I was left and
+forgotten during the years of the great war.[70] The Master of the
+Well[71] was a venomous Dragon, who used to live in a lake that once
+covered a great part of this district. After the lake had been filled
+in, by government order, in order that houses might be built upon
+the place of it, the Dragon took possession of the well; and when I
+fell into the well I became subject to him; and he compelled me to
+lure many people to their deaths. But the gods have banished him
+forever.... Now I have one more favor to beseech: I entreat that you
+will cause me to be offered up to the Sh[=o]gun, the Lord Yoshimasa,
+who by descent is related to my former possessors. Do me but this last
+great kindness, and it will bring you good-fortune.... But I have also
+to warn you of a danger. In this house, after to-morrow, you must
+not stay, because it will be destroyed."... And with these words of
+warning Yayoi disappeared.
+
+[Footnote 69: The Emperor Saimei reigned from 655 to 662 (A.D.);
+the Emperor Saga from 810 to 842.--Kudara was an ancient kingdom in
+southwestern Korea, frequently mentioned in early Japanese history.--A
+_Naishinn[=o]_ was of Imperial blood. In the ancient court-hierarchy
+there were twenty-five ranks or grades of noble ladies;--that of
+_Naishinno_ was seventh in order of precedence.]
+
+[Footnote 70: For centuries the wives of the emperors and the ladies
+of the Imperial Court were chosen from the Fujiwara clan--The period
+called H[=o]gen lasted from 1156 to 1159: the war referred to is the
+famous war between the Taira and Minamoto clans.]
+
+[Footnote 71: In old-time belief every lake or spring had its
+invisible guardian, supposed to sometimes take the form of a serpent
+or dragon. The spirit of a lake or pond was commonly spoken of as
+_Ik['e]-no-Mushi_, the Master of the Lake. Here we find the title
+"Master" given to a dragon living in a well; but the guardian of wells
+is really the god Suijin.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Matsumura was able to profit by this premonition. He removed his
+people and his belongings to another district the next day; and almost
+immediately afterwards another storm arose, even more violent than the
+first, causing a flood which swept away the house in which he had been
+residing.
+
+Some time later, by favor of the Lord Hosokawa, Matsumura was enabled
+to obtain an audience of the Sh[=o]gun Yoshimasa, to whom he presented
+the mirror, together with a written account of its wonderful history.
+Then the prediction of the Spirit of the Mirror was fulfilled; for the
+Sh[=o]gun, greatly pleased with this strange gift, not only bestowed
+costly presents upon Matsumura, but also made an ample grant of money
+for the rebuilding of the Temple of Ogawachi-My[=o]jin.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF IT[=O] NORISUK['E]
+
+
+In the town of Uji, in the province of Yamashiro, there lived, about
+six hundred years ago, a young samurai named It[=o] Tat['e]waki
+Norisuk['e], whose ancestors were of the H['e][:i]k['e] clan. It[=o]
+was of handsome person and amiable character, a good scholar and apt
+at arms. But his family were poor; and he had no patron among the
+military nobility,--so that his prospects were small. He lived in
+a very quiet way, devoting himself to the study of literature, and
+having (says the Japanese story-teller) "only the Moon and the Wind
+for friends."
+
+One autumn evening, as he was taking a solitary walk in the
+neighborhood of the hill called Kotobikiyama, he happened to overtake
+a young girl who was following the same path. She was richly dressed,
+and seemed to be about eleven or twelve years old. It[=o] greeted her,
+and said, "The sun will soon be setting, damsel, and this is rather a
+lonesome place. May I ask if you have lost your way?" She looked up
+at him with a bright smile, and answered deprecatingly: "Nay! I am
+a _miya-dzukai_,[72] serving in this neighborhood; and I have only a
+little way to go."
+
+[Footnote 72: August-residence servant.]
+
+By her use of the term _miya-dzukai_, It[=o] knew that the girl must
+be in the service of persons of rank; and her statement surprised him,
+because he had never heard of any family of distinction residing in
+that vicinity. But he only said: "I am returning to Uji, where my home
+is. Perhaps you will allow me to accompany you on the way, as this is
+a very lonesome place." She thanked him gracefully, seeming pleased
+by his offer; and they walked on together, chatting as they went. She
+talked about the weather, the flowers, the butterflies, and the birds;
+about a visit that she had once made to Uji, about the famous sights
+of the capital, where she had been born;--and the moments passed
+pleasantly for It[=o], as he listened to her fresh prattle. Presently,
+at a turn in the road, they entered a hamlet, densely shadowed by a
+grove of young trees.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Here I must interrupt the story to tell you that, without having
+actually seen them, you cannot imagine how dark some Japanese country
+villages remain even in the brightest and hottest weather. In the
+neighborhood of T[=o]ky[=o] itself there are many villages of this
+kind. At a short distance from such a settlement you see no houses:
+nothing is visible but a dense grove of evergreen trees. The grove,
+which is usually composed of young cedars and bamboos, serves to
+shelter the village from storms, and also to supply timber for various
+purposes. So closely are the trees planted that there is no room to
+pass between the trunks of them: they stand straight as masts, and
+mingle their crests so as to form a roof that excludes the sun.
+Each thatched cottage occupies a clear space in the plantation, the
+trees forming a fence about it, double the height of the building.
+Under the trees it is always twilight, even at high noon; and the
+houses, morning or evening, are half in shadow. What makes the
+first impression of such a village almost disquieting is, not the
+transparent gloom, which has a certain weird charm of its own, but
+the stillness. There may be fifty or a hundred dwellings; but you see
+nobody; and you hear no sound but the twitter of invisible birds, the
+occasional crowing of cocks, and the shrilling of cicad[ae]. Even
+the cicad[ae], however, find these groves too dim, and sing faintly;
+being sun-lovers, they prefer the trees outside the village. I forgot
+to say that you may sometimes hear a viewless shuttle--_chaka-ton,
+chaka-ton_;--but that familiar sound, in the great green silence,
+seems an elfish happening. The reason of the hush is simply that the
+people are not at home. All the adults, excepting some feeble elders,
+have gone to the neighboring fields, the women carrying their babies
+on their backs; and most of the children have gone to the nearest
+school, perhaps not less than a mile away. Verily, in these dim
+hushed villages, one seems to behold the mysterious perpetuation of
+conditions recorded in the texts of Kwang-Tze:--
+
+    "_The ancients who had the nourishment of the world wished for
+    nothing, and the world had enough:--they did nothing, and all
+    things were transformed:--their stillness was abysmal, and the
+    people were all composed._"]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+... The village was very dark when It[=o] reached it; for the sun
+had set, and the after-glow made no twilight in the shadowing of the
+trees. "Now, kind sir," the child said, pointing to a narrow lane
+opening upon the main road, "I have to go this way." "Permit me, then,
+to see you home," It[=o] responded; and he turned into the lane with
+her, feeling rather than seeing his way. But the girl soon stopped
+before a small gate, dimly visible in the gloom,--a gate of
+trelliswork, beyond which the lights of a dwelling could be seen.
+"Here," she said, "is the honorable residence in which I serve. As you
+have come thus far out of your way, kind sir, will you not deign to
+enter and to rest a while?" It[=o] assented. He was pleased by the
+informal invitation; and he wished to learn what persons of superior
+condition had chosen to reside in so lonesome a village. He knew that
+sometimes a family of rank would retire in this manner from public
+life, by reason of government displeasure or political trouble; and
+he imagined that such might be the history of the occupants of the
+dwelling before him. Passing the gate, which his young guide opened
+for him, he found himself in a large quaint garden. A miniature
+landscape, traversed by a winding stream, was faintly distinguishable.
+"Deign for one little moment to wait," the child said; "I go to
+announce the honorable coming;" and hurried toward the house. It
+was a spacious house, but seemed very old, and built in the fashion
+of another time. The sliding doors were not closed; but the lighted
+interior was concealed by a beautiful bamboo curtain extending
+along the gallery front. Behind it shadows were moving--shadows of
+women;--and suddenly the music of a _koto_ rippled into the night. So
+light and sweet was the playing that It[=o] could scarcely believe the
+evidence of his senses. A slumbrous feeling of delight stole over him
+as he listened,--a delight strangely mingled with sadness. He wondered
+how any woman could have learned to play thus,--wondered whether the
+player could be a woman,--wondered even whether he was hearing earthly
+music; for enchantment seemed to have entered into his blood with the
+sound of it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The soft music ceased; and almost at the same moment It[=o] found the
+little _miya-dzukai_ beside him. "Sir," she said, "it is requested
+that you will honorably enter." She conducted him to the entrance,
+where he removed his sandals; and an aged woman, whom he thought to be
+the _R[=o]jo_, or matron of the household, came to welcome him at the
+threshold. The old woman then led him through many apartments to a
+large and well-lighted room in the rear of the house, and with many
+respectful salutations requested him to take the place of honor
+accorded to guests of distinction. He was surprised by the stateliness
+of the chamber, and the curious beauty of its decorations. Presently
+some maid-servants brought refreshments; and he noticed that the cups
+and other vessels set before him were of rare and costly workmanship,
+and ornamented with a design indicating the high rank of the
+possessor. More and more he wondered what noble person had chosen this
+lonely retreat, and what happening could have inspired the wish
+for such solitude. But the aged attendant suddenly interrupted his
+reflections with the question:
+
+"Am I wrong in supposing that you are It[=o] Sama, of Uji,--It[=o]
+Tat['e]waki Norisuk['e]?"
+
+It[=o] bowed in assent. He had not told his name to the little
+_miya-dzukai_, and the manner of the inquiry startled him.
+
+"Please do not think my question rude," continued the attendant. "An
+old woman like myself may ask questions without improper curiosity.
+When you came to the house, I thought that I knew your face; and
+I asked your name only to clear away all doubt, before speaking of
+other matters. I have some thing of moment to tell you. You often
+pass through this village, and our young Him['e]gimi-Sama[73] happened
+one morning to see you going by; and ever since that moment she has
+been thinking about you, day and night. Indeed, she thought so much
+that she became ill; and we have been very uneasy about her. For that
+reason I took means to find out your name and residence; and I was on
+the point of sending you a letter when--so unexpectedly!--you came to
+our gate with the little attendant. Now, to say how happy I am to see
+you is not possible; it seems almost too fortunate a happening to be
+true! Really I think that this meeting must have been brought about by
+the favor of Enmusubi-no-Kami,--that great God of Izumo who ties the
+knots of fortunate union. And now that so lucky a destiny has led you
+hither, perhaps you will not refuse--if there be no obstacle in the
+way of such a union--to make happy the heart of our Him['e]gimi-Sama?"
+
+[Footnote 73: A scarcely translatable honorific title compounded
+of the word _him['e]_ (princess) and _kimi_ (sovereign, master or
+mistress, lord or lady, etc.).]
+
+For the moment It[=o] did not know how to reply. If the old woman had
+spoken the truth, an extraordinary chance was being offered to him.
+Only a great passion could impel the daughter of a noble house to
+seek, of her own will, the affection of an obscure and masterless
+samurai, possessing neither wealth nor any sort of prospects. On the
+other hand, it was not in the honorable nature of the man to further
+his own interests by taking advantage of a feminine weakness.
+Moreover, the circumstances were disquietingly mysterious. Yet how to
+decline the proposal, so unexpectedly made, troubled him not a little.
+After a short silence, he replied:--
+
+"There would be no obstacle, as I have no wife, and no betrothed, and
+no relation with any woman. Until now I have lived with my parents;
+and the matter of my marriage was never discussed by them. You must
+know that I am a poor samurai, without any patron among persons of
+rank; and I did not wish to marry until I could find some chance
+to improve my condition. As to the proposal which you have done me
+the very great honor to make, I can only say that I know myself yet
+unworthy of the notice of any noble maiden."
+
+The old woman smiled as if pleased by these words, and responded:--
+
+"Until you have seen our Him['e]gimi-Sama, it were better that you
+make no decision. Perhaps you will feel no hesitation after you have
+seen her. Deign now to come with me, that I may present you to her."
+
+She conducted him to another larger guest-room, where preparations
+for a feast had been made, and having shown him the place of honor,
+left him for a moment alone. She returned accompanied by the
+Him['e]gimi-Sama; and, at the first sight of the young mistress,
+It[=o] felt again the strange thrill of wonder and delight that had
+come to him in the garden, as he listened to the music of the _koto_.
+Never had he dreamed of so beautiful a being. Light seemed to radiate
+from her presence, and to shine through her garments, as the light of
+the moon through flossy clouds; her loosely flowing hair swayed about
+her as she moved, like the boughs of the drooping willow bestirred
+by the breezes of spring; her lips were like flowers of the peach
+besprinkled with morning dew. It[=o] was bewildered by the vision.
+He asked himself whether he was not looking upon the person of
+Amano-kawara-no-Ori-Him['e] herself,--the Weaving-Maiden who dwells by
+the shining River of Heaven.
+
+Smiling, the aged woman turned to the fair one, who remained
+speechless, with downcast eyes and flushing cheeks, and said to her:--
+
+"See, my child!--at the moment when we could least have hoped for such
+a thing, the very person whom you wished to meet has come of his own
+accord. So fortunate a happening could have been brought about only
+by the will of the high gods. To think of it makes me weep for joy."
+And she sobbed aloud. "But now," she continued, wiping away her tears
+with her sleeve, "it only remains for you both--unless either prove
+unwilling, which I doubt--to pledge yourselves to each other, and to
+partake of your wedding feast."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It[=o] answered by no word: the incomparable vision before him had
+numbed his will and tied his tongue. Maid-servants entered, bearing
+dishes and wine: the wedding feast was spread before the pair; and the
+pledges were given. It[=o] nevertheless remained as in a trance: the
+marvel of the adventure, and the wonder of the beauty of the bride,
+still bewildered him. A gladness, beyond aught that he had ever known
+before, filled his heart--like a great silence. But gradually he
+recovered his wonted calm; and thereafter he found himself able to
+converse without embarrassment. Of the wine he partook freely; and
+he ventured to speak, in a self-depreciating but merry way, about the
+doubts and fears that had oppressed him. Meanwhile the bride remained
+still as moonlight, never lifting her eyes, and replying only by a
+blush or a smile when he addressed her.
+
+It[=o] said to the aged attendant:--
+
+"Many times, in my solitary walks, I have passed through this village
+without knowing of the existence of this honorable dwelling. And ever
+since entering here, I have been wondering why this noble household
+should have chosen so lonesome a place of sojourn.... Now that your
+Him['e]gimi-Sama and I have become pledged to each other, it seems
+to me a strange thing that I do not yet know the name of her august
+family."
+
+At this utterance, a shadow passed over the kindly face of the old
+woman; and the bride, who had yet hardly spoken, turned pale, and
+appeared to become painfully anxious. After some moments of silence,
+the aged woman responded:--
+
+"To keep our secret from you much longer would be difficult; and I
+think that, under any circumstances, you should be made aware of
+the facts, now that you are one of us. Know then, Sir It[=o], that
+your bride is the daughter of Shig['e]hira-Ky[=o], the great and
+unfortunate San-mi Ch[:u]j[=o]."
+
+At those words--"Shig['e]hira-Ky[=o], San-mi Ch[:u]j[=o]"--the
+young samurai felt a chill, as of ice, strike through all his veins.
+Shig['e]hira-Ky[=o], the great H['e][:i]k['e] general and statesman,
+had been dust for centuries. And It[=o] suddenly understood that
+everything around him--the chamber and the lights and the banquet--was
+a dream of the past; that the forms before him were not people, but
+shadows of people dead.
+
+But in another instant the icy chill had passed; and the charm
+returned, and seemed to deepen about him; and he felt no fear. Though
+his bride had come to him out of Yomi,--out of the place of the Yellow
+Springs of death,--his heart had been wholly won. Who weds a ghost
+must become a ghost;--yet he knew himself ready to die, not once, but
+many times, rather than betray by word or look one thought that might
+bring a shadow of pain to the brow of the beautiful illusion before
+him. Of the affection proffered he had no misgiving: the truth had
+been told him when any unloving purpose might better have been served
+by deception. But these thoughts and emotions passed in a flash,
+leaving him resolved to accept the strange situation as it had
+presented itself, and to act just as he would have done if chosen, in
+the years of J[:u]-ei, by Shig['e]hira's daughter.
+
+"Ah, the pity of it!" he exclaimed; "I have heard of the cruel fate of
+the august Lord Shig['e]hira."
+
+"Ay," responded the aged woman, sobbing as she spoke;--"it was indeed
+a cruel fate. His horse, you know, was killed by an arrow, and fell
+upon him; and when he called for help, those who had lived upon his
+bounty deserted him in his need. Then he was taken prisoner, and sent
+to Kamakura, where they treated him shamefully, and at last put him
+to death.[74] His wife and child--this dear maid here--were then in
+hiding; for everywhere the H['e][:i]k['e] were being sought out and
+killed. When the news of the Lord Shig['e]hira's death reached us,
+the pain proved too great for the mother to bear, so the child was
+left with no one to care for her but me,--since her kindred had all
+perished or disappeared. She was only five years old. I had been
+her milk-nurse, and I did what I could for her. Year after year we
+wandered from place to place, traveling in pilgrim-garb.... But these
+tales of grief are ill-timed," exclaimed the nurse, wiping away her
+tears;--"pardon the foolish heart of an old woman who cannot forget
+the past. See! the little maid whom I fostered has now become a
+Him['e]gimi-Sama indeed!--were we living in the good days of the
+Emperor Takakura, what a destiny might be reserved for her! However,
+she has obtained the husband whom she desired; that is the greatest
+happiness.... But the hour is late. The bridal-chamber has been
+prepared; and I must now leave you to care for each other until
+morning."
+
+[Footnote 74: Shig['e]hira, after a brave fight in defense of the
+capital,--then held by the Ta[:i]ra (or H['e][:i]k['e]) party,--was
+surprised and routed by Yoshitsun['e], leader of the Minamoto forces.
+A soldier named Iy['e]naga, who was a skilled archer, shot down
+Shig['e]hira's horse; and Shig['e]hira fell under the struggling
+animal. He cried to an attendant to bring another horse; but the man
+fled. Shig['e]hira was then captured by Iy['e]naga, and eventually
+given up to Yoritomo, head of the Minamoto clan, who caused him to be
+sent in a cage to Kamakura. There, after sundry humiliations, he was
+treated for a time with consideration,--having been able, by a Chinese
+poem, to touch even the cruel heart of Yoritomo. But in the following
+year he was executed by request of the Buddhist priests of Nanto,
+against whom he had formerly waged war by order of Kiyomori.]
+
+She rose, and sliding back the screens parting the guest-room from
+the adjoining chamber, ushered them to their sleeping apartment. Then,
+with many words of joy and congratulation, she withdrew; and It[=o]
+was left alone with his bride.
+
+As they reposed together, It[=o] said:--
+
+"Tell me, my loved one, when was it that you first wished to have me
+for your husband."
+
+(For everything appeared so real that he had almost ceased to think of
+the illusion woven around him.)
+
+She answered, in a voice like a dove's voice:--
+
+"My august lord and husband, it was at the temple of Ishiyama, where
+I went with my foster-mother, that I saw you for the first time. And
+because of seeing you, the world became changed to me from that hour
+and moment. But you do not remember, because our meeting was not in
+this, your present life: it was very, very long ago. Since that time
+you have passed through many deaths and births, and have had many
+comely bodies. But I have remained always that which you see me now:
+I could not obtain another body, nor enter into another state of
+existence, because of my great wish for you. My dear lord and husband,
+I have waited for you through many ages of men."
+
+And the bridegroom felt nowise afraid at hearing these strange words,
+but desired nothing more in life, or in all his lives to come, than to
+feel her arms about him, and to hear the caress of her voice.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But the pealing of a temple-bell proclaimed the coming of dawn. Birds
+began to twitter; a morning breeze set all the trees a-whispering.
+Suddenly the old nurse pushed apart the sliding screens of the
+bridal-chamber, and exclaimed:--
+
+"My children, it is time to separate! By daylight you must not be
+together, even for an instant: that were fatal! You must bid each
+other good-by."
+
+Without a word, It[=o] made ready to depart. He vaguely understood
+the warning uttered, and resigned himself wholly to destiny. His will
+belonged to him no more; he desired only to please his shadowy bride.
+
+She placed in his hands a little _suzuri_, or ink-stone, curiously
+carved, and said:--
+
+"My young lord and husband is a scholar; therefore this small gift
+will probably not be despised by him. It is of strange fashion because
+it is old, having been augustly bestowed upon my father by the favor
+of the Emperor Takakura. For that reason only, I thought it to be a
+precious thing."
+
+It[=o], in return, besought her to accept for a remembrance the
+_k[=o]gai_[75] of his sword, which were decorated with inlaid work of
+silver and gold, representing plum-flowers and nightingales.
+
+[Footnote 75: This was the name given to a pair of metal rods attached
+to a sword-sheath, and used like chop-sticks. They were sometimes
+exquisitely ornamented.]
+
+Then the little _miya-dzukai_ came to guide him through the garden,
+and his bride with her foster-mother accompanied him to the threshold.
+
+As he turned at the foot of the steps to make his parting salute, the
+old woman said:--
+
+"We shall meet again the next Year of the Boar, at the same hour of
+the same day of the same month that you came here. This being the Year
+of the Tiger, you will have to wait ten years. But, for reasons which
+I must not say, we shall not be able to meet again in this place;
+we are going to the neighborhood of Ky[=o]to, where the good Emperor
+Takakura and our fathers and many of our people are dwelling. All
+the H['e][:i]k['e] will be rejoiced by your coming. We shall send a
+_kago_[76] for you on the appointed day."
+
+[Footnote 76: A kind of palanquin.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Above the village the stars were burning as It[=o] passed the gate;
+but on reaching the open road he saw the dawn brightening beyond
+leagues of silent fields. In his bosom he carried the gift of his
+bride. The charm of her voice lingered in his ears,--and nevertheless,
+had it not been for the memento which he touched with questioning
+fingers, he could have persuaded himself that the memories of the
+night were memories of sleep, and that his life still belonged to him.
+
+But the certainty that he had doomed himself evoked no least regret:
+he was troubled only by the pain of separation, and the thought of the
+seasons that would have to pass before the illusion could be renewed
+for him. Ten years!--and every day of those years would seem how long!
+The mystery of the delay he could not hope to solve; the secret ways
+of the dead are known to the gods alone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Often and often, in his solitary walks, It[=o] revisited the village
+at Kotobikiyama, vaguely hoping to obtain another glimpse of the past.
+But never again, by night or by day, was he able to find the rustic
+gate in the shadowed lane; never again could he perceive the figure of
+the little _miya-dzukai_, walking alone in the sunset-glow.
+
+The village people, whom he questioned carefully, thought him
+bewitched. No person of rank, they said, had ever dwelt in the
+settlement; and there had never been, in the neighborhood, any such
+garden as he described. But there had once been a great Buddhist
+temple near the place of which he spoke; and some gravestones of the
+temple-cemetery were still to be seen. It[=o] discovered the monuments
+in the middle of a dense thicket. They were of an ancient Chinese
+form, and were covered with moss and lichens. The characters that had
+been cut upon them could no longer be deciphered.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Of his adventure It[=o] spoke to no one. But friends and kindred soon
+perceived a great change in his appearance and manner. Day by day he
+seemed to become more pale and thin, though physicians declared that
+he had no bodily ailment; he looked like a ghost, and moved like
+a shadow. Thoughtful and solitary he had always been, but now he
+appeared indifferent to everything which had formerly given him
+pleasure,--even to those literary studies by means of which he
+might have hoped to win distinction. To his mother--who thought that
+marriage might quicken his former ambition, and revive his interest in
+life--he said that he had made a vow to marry no living woman. And the
+months dragged by.
+
+At last came the Year of the Boar, and the season of autumn; but I to
+could no longer take the solitary walks that he loved. He could not
+even rise from his bed. His life was ebbing, though none could divine
+the cause; and he slept so deeply and so long that his sleep was often
+mistaken for death.
+
+Out of such a sleep he was startled, one bright evening, by the voice
+of a child; and he saw at his bedside the little _miya-dsukai_ who
+had guided him, ten years before, to the gate of the vanished garden.
+She saluted him, and smiled, and said: "I am bidden to tell you that
+you will be received to-night at [:O]hara, near Ky[=o]to, where the
+new home is, and that a _kago_ has been sent for you." Then she
+disappeared.
+
+It[=o] knew that he was being summoned away from the light of the sun;
+but the message so rejoiced him that he found strength to sit up and
+call his mother. To her he then for the first time related the story
+of his bridal, and he showed her the ink-stone which had been given
+him. He asked that it should be placed in his coffin,--and then he
+died.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The ink-stone was buried with him. But before the funeral ceremonies
+it was examined by experts, who said that it had been made in the
+period of _J[=o]-an_(1169 A.D.), and that it bore the seal-mark of an
+artist who had lived in the time of the Emperor Takakura.
+
+
+
+
+STRANGER THAN FICTION
+
+
+It was a perfect West Indian day. My friend the notary and I were
+crossing the island by a wonderful road which wound up through tropic
+forest to the clouds, and thence looped down again, through gold-green
+slopes of cane, and scenery amazing of violet and blue and ghost-gray
+peaks, to the roaring coast of the trade winds. All the morning we had
+been ascending,--walking after our carriage, most of the time, for the
+sake of the brave little mule;--and the sea had been climbing behind
+us till it looked like a monstrous wall of blue, pansy-blue, under the
+ever heightening horizon. The heat was like the heat of a vapor-bath,
+but the air was good to breathe with its tropical odor,--an odor made
+up of smells of strange saps, queer spicy scents of mould, exhalations
+of aromatic decay. Moreover, the views were glimpses of Paradise; and
+it was a joy to watch the torrents roaring down their gorges under
+shadows of tree-fern and bamboo.
+
+My friend stopped the carriage before a gateway set into a hedge full
+of flowers that looked like pink-and-white butterflies. "I have to
+make a call here," he said;--"come in with me." We dismounted, and he
+knocked on the gate with the butt of his whip. Within, at the end of
+a shady garden, I could see the porch of a planter's house; beyond
+were rows of cocoa palms, and glimpses of yellowing cane. Presently
+a negro, wearing only a pair of canvas trousers and a great straw
+hat, came hobbling to open the gate,--followed by a multitude, an
+astonishing multitude, of chippering chickens. Under the shadow of
+that huge straw hat I could not see the negro's face; but I noticed
+that his limbs and body were strangely shrunken,--looked as if
+withered to the bone. A weirder creature I had never beheld; and I
+wondered at his following of chickens.
+
+"Eh!" exclaimed the notary, "your chickens are as lively as ever!... I
+want to see Madame Floran."
+
+"_Moin k['e] di_," the goblin responded huskily, in his patois; and
+he limped on before us, all the chickens hopping and cheeping at his
+withered heels.
+
+"That fellow," my friend observed, "was bitten by a _fer-de-lance_
+about eight or nine years ago. He got cured, or at least half-cured,
+in some extraordinary way; but ever since then he has been a skeleton.
+See how he limps!"
+
+The skeleton passed out of sight behind the house, and we waited a
+while at the front porch. Then a m['e]tisse--turbaned in wasp colors,
+and robed in iris colors, and wonderful to behold--came to tell us
+that Madame hoped we would rest ourselves in the garden, as the house
+was very warm. Chairs and a little table were then set for us in a
+shady place, and the m['e]tisse brought out lemons, sugar-syrup, a
+bottle of the clear plantation rum that smells like apple juice, and
+ice-cold water in a _dobanne_ of thick red clay. My friend prepared
+the refreshments; and then our hostess came to greet us, and to sit
+with us,--a nice old lady with hair like newly minted silver. I had
+never seen a smile sweeter than that with which she bade us welcome;
+and I wondered whether she could ever have been more charming in her
+Creole girlhood than she now appeared,--with her kindly wrinkles, and
+argent hair, and frank, black, sparkling eyes....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the conversation that followed I was not able to take part, as
+it related only to some question of title. The notary soon arranged
+whatever there was to arrange; and, after some charmingly spoken words
+of farewell from the gentle lady, we took our departure. Again the
+mummified negro hobbled before us, to open the gate,--followed by
+all his callow rabble of chickens. As we resumed our places in the
+carriage we could still hear the chippering of the creatures, pursuing
+after that ancient scarecrow.
+
+"Is it African sorcery?" I queried.... "How does he bewitch those
+chickens?"
+
+"Queer--is it not?" the notary responded as we drove away. "That negro
+must now be at least eighty years old; and he may live for twenty
+years more,--the wretch!"
+
+The tone in which my friend uttered this epithet--_le
+miserable!_--somewhat surprised me, as I knew him to be one of the
+kindliest men in the world, and singularly free from prejudice. I
+suspected that a story was coming, and I waited for it in silence.
+
+"Listen," said the notary, after a pause, during which we left the
+plantation well behind us; "that old sorcerer, as you call him, was
+born upon the estate, a slave. The estate belonged to M. Floran,--the
+husband of the lady whom we visited; and she was a cousin, and the
+marriage was a love-match. They had been married about two years when
+the revolt occurred (fortunately there were no children),--the black
+revolt of eighteen hundred and forty-eight. Several planters were
+murdered; and M. Floran was one of the first to be killed. And the old
+negro whom we saw to-day--the old sorcerer, as you call him--left the
+plantation, and joined the rising: do you understand?"
+
+"Yes," I said; "but he might have done that through fear of the mob."
+
+"Certainly: the other hands did the same. But it was he that killed M.
+Floran,--for no reason whatever,--cut him up with a cutlass. M. Floran
+was riding home when the attack was made,--about a mile below the
+plantation.... Sober, that negro would not have dared to face M.
+Floran: the scoundrel was drunk, of course,--raving drunk. Most of
+the blacks had been drinking tafia, with dead wasps in it, to give
+themselves courage."
+
+"But," I interrupted, "how does it happen that the fellow is still on
+the Floran plantation?"
+
+"Wait a moment!... When the military got control of the mob, search
+was made everywhere for the murderer of M. Floran; but he could not
+be found. He was lying out in the cane,--in M. Floran's cane!--like
+a field-rat, like a snake. One morning, while the gendarmes
+were still looking for him, he rushed into the house, and
+threw himself down in front of Madame, weeping and screaming,
+'_A[:i]e-ya[:i]e-ya[:i]e-ya[:i]e!--moin t['e] tchou['e] y! moin
+t['e] tchou['e] y!--a[:i]e-ya[:i]e-ya[:i]e!_' Those were his very
+words:--'I killed him! I killed him!' And he begged for mercy. When he
+was asked why he killed M. Floran, he cried out that it was the
+devil--_diabe-[`a]_--that had made him do it!... Well, Madame forgave
+him!"
+
+"But how could she?" I queried.
+
+"Oh, she had always been very religious," my friend
+responded,--"sincerely religious. She only said, 'May God pardon me
+as I now pardon you!' She made her servants hide the creature and feed
+him; and they kept him hidden until the excitement was over. Then she
+sent him back to work; and he has been working for her ever since. Of
+course he is now too old to be of any use in the field;--he only takes
+care of the chickens."
+
+"But how," I persisted, "could the relatives allow Madame to forgive
+him?"
+
+"Well, Madame insisted that he was not mentally responsible,--that he
+was only a poor fool who had killed without knowing what he was doing;
+and she argued that if _she_ could forgive him, others could more
+easily do the same. There was a consultation; and the relatives
+decided so to arrange matters that Madame could have her own way."
+
+"But why?"
+
+"Because they knew that she found a sort of religious consolation--a
+kind of religious comfort--in forgiving the wretch. She imagined that
+it was her duty as a Christian, not only to forgive him, but to
+take care of him. We thought that she was mistaken,--but we could
+understand.... Well, there is an example of what religion can do."...
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The surprise of a new fact, or the sudden perception of something
+never before imagined, may cause an involuntary smile. Unconsciously
+I smiled, while my friend was yet speaking; and the good notary's brow
+darkened.
+
+"Ah, you laugh!" he exclaimed,--"you laugh! That is wrong!--that is a
+mistake!... But you do not believe: you do not know what it is,--the
+true religion,--the real Christianity!"
+
+Earnestly I made answer:--
+
+"Pardon me! I do believe every word of what you have told me. If I
+laughed unthinkingly, it was only because I could not help wondering"
+...
+
+"At what?" he questioned gravely.
+
+"At the marvelous instinct of that negro."
+
+"Ah, yes!" he returned approvingly. "Yes, the cunning of the animal
+it was,--the instinct of the brute!... She was the only person in the
+world who could have saved him."
+
+"And he knew it," I ventured to add.
+
+"No--no--no!" my friend emphatically dissented,--"he never could have
+known it! He only _felt_ it!... Find me an instinct like that, and I
+will show you a brain incapable of any knowledge, any thinking, any
+understanding: not the mind of a man, but the brain of a beast!"
+
+
+
+
+A LETTER FROM JAPAN
+
+
+Tokyo, August 1, 1904.
+
+Here, in this quiet suburb, where the green peace is broken only by
+the voices of children at play and the shrilling of cicad[ae], it is
+difficult to imagine that, a few hundred miles away, there is being
+carried on one of the most tremendous wars of modern times, between
+armies aggregating more than half a million of men, or that, on the
+intervening sea, a hundred ships of war have been battling. This
+contest, between the mightiest of Western powers and a people that
+began to study Western science only within the recollection of many
+persons still in vigorous life, is, on one side at least, a struggle
+for national existence. It was inevitable, this struggle,--might
+perhaps have been delayed, but certainly not averted. Japan has
+boldly challenged an empire capable of threatening simultaneously the
+civilizations of the East and the West,--a medi[ae]val power that,
+unless vigorously checked, seems destined to absorb Scandinavia and
+to dominate China. For all industrial civilization the contest is one
+of vast moment;--for Japan it is probably the supreme crisis in her
+national life. As to what her fleets and her armies have been doing,
+the world is fully informed; but as to what her people are doing at
+home, little has been written.
+
+To inexperienced observation they would appear to be doing nothing
+unusual; and this strange calm is worthy of record. At the
+beginning of hostilities an Imperial mandate was issued, bidding all
+non-combatants to pursue their avocations as usual, and to trouble
+themselves as little as possible about exterior events;--and this
+command has been obeyed to the letter. It would be natural to suppose
+that all the sacrifices, tragedies, and uncertainties of the contest
+had thrown their gloom over the life of the capital in especial; but
+there is really nothing whatever to indicate a condition of anxiety or
+depression. On the contrary, one is astonished by the joyous tone of
+public confidence, and the admirably restrained pride of the nation
+in its victories. Western tides have strewn the coast with Japanese
+corpses; regiments have been blown out of existence in the storming of
+positions defended by wire-entanglements; battleships have been lost:
+yet at no moment has there been the least public excitement. The
+people are following their daily occupations just as they did before
+the war; the cheery aspect of things is just the same; the theatres
+and flower displays are not less well patronized. The life of
+T[=o]ky[=o] has been, to outward seeming, hardly more affected by the
+events of the war than the life of nature beyond it, where the flowers
+are blooming and the butterflies hovering as in other summers. Except
+after the news of some great victory,--celebrated with fireworks and
+lantern processions,--there are no signs of public emotion; and but
+for the frequent distribution of newspaper extras, by runners ringing
+bells, you could almost persuade yourself that the whole story of the
+war is an evil dream.
+
+Yet there has been, of necessity, a vast amount of suffering--viewless
+and voiceless suffering--repressed by that sense of social and
+patriotic duty which is Japanese religion. As a seventeen-syllable
+poem of the hour tells us, the news of every victory must bring pain
+as well as joy:--
+
+    G[=o]gwai no
+  Tabi teki mikata
+    Gok['e] ga fu[`e].
+
+    [_Each time that an extra is circulated the widows of foes and
+    friends have increased in multitude._]
+
+The great quiet and the smiling tearlessness testify to the more than
+Spartan discipline of the race. Anciently the people were trained, not
+only to conceal their emotions, but to speak in a cheerful voice and
+to show a pleasant face under any stress of moral suffering; and they
+are obedient to that teaching to-day. It would still be thought a
+shame to betray personal sorrow for the loss of those who die for
+Emperor and fatherland. The public seem to view the events of the war
+as they would watch the scenes of a popular play. They are interested
+without being excited; and their extraordinary self-control is
+particularly shown in various manifestations of the "Play-impulse."
+Everywhere the theatres are producing war dramas (based upon actual
+fact); the newspapers and magazines are publishing war stories and
+novels; the cinematograph exhibits the monstrous methods of modern
+warfare; and numberless industries are turning out objects of art or
+utility designed to commemorate the Japanese triumphs.
+
+But the present psychological condition, the cheerful and even playful
+tone of public feeling, can be indicated less by any general statement
+than by the mention of ordinary facts,--every-day matters recorded in
+the writer's diary.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Never before were the photographers so busy; it is said that they
+have not been able to fulfill half of the demands made upon them.
+The hundreds of thousands of men sent to the war wished to leave
+photographs with their families, and also to take with them portraits
+of parents, children, and other beloved persons. The nation was being
+photographed during the past six months.
+
+A fact of sociological interest is that photography has added
+something new to the poetry of the domestic faith. From the time of
+its first introduction, photography became popular in Japan; and none
+of those superstitions, which inspire fear of the camera among less
+civilized races, offered any obstacle to the rapid development of a
+new industry. It is true that there exists some queer-folk beliefs
+about photographs,--ideas of mysterious relation between the
+sun-picture and the person imaged. For example: if, in the photograph
+of a group, one figure appear indistinct or blurred, that is thought
+to be an omen of sickness or death. But this superstition has its
+industrial value: it has compelled photographers to be careful about
+their work,--especially in these days of war, when everybody wants to
+have a good clear portrait, because the portrait might be needed for
+another purpose than preservation in an album.
+
+During the last twenty years there has gradually come into existence
+the custom of placing the photograph of a dead parent, brother,
+husband, or child, beside the mortuary tablet kept in the Buddhist
+household shrine. For this reason, also, the departing soldier wishes
+to leave at home a good likeness of himself.
+
+The rites of domestic affection, in old samurai families, are not
+confined to the cult of the dead. On certain occasions, the picture
+of the absent parent, husband, brother, or betrothed, is placed in
+the alcove of the guest-room, and a feast laid out before it. The
+photograph, in such cases, is fixed upon a little stand (_dai_); and
+the feast is served as if the person were present. This pretty custom
+of preparing a meal for the absent is probably more ancient than any
+art of portraiture; but the modern photograph adds to the human poetry
+of the rite. In feudal time it was the rule to set the repast facing
+the direction in which the absent person had gone--north, south, east,
+or west. After a brief interval the covers of the vessels containing
+the cooked food were lifted and examined. If the lacquered inner
+surface was thickly beaded with vapor, all was well; but if
+the surface was dry, that was an omen of death, a sign that the
+disembodied spirit had returned to absorb the essence of the
+offerings.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As might have been expected, in a country where the "play-impulse" is
+stronger, perhaps, than in any other part of the world, the Zeitgeist
+found manifestation in the flower displays of the year. I visited
+those in my neighborhood, which is the Quarter of the Gardeners. This
+quarter is famous for its azaleas (_tsutsuji_); and every spring
+the azalea gardens attract thousands of visitors,--not only by the
+wonderful exhibition then made of shrubs which look like solid masses
+of blossom (ranging up from snowy white, through all shades of pink,
+to a flamboyant purple) but also by displays of effigies: groups
+of figures ingeniously formed with living leaves and flowers. These
+figures, life-size, usually represent famous incidents of history or
+drama. In many cases--though not in all--the bodies and the costumes
+are composed of foliage and flowers trained to grow about a framework;
+while the faces, feet, and hands are represented by some kind of
+flesh-colored composition.
+
+This year, however, a majority of the displays represented scenes
+of the war,--such as an engagement between Japanese infantry and
+mounted Cossacks, a night attack by torpedo boats, the sinking of
+a battleship. In the last-mentioned display, Russian bluejackets
+appeared, swimming for their lives in a rough sea;--the pasteboard
+waves and the swimming figures being made to rise and fall by the
+pulling of a string; while the crackling of quick-firing guns was
+imitated by a mechanism contrived with sheets of zinc.
+
+It is said that Admiral T[=o]g[=o] sent to T[=o]ky[=o] for some
+flowering-trees in pots--inasmuch as his responsibilities allowed him
+no chance of seeing the cherry-flowers and the plum-blossoms in their
+season,--and that the gardeners responded even too generously.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Almost immediately after the beginning of hostilities, thousands of
+"war pictures"--mostly cheap lithographs--were published. The drawing
+and coloring were better than those of the prints issued at the
+time of the war with China; but the details were to a great extent
+imaginary,--altogether imaginary as to the appearance of Russian
+troops. Pictures of the engagements with the Russian fleet were
+effective, despite some lurid exaggeration. The most startling things
+were pictures of Russian defeats in Korea, published before a single
+military engagement had taken place;--the artist had "flushed to
+anticipate the scene." In these prints the Russians were depicted
+as fleeing in utter rout, leaving their officers--very fine-looking
+officers--dead upon the field; while the Japanese infantry, with
+dreadfully determined faces, were coming up at a double. The propriety
+and the wisdom of thus pictorially predicting victory, and easy
+victory to boot, may be questioned. But I am told that the custom of
+so doing is an old one; and it is thought that to realize the common
+hope thus imaginatively is lucky. At all events, there is no attempt
+at deception in these pictorial undertakings;--they help to keep up
+the public courage, and they ought to be pleasing to the gods.
+
+Some of the earlier pictures have now been realized in grim fact.
+The victories in China had been similarly foreshadowed: they amply
+justified the faith of the artist.... To-day the war pictures continue
+to multiply; but they have changed character. The inexorable truth
+of the photograph, and the sketches of the war correspondent, now
+bring all the vividness and violence of fact to help the artist's
+imagination. There was something na[:i]ve and theatrical in the
+drawings of anticipation; but the pictures of the hour represent the
+most tragic reality,--always becoming more terrible. At this writing,
+Japan has yet lost no single battle; but not a few of her victories
+have been dearly won.
+
+To enumerate even a tenth of the various articles ornamented with
+designs inspired by the war--articles such as combs, clasps, fans,
+brooches, card-cases, purses--would require a volume. Even cakes and
+confectionery are stamped with naval or military designs; and the
+glass or paper windows of shops--not to mention the signboards--have
+pictures of Japanese victories painted upon them. At night the shop
+lanterns proclaim the pride of the nation in its fleets and armies;
+and a whole chapter might easily be written about the new designs in
+transparencies and toy lanterns. A new revolving lantern--turned by
+the air-current which its own flame creates--has become very popular.
+It represents a charge of Japanese infantry upon Russian defenses;
+and holes pierced in the colored paper, so as to produce a continuous
+vivid flashing while the transparency revolves, suggest the exploding
+of shells and the volleying of machine guns.
+
+Some displays of the art-impulse, as inspired by the war, have been
+made in directions entirely unfamiliar to Western experience,--in
+the manufacture, for example, of women's hair ornaments and dress
+materials. Dress goods decorated with war pictures have actually
+become a fashion,--especially cr[^e]pe silks for underwear, and
+figured silk linings for cloaks and sleeves. More remarkable
+than these are the new hairpins;--by hairpins I mean those long
+double-pronged ornaments of flexible metal which are called
+_kanzashi_, and are more or less ornamented according to the age
+of the wearer. (The _kanzashi_ made for young girls are highly
+decorative; those worn by older folk are plain, or adorned only with
+a ball of coral or polished stone.) The new hairpins might be called
+commemorative: one, of which the decoration represents a British and
+a Japanese flag intercrossed, celebrates the Anglo-Japanese alliance;
+another represents an officer's cap and sword; and the best of all is
+surmounted by a tiny metal model of a battleship. The battleship-pin
+is not merely fantastic: it is actually pretty!
+
+As might have been expected, military and naval subjects occupy a
+large place among the year's designs for toweling. The towel designs
+celebrating naval victories have been particularly successful: they
+are mostly in white, on a blue ground; or in black, on a white ground.
+One of the best--blue and white--represented only a flock of gulls
+wheeling about the masthead of a sunken iron-clad, and, far away, the
+silhouettes of Japanese battleships passing to the horizon.... What
+especially struck me in this, and in several other designs, was the
+original manner in which the Japanese artist had seized upon the
+traits of the modern battleship,--the powerful and sinister lines of
+its shape,--just as he would have caught for us the typical character
+of a beetle or a lobster. The lines have been just enough exaggerated
+to convey, at one glance, the real impression made by the aspect of
+these iron monsters,--vague impression of bulk and force and menace,
+very difficult to express by ordinary methods of drawing.
+
+Besides towels decorated with artistic sketches of this sort, there
+have been placed upon the market many kinds of towels bearing comic
+war pictures,--caricatures or cartoons which are amusing without being
+malignant. It will be remembered that at the time of the first attack
+made upon the Port Arthur squadron, several of the Russian officers
+were in the Dalny theatre,--never dreaming that the Japanese would
+dare to strike the first blow. This incident has been made the subject
+of a towel design. At one end of the towel is a comic study of the
+faces of the Russians, delightedly watching the gyrations of a
+ballet dancer. At the other end is a study of the faces of the same
+commanders when they find, on returning to the port, only the masts
+of their battleships above water. Another towel shows a procession
+of fish in front of a surgeon's office--waiting their turns to be
+relieved of sundry bayonets, swords, revolvers, and rifles, which have
+stuck in their throats. A third towel picture represents a Russian
+diver examining, with a prodigious magnifying-glass, the holes made by
+torpedoes in the hull of a sunken cruiser. Comic verses or legends, in
+cursive text, are printed beside these pictures.
+
+The great house of Mitsui, which placed the best of these designs on
+the market, also produced some beautiful souvenirs of the war, in
+the shape of _fukusa_. (A _fukusa_ is an ornamental silk covering,
+or wrapper, put over presents sent to friends on certain occasions,
+and returned after the present has been received.) These are made of
+the heaviest and costliest silk, and inclosed within appropriately
+decorated covers. Upon one _fukusa_ is a colored picture of the
+cruisers Nisshin and Kasuga, under full steam; and upon another has
+been printed, in beautiful Chinese characters, the full text of the
+Imperial Declaration of war.
+
+But the strangest things that I have seen in this line of production
+were silk dresses for baby girls,--figured stuffs which, when looked
+at from a little distance, appeared incomparably pretty, owing to the
+masterly juxtaposition of tints and colors. On closer inspection the
+charming design proved to be composed entirely of war pictures,--or,
+rather, fragments of pictures, blended into one astonishing
+combination: naval battles; burning warships; submarine mines
+exploding; torpedo boats attacking; charges of Cossacks repulsed by
+Japanese infantry; artillery rushing into position; storming of forts;
+long lines of soldiery advancing through mist. Here were colors of
+blood and fire, tints of morning haze and evening glow, noon-blue
+and starred night-purple, sea-gray and field-green,--most wonderful
+thing!... I suppose that the child of a military or naval officer
+might, without impropriety, be clad in such a robe. But then--the
+unspeakable pity of things!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The war toys are innumerable: I can attempt to mention only a few of
+the more remarkable kinds.
+
+Japanese children play many sorts of card games, some of which are
+old, others quite new. There are poetical card games, for example,
+played with a pack of which each card bears the text of a poem, or
+part of a poem; and the player should be able to remember the name of
+the author of any quotation in the set. Then there are geographical
+card games, in which each of the cards used bears the name, and
+perhaps a little picture, of some famous site, town, or temple; and
+the player should be able to remember the district and province in
+which the mentioned place is situated. The latest novelty in this line
+is a pack of cards with pictures upon them of the Russian war vessels;
+and the player should be able to state what has become of every vessel
+named,--whether sunk, disabled, or confined in Port Arthur.
+
+There is another card game in which the battleships, cruisers, and
+torpedo craft of both Japan and Russia are represented. The winner in
+this game destroys his "captures" by tearing the cards taken. But the
+shops keep packages of each class of warship cards in stock; and when
+all the destroyers or cruisers of one country have been put _hors
+de combat_, the defeated party can purchase new vessels abroad. One
+torpedo boat costs about one farthing; but five torpedo boats can be
+bought for a penny.
+
+The toy-shops are crammed with models of battleships,--in wood, clay,
+porcelain, lead, and tin,--of many sizes and prices. Some of the
+larger ones, moved by clockwork, are named after Japanese battleships:
+Shikishima, Fuji, Mikasa. One mechanical toy represents the sinking of
+a Russian vessel by a Japanese torpedo boat. Among cheaper things of
+this class is a box of colored sand, for the representation of naval
+engagements. Children arrange the sand so as to resemble waves; and
+with each box of sand are sold two fleets of tiny leaden vessels. The
+Japanese ships are white, and the Russian black; and explosions of
+torpedoes are to be figured by small cuttings of vermilion paper,
+planted in the sand.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The children of the poorest classes make their own war toys; and I
+have been wondering whether those ancient feudal laws (translated
+by Professor Wigmore), which fixed the cost and quality of toys to
+be given to children, did not help to develop that ingenuity which
+the little folk display. Recently I saw a group of children in
+our neighborhood playing at the siege of Port Arthur, with fleets
+improvised out of scraps of wood and some rusty nails. A tub of water
+represented Port Arthur. Battleships were figured by bits of plank,
+into which chop-sticks had been fixed to represent masts, and rolls of
+paper to represent funnels. Little flags, appropriately colored, were
+fastened to the masts with rice paste. Torpedo boats were imaged by
+splinters, into each of which a short thick nail had been planted to
+indicate a smokestack. Stationary submarine mines were represented
+by small squares of wood, each having one long nail driven into it;
+and these little things, when dropped into water with the nail-head
+downwards, would keep up a curious bobbing motion for a long time.
+Other squares of wood, having clusters of short nails driven into
+them, represented floating mines: and the mimic battleships were made
+to drag for these, with lines of thread. The pictures in the Japanese
+papers had doubtless helped the children to imagine the events of the
+war with tolerable accuracy.
+
+Naval caps for children have become, of course, more in vogue than
+ever before. Some of the caps bear, in Chinese characters of burnished
+metal, the name of a battleship, or the words _Nippon Teikoku_
+(Empire of Japan),--disposed like the characters upon the cap of a
+blue-jacket. On some caps, however, the ship's name appears in English
+letters,--Yashima, Fuji, etc.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The play-impulse, I had almost forgotten to say, is shared by the
+soldiers themselves,--though most of those called to the front do not
+expect to return in the body. They ask only to be remembered at the
+Spirit-Invoking Shrine (_Sh[=o]konsha_), where the shades of all
+who die for Emperor and country are believed to gather. The men of
+the regiments temporarily quartered in our suburb, on their way to
+the war, found time to play at mimic war with the small folk of
+the neighborhood. (At all times Japanese soldiers are very kind
+to children; and the children here march with them, join in their
+military songs, and correctly salute their officers, feeling sure
+that the gravest officer will return the salute of a little child.)
+When the last regiment went away, the men distributed toys among
+the children assembled at the station to give them a parting
+cheer,--hairpins, with military symbols for ornament, to the girls;
+wooden infantry and tin cavalry to the boys. The oddest present was
+a small clay model of a Russian soldier's head, presented with the
+jocose promise: "If we come back, we shall bring you some real ones."
+In the top of the head there is a small wire loop, to which a rubber
+string can be attached. At the time of the war with China, little clay
+models of Chinese heads, with very long queues, were favorite toys.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The war has also suggested a variety of new designs for that charming
+object, the _toko-niwa_. Few of my readers know what a _toko-niwa_, or
+"alcove-garden," is. It is a miniature garden--perhaps less than two
+feet square--contrived within an ornamental shallow basin of porcelain
+or other material, and placed in the alcove of a guest-room by way
+of decoration. You may see there a tiny pond; a streamlet crossed by
+humped bridges of Chinese pattern; dwarf trees forming a grove, and
+shading the model of a Shinto temple; imitations in baked clay of
+stone lanterns,--perhaps even the appearance of a hamlet of thatched
+cottages. If the _toko-niwa_ be not too small, you may see real fish
+swimming in the pond, or a pet tortoise crawling among the rockwork.
+Sometimes the miniature garden represents H[=o]rai, and the palace of
+the Dragon-King.
+
+Two new varieties have come into fashion. One is a model of Port
+Arthur, showing the harbor and the forts; and with the materials for
+the display there is sold a little map, showing how to place certain
+tiny battle-ships, representing the imprisoned and the investing
+fleets. The other _toko-niwa_ represents a Korean or Chinese
+landscape, with hill ranges and rivers and woods; and the appearance
+of a battle is created by masses of toy soldiers--cavalry, infantry,
+and artillery--in all positions of attack and defense. Minute forts of
+baked clay, bristling with cannon about the size of small pins, occupy
+elevated positions. When properly arranged the effect is panoramic.
+The soldiers in the foreground are about an inch long; those a little
+farther away about half as long; and those upon the hills are no
+larger than flies.
+
+But the most remarkable novelty of this sort yet produced is a kind
+of _toko-niwa_ recently on display at a famous shop in Ginza. A label
+bearing the inscription, _Ka[:i]-t['e][:i] no Ikken_ (View of the
+Ocean-Bed) sufficiently explained the design. The _su[:i]bon_, or
+"water-tray," containing the display was half filled with rocks
+and sand so as to resemble a sea-bottom; and little fishes appeared
+swarming in the fore-ground. A little farther back, upon an elevation,
+stood Otohim['e], the Dragon-King's daughter, surrounded by her maiden
+attendants, and gazing, with just the shadow of a smile, at two men in
+naval uniform who were shaking hands,--dead heroes of the war: Admiral
+Makaroff and Commander Hiros['e]!... These had esteemed each other
+in life; and it was a happy thought thus to represent their friendly
+meeting in the world of Spirits.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Though his name is perhaps unfamiliar to English readers, Commander
+Takeo Hiros['e] has become, deservedly, one of Japan's national
+heroes. On the 27th of March, during the second attempt made to block
+the entrance to Port Arthur, he was killed while endeavoring to help
+a comrade,--a comrade who had formerly saved him from death. For five
+years Hiros['e] had been a naval attach['e] at St. Petersburg, and had
+made many friends in Russian naval and military circles. From boyhood
+his life had been devoted to study and duty; and it was commonly said
+of him that he had no particle of selfishness in his nature. Unlike
+most of his brother officers, he remained unmarried,--holding that
+no man who might be called on at any moment to lay down his life for
+his country had a moral right to marry. The only amusements in which
+he was ever known to indulge were physical exercises; and he was
+acknowledged one of the best _j[=u]jutsu_ (wrestlers) in the empire.
+The heroism of his death, at the age of thirty-six, had much less to
+do with the honors paid to his memory than the self-denying heroism of
+his life.
+
+Now his picture is in thousands of homes, and his name is celebrated
+in every village. It is celebrated also by the manufacture of
+various souvenirs, which are sold by myriads. For example, there
+is a new fashion in sleeve-buttons, called _Kinen-botan_, or
+"Commemoration-buttons." Each button bears a miniature portrait of
+the commander, with the inscription, _Shichi-sh[=o] h[=o]koku_, "Even
+in seven successive lives--for love of country." It is recorded that
+Hiros['e] often cited, to friends who criticised his ascetic devotion
+to duty, the famous utterance of Kusunoki Masashig['e], who declared,
+ere laying down his life for the Emperor Go-Daigo, that he desired to
+die for his sovereign in seven successive existences.
+
+But the highest honor paid to the memory of Hiros['e] is of a sort now
+possible only in the East, though once possible also in the West, when
+the Greek or Roman patriot-hero might be raised, by the common love of
+his people, to the place of the Immortals.... Wine-cups of porcelain
+have been made, decorated with his portrait; and beneath the portrait
+appears, in ideographs of gold, the inscription, _Gunshin Hiros['e]
+Ch[=u]sa_. The character "gun" signifies war; the character "_shin_"
+a god,--either in the sense of _divus_ or _deus_, according to
+circumstances; and the Chinese text, read in the Japanese way, is
+_Ikusa no Kami_. Whether that stern and valiant spirit is really
+invoked by the millions who believe that no brave soul is doomed to
+extinction, no well-spent life laid down in vain, no heroism cast
+away, I do not know. But, in any event, human affection and gratitude
+can go no farther than this; and it must be confessed that Old Japan
+is still able to confer honors worth dying for.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Boys and girls in all the children's schools are now singing the Song
+of Hiros['e] Ch[=u]sa, which is a marching song. The words and the
+music are published in a little booklet, with a portrait of the late
+commander upon the cover. Everywhere, and at all hours of the day, one
+hears this song being sung:--
+
+    _He whose every word and deed gave to men an example of what
+    the war-folk of the_ _Empire of Nippon should be,--Commander
+    Hiros['e]: is he really dead?_
+
+    _Though the body die, the spirit dies not. He who wished
+    to be reborn seven times into this world, for the sake of
+    serving his country, for the sake of requiting the Imperial
+    favor,--Commander Hiros['e]: has he really died?_
+
+    _"Since I am a son of the Country of the Gods, the fire of the
+    evil-hearted Russians cannot touch me!"--The sturdy Takeo who
+    spoke thus: can he really be dead?..._
+
+    _Nay! that glorious war-death meant undying fame;--beyond a
+    thousand years the valiant heart shall live;--as to a god of
+    war shall reverence be paid to him...._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Observing the playful confidence of this wonderful people in their
+struggle for existence against the mightiest power of the West,--their
+perfect trust in the wisdom of their leaders and the valor of their
+armies,--the good humor of their irony when mocking the enemy's
+blunders,--their strange capacity to find, in the world-stirring
+events of the hour, the same amusement that they would find in
+watching a melodrama,--one is tempted to ask: "What would be the
+moral consequence of a national defeat?"... It would depend, I think,
+upon circumstances. Were Kuropatkin able to fulfill his rash threat
+of invading Japan, the nation would probably rise as one man. But
+otherwise the knowledge of any great disaster would be bravely borne.
+From time unknown Japan has been a land of cataclysms,--earth-quakes
+that ruin cities in the space of a moment; tidal waves, two hundred
+miles long, sweeping whole coast populations out of existence; floods
+submerging hundreds of leagues of well-tilled fields; eruptions
+burying provinces. Calamities like this have disciplined the race in
+resignation and in patience; and it has been well trained also to bear
+with courage all the misfortunes of war. Even by the foreign peoples
+that have been most closely in contact with her, the capacities of
+Japan remained unguessed. Perhaps her power to resist aggression is
+far surpassed by her power to endure.
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Romance of the Milky Way, by Lafcadio Hearn
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