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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of In Ghostly Japan, by Lafcadio Hearn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: In Ghostly Japan
+
+Author: Lafcadio Hearn
+
+Release Date: June 16, 2003 [eBook #8128]
+[Most recently updated: February 3, 2021]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: Liz Warren
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN GHOSTLY JAPAN ***
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+In Ghostly Japan
+
+by Lafcadio Hearn
+
+
+Contents
+
+ FRAGMENT
+ FURISODÉ
+ INCENSE
+ A STORY OF DIVINATION
+ SILKWORMS
+ A PASSIONAL KARMA
+ FOOTPRINTS OF THE BUDDHA
+ ULULATION
+ BITS OF POETRY
+ JAPANESE BUDDHIST PROVERBS
+ SUGGESTION
+ INGWA-BANASHI
+ STORY OF A TENGU
+ AT YAIDZU
+
+List of Illustrations
+
+ The Mountain of Skulls
+ The Magical Incense
+ The Peony Lantern
+ The Lights of the Dead
+ S’rîpâda-tracing at Dentsu-In, Koishikawa, Tōkyō
+ Shō-Ekō-Hō-Kwan
+ Square and Triangle
+ Jizō
+ Emma Dai-ō
+
+[Illustration: The Mountain of Skulls]
+
+
+
+
+Fragment
+
+
+And it was at the hour of sunset that they came to the foot of the
+mountain. There was in that place no sign of life,—neither token of
+water, nor trace of plant, nor shadow of flying bird,—nothing but
+desolation rising to desolation. And the summit was lost in heaven.
+
+Then the Bodhisattva said to his young companion:—“What you have asked
+to see will be shown to you. But the place of the Vision is far; and
+the way is rude. Follow after me, and do not fear: strength will be
+given you.”
+
+Twilight gloomed about them as they climbed. There was no beaten path,
+nor any mark of former human visitation; and the way was over an
+endless heaping of tumbled fragments that rolled or turned beneath the
+foot. Sometimes a mass dislodged would clatter down with hollow
+echoings;—sometimes the substance trodden would burst like an empty
+shell….Stars pointed and thrilled; and the darkness deepened.
+
+“Do not fear, my son,” said the Bodhisattva, guiding: “danger there is
+none, though the way be grim.”
+
+Under the stars they climbed,—fast, fast,—mounting by help of power
+superhuman. High zones of mist they passed; and they saw below them,
+ever widening as they climbed, a soundless flood of cloud, like the
+tide of a milky sea.
+
+Hour after hour they climbed;—and forms invisible yielded to their
+tread with dull soft crashings;—and faint cold fires lighted and died
+at every breaking.
+
+And once the pilgrim-youth laid hand on a something smooth that was not
+stone,—and lifted it,—and dimly saw the cheekless gibe of death.
+
+“Linger not thus, my son!” urged the voice of the teacher;—“the summit
+that we must gain is very far away!”
+
+On through the dark they climbed,—and felt continually beneath them the
+soft strange breakings,—and saw the icy fires worm and die,—till the
+rim of the night turned grey, and the stars began to fail, and the east
+began to bloom.
+
+Yet still they climbed,—fast, fast,—mounting by help of power
+superhuman. About them now was frigidness of death,—and silence
+tremendous….A gold flame kindled in the east.
+
+Then first to the pilgrim’s gaze the steeps revealed their
+nakedness;—and a trembling seized him,—and a ghastly fear. For there
+was not any ground,—neither beneath him nor about him nor above
+him,—but a heaping only, monstrous and measureless, of skulls and
+fragments of skulls and dust of bone,—with a shimmer of shed teeth
+strown through the drift of it, like the shimmer of scrags of shell in
+the wrack of a tide.
+
+“Do not fear, my son!” cried the voice of the Bodhisattva;—“only the
+strong of heart can win to the place of the Vision!”
+
+Behind them the world had vanished. Nothing remained but the clouds
+beneath, and the sky above, and the heaping of skulls
+between,—up-slanting out of sight.
+
+Then the sun climbed with the climbers; and there was no warmth in the
+light of him, but coldness sharp as a sword. And the horror of
+stupendous height, and the nightmare of stupendous depth, and the
+terror of silence, ever grew and grew, and weighed upon the pilgrim,
+and held his feet,—so that suddenly all power departed from him, and he
+moaned like a sleeper in dreams.
+
+“Hasten, hasten, my son!” cried the Bodhisattva: “the day is brief, and
+the summit is very far away.”
+
+But the pilgrim shrieked,—“I fear! I fear unspeakably!—and the power
+has departed from me!”
+
+“The power will return, my son,” made answer the Bodhisattva…. “Look
+now below you and above you and about you, and tell me what you see.”
+
+“I cannot,” cried the pilgrim, trembling and clinging; “I dare not look
+beneath! Before me and about me there is nothing but skulls of men.”
+
+“And yet, my son,” said the Bodhisattva, laughing softly,—“and yet you
+do not know of what this mountain is made.”
+
+The other, shuddering, repeated:—“I fear!—unutterably I fear!…there is
+nothing but skulls of men!”
+
+“A mountain of skulls it is,” responded the Bodhisattva. “But know, my
+son, that all of them ARE YOUR OWN! Each has at some time been the nest
+of your dreams and delusions and desires. Not even one of them is the
+skull of any other being. All,—all without exception,—have been yours,
+in the billions of your former lives.”
+
+
+
+
+Furisodé
+
+
+Recently, while passing through a little street tenanted chiefly by
+dealers in old wares, I noticed a _furisodé_, or long-sleeved robe, of
+the rich purple tint called _murasaki_, hanging before one of the
+shops. It was a robe such as might have been worn by a lady of rank in
+the time of the Tokugawa. I stopped to look at the five crests upon it;
+and in the same moment there came to my recollection this legend of a
+similar robe said to have once caused the destruction of Yedo.
+
+Nearly two hundred and fifty years ago, the daughter of a rich merchant
+of the city of the Shōguns, while attending some temple-festival,
+perceived in the crowd a young samurai of remarkable beauty, and
+immediately fell in love with him. Unhappily for her, he disappeared in
+the press before she could learn through her attendants who he was or
+whence he had come. But his image remained vivid in her memory,—even to
+the least detail of his costume. The holiday attire then worn by
+samurai youths was scarcely less brilliant than that of young girls;
+and the upper dress of this handsome stranger had seemed wonderfully
+beautiful to the enamoured maiden. She fancied that by wearing a robe
+of like quality and color, bearing the same crest, she might be able to
+attract his notice on some future occasion.
+
+Accordingly she had such a robe made, with very long sleeves, according
+to the fashion of the period; and she prized it greatly. She wore it
+whenever she went out; and when at home she would suspend it in her
+room, and try to imagine the form of her unknown beloved within it.
+Sometimes she would pass hours before it,—dreaming and weeping by
+turns. And she would pray to the gods and the Buddhas that she might
+win the young man’s affection,—often repeating the invocation of the
+Nichiren sect: _Namu myō hō rengé kyō!_
+
+But she never saw the youth again; and she pined with longing for him,
+and sickened, and died, and was buried. After her burial, the
+long-sleeved robe that she had so much prized was given to the Buddhist
+temple of which her family were parishioners. It is an old custom to
+thus dispose of the garments of the dead.
+
+The priest was able to sell the robe at a good price; for it was a
+costly silk, and bore no trace of the tears that had fallen upon it. It
+was bought by a girl of about the same age as the dead lady. She wore
+it only one day. Then she fell sick, and began to act strangely,—crying
+out that she was haunted by the vision of a beautiful young man, and
+that for love of him she was going to die. And within a little while
+she died; and the long-sleeved robe was a second time presented to the
+temple.
+
+Again the priest sold it; and again it became the property of a young
+girl, who wore it only once. Then she also sickened, and talked of a
+beautiful shadow, and died, and was buried. And the robe was given a
+third time to the temple; and the priest wondered and doubted.
+
+Nevertheless he ventured to sell the luckless garment once more. Once
+more it was purchased by a girl and once more worn; and the wearer
+pined and died. And the robe was given a fourth time to the temple.
+
+Then the priest felt sure that there was some evil influence at work;
+and he told his acolytes to make a fire in the temple-court, and to
+burn the robe.
+
+So they made a fire, into which the robe was thrown. But as the silk
+began to burn, there suddenly appeared upon it dazzling characters of
+flame,—the characters of the invocation, _Namu myō hō rengé kyō;_—and
+these, one by one, leaped like great sparks to the temple roof; and the
+temple took fire.
+
+Embers from the burning temple presently dropped upon neighbouring
+roofs; and the whole street was soon ablaze. Then a sea-wind, rising,
+blew destruction into further streets; and the conflagration spread
+from street to street, and from district into district, till nearly the
+whole of the city was consumed. And this calamity, which occurred upon
+the eighteenth day of the first month of the first year of Meiréki
+(1655), is still remembered in Tōkyō as the _Furisodé-Kwaji_,—the Great
+Fire of the Long-sleeved Robe.
+
+According to a story-book called _Kibun-Daijin_, the name of the girl
+who caused the robe to be made was O-Samé; and she was the daughter of
+Hikoyemon, a wine-merchant of Hyakushō-machi, in the district of Azabu.
+Because of her beauty she was also called Azabu-Komachi, or the Komachi
+of Azabu.[1] The same book says that the temple of the tradition was a
+Nichiren temple called Hon-myoji, in the district of Hongo; and that
+the crest upon the robe was a _kikyō_-flower. But there are many
+different versions of the story; and I distrust the _Kibun-Daijin_
+because it asserts that the beautiful samurai was not really a man, but
+a transformed dragon, or water-serpent, that used to inhabit the lake
+at Uyéno,—_Shinobazu-no-Iké_.
+
+ [1] After more than a thousand years, the name of Komachi, or
+ Ono-no-Komachi, is still celebrated in Japan. She was the most
+ beautiful woman of her time, and so great a poet that she could move
+ heaven by her verses, and cause rain to fall in time of drought. Many
+ men loved her in vain; and many are said to have died for love of her.
+ But misfortunes visited her when her youth had passed; and, after
+ having been reduced to the uttermost want, she became a beggar, and
+ died at last upon the public highway, near Kyōto. As it was thought
+ shameful to bury her in the foul rags found upon her, some poor person
+ gave a wornout summer-robe (_katabira_) to wrap her body in; and she
+ was interred near Arashiyama at a spot still pointed out to travellers
+ as the “Place of the Katabira” (_Katabira-no-Tsuchi_).
+
+
+
+
+Incense
+
+
+I
+
+I see, rising out of darkness, a lotos in a vase. Most of the vase is
+invisible, but I know that it is of bronze, and that its glimpsing
+handles are bodies of dragons. Only the lotos is fully illuminated:
+three pure white flowers, and five great leaves of gold and green,—gold
+above, green on the upcurling under-surface,—an artificial lotos. It is
+bathed by a slanting stream of sunshine,—the darkness beneath and
+beyond is the dusk of a temple-chamber. I do not see the opening
+through which the radiance pours, but I am aware that it is a small
+window shaped in the outline-form of a temple-bell.
+
+The reason that I see the lotos—one memory of my first visit to a
+Buddhist sanctuary—is that there has come to me an odor of incense.
+Often when I smell incense, this vision defines; and usually thereafter
+other sensations of my first day in Japan revive in swift succession
+with almost painful acuteness.
+
+It is almost ubiquitous,—this perfume of incense. It makes one element
+of the faint but complex and never-to-be-forgotten odor of the Far
+East. It haunts the dwelling-house not less than the temple,—the home
+of the peasant not less than the yashiki of the prince. Shintō shrines,
+indeed, are free from it;—incense being an abomination to the elder
+gods. But wherever Buddhism lives there is incense. In every house
+containing a Buddhist shrine or Buddhist tablets, incense is burned at
+certain times; and in even the rudest country solitudes you will find
+incense smouldering before wayside images,—little stone figures of
+Fudō, Jizō, or Kwannon. Many experiences of travel,—strange impressions
+of sound as well as of sight,—remain associated in my own memory with
+that fragrance:—vast silent shadowed avenues leading to weird old
+shrines;—mossed flights of worn steps ascending to temples that moulder
+above the clouds;—joyous tumult of festival nights;—sheeted
+funeral-trains gliding by in glimmer of lanterns; murmur of household
+prayer in fishermen’s huts on far wild coasts;—and visions of desolate
+little graves marked only by threads of blue smoke ascending,—graves of
+pet animals or birds remembered by simple hearts in the hour of prayer
+to Amida, the Lord of Immeasurable Light.
+
+But the odor of which I speak is that of cheap incense only,—the
+incense in general use. There are many other kinds of incense; and the
+range of quality is amazing. A bundle of common incense-rods—(they are
+about as thick as an ordinary pencil-lead, and somewhat longer)—can be
+bought for a few sen; while a bundle of better quality, presenting to
+inexperienced eyes only some difference in color, may cost several yen,
+and be cheap at the price. Still costlier sorts of incense,—veritable
+luxuries,—take the form of lozenges, wafers, pastilles; and a small
+envelope of such material may be worth four or five pounds-sterling.
+But the commercial and industrial questions relating to Japanese
+incense represent the least interesting part of a remarkably curious
+subject.
+
+II
+
+Curious indeed, but enormous by reason of it infinity of tradition and
+detail. I am afraid even to think of the size of the volume that would
+be needed to cover it…. Such a work would properly begin with some
+brief account of the earliest knowledge and use of aromatics in Japan.
+I would next treat of the records and legends of the first introduction
+of Buddhist incense from Korea,—when King Shōmyō of Kudara, in 551 A.
+D., sent to the island-empire a collection of sutras, an image of the
+Buddha, and one complete set of furniture for a temple. Then something
+would have to be said about those classifications of incense which were
+made during the tenth century, in the periods of Engi and of
+Tenryaku,—and about the report of the ancient state-councillor,
+Kimitaka-Sangi, who visited China in the latter part of the thirteenth
+century, and transmitted to the Emperor Yomei the wisdom of the Chinese
+concerning incense. Then mention should be made of the ancient incenses
+still preserved in various Japanese temples, and of the famous
+fragments of _ranjatai_ (publicly exhibited at Nara in the tenth year
+of Meiji) which furnished supplies to the three great captains,
+Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Iyeyasu. After this should follow an outline
+of the history of mixed incenses made in Japan,—with notes on the
+classifications devised by the luxurious Takauji, and on the
+nomenclature established later by Ashikaga Yoshimasa, who collected one
+hundred and thirty varieties of incense, and invented for the more
+precious of them names recognized even to this day,—such as
+“Blossom-Showering,” “Smoke-of-Fuji,” and “Flower-of-the-Pure-Law.”
+Examples ought to be given likewise of traditions attaching to
+historical incenses preserved in several princely families, together
+with specimens of those hereditary recipes for incense-making which
+have been transmitted from generation to generation through hundreds of
+years, and are still called after their august inventors,—as “the
+Method of Hina-Dainagon,” “the Method of Sentō-In,” etc. Recipes also
+should be given of those strange incenses made “_to imitate the perfume
+of the lotos, the smell of the summer breeze, and the odor of the
+autumn wind_.” Some legends of the great period of incense-luxury
+should be cited,—such as the story of Sué Owari-no-Kami, who built for
+himself a palace of incense-woods, and set fire to it on the night of
+his revolt, when the smoke of its burning perfumed the land to a
+distance of twelve miles…. Of course the mere compilation of materials
+for a history of mixed-incenses would entail the study of a host of
+documents, treatises, and books,—particularly of such strange works as
+the _Kun-Shū-Rui-Shō_, or “Incense-Collector’s
+Classifying-Manual”;—containing the teachings of the Ten Schools of the
+Art of Mixing Incense; directions as to the best seasons for
+incense-making; and instructions about the “_different kinds of fire_”
+to be used for burning incense—(one kind is called “literary fire,” and
+another “military fire”); together with rules for pressing the ashes of
+a censer into various artistic designs corresponding to season and
+occasion…. A special chapter should certainly be given to the
+incense-bags (_kusadama_) hung up in houses to drive away goblins,—and
+to the smaller incense-bags formerly carried about the person as a
+protection against evil spirits. Then a very large part of the work
+would have to be devoted to the religious uses and legends of
+incense,—a huge subject in itself. There would also have to be
+considered the curious history of the old “incense-assemblies,” whose
+elaborate ceremonial could be explained only by help of numerous
+diagrams. One chapter at least would be required for the subject of the
+ancient importation of incense-materials from India, China, Annam,
+Siam, Cambodia, Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and various islands of
+the Malay archipelago,—places all named in rare books about incense.
+And a final chapter should treat of the romantic literature of
+incense,—the poems, stories, and dramas in which incense-rites are
+mentioned; and especially those love-songs comparing the body to
+incense, and passion to the eating flame:—
+
+Even as burns the perfume lending thy robe its fragance,
+Smoulders my life away, consumed by the pain of longing!
+
+
+….The merest outline of the subject is terrifying! I shall attempt
+nothing more than a few notes about the religious, the luxurious, and
+the ghostly uses of incense.
+
+III
+
+The common incense everywhere burned by poor people before Buddhist
+icons is called _an-soku-kō_. This is very cheap. Great quantities of
+it are burned by pilgrims in the bronze censers set before the
+entrances of famous temples; and in front of roadside images you may
+often see bundles of it. These are for the use of pious wayfarers, who
+pause before every Buddhist image on their path to repeat a brief
+prayer and, when possible, to set a few rods smouldering at the feet of
+the statue. But in rich temples, and during great religious ceremonies,
+much more expensive incense is used. Altogether three classes of
+perfumes are employed in Buddhist rites: _kō_, or incense-proper, in
+many varieties—(the word literally means only “fragrant
+substance”);—_dzukō_, an odorous ointment; and _makkō_, a fragrant
+powder. _Kō_ is burned; _dzukō_ is rubbed upon the hands of the priest
+as an ointment of purification; and _makkō_ is sprinkled about the
+sanctuary. This _makkō_ is said to be identical with the
+sandalwood-powder so frequently mentioned in Buddhist texts. But it is
+only the true incense which can be said to bear an important relation
+to the religious service.
+
+“Incense,” declares the _Soshi-Ryaku_,[1] “is the Messenger of Earnest
+Desire. When the rich Sudatta wished to invite the Buddha to a repast,
+he made use of incense. He was wont to ascend to the roof of his house
+on the eve of the day of the entertainment, and to remain standing
+there all night, holding a censer of precious incense. And as often as
+he did thus, the Buddha never failed to come on the following day at
+the exact time desired.”
+
+ [1] “Short [or Epitomized] History of Priests.”
+
+
+This text plainly implies that incense, as a burnt-offering, symbolizes
+the pious desires of the faithful. But it symbolizes other things also;
+and it has furnished many remarkable similes to Buddhist literature.
+Some of these, and not the least interesting, occur in prayers, of
+which the following, from the book called _Hōji-san_[2] is a striking
+example:—
+
+ [2] “The Praise of Pious Observances.”
+
+
+—“_Let my body remain pure like a censer!—let my thought be ever as a
+fire of wisdom, purely consuming the incense of sîla and of dhyâna,_[3]
+_that so may I do homage to all the Buddhas in the Ten Directions of
+the Past, the Present, and the Future!_”
+
+ [3] By _sîla_ is meant the observance of the rules of purity in act
+ and thought. _Dhyâna_ (called by Japanese Buddhists _Zenjō_) is one of
+ the higher forms of meditation.
+
+
+Sometimes in Buddhist sermons the destruction of Karma by virtuous
+effort is likened to the burning of incense by a pure flame,—sometimes,
+again, the life of man is compared to the smoke of incense. In his
+“Hundred Writings “(_Hyaku-tsū-kiri-kami_), the Shinshū priest Myōden
+says, quoting from the Buddhist work _Kujikkajō_, or “Ninety Articles
+“:—
+
+“In the burning of incense we see that so long as any incense remains,
+so long does the burning continue, and the smoke mount skyward. Now the
+breath of this body of ours,—this impermanent combination of Earth,
+Water, Air, and Fire,—is like that smoke. And the changing of the
+incense into cold ashes when the flame expires is an emblem of the
+changing of our bodies into ashes when our funeral pyres have burnt
+themselves out.”
+
+He also tells us about that Incense-Paradise of which every believer
+ought to be reminded by the perfume of earthly incense:—“In the
+Thirty-Second Vow for the Attainment of the Paradise of Wondrous
+Incense,” he says, “it is written: ‘_That Paradise is formed of
+hundreds of thousands of different kinds of incense, and of substances
+incalculably precious;—the beauty of it incomparably exceeds anything
+in the heavens or in the sphere of man;—the fragrance of it perfumes
+all the worlds of the Ten Directions of Space; and all who perceive
+that odor practise Buddha-deeds._’ In ancient times there were men of
+superior wisdom and virtue who, by reason of their vow, obtained
+perception of the odor; but we, who are born with inferior wisdom and
+virtue in these later days, cannot obtain such perception. Nevertheless
+it will be well for us, when we smell the incense kindled before the
+image of Amida, to imagine that its odor is the wonderful fragrance of
+Paradise, and to repeat the _Nembutsu_ in gratitude for the mercy of
+the Buddha.”
+
+IV
+
+But the use of incense in Japan is not confined to religious rites and
+ceremonies: indeed the costlier kinds of incense are manufactured
+chiefly for social entertainments. Incense-burning has been an
+amusement of the aristocracy ever since the thirteenth century.
+Probably you have heard of the Japanese tea-ceremonies, and their
+curious Buddhist history; and I suppose that every foreign collector of
+Japanese _bric-à-brac_ knows something about the luxury to which these
+ceremonies at one period attained,—a luxury well attested by the
+quality of the beautiful utensils formerly employed in them. But there
+were, and still are, incense-ceremonies much more elaborate and costly
+than the tea-ceremonies,—and also much more interesting. Besides music,
+embroidery, poetical composition and other branches of the
+old-fashioned female education, the young lady of pre-Meiji days was
+expected to acquire three especially polite accomplishments,—the art of
+arranging flowers, (_ikébana_), the art of ceremonial tea-making
+(_cha-no-yu_ or _cha-no-e_),[4] and the etiquette of incense-parties
+(_kō-kwai_ or _kō-é_). Incense-parties were invented before the time of
+the Ashikaga shōguns, and were most in vogue during the peaceful period
+of the Tokugawa rule. With the fall of the shōgunate they went out of
+fashion; but recently they have been to some extent revived. It is not
+likely, however, that they will again become really fashionable in the
+old sense,—partly because they represented rare forms of social
+refinement that never can be revived, and partly because of their
+costliness.
+
+ [4] Girls are still trained in the art of arranging flowers, and in
+ the etiquette of the dainty, though somewhat tedious, _cha-no-yu_.
+ Buddhist priests have long enjoyed a reputation as teachers of the
+ latter. When the pupil has reached a certain degree of proficiency,
+ she is given a diploma or certificate. The tea used in these
+ ceremonies is a powdered tea of remarkable fragrance,—the best
+ qualities of which fetch very high prices.
+
+
+In translating _kō-kwai_ as “incense-party,” I use the word “party” in
+the meaning that it takes in such compounds as “card-party,”
+“whist-party,” “chess-party”;—for a _kō-kwai_ is a meeting held only
+with the object of playing a game,—a very curious game. There are
+several kinds of incense-games; but in all of them the contest depends
+upon the ability to remember and to name different kinds of incense by
+the perfume alone. That variety of _kō-kwai_ called _Jitchū-kō_
+(“ten-burning-incense”) is generally conceded to be the most amusing;
+and I shall try to tell you how it is played.
+
+The numeral “ten,” in the Japanese, or rather Chinese name of this
+diversion, does not refer to ten kinds, but only to ten packages of
+incense; for _Jitchū-kō_, besides being the most amusing, is the very
+simplest of incense-games, and is played with only four kinds of
+incense. One kind must be supplied by the guests invited to the party;
+and three are furnished by the person who gives the entertainment. Each
+of the latter three supplies of incense—usually prepared in packages
+containing one hundred wafers is divided into four parts; and each part
+is put into a separate paper numbered or marked so as to indicate the
+quality. Thus four packages are prepared of the incense classed as No.
+1, four of incense No. 2, and four of incense No. 3,—or twelve in all.
+But the incense given by the guests,—always called “guest-incense”—is
+not divided: it is only put into a wrapper marked with an abbreviation
+of the Chinese character signifying “guest.” Accordingly we have a
+total of thirteen packages to start with; but three are to be used in
+the preliminary sampling, or “experimenting”—as the Japanese term
+it,—after the following manner.
+
+We shall suppose the game to be arranged for a party of six,—though
+there is no rule limiting the number of players. The six take their
+places in line, or in a half-circle—if the room be small; but they do
+not sit close together, for reasons which will presently appear. Then
+the host, or the person appointed to act as incense-burner, prepares a
+package of the incense classed as No 1, kindles it in a censer, and
+passes the censer to the guest occupying the first seat,[5] with the
+announcement—“This is incense No 1” The guest receives the censer
+according to the graceful etiquette required in the _kō-kwai_, inhales
+the perfume, and passes on the vessel to his neighbor, who receives it
+in like manner and passes it to the third guest, who presents it to the
+fourth,—and so on. When the censer has gone the round of the party, it
+is returned to the incense-burner. One package of incense No. 2, and
+one of No. 3, are similarly prepared, announced, and tested. But with
+the “guest-incense” no experiment is made. The player should be able to
+remember the different odors of the incenses tested; and he is expected
+to identify the guest-incense at the proper time merely by the
+unfamiliar quality of its fragrance.
+
+ [5] The places occupied by guests in a Japanese _zashiki_, or
+ reception room are numbered from the alcove of the apartment. The
+ place of the most honored is immediately before the alcove: this is
+ the first seat, and the rest are numbered from it, usually to the
+ left.
+
+
+The original thirteen packages having thus by “experimenting” been
+reduced to ten, each player is given one set of ten small
+tablets—usually of gold-lacquer,—every set being differently
+ornamented. The backs only of these tablets are decorated; and the
+decoration is nearly always a floral design of some sort:—thus one set
+might be decorated with chrysanthemums in gold, another with tufts of
+iris-plants, another with a spray of plum-blossoms, etc. But the faces
+of the tablets bear numbers or marks; and each set comprises three
+tablets numbered “1,” three numbered “2,” three numbered “3,” and one
+marked with the character signifying “guest.” After these tablet-sets
+have been distributed, a box called the “tablet-box” is placed before
+the first player; and all is ready for the real game.
+
+The incense-burner retires behind a little screen, shuffles the flat
+packages like so many cards, takes the uppermost, prepares its contents
+in the censer, and then, returning to the party, sends the censer upon
+its round. This time, of course, he does not announce what kind of
+incense he has used. As the censer passes from hand to hand, each
+player, after inhaling the fume, puts into the tablet-box one tablet
+bearing that mark or number which he supposes to be the mark or number
+of the incense he has smelled. If, for example, he thinks the incense
+to be “guest-incense,” he drops into the box that one of his tablets
+marked with the ideograph meaning “guest;” or if he believes that he
+has inhaled the perfume of No. 2, he puts into the box a tablet
+numbered “2.” When the round is over, tablet-box and censer are both
+returned to the incense-burner. He takes the six tablets out of the
+box, and wraps them up in the paper which contained the incense guessed
+about. The tablets themselves keep the personal as well as the general
+record,—since each player remembers the particular design upon his own
+set.
+
+The remaining nine packages of incense are consumed and judged in the
+same way, according to the chance order in which the shuffling has
+placed them. When all the incense has been used, the tablets are taken
+out of their wrappings, the record is officially put into writing, and
+the victor of the day is announced. I here offer the translation of
+such a record: it will serve to explain, almost at a glance, all the
+complications of the game.
+
+According to this record the player who used the tablets decorated with
+the design called “Young Pine,” made but two mistakes; while the holder
+of the “White-Lily” set made only one correct guess. But it is quite a
+feat to make ten correct judgments in succession. The olfactory nerves
+are apt to become somewhat numbed long before the game is concluded;
+and, therefore it is customary during the _Kō-kwai_ to rinse the mouth
+at intervals with pure vinegar, by which operation the sensitivity is
+partially restored.
+
+RECORD OF A KŌ-KWAI.
+
+
+Order in which the ten packages of incense were used:—
+
+
+1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10
+No. No. — No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
+III I “GUEST” II I III II I III II
+
+
+Names given to the six sets of tablets used, according to decorative
+designs on the back:
+“Gold Chrysanthemum” 1    3    1    2*  Guest  1     2*   2    3* 3    
+    3
+“Young Bamboo”   3*   1*   1    2*   1*   Guest  3    2    1 3 4
+“Red Peony”     Guest 1*   2    2*   3     1     3    2    3* 1 3
+“White Lily”     1    3    1    3    2     2     1    3   Guest 2* 1
+“Young Pine”     3*   1* Guest* 3    1*    2     2*   1*   3* 2* 8
+(Winner)
+“Cherry-Blossom-in-a-Mist”      1    3  Guest* 2*   1*    3*    1 2   
+3* 2*         6
+
+Guesses recorded by numbers on the tablet; correct being marked *
+
+No. of correct guesses
+
+NAMES OF INCENSE USED.
+
+
+I. “Tasogare” (“Who-Is-there?” I. e. “Evening-Dusk”).
+II. “Baikwa” (“Plum Flower”).
+III. “Wakakusa” (“Young Grass”).
+IV.  (“Guest Incense”) “Yamaji-no-Tsuyu” (“Dew-on-the-Mountain-Path”).
+
+To the Japanese original of the foregoing record were appended the
+names of the players, the date of the entertainment, and the name of
+the place where the party was held. It is the custom In some families
+to enter all such records in a book especially made for the purpose,
+and furnished with an index which enables the _Kō-kwai_ player to refer
+immediately to any interesting fact belonging to the history of any
+past game.
+
+The reader will have noticed that the four kinds of incense used were
+designated by very pretty names. The incense first mentioned, for
+example, is called by the poets’ name for the gloaming,—_Tasogaré_
+(lit: “Who is there?” or “ Who is it?”)—a word which in this relation
+hints of the toilet-perfume that reveals some charming presence to the
+lover waiting in the dusk. Perhaps some curiosity will be felt
+regarding the composition of these incenses. I can give the Japanese
+recipes for two sorts; but I have not been able to identify all of the
+materials named:—
+
+_Recipe for Yamaji-no-Tsuyu._
+
+   Ingredients                   Proportions.
+                                              about Jinkō (aloes-wood) 
+                                                           4 _mommé_   
+                                                (½ oz.) Cōoji (cloves) 
+                                                               4 ”     
+                                                    ” Kunroku
+                                              (olibanum)              
+                                              4 ”            ” Hakkō
+                                              (artemisia Schmidtiana)  
+                                               4 ”            ” Jakō
+                                              (musk)                   
+                                                1 _bu_         (⅛ oz.)
+                                              Kōkō(?)                  
+                                                     4 _mommé_      (½
+                                              oz.)
+
+_To 21 pastilles_
+
+_Recipe for Baikwa._
+
+   Ingredients                   Proportions.
+                                              about Jinkō (aloes)      
+                                                           20 _mommé_  
+                                               (2 1/2 oz.) Chōji
+                                              (cloves)                 
+                                               12 “         (1 1/2 oz.)
+                                              Kōkō(?)                  
+                                                  8 1/3 “         (1
+                                              1/40 oz.) Byakudan
+                                              (sandal-wood)           
+                                              4 “         (1/2 oz.)
+                                              Kanshō (spikenard)       
+                                                      2 _bu_       
+                                              (1/4 oz.) Kwakkō
+                                              (Bishop’s-wort?)     1
+                                              _bu_ 2 _shu_  (3/16 oz.)
+                                              Kunroku (olibanum)       
+                                                      3 ”  3 ”   
+                                              (15/22 oz.) Shōmokkō (?) 
+                                                                  2 ”  
+                                                    (1/4 oz.) Jakō
+                                              (musk)                   
+                                                 3 ” 2 _shu_   (7/16
+                                              oz.) Ryūnō (refined
+                                              Borneo Camphor)    3
+                                              _shu_       (3/8 oz.)
+
+_To 50 pastilles_
+
+The incense used at a _Kō-kwai_ ranges in value, according to the style
+of the entertainment, from $2.50 to $30.00 per envelope of 100
+wafers—wafers usually not more than one-fourth of an inch in diameter.
+Sometimes an incense is used worth even more than $30.00 per envelope:
+this contains _ranjatai_, an aromatic of which the perfume is compared
+to that of “musk mingled with orchid-flowers.” But there is some
+incense,—never sold,—which is much more precious than
+_ranjatai_,—incense valued less for its composition than for its
+history: I mean the incense brought centuries ago from China or from
+India by the Buddhist missionaries, and presented to princes or to
+other persons of high rank. Several ancient Japanese temples also
+include such foreign incense among their treasures. And very rarely a
+little of this priceless material is contributed to an
+incense-party,—much as in Europe, on very extraordinary occasions, some
+banquet is glorified by the production of a wine several hundred years
+old.
+
+Like the tea-ceremonies, the _Kō-kwai_ exact observance of a very
+complex and ancient etiquette. But this subject could interest few
+readers; and I shall only mention some of the rules regarding
+preparations and precautions. First of all, it is required that the
+person invited to an incense-party shall attend the same in as
+_odorless_ a condition as possible: a lady, for instance, must not use
+hair-oil, or put on any dress that has been kept in a perfumed
+chest-of-drawers. Furthermore, the guest should prepare for the contest
+by taking a prolonged hot bath, and should eat only the lightest and
+least odorous kind of food before going to the rendezvous. It is
+forbidden to leave the room during the game, or to open any door or
+window, or to indulge in needless conversation. Finally I may observe
+that, while judging the incense, a player is expected to take not less
+than three inhalations, or more than five.
+
+In this economical era, the _Kō-kwai_ takes of necessity a much humbler
+form than it assumed in the time of the great daimyō, of the princely
+abbots, and of the military aristocracy. A full set of the utensils
+required for the game can now be had for about $50.00; but the
+materials are of the poorest kind. The old-fashioned sets were
+fantastically expensive. Some were worth thousands of dollars. The
+incense-burner’s desk,—the writing-box, paper-box, tablet-box,
+etc.,—the various stands or _dai_,—were of the costliest
+gold-lacquer;—the pincers and other instruments were of gold, curiously
+worked;—and the censer—whether of precious metal, bronze, or
+porcelain,—was always a _chef-d’œuvre_, designed by some artist of
+renown.
+
+V
+
+Although the original signification of incense in Buddhist ceremonies
+was chiefly symbolical, there is good reason to suppose that various
+beliefs older than Buddhism,—some, perhaps, peculiar to the race;
+others probably of Chinese or Korean derivation,—began at an early
+period to influence the popular use of incense in Japan. Incense is
+still burned in the presence of a corpse with the idea that its
+fragrance shields both corpse and newly-parted soul from malevolent
+demons; and by the peasants it is often burned also to drive away
+goblins and the evil powers presiding over diseases. But formerly it
+was used to summon spirits as well as to banish them. Allusions to its
+employment in various weird rites may be found in some of the old
+dramas and romances. One particular sort of incense, imported from
+China, was said to have the power of calling up human spirits. This was
+the wizard-incense referred to in such ancient love-songs as the
+following:—
+
+“I have heard of the magical incense that summons the souls of the
+absent:
+Would I had some to burn, in the nights when I wait alone!”
+
+
+There is an interesting mention of this incense in the Chinese book,
+_Shang-hai-king_. It was called _Fwan-hwan-hiang_ (by Japanese
+pronunciation, _Hangon-kō_), or “Spirit-Recalling-Incense;” and it was
+made in Tso-Chau, or the District of the Ancestors, situated by the
+Eastern Sea. To summon the ghost of any dead person—or even that of a
+living person, according to some authorities,—it was only necessary to
+kindle some of the incense, and to pronounce certain words, while
+keeping the mind fixed upon the memory of that person. Then, in the
+smoke of the incense, the remembered face and form would appear.
+
+[Illustration: The Magical Incense]
+
+In many old Japanese and Chinese books mention is made of a famous
+story about this incense,—a story of the Chinese Emperor Wu, of the Han
+dynasty. When the Emperor had lost his beautiful favorite, the Lady Li,
+he sorrowed so much that fears were entertained for his reason. But all
+efforts made to divert his mind from the thought of her proved
+unavailing. One day he ordered some Spirit-Recalling-Incense to be
+procured, that he might summon her from the dead. His counsellors
+prayed him to forego his purpose, declaring that the vision could only
+intensify his grief. But he gave no heed to their advice, and himself
+performed the rite,—kindling the incense, and keeping his mind fixed
+upon the memory of the Lady Li. Presently, within the thick blue smoke
+arising from the incense, the outline, of a feminine form became
+visible. It defined, took tints of life, slowly became luminous, and
+the Emperor recognized the form of his beloved At first the apparition
+was faint; but it soon became distinct as a living person, and seemed
+with each moment to grow more beautiful. The Emperor whispered to the
+vision, but received no answer. He called aloud, and the presence made
+no sign. Then unable to control himself, he approached the censer. But
+the instant that he touched the smoke, the phantom trembled and
+vanished.
+
+Japanese artists are still occasionally inspired by the legends of the
+Hangon-ho. Only last year, in Tōkyō, at an exhibition of new kakemono,
+I saw a picture of a young wife kneeling before an alcove wherein the
+smoke of the magical incense was shaping the shadow of the absent
+husband.[6]
+
+ [6] Among the curious Tōkyō inventions of 1898 was a new variety of
+ cigarettes called _Hangon-sō_, or “Herb of Hangon,”—a name suggesting
+ that their smoke operated like the spirit-summoning incense. As a
+ matter of fact, the chemical action of the tobacco-smoke would define,
+ upon a paper fitted into the mouth-piece of each cigarette, the
+ photographic image of a dancing-girl.
+
+
+Although the power of making visible the forms of the dead has been
+claimed for one sort of incense only, the burning of any kind of
+incense is supposed to summon viewless spirits in multitude. These come
+to devour the smoke. They are called _Jiki-kō-ki_, or “incense-eating
+goblins;” and they belong to the fourteenth of the thirty-six classes
+of Gaki (_prêtas_) recognized by Japanese Buddhism. They are the ghosts
+of men who anciently, for the sake of gain, made or sold bad incense;
+and by the evil karma of that action they now find themselves in the
+state of hunger-suffering spirits, and compelled to seek their only
+food in the smoke of incense.
+
+
+
+
+A Story of Divination
+
+
+I once knew a fortune-teller who really believed in the science that he
+professed. He had learned, as a student of the old Chinese philosophy,
+to believe in divination long before he thought of practising it.
+During his youth he had been in the service of a wealthy daimyō, but
+subsequently, like thousands of other samurai, found himself reduced to
+desperate straits by the social and political changes of Meiji. It was
+then that he became a fortune-teller,—an itinerant
+_uranaiya_,—travelling on foot from town to town, and returning to his
+home rarely more than once a year with the proceeds of his journey. As
+a fortune-teller he was tolerably successful,—chiefly, I think, because
+of his perfect sincerity, and because of a peculiar gentle manner that
+invited confidence. His system was the old scholarly one: he used the
+book known to English readers as the _Yî-King_,—also a set of ebony
+blocks which could be so arranged as to form any of the Chinese
+hexagrams;—and he always began his divination with an earnest prayer to
+the gods.
+
+The system itself he held to be infallible in the hands of a master. He
+confessed that he had made some erroneous predictions; but he said that
+these mistakes had been entirely due to his own miscomprehension of
+certain texts or diagrams. To do him justice I must mention that in my
+own case—(he told my fortune four times),—his predictions were
+fulfilled in such wise that I became afraid of them. You may disbelieve
+in fortune-telling,—intellectually scorn it; but something of inherited
+superstitious tendency lurks within most of us; and a few strange
+experiences can so appeal to that inheritance as to induce the most
+unreasoning hope or fear of the good or bad luck promised you by some
+diviner. Really to see our future would be a misery. Imagine the result
+of knowing that there must happen to you, within the next two months,
+some terrible misfortune which you cannot possibly provide against!
+
+He was already an old man when I first saw him in Izumo,—certainly more
+than sixty years of age, but looking very much younger. Afterwards I
+met him in Ōsaka, in Kyōto, and in Kobé. More than once I tried to
+persuade him to pass the colder months of the winter-season under my
+roof,—for he possessed an extraordinary knowledge of traditions, and
+could have been of inestimable service to me in a literary way. But
+partly because the habit of wandering had become with him a second
+nature, and partly because of a love of independence as savage as a
+gipsy’s, I was never able to keep him with me for more than two days at
+a time.
+
+Every year he used to come to Tōkyō,—usually in the latter part of
+autumn. Then, for several weeks, he would flit about the city, from
+district to district, and vanish again. But during these fugitive trips
+he never failed to visit me; bringing welcome news of Izumo people and
+places,—bringing also some queer little present, generally of a
+religious kind, from some famous place of pilgrimage. On these
+occasions I could get a few hours’ chat with him. Sometimes the talk
+was of strange things seen or heard during his recent journey;
+sometimes it turned upon old legends or beliefs; sometimes it was about
+fortune-telling. The last time we met he told me of an exact Chinese
+science of divination which he regretted never having been able to
+learn.
+
+“Any one learned in that science,” he said, “would be able, for
+example, not only to tell you the exact time at which any post or beam
+of this house will yield to decay, but even to tell you the direction
+of the breaking, and all its results. I can best explain what I mean by
+relating a story.
+
+“The story is about the famous Chinese fortune-teller whom we call in
+Japan Shōko Setsu, and it is written in the book _Baikwa-Shin-Eki_,
+which is a book of divination. While still a very young man, Shōko
+Setsu obtained a high position by reason of his learning and virtue;
+but he resigned it and went into solitude that he might give his whole
+time to study. For years thereafter he lived alone in a hut among the
+mountains; studying without a fire in winter, and without a fan in
+summer; writing his thoughts upon the wall of his room—for lack of
+paper;—and using only a tile for his pillow.
+
+“One day, in the period of greatest summer heat, he found himself
+overcome by drowsiness; and he lay down to rest, with his tile under
+his head. Scarcely had he fallen asleep when a rat ran across his face
+and woke him with a start. Feeling angry, he seized his tile and flung
+it at the rat; but the rat escaped unhurt, and the tile was broken.
+Shōko Setsu looked sorrowfully at the fragments of his pillow, and
+reproached himself for his hastiness. Then suddenly he perceived, upon
+the freshly exposed clay of the broken tile, some Chinese
+characters—between the upper and lower surfaces. Thinking this very
+strange, he picked up the pieces, and carefully examined them. He found
+that along the line of fracture seventeen characters had been written
+within the clay before the tile had been baked; and the characters read
+thus: ‘_In the Year of the Hare, in the fourth month, on the
+seventeenth day, at the Hour of the Serpent, this tile, after serving
+as a pillow, will be thrown at a rat and broken._’ Now the prediction
+had really been fulfilled at the Hour of the Serpent on the seventeenth
+day of the fourth month of the Year of the Hare. Greatly astonished,
+Shōko Setsu once again looked at the fragments, and discovered the seal
+and the name of the maker. At once he left his hut, and, taking with
+him the pieces of the tile, hurried to the neighboring town in search
+of the tilemaker. He found the tilemaker in the course of the day,
+showed him the broken tile, and asked him about its history.
+
+“After having carefully examined the shards, the tilemaker said: —‘This
+tile was made in my house; but the characters in the clay were written
+by an old man—a fortune-teller,—who asked permission to write upon the
+tile before it was baked.’ ‘Do you know where he lives?’ asked Shōko
+Setsu. ‘He used to live,’ the tilemaker answered, ‘not very far from
+here; and I can show you the way to the house. But I do not know his
+name.’
+
+“Having been guided to the house, Shōko Setsu presented himself at the
+entrance, and asked for permission to speak to the old man. A
+serving-student courteously invited him to enter, and ushered him into
+an apartment where several young men were at study. As Shōko Setsu took
+his seat, all the youths saluted him. Then the one who had first
+addressed him bowed and said: ‘We are grieved to inform you that our
+master died a few days ago. But we have been waiting for you, because
+he predicted that you would come to-day to this house, at this very
+hour. Your name is Shōko Setsu. And our master told us to give you a
+book which he believed would be of service to you. Here is the
+book;—please to accept it.’
+
+“Shōko Setsu was not less delighted than surprised; for the book was a
+manuscript of the rarest and most precious kind,—containing all the
+secrets of the science of divination. After having thanked the young
+men, and properly expressed his regret for the death of their teacher,
+he went back to his hut, and there immediately proceeded to test the
+worth of the book by consulting its pages in regard to his own fortune.
+The book suggested to him that on the south side of his dwelling, at a
+particular spot near one corner of the hut, great luck awaited him. He
+dug at the place indicated, and found a jar containing gold enough to
+make him a very wealthy man.”
+
+
+My old acquaintance left this world as lonesomely as he had lived in
+it. Last winter, while crossing a mountain-range, he was overtaken by a
+snowstorm, and lost his way. Many days later he was found standing
+erect at the foot of a pine, with his little pack strapped to his
+shoulders: a statue of ice—arms folded and eyes closed as in
+meditation. Probably, while waiting for the storm to pass, he had
+yielded to the drowsiness of cold, and the drift had risen over him as
+he slept. Hearing of this strange death I remembered the old Japanese
+saying,—_Uranaiya minouyé shiradzu:_ “The fortune-teller knows not his
+own fate.”
+
+
+
+
+Silkworms
+
+I
+
+I was puzzled by the phrase, “silkworm-moth eyebrow,” in an old
+Japanese, or rather Chinese proverb:—_The silkworm-moth eyebrow of a
+woman is the axe that cuts down the wisdom of man._ So I went to my
+friend Niimi, who keeps silkworms, to ask for an explanation.
+
+“Is it possible,” he exclaimed, “that you never saw a silkworm-moth?
+The silkworm-moth has very beautiful eyebrows.”
+
+“Eyebrows?” I queried, in astonishment. “Well, call them what you
+like,” returned Niimi;—“the poets call them eyebrows…. Wait a moment,
+and I will show you.”
+
+He left the guest-room, and presently returned with a white paper-fan,
+on which a silkworm-moth was sleepily reposing.
+
+“We always reserve a few for breeding,” he said;—“this one is just out
+of the cocoon. It cannot fly, of course: none of them can fly…. Now
+look at the eyebrows.”
+
+I looked, and saw that the antennae, very short and feathery, were so
+arched back over the two jewel-specks of eyes in the velvety head, as
+to give the appearance of a really handsome pair of eyebrows.
+
+Then Niimi took me to see his worms.
+
+In Niimi’s neighborhood, where there are plenty of mulberrytrees, many
+families keep silkworms;—the tending and feeding being mostly done by
+women and children. The worms are kept in large oblong trays, elevated
+upon light wooden stands about three feet high. It is curious to see
+hundreds of caterpillars feeding all together in one tray, and to hear
+the soft papery noise which they make while gnawing their
+mulberry-leaves. As they approach maturity, the creatures need almost
+constant attention. At brief intervals some expert visits each tray to
+inspect progress, picks up the plumpest feeders, and decides, by gently
+rolling them between forefinger and thumb, which are ready to spin.
+These are dropped into covered boxes, where they soon swathe themselves
+out of sight in white floss. A few only of the best are suffered to
+emerge from their silky sleep,—the selected breeders. They have
+beautiful wings, but cannot use them. They have mouths, but do not eat.
+They only pair, lay eggs, and die. For thousands of years their race
+has been so well-cared for, that it can no longer take any care of
+itself.
+
+It was the evolutional lesson of this latter fact that chiefly occupied
+me while Niimi and his younger brother (who feeds the worms) were
+kindly explaining the methods of the industry. They told me curious
+things about different breeds, and also about a wild variety of
+silkworm that cannot be domesticated:—it spins splendid silk before
+turning into a vigorous moth which can use its wings to some purpose.
+But I fear that I did not act like a person who felt interested in the
+subject; for, even while I tried to listen, I began to muse.
+
+II
+
+First of all, I found myself thinking about a delightful revery by M.
+Anatole France, in which he says that if he had been the Demiurge, he
+would have put youth at the end of life instead of at the beginning,
+and would have otherwise so ordered matters that every human being
+should have three stages of development, somewhat corresponding to
+those of the lepidoptera. Then it occurred to me that this fantasy was
+in substance scarcely more than the delicate modification of a most
+ancient doctrine, common to nearly all the higher forms of religion.
+
+Western faiths especially teach that our life on earth is a larval
+state of greedy helplessness, and that death is a pupa-sleep out of
+which we should soar into everlasting light. They tell us that during
+its sentient existence, the outer body should be thought of only as a
+kind of caterpillar, and thereafter as a chrysalis;—and they aver that
+we lose or gain, according to our behavior as larvæ, the power to
+develop wings under the mortal wrapping. Also they tell us not to
+trouble ourselves about the fact that we see no Psyché-imago detach
+itself from the broken cocoon: this lack of visual evidence signifies
+nothing, because we have only the purblind vision of grubs. Our eyes
+are but half-evolved. Do not whole scales of colors invisibly exist
+above and below the limits of our retinal sensibility? Even so the
+butterfly-man exists,—although, as a matter of course, we cannot see
+him.
+
+But what would become of this human imago in a state of perfect bliss?
+From the evolutional point of view the question has interest; and its
+obvious answer was suggested to me by the history of those
+silkworms,—which have been domesticated for only a few thousand years.
+Consider the result of our celestial domestication for—let us
+say—several millions of years: I mean the final consequence, to the
+wishers, of being able to gratify every wish at will.
+
+Those silkworms have all that they wish for,—even considerably more.
+Their wants, though very simple, are fundamentally identical with the
+necessities of mankind,—food, shelter, warmth, safety, and comfort. Our
+endless social struggle is mainly for these things. Our dream of heaven
+is the dream of obtaining them free of cost in pain; and the condition
+of those silkworms is the realization, in a small way, of our imagined
+Paradise. (I am not considering the fact that a vast majority of the
+worms are predestined to torment and the second death; for my theme is
+of heaven, not of lost souls. I am speaking of the elect—those worms
+preördained to salvation and rebirth.) Probably they can feel only very
+weak sensations: they are certainly incapable of prayer. But if they
+were able to pray, they could not ask for anything more than they
+already receive from the youth who feeds and tends them. He is their
+providence,—a god of whose existence they can be aware in only the
+vaguest possible way, but just such a god as they require. And we
+should foolishly deem ourselves fortunate to be equally well cared-for
+in proportion to our more complex wants. Do not our common forms of
+prayer prove our desire for like attention? Is not the assertion of our
+“need of divine love” an involuntary confession that we wish to be
+treated like silkworms,—to live without pain by the help of gods? Yet
+if the gods were to treat us as we want, we should presently afford
+fresh evidence,—in the way of what is called “the evidence from
+degeneration,”—that the great evolutional law is far above the gods.
+
+An early stage of that degeneration would be represented by total
+incapacity to help ourselves;—then we should begin to lose the use of
+our higher sense-organs;—later on, the brain would shrink to a
+vanishing pin-point of matter;—still later we should dwindle into mere
+amorphous sacs, mere blind stomachs. Such would be the physical
+consequence of that kind of divine love which we so lazily wish for.
+The longing for perpetual bliss in perpetual peace might well seem a
+malevolent inspiration from the Lords of Death and Darkness. All life
+that feels and thinks has been, and can continue to be, only as the
+product of struggle and pain,—only as the outcome of endless battle
+with the Powers of the Universe. And cosmic law is uncompromising.
+Whatever organ ceases to know pain,—whatever faculty ceases to be used
+under the stimulus of pain,—must also cease to exist. Let pain and its
+effort be suspended, and life must shrink back, first into protoplasmic
+shapelessness, thereafter into dust.
+
+Buddhism—which, in its own grand way, is a doctrine of
+evolution—rationally proclaims its heaven but a higher stage of
+development through pain, and teaches that even in paradise the
+cessation of effort produces degradation. With equal reasonableness it
+declares that the capacity for pain in the superhuman world increases
+always in proportion to the capacity for pleasure. (There is little
+fault to be found with this teaching from a scientific
+standpoint,—since we know that higher evolution must involve an
+increase of sensitivity to pain.) In the Heavens of Desire, says the
+_Shōbō-nen-jō-kyō_, the pain of death is so great that all the agonies
+of all the hells united could equal but one-sixteenth part of such
+pain.[1]
+
+ [1] This statement refers only to the Heavens of Sensuous
+ Pleasure,—not to the Paradise of Amida, nor to those heavens into
+ which one enters by the Apparitional Birth. But even in the highest
+ and most immaterial zones of being,—in the Heavens of
+ Formlessness,—the cessation of effort and of the pain of effort,
+ involves the penalty of rebirth in a lower state of existence.
+
+
+The foregoing comparison is unnecessarily strong; but the Buddhist
+teaching about heaven is in substance eminently logical. The
+suppression of pain—mental or physical,—in any conceivable state of
+sentient existence, would necessarily involve the suppression also of
+pleasure;—and certainly all progress, whether moral or material,
+depends upon the power to meet and to master pain. In a
+silkworm-paradise such as our mundane instincts lead us to desire, the
+seraph freed from the necessity of toil, and able to satisfy his every
+want at will, would lose his wings at last, and sink back to the
+condition of a grub….
+
+III
+
+I told the substance of my revery to Niimi. He used to be a great
+reader of Buddhist books.
+
+“Well,” he said, “I was reminded of a queer Buddhist story by the
+proverb that you asked me to explain,—_The silkworm-moth eyebrow of a
+woman is the axe that cuts down the wisdom of man._ According to our
+doctrine, the saying would be as true of life in heaven as of life upon
+earth…. This is the story:—
+
+“When Shaka[2] dwelt in this world, one of his disciples, called Nanda,
+was bewitched by the beauty of a woman; and Shaka desired to save him
+from the results of this illusion. So he took Nanda to a wild place in
+the mountains where there were apes, and showed him a very ugly female
+ape, and asked him: ‘Which is the more beautiful, Nanda, —the woman
+that you love, or this female ape?’ ‘Oh, Master!’ exclaimed Nanda, ‘how
+can a lovely woman be compared with an ugly ape?’ ‘Perhaps you will
+presently find reason to make the comparison yourself,’ answered the
+Buddha;—and instantly by supernatural power he ascended with Nanda to
+the _San-Jūsan-Ten_, which is the Second of the Six Heavens of Desire.
+There, within a palace of jewels, Nanda saw a multitude of heavenly
+maidens celebrating some festival with music and dance; and the beauty
+of the least among them incomparably exceeded that of the fairest woman
+of earth. ‘O Master,’ cried Nanda, ‘what wonderful festival is this?’
+‘Ask some of those people,’ responded Shaka. So Nanda questioned one of
+the celestial maidens; and she said to him:—‘This festival is to
+celebrate the good tidings that have been brought to us. There is now
+in the human world, among the disciples of Shaka, a most excellent
+youth called Nanda, who is soon to be reborn into this heaven, and to
+become our bridegroom, because of his holy life. We wait for him with
+rejoicing.’ This reply filled the heart of Nanda with delight. Then the
+Buddha asked him: ‘Is there any one among these maidens, Nanda, equal
+in beauty to the woman with whom you have been in love?’ ‘Nay, Master!’
+answered Nanda; ‘even as that woman surpassed in beauty the female ape
+that we saw on the mountain, so is she herself surpassed by even the
+least among these.’
+
+ [2] Sâkyamuni.
+
+
+“Then the Buddha immediately descended with Nanda to the depths of the
+hells, and took him into a torture-chamber where myriads of men and
+women were being boiled alive in great caldrons, and otherwise horribly
+tormented by devils. Then Nanda found himself standing before a huge
+vessel which was filled with molten metal;—and he feared and wondered
+because this vessel had as yet no occupant. An idle devil sat beside
+it, yawning. ‘Master,’ Nanda inquired of the Buddha, ‘for whom has this
+vessel been prepared?’ ‘Ask the devil,’ answered Shaka. Nanda did so;
+and the devil said to him: ‘There is a man called Nanda,—now one of
+Shaka’s disciples,—about to be reborn into one of the heavens, on
+account of his former good actions. But after having there indulged
+himself, he is to be reborn in this hell; and his place will be in that
+pot. I am waiting for him.’”[3]
+
+ [3] I give the story substantially as it was told to me; but I have
+ not been able to compare it with any published text. My friend says
+ that he has seen two Chinese versions,—one in the _Hongyō-kyō_ (?),
+ the other in the _Zōichi-agon-kyō_ (Ekôttarâgamas). In Mr. Henry
+ Clarke Warren’s _Buddhism in Translations_ (the most interesting and
+ valuable single volume of its kind that I have ever seen), there is a
+ Pali version of the legend, which differs considerably from the
+ above.—This Nanda, according to Mr. Warren’s work, was a prince, and
+ the younger half-brother of Sâkyamuni.
+
+
+
+
+A Passional Karma
+
+
+One of the never-failing attractions of the Tōkyō stage is the
+performance, by the famous Kikugorō and his company, of the
+_Botan-Dōrō_, or “Peony-Lantern.” This weird play, of which the scenes
+are laid in the middle of the last century, is the dramatization of a
+romance by the novelist Encho, written in colloquial Japanese, and
+purely Japanese in local color, though inspired by a Chinese tale. I
+went to see the play; and Kikugorō made me familiar with a new variety
+of the pleasure of fear. “Why not give English readers the ghostly part
+of the story?”—asked a friend who guides me betimes through the mazes
+of Eastern philosophy. “It would serve to explain some popular ideas of
+the supernatural which Western people know very little about. And I
+could help you with the translation.”
+
+I gladly accepted the suggestion; and we composed the following summary
+of the more extraordinary portion of Enchō’s romance. Here and there we
+found it necessary to condense the original narrative; and we tried to
+keep close to the text only in the conversational passages,—some of
+which happen to possess a particular quality of psychological interest.
+
+
+—_This is the story of the Ghosts in the Romance of the
+Peony-Lantern:_—
+
+I
+
+There once lived in the district of Ushigomé, in Yedo, a _hatamoto_[1]
+called Iijima Heizayémon, whose only daughter, Tsuyu, was beautiful as
+her name, which signifies “Morning Dew.” Iijima took a second wife when
+his daughter was about sixteen; and, finding that O-Tsuyu could not be
+happy with her mother-in-law, he had a pretty villa built for the girl
+at Yanagijima, as a separate residence, and gave her an excellent
+maidservant, called O-Yoné, to wait upon her.
+
+ [1] The _hatamoto_ were samurai forming the special military force of
+ the Shōgun. The name literally signifies “Banner-Supporters.” These
+ were the highest class of samurai,—not only as the immediate vassals
+ of the Shōgun, but as a military aristocracy.
+
+
+O-Tsuyu lived happily enough in her new home until one day when the
+family physician, Yamamoto Shijō, paid her a visit in company with a
+young samurai named Hagiwara Shinzaburō, who resided in the Nedzu
+quarter. Shinzaburō was an unusually handsome lad, and very gentle; and
+the two young people fell in love with each other at sight. Even before
+the brief visit was over, they contrived,—unheard by the old doctor,—to
+pledge themselves to each other for life. And, at parting, O-Tsuyu
+whispered to the youth,—“_Remember! If you do not come to see me again,
+I shall certainly die!_”
+
+Shinzaburō never forgot those words; and he was only too eager to see
+more of O-Tsuyu. But etiquette forbade him to make the visit alone: he
+was obliged to wait for some other chance to accompany the doctor, who
+had promised to take him to the villa a second time. Unfortunately the
+old man did not keep this promise. He had perceived the sudden
+affection of O-Tsuyu; and he feared that her father would hold him
+responsible for any serious results. Iijima Heizayémon had a reputation
+for cutting off heads. And the more Shijō thought about the possible
+consequences of his introduction of Shinzaburō at the Iijima villa, the
+more he became afraid. Therefore he purposely abstained from calling
+upon his young friend.
+
+Months passed; and O-Tsuyu, little imagining the true cause of
+Shinzaburō’s neglect, believed that her love had been scorned. Then she
+pined away, and died. Soon afterwards, the faithful servant O-Yoné also
+died, through grief at the loss of her mistress; and the two were
+buried side by side in the cemetery of Shin-Banzui-In,—a temple which
+still stands in the neighborhood of Dango-Zaka, where the famous
+chrysanthemum-shows are yearly held.
+
+II
+
+Shinzaburō knew nothing of what had happened; but his disappointment
+and his anxiety had resulted in a prolonged illness. He was slowly
+recovering, but still very weak, when he unexpectedly received another
+visit from Yamamoto Shijō. The old man made a number of plausible
+excuses for his apparent neglect. Shinzaburō said to him:—“I have been
+sick ever since the beginning of spring;—even now I cannot eat
+anything…. Was it not rather unkind of you never to call? I thought
+that we were to make another visit together to the house of the Lady
+Iijima; and I wanted to take to her some little present as a return for
+our kind reception. Of course I could not go by myself.”
+
+Shijō gravely responded,—“I am very sorry to tell you that the young
+lady is dead!”
+
+“Dead!” repeated Shinzaburō, turning white,—“did you say that she is
+dead?”
+
+The doctor remained silent for a moment, as if collecting himself: then
+he resumed, in the quick light tone of a man resolved not to take
+trouble seriously:—
+
+“My great mistake was in having introduced you to her; for it seems
+that she fell in love with you at once. I am afraid that you must have
+said something to encourage this affection—when you were in that little
+room together. At all events, I saw how she felt towards you; and then
+I became uneasy,—fearing that her father might come to hear of the
+matter, and lay the whole blame upon me. So—to be quite frank with
+you,—I decided that it would be better not to call upon you; and I
+purposely stayed away for a long time. But, only a few days ago,
+happening to visit Iijima’s house, I heard, to my great surprise, that
+his daughter had died, and that her servant O-Yoné had also died. Then,
+remembering all that had taken place, I knew that the young lady must
+have died of love for you…. [_Laughing_] Ah, you are really a sinful
+fellow! Yes, you are! [_Laughing_] Isn’t it a sin to have been born so
+handsome that the girls die for love of you?[2] [_Seriously_] Well, we
+must leave the dead to the dead. It is no use to talk further about the
+matter;—all that you now can do for her is to repeat the Nembutsu[3]….
+Good-bye.”
+
+ [2] Perhaps this conversation may seem strange to the Western reader;
+ but it is true to life. The whole of the scene is characteristically
+ Japanese.
+
+
+ [3] The invocation _Namu Amida Butsu!_ (“Hail to the Buddha
+ Amitâbha!”),—repeated, as a prayer, for the sake of the dead.
+
+
+And the old man retired hastily,—anxious to avoid further converse
+about the painful event for which he felt himself to have been
+unwittingly responsible.
+
+III
+
+Shinzaburō long remained stupefied with grief by the news of O-Tsuyu’s
+death. But as soon as he found himself again able to think clearly, he
+inscribed the dead girl’s name upon a mortuary tablet, and placed the
+tablet in the Buddhist shrine of his house, and set offerings before
+it, and recited prayers. Every day thereafter he presented offerings,
+and repeated the _Nembutsu;_ and the memory of O-Tsuyu was never absent
+from his thought.
+
+Nothing occurred to change the monotony of his solitude before the time
+of the Bon,—the great Festival of the Dead,—which begins upon the
+thirteenth day of the seventh month. Then he decorated his house, and
+prepared everything for the festival;—hanging out the lanterns that
+guide the returning spirits, and setting the food of ghosts on the
+_shōryōdana_, or Shelf of Souls. And on the first evening of the Bon,
+after sun-down, he kindled a small lamp before the tablet of O-Tsuyu,
+and lighted the lanterns.
+
+The night was clear, with a great moon,—and windless, and very warm.
+Shinzaburō sought the coolness of his veranda. Clad only in a light
+summer-robe, he sat there thinking, dreaming, sorrowing;—sometimes
+fanning himself; sometimes making a little smoke to drive the
+mosquitoes away. Everything was quiet. It was a lonesome neighborhood,
+and there were few passers-by. He could hear only the soft rushing of a
+neighboring stream, and the shrilling of night-insects.
+
+But all at once this stillness was broken by a sound of women’s
+_geta_[4] approaching—_kara-kon, kara-kon;_—and the sound drew nearer
+and nearer, quickly, till it reached the live-hedge surrounding the
+garden. Then Shinzaburö, feeling curious, stood on tiptoe, so as to
+look over the hedge; and he saw two women passing. One, who was
+carrying a beautiful lantern decorated with peony-flowers,[5] appeared
+to be a servant;—the other was a slender girl of about seventeen,
+wearing a long-sleeved robe embroidered with designs of
+autumn-blossoms. Almost at the same instant both women turned their
+faces toward Shinzaburō;—and to his utter astonishment, he recognized
+O-Tsuyu and her servant O-Yoné.
+
+ [4] _Komageta_ in the original. The geta is a wooden sandal, or clog,
+ of which there are many varieties,—some decidedly elegant. The
+ _komageta_, or “pony-geta” is so-called because of the sonorous
+ hoof-like echo which it makes on hard ground.
+
+
+ [5] The sort of lantern here referred to is no longer made; and its
+ shape can best be understood by a glance at the picture accompanying
+ this story. It was totally unlike the modern domestic band-lantern,
+ painted with the owner’s crest; but it was not altogether unlike some
+ forms of lanterns still manufactured for the Festival of the Dead, and
+ called _Bon-dōrō_. The flowers ornamenting it were not painted: they
+ were artificial flowers of crêpe-silk, and were attached to the top of
+ the lantern.
+
+[Illustration: The Peony Lantern]
+
+They stopped immediately; and the girl cried out,—“Oh, how strange!…
+Hagiwara Sama!”
+
+Shinzaburō simultaneously called to the maid:—“O-Yoné! Ah, you are
+O-Yoné!—I remember you very well.”
+
+“Hagiwara Sama!” exclaimed O-Yoné in a tone of supreme amazement.
+“Never could I have believed it possible!… Sir, we were told that you
+had died.”
+
+“How extraordinary!” cried Shinzaburō. “Why, I was told that both of
+you were dead!”
+
+“Ah, what a hateful story!” returned O-Yoné. “Why repeat such unlucky
+words?… Who told you?”
+
+“Please to come in,” said Shinzaburō;—“here we can talk better. The
+garden-gate is open.”
+
+So they entered, and exchanged greeting; and when Shinzaburō had made
+them comfortable, he said:—
+
+“I trust that you will pardon my discourtesy in not having called upon
+you for so long a time. But Shijō, the doctor, about a month ago, told
+me that you had both died.”
+
+“So it was he who told you?” exclaimed O-Yoné. “It was very wicked of
+him to say such a thing. Well, it was also Shijō who told us that _you_
+were dead. I think that he wanted to deceive you,—which was not a
+difficult thing to do, because you are so confiding and trustful.
+Possibly my mistress betrayed her liking for you in some words which
+found their way to her father’s ears; and, in that case, O-Kuni—the new
+wife—might have planned to make the doctor tell you that we were dead,
+so as to bring about a separation. Anyhow, when my mistress heard that
+you had died, she wanted to cut off her hair immediately, and to become
+a nun. But I was able to prevent her from cutting off her hair; and I
+persuaded her at last to become a nun only in her heart. Afterwards her
+father wished her to marry a certain young man; and she refused. Then
+there was a great deal of trouble,—chiefly caused by O-Kuni;—and we
+went away from the villa, and found a very small house in
+Yanaka-no-Sasaki. There we are now just barely able to live, by doing a
+little private work…. My mistress has been constantly repeating the
+_Nembutsu_ for your sake. To-day, being the first day of the Bon, we
+went to visit the temples; and we were on our way home—thus late—when
+this strange meeting happened.”
+
+“Oh, how extraordinary!” cried Shinzaburō. “Can it be true?-or is it
+only a dream? Here I, too, have been constantly reciting the _Nembutsu_
+before a tablet with her name upon it! Look!” And he showed them
+O-Tsuyu’s tablet in its place upon the Shelf of Souls.
+
+“We are more than grateful for your kind remembrance,” returned O-Yoné,
+smiling…. “Now as for my mistress,”—she continued, turning towards
+O-Tsuyu, who had all the while remained demure and silent, half-hiding
+her face with her sleeve,—“as for my mistress, she actually says that
+she would not mind being disowned by her father for the time of seven
+existences,[6] or even being killed by him, for your sake! Come! will
+you not allow her to stay here to-night?”
+
+ [6] “For the time of seven existences,”—that is to say, for the time
+ of seven successive lives. In Japanese drama and romance it is not
+ uncommon to represent a father as disowning his child “for the time of
+ seven lives.” Such a disowning is called _shichi-shō madé no mandō_, a
+ disinheritance for seven lives,—signifying that in six future lives
+ after the present the erring son or daughter will continue to feel the
+ parental displeasure.
+
+
+Shinzaburō turned pale for joy. He answered in a voice trembling with
+emotion:—
+
+“Please remain; but do not speak loud—because there is a troublesome
+fellow living close by,—a _ninsomi_[7] called Hakuōdō Yusai, who tells
+peoples fortunes by looking at their faces. He is inclined to be
+curious; and it is better that he should not know.”
+
+ [7] The profession is not yet extinct. The _ninsomi_ uses a kind of
+ magnifying glass (or magnifying-mirror sometimes), called _tengankyō_
+ or _ninsomégané_.
+
+
+The two women remained that night in the house of the young samurai,
+and returned to their own home a little before daybreak. And after that
+night they came every nighht for seven nights,—whether the weather were
+foul or fair,—always at the same hour. And Shinzaburō became more and
+more attached to the girl; and the twain were fettered, each to each,
+by that bond of illusion which is stronger than bands of iron.
+
+IV
+
+Now there was a man called Tomozō, who lived in a small cottage
+adjoining Shinzaburō’s residence, Tomozō and his wife O-Miné were both
+employed by Shinzaburō as servants. Both seemed to be devoted to their
+young master; and by his help they were able to live in comparative
+comfort.
+
+One night, at a very late hour, Tomozō heard the voice of a woman in
+his master’s apartment; and this made him uneasy. He feared that
+Shinzaburō, being very gentle and affectionate, might be made the dupe
+of some cunning wanton,—in which event the domestics would be the first
+to suffer. He therefore resolved to watch; and on the following night
+he stole on tiptoe to Shinzaburō’s dwelling, and looked through a chink
+in one of the sliding shutters. By the glow of a night-lantern within
+the sleeping-room, he was able to perceive that his master and a
+strange woman were talking together under the mosquito-net. At first he
+could not see the woman distinctly. Her back was turned to him;—he only
+observed that she was very slim, and that she appeared to be very
+young,—judging from the fashion of her dress and hair.[8] Putting his
+ear to the chink, he could hear the conversation plainly. The woman
+said:—
+
+“And if I should be disowned by my father, would you then let me come
+and live with you?”
+
+ [8] The color and form of the dress, and the style of wearing the
+ hair, are by Japanese custom regulated according to the age of the
+ woman.
+
+
+Shinzaburō answered:—
+
+“Most assuredly I would—nay, I should be glad of the chance. But there
+is no reason to fear that you will ever be disowned by your father; for
+you are his only daughter, and he loves you very much. What I do fear
+is that some day we shall be cruelly separated.”
+
+She responded softly:—
+
+“Never, never could I even think of accepting any other man for my
+husband. Even if our secret were to become known, and my father were to
+kill me for what I have done, still—after death itself—I could never
+cease to think of you. And I am now quite sure that you yourself would
+not be able to live very long without me.”… Then clinging closely to
+him, with her lips at his neck, she caressed him; and he returned her
+caresses.
+
+Tomozō wondered as he listened,—because the language of the woman was
+not the language of a common woman, but the language of a lady of
+rank.[9] Then he determined at all hazards to get one glimpse of her
+face; and he crept round the house, backwards and forwards, peering
+through every crack and chink. And at last he was able to see;—but
+therewith an icy trembling seized him; and the hair of his head stood
+up.
+
+ [9] The forms of speech used by the samurai, and other superior
+ classes, differed considerably from those of the popular idiom; but
+ these differences could not be effectively rendered into English.
+
+
+For the face was the face of a woman long dead,—and the fingers
+caressing were fingers of naked bone,—and of the body below the waist
+there was not anything: it melted off into thinnest trailing shadow.
+Where the eyes of the lover deluded saw youth and grace and beauty,
+there appeared to the eyes of the watcher horror only, and the
+emptiness of death. Simultaneously another woman’s figure, and a
+weirder, rose up from within the chamber, and swiftly made toward the
+watcher, as if discerning his presence. Then, in uttermost terror, he
+fled to the dwelling of Hakuōdō Yusai, and, knocking frantically at the
+doors, succeeded in arousing him.
+
+V
+
+Hakuōdō Yusai, the _ninsomi_, was a very old man; but in his time he
+had travelled much, and he had heard and seen so many things that he
+could not be easily surprised. Yet the story of the terrified Tomozō
+both alarmed and amazed him. He had read in ancient Chinese books of
+love between the living and the dead; but he had never believed it
+possible. Now, however, he felt convinced that the statement of Tomozō
+was not a falsehood, and that something very strange was really going
+on in the house of Hagiwara. Should the truth prove to be what Tomozō
+imagined, then the young samurai was a doomed man.
+
+“If the woman be a ghost,”—said Yusai to the frightened servant, “—if
+the woman be a ghost, your master must die very soon,—unless something
+extraordinary can be done to save him. And if the woman be a ghost, the
+signs of death will appear upon his face. For the spirit of the living
+is _yōki_, and pure;—the spirit of the dead is _inki_, and unclean: the
+one is Positive, the other Negative. He whose bride is a ghost cannot
+live. Even though in his blood there existed the force of a life of one
+hundred years, that force must quickly perish…. Still, I shall do all
+that I can to save Hagiwara Sama. And in the meantime, Tomozō, say
+nothing to any other person,—not even to your wife,—about this matter.
+At sunrise I shall call upon your master.”
+
+VI
+
+When questioned next morning by Yusai, Shinzaburō at first attempted to
+deny that any women had been visiting the house; but finding this
+artless policy of no avail, and perceiving that the old man’s purpose
+was altogether unselfish, he was finally persuaded to acknowledge what
+had really occurred, and to give his reasons for wishing to keep the
+matter a secret. As for the lady Iijima, he intended, he said, to make
+her his wife as soon as possible.
+
+“Oh, madness!” cried Yusai,—losing all patience in the intensity of his
+alarm. “Know, sir, that the people who have been coming here, night
+after night, are dead! Some frightful delusion is upon you!… Why, the
+simple fact that you long supposed O-Tsuyu to be dead, and repeated the
+_Nembutsu_ for her, and made offerings before her tablet, is itself the
+proof!… The lips of the dead have touched you!—the hands of the dead
+have caressed you!… Even at this moment I see in your face the signs of
+death—and you will not believe!… Listen to me now, sir,—I beg of
+you,—if you wish to save yourself: otherwise you have less than twenty
+days to live. They told you—those people—that they were residing in the
+district of Shitaya, in Yanaka-no-Sasaki. Did you ever visit them at
+that place? No!—of course you did not! Then go to-day,—as soon as you
+can,—to Yanaka-no-Sasaki, and try to find their home!…”
+
+And having uttered this counsel with the most vehement earnestness,
+Hakuōdō Yusai abruptly took his departure.
+
+Shinzaburō, startled though not convinced, resolved after a moment’s
+reflection to follow the advice of the _ninsomi_, and to go to Shitaya.
+It was yet early in the morning when he reached the quarter of
+Yanaka-no-Sasaki, and began his search for the dwelling of O-Tsuyu. He
+went through every street and side-street, read all the names inscribed
+at the various entrances, and made inquiries whenever an opportunity
+presented itself. But he could not find anything resembling the little
+house mentioned by O-Yoné; and none of the people whom he questioned
+knew of any house in the quarter inhabited by two single women. Feeling
+at last certain that further research would be useless, he turned
+homeward by the shortest way, which happened to lead through the
+grounds of the temple Shin-Banzui-In.
+
+Suddenly his attention was attracted by two new tombs, placed side by
+side, at the rear of the temple. One was a common tomb, such as might
+have been erected for a person of humble rank: the other was a large
+and handsome monument; and hanging before it was a beautiful
+peony-lantern, which had probably been left there at the time of the
+Festival of the Dead. Shinzaburō remembered that the peony-lantern
+carried by O-Yoné was exactly similar; and the coincidence impressed
+him as strange. He looked again at the tombs; but the tombs explained
+nothing. Neither bore any personal name,—only the Buddhist _kaimyō_, or
+posthumous appellation. Then he determined to seek information at the
+temple. An acolyte stated, in reply to his questions, that the large
+tomb had been recently erected for the daughter of Iijima Heizayémon,
+the _hatamoto_ of Ushigomé; and that the small tomb next to it was that
+of her servant O-Yoné, who had died of grief soon after the young
+lady’s funeral.
+
+Immediately to Shinzaburö’s memory there recurred, with another and
+sinister meaning, the words of O-Yoné:—“_We went away, and found a very
+small house in Yanaka-no-Sasaki. There we are now just barely able to
+live—by doing a little private work_….” Here was indeed the very small
+house,—and in Yanaka-no-Sasaki. But the little _private work…?_
+
+Terror-stricken, the samurai hastened with all speed to the house of
+Yusai, and begged for his counsel and assistance. But Yusai declared
+himself unable to be of any aid in such a case. All that he could do
+was to send Shinzaburō to the high-priest Ryōseki, of Shin-Banzui-In,
+with a letter praying for immediate religious help.
+
+VII
+
+The high-priest Ryōseki was a learned and a holy man. By spiritual
+vision he was able to know the secret of any sorrow, and the nature of
+the karma that had caused it. He heard unmoved the story of Shinzaburō,
+and said to him:—
+
+“A very great danger now threatens you, because of an error committed
+in one of your former states of existence. The karma that binds you to
+the dead is very strong; but if I tried to explain its character, you
+would not be able to understand. I shall therefore tell you only
+this,—that the dead person has no desire to injure you out of hate,
+feels no enmity towards you: she is influenced, on the contrary, by the
+most passionate affection for you. Probably the girl has been in love
+with you from a time long preceding your present life,—from a time of
+not less than three or four past existences; and it would seem that,
+although necessarily changing her form and condition at each succeeding
+birth, she has not been able to cease from following after you.
+Therefore it will not be an easy thing to escape from her influence….
+But now I am going to lend you this powerful _mamori_.[10] It is a pure
+gold image of that Buddha called the Sea-Sounding
+Tathâgata—_Kai-On-Nyōrai_,—because his preaching of the Law sounds
+through the world like the sound of the sea. And this little image is
+especially a _shiryō-yoké_,[11]—which protects the living from the
+dead. This you must wear, in its covering, next to your body,—under the
+girdle…. Besides, I shall presently perform in the temple, a
+_segaki_-service[12] for the repose of the troubled spirit…. And here
+is a holy sutra, called _Ubō-Darani-Kyō_, or “Treasure-Raining
+Sûtra”[13] you must be careful to recite it every night in your
+house—without fail…. Furthermore I shall give you this package of
+_o-fuda_;[14]—you must paste one of them over every opening of your
+house,—no matter how small. If you do this, the power of the holy texts
+will prevent the dead from entering. But—whatever may happen—do not
+fail to recite the sutra.”
+
+ [10] The Japanese word _mamori_ has significations at least as
+ numerous as those attaching to our own term “amulet.” It would be
+ impossible, in a mere footnote, even to suggest the variety of
+ Japanese religious objects to which the name is given. In this
+ instance, the _mamori_ is a very small image, probably enclosed in a
+ miniature shrine of lacquer-work or metal, over which a silk cover is
+ drawn. Such little images were often worn by _samurai_ on the person.
+ I was recently shown a miniature figure of Kwannon, in an iron case,
+ which had been carried by an officer through the Satsuma war. He
+ observed, with good reason, that it had probably saved his life; for
+ it had stopped a bullet of which the dent was plainly visible.
+
+
+ [11] From _shiryō_, a ghost, and _yokeru_, to exclude. The Japanese
+ have, two kinds of ghosts proper in their folk-lore: the spirits of
+ the dead, _shiryō_; and the spirits of the living, _ikiryō_. A house
+ or a person may be haunted by an _ikiryō_ as well as by a _shiryō_.
+
+
+ [12] A special service,—accompanying offerings of food, etc., to those
+ dead having no living relatives or friends to care for them,—is thus
+ termed. In this case, however, the service would be of a particular
+ and exceptional kind.
+
+
+ [13] The name would be more correctly written _Ubō-Darani-Kyō_. It is
+ the Japanese pronunciation of the title of a very short sutra
+ translated out of Sanscrit into Chinese by the Indian priest
+ Amoghavajra, probably during the eighth century. The Chinese text
+ contains transliterations of some mysterious Sanscrit
+ words,—apparently talismanic words,—like those to be seen in Kern’s
+ translation of the Saddharma-Pundarîka, ch. xxvi.
+
+
+ [14] _O-fuda_ is the general name given to religious texts used as
+ charms or talismans. They are sometimes stamped or burned upon wood,
+ but more commonly written or printed upon narrow strips of paper.
+ _O-fuda_ are pasted above house-entrances, on the walls of rooms, upon
+ tablets placed in household shrines, etc., etc. Some kinds are worn
+ about the person;—others are made into pellets, and swallowed as
+ spiritual medicine. The text of the larger _o-fuda_ is often
+ accompanied by curious pictures or symbolic illustrations.
+
+
+Shinzaburō humbly thanked the high-priest; and then, taking with him
+the image, the sutra, and the bundle of sacred texts, he made all haste
+to reach his home before the hour of sunset.
+
+VIII
+
+With Yusai’s advice and help, Shinzaburō was able before dark to fix
+the holy texts over all the apertures of his dwelling. Then the
+_ninsomi_ returned to his own house,—leaving the youth alone.
+
+Night came, warm and clear. Shinzaburō made fast the doors, bound the
+precious amulet about his waist, entered his mosquito-net, and by the
+glow of a night-lantern began to recite the _Ubō-Darani-Kyō_. For a
+long time he chanted the words, comprehending little of their
+meaning;—then he tried to obtain some rest. But his mind was still too
+much disturbed by the strange events of the day. Midnight passed; and
+no sleep came to him. At last he heard the boom of the great
+temple-bell of Dentsu-In announcing the eighth hour.[15]
+
+ [15] According to the old Japanese way of counting time, this
+ _yatsudoki_ or eighth hour was the same as our two o’clock in the
+ morning. Each Japanese hour was equal to two European hours, so that
+ there were only six hours instead of our twelve; and these six hours
+ were counted backwards in the order,—9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4. Thus the ninth
+ hour corresponded to our midday, or midnight; half-past nine to our
+ one o’clock; eight to our two o’clock. Two o’clock in the morning,
+ also called “the Hour of the Ox,” was the Japanese hour of ghosts and
+ goblins.
+
+
+It ceased; and Shinzaburō suddenly heard the sound of _geta_
+approaching from the old direction,—but this time more slowly:
+_karan-koron, karan-koron!_ At once a cold sweat broke over his
+forehead. Opening the sutra hastily, with trembling hand, he began
+again to recite it aloud. The steps came nearer and nearer,—reached the
+live hedge,—stopped! Then, strange to say, Shinzaburō felt unable to
+remain under his mosquito-net: something stronger even than his fear
+impelled him to look; and, instead of continuing to recite the
+_Ubō-Darani-Kyō_, he foolishly approached the shutters, and through a
+chink peered out into the night. Before the house he saw O-Tsuyu
+standing, and O-Yoné with the peony-lantern; and both of them were
+gazing at the Buddhist texts pasted above the entrance. Never
+before—not even in what time she lived—had O-Tsuyu appeared so
+beautiful; and Shinzaburō felt his heart drawn towards her with a power
+almost resistless. But the terror of death and the terror of the
+unknown restrained; and there went on within him such a struggle
+between his love and his fear that he became as one suffering in the
+body the pains of the Shō-netsu hell.[16]
+
+ [16] _En-netsu_ or _Shō-netsu_ (Sanscrit “Tapana”) is the sixth of the
+ Eight Hot Hells of Japanese Buddhism. One day of life in this hell is
+ equal in duration to thousands (some say millions) of human years.
+
+
+Presently he heard the voice of the maid-servant, saying:—
+
+“My dear mistress, there is no way to enter. The heart of Hagiwara Sama
+must have changed. For the promise that he made last night has been
+broken; and the doors have been made fast to keep us out…. We cannot go
+in to-night…. It will be wiser for you to make up your mind not to
+think any more about him, because his feeling towards you has certainly
+changed. It is evident that he does not want to see you. So it will be
+better not to give yourself any more trouble for the sake of a man
+whose heart is so unkind.”
+
+But the girl answered, weeping:—
+
+“Oh, to think that this could happen after the pledges which we made to
+each other!… Often I was told that the heart of a man changes as
+quickly as the sky of autumn;—yet surely the heart of Hagiwara Sama
+cannot be so cruel that he should really intend to exclude me in this
+way!… Dear Yone, please find some means of taking me to him…. Unless
+you do, I will never, never go home again.”
+
+Thus she continued to plead, veiling her face with her long
+sleeves,—and very beautiful she looked, and very touching; but the fear
+of death was strong upon her lover.
+
+O-Yoné at last made answer,—“My dear young lady, why will you trouble
+your mind about a man who seems to be so cruel?… Well, let us see if
+there be no way to enter at the back of the house: come with me!”
+
+And taking O-Tsuyu by the hand, she led her away toward the rear of the
+dwelling; and there the two disappeared as suddenly as the light
+disappears when the flame of a lamp is blown out.
+
+IX
+
+Night after night the shadows came at the Hour of the Ox; and nightly
+Shinzaburō heard the weeping of O-Tsuyu. Yet he believed himself
+saved,—little imagining that his doom had already been decided by the
+character of his dependents.
+
+Tomozō had promised Yusai never to speak to any other person—not even
+to O-Miné—of the strange events that were taking place. But Tomozō was
+not long suffered by the haunters to rest in peace. Night after night
+O-Yoné entered into his dwelling, and roused him from his sleep, and
+asked him to remove the _o-fuda_ placed over one very small window at
+the back of his master’s house. And Tomozō, out of fear, as often
+promised her to take away the _o-fuda_ before the next sundown; but
+never by day could he make up his mind to remove it,—believing that
+evil was intended to Shinzaburō. At last, in a night of storm, O-Yoné
+startled him from slumber with a cry of reproach, and stooped above his
+pillow, and said to him: “Have a care how you trifle with us! If, by
+to-morrow night, you do not take away that text, you shall learn how I
+can hate!” And she made her face so frightful as she spoke that Tomozō
+nearly died of terror.
+
+O-Miné, the wife of Tomozō, had never till then known of these visits:
+even to her husband they had seemed like bad dreams. But on this
+particular night it chanced that, waking suddenly, she heard the voice
+of a woman talking to Tomozō. Almost in the same moment the talk-ing
+ceased; and when O-Miné looked about her, she saw, by the light of the
+night-lamp, only her husband,—shuddering and white with fear. The
+stranger was gone; the doors were fast: it seemed impossible that
+anybody could have entered. Nevertheless the jealousy of the wife had
+been aroused; and she began to chide and to question Tomozō in such a
+manner that he thought himself obliged to betray the secret, and to
+explain the terrible dilemma in which he had been placed.
+
+Then the passion of O-Miné yielded to wonder and alarm; but she was a
+subtle woman, and she devised immediately a plan to save her husband by
+the sacrifice of her master. And she gave Tomozō a cunning
+counsel,—telling him to make conditions with the dead.
+
+They came again on the following night at the Hour of the Ox; and
+O-Miné hid herself on hearing the sound of their coming,—_karan-koron,
+karan-koron!_ But Tomozō went out to meet them in the dark, and even
+found courage to say to them what his wife had told him to say:—
+
+“It is true that I deserve your blame;—but I had no wish to cause you
+anger. The reason that the _o-fuda_ has not been taken away is that my
+wife and I are able to live only by the help of Hagiwara Sama, and that
+we cannot expose him to any danger without bringing misfortune upon
+ourselves. But if we could obtain the sum of a hundred _ryō_ in gold,
+we should be able to please you, because we should then need no help
+from anybody. Therefore if you will give us a hundred _ryō_, I can take
+the _o-fuda_ away without being afraid of losing our only means of
+support.”
+
+When he had uttered these words, O-Yoné and O-Tsuyu looked at each
+other in silence for a moment. Then O-Yoné said:—
+
+“Mistress, I told you that it was not right to trouble this man, —as we
+have no just cause of ill will against him. But it is certainly useless
+to fret yourself about Hagiwara Sama, because his heart has changed
+towards you. Now once again, my dear young lady, let me beg you not to
+think any more about him!”
+
+But O-Tsuyu, weeping, made answer:—
+
+“Dear Yone, whatever may happen, I cannot possibly keep myself from
+thinking about him! You know that you can get a hundred _ryō_ to have
+the _o-fuda_ taken off…. Only once more, I pray, dear Yone!—only once
+more bring me face to face with Hagiwara Sama,—I beseech you!” And
+hiding her face with her sleeve, she thus continued to plead.
+
+“Oh! why will you ask me to do these things?” responded O-Yoné. “You
+know very well that I have no money. But since you will persist in this
+whim of yours, in spite of all that I can say, I suppose that I must
+try to find the money somehow, and to bring it here to-morrow night….”
+Then, turning to the faithless Tomozō, she said:—“Tomozō, I must tell
+you that Hagiwara Sama now wears upon his body a _mamori_ called by the
+name of _Kai-On-Nyōrai_, and that so long as he wears it we cannot
+approach him. So you will have to get that _mamori_ away from him, by
+some means or other, as well as to remove the _o-fuda_.”
+
+Tomozō feebly made answer:—
+
+“That also I can do, if you will promise to bring me the hundred
+_ryō_.”
+
+“Well, mistress,” said O-Yoné, “you will wait,—will you not,—until
+to-morrow night?”
+
+“Oh, dear Yoné!” sobbed the other,—“have we to go back to-night again
+without seeing Hagiwara Sama? Ah! it is cruel!”
+
+And the shadow of the mistress, weeping, was led away by the shadow of
+the maid.
+
+X
+
+Another day went, and another night came, and the dead came with it.
+But this time no lamentation was heard without the house of Hagiwara;
+for the faithless servant found his reward at the Hour of the Ox, and
+removed the _o-fuda_. Moreover he had been able, while his master was
+at the bath, to steal from its case the golden _mamori_, and to
+substitute for it an image of copper; and he had buried the
+_Kai-On-Nyōrai_ in a desolate field. So the visitants found nothing to
+oppose their entering. Veiling their faces with their sleeves they rose
+and passed, like a streaming of vapor, into the little window from over
+which the holy text had been torn away. But what happened thereafter
+within the house Tomozō never knew.
+
+The sun was high before he ventured again to approach his master’s
+dwelling, and to knock upon the sliding-doors. For the first time in
+years he obtained no response; and the silence made him afraid.
+Repeatedly he called, and received no answer. Then, aided by O-Miné, he
+succeeded in effecting an entrance and making his way alone to the
+sleeping-room, where he called again in vain. He rolled back the
+rumbling shutters to admit the light; but still within the house there
+was no stir. At last he dared to lift a corner of the mosquito-net. But
+no sooner had he looked beneath than he fled from the house, with a cry
+of horror.
+
+Shinzaburō was dead—hideously dead;—and his face was the face of a man
+who had died in the uttermost agony of fear;—and lying beside him in
+the bed were the bones of a woman! And the bones of the arms, and the
+bones of the hands, clung fast about his neck.
+
+XI
+
+Hakuōdō Yusai, the fortune-teller, went to view the corpse at the
+prayer of the faithless Tomozō. The old man was terrified and
+astonished at the spectacle, but looked about him with a keen eye. He
+soon perceived that the _o-fuda_ had been taken from the little window
+at the back of the house; and on searching the body of Shinzaburō, he
+discovered that the golden _mamori_ had been taken from its wrapping,
+and a copper image of Fudō put in place of it. He suspected Tomozō of
+the theft; but the whole occurrence was so very extraordinary that he
+thought it prudent to consult with the priest Ryōseki before taking
+further action. Therefore, after having made a careful examination of
+the premises, he betook himself to the temple Shin-Banzui-In, as
+quickly as his aged limbs could bear him.
+
+Ryōseki, without waiting to hear the purpose of the old man’s visit, at
+once invited him into a private apartment.
+
+“You know that you are always welcome here,” said Ryōseki. “Please seat
+yourself at ease…. Well, I am sorry to tell you that Hagiwara Sama is
+dead.”
+
+Yusai wonderingly exclaimed:—“Yes, he is dead;—but how did you learn of
+it?”
+
+The priest responded:—
+
+“Hagiwara Sama was suffering from the results of an evil karma; and his
+attendant was a bad man. What happened to Hagiwara Sama was
+unavoidable;—his destiny had been determined from a time long before
+his last birth. It will be better for you not to let your mind be
+troubled by this event.”
+
+Yusai said:—
+
+“I have heard that a priest of pure life may gain power to see into the
+future for a hundred years; but truly this is the first time in my
+existence that I have had proof of such power…. Still, there is another
+matter about which I am very anxious….”
+
+“You mean,” interrupted Ryōseki, “the stealing of the holy _mamori_,
+the _Kai-On-Nyōrai_. But you must not give yourself any concern about
+that. The image has been buried in a field; and it will be found there
+and returned to me during the eighth month of the coming year. So
+please do not be anxious about it.”
+
+More and more amazed, the old _ninsomi_ ventured to observe:—
+
+“I have studied the _In-Yō_,[17] and the science of divination; and I
+make my living by telling peoples’ fortunes;—but I cannot possibly
+understand how you know these things.”
+
+ [17] The Male and Female principles of the universe, the Active and
+ Passive forces of Nature. Yusai refers here to the old Chinese
+ nature-philosophy,—better known to Western readers by the name
+ FENG-SHUI.
+
+
+Ryōseki answered gravely:—
+
+“Never mind how I happen to know them…. I now want to speak to you
+about Hagiwara’s funeral. The House of Hagiwara has its own
+family-cemetery, of course; but to bury him there would not be proper.
+He must be buried beside O-Tsuyu, the Lady Iijima; for his
+karma-relation to her was a very deep one. And it is but right that you
+should erect a tomb for him at your own cost, because you have been
+indebted to him for many favors.”
+
+Thus it came to pass that Shinzaburō was buried beside O-Tsuyu, in the
+cemetery of Shin-Banzui-In, in Yanaka-no-Sasaki.
+
+—_Here ends the story of the Ghosts in the Romance of the
+Peony-Lantern._—
+
+
+My friend asked me whether the story had interested me; and I answered
+by telling him that I wanted to go to the cemetery of
+Shin-Banzui-In,—so as to realize more definitely the local color of the
+author’s studies.
+
+“I shall go with you at once,” he said. “But what did you think of the
+personages?”
+
+“To Western thinking,” I made answer, “Shinzaburō is a despicable
+creature. I have been mentally comparing him with the true lovers of
+our old ballad-literature. They were only too glad to follow a dead
+sweetheart into the grave; and nevertheless, being Christians, they
+believed that they had only one human life to enjoy in this world. But
+Shinzaburō was a Buddhist,—with a million lives behind him and a
+million lives before him; and he was too selfish to give up even one
+miserable existence for the sake of the girl that came back to him from
+the dead. Then he was even more cowardly than selfish. Although a
+samurai by birth and training, he had to beg a priest to save him from
+ghosts. In every way he proved himself contemptible; and O-Tsuyu did
+quite right in choking him to death.”
+
+“From the Japanese point of view, likewise,” my friend responded,
+“Shinzaburō is rather contemptible. But the use of this weak character
+helped the author to develop incidents that could not otherwise,
+perhaps, have been so effectively managed. To my thinking, the only
+attractive character in the story is that of O-Yoné: type of the
+old-time loyal and loving servant,—intelligent, shrewd, full of
+resource,—faithful not only unto death, but beyond death…. Well, let us
+go to Shin-Banzui-In.”
+
+We found the temple uninteresting, and the cemetery an abomination of
+desolation. Spaces once occupied by graves had been turned into
+potato-patches. Between were tombs leaning at all angles out of the
+perpendicular, tablets made illegible by scurf, empty pedestals,
+shattered water-tanks, and statues of Buddhas without heads or hands.
+Recent rains had soaked the black soil,—leaving here and there small
+pools of slime about which swarms of tiny frogs were hopping.
+Everything—excepting the potato-patches—seemed to have been neglected
+for years. In a shed just within the gate, we observed a woman cooking;
+and my companion presumed to ask her if she knew anything about the
+tombs described in the Romance of the Peony-Lantern.
+
+“Ah! the tombs of O-Tsuyu and O-Yoné?” she responded, smiling;—“you
+will find them near the end of the first row at the back of the
+temple—next to the statue of Jizo.”
+
+Surprises of this kind I had met with elsewhere in Japan.
+
+We picked our way between the rain-pools and between the green ridges
+of young potatoes,—whose roots were doubtless feeding on the sub-stance
+of many another O-Tsuyu and O-Yoné;—and we reached at last two
+lichen-eaten tombs of which the inscriptions seemed almost obliterated.
+Beside the larger tomb was a statue of Jizo, with a broken nose.
+
+“The characters are not easy to make out,” said my friend—“but wait!”….
+He drew from his sleeve a sheet of soft white paper, laid it over the
+inscription, and began to rub the paper with a lump of clay. As he did
+so, the characters appeared in white on the blackened surface.
+
+“_Eleventh day, third month—Rat, Elder Brother, Fire—Sixth year of
+Horéki_ [A. D. 1756].’… This would seem to be the grave of some
+innkeeper of Nedzu, named Kichibei. Let us see what is on the other
+monument.”
+
+With a fresh sheet of paper he presently brought out the text of a
+kaimyō, and read,—
+
+“_En-myō-In, Hō-yō-I-tei-ken-shi, Hō-ni’:—‘Nun-of-the-Law, Illustrious,
+Pure-of-heart-and-will, Famed-in-the-Law,—inhabiting the
+Mansion-of-the-Preaching-of-Wonder._’…. The grave of some Buddhist
+nun.”
+
+“What utter humbug!” I exclaimed. “That woman was only making fun of
+us.”
+
+“Now,” my friend protested, “you are unjust to the, woman! You came
+here because you wanted a sensation; and she tried her very best to
+please you. You did not suppose that ghost-story was true, did you?”
+
+
+
+
+Footprints of the Buddha
+
+
+I
+
+I was recently surprised to find, in Anderson’s catalogue of Japanese
+and Chinese paintings in the British Museum, this remarkable
+statement:—“It is to be noted that in Japan the figure of the Buddha is
+never represented by the feet, or pedestal alone, as in the Amravati
+remains, and many other Indian art-relics.” As a matter of fact the
+representation is not even rare in Japan. It is to be found not only
+upon stone monuments, but also in religious paintings,—especially
+certain kakemono suspended in temples. These kakemono usually display
+the footprints upon a very large scale, with a multitude of mystical
+symbols and characters. The sculptures may be less common; but in Tōkyō
+alone there are a number of _Butsu-soku-séki_, or “Buddha-foot stones,”
+which I have seen,—and probably several which I have not seen. There is
+one at the temple of Ekō-In, near Ryōgoku-bashi; one at the temple of
+Denbō-In, in Koishikawa; one at the temple of Denbō-In, in Asakusa; and
+a beautiful example at Zōjōji in Shiba. These are not cut out of a
+single block, but are composed of fragments cemented into the irregular
+traditional shape, and capped with a heavy slab of Nebukawa granite, on
+the polished surface of which the design is engraved in lines about
+one-tenth of an inch in depth. I should judge the average height of
+these pedestals to be about two feet four inches, and their greatest
+diameter about three feet. Around the footprints there are carved (in
+most of the examples) twelve little bunches of leaves and buds of the
+_Bodai-jū_ (“Bodhidruma”), or Bodhi-tree of Buddhist legend. In all
+cases the footprint design is about the same; but the monuments are
+different in quality and finish. That of Zōjōji,—with figures of
+divinities cut in low relief on its sides,—is the most ornate and
+costly of the four. The specimen at Ekō-In is very poor and plain.
+
+The first _Butsu-soku-séki_ made in Japan was that erected at Tōdaiji,
+in Nara. It was designed after a similar monument in China, said to be
+the faithful copy of an Indian original. Concerning this Indian
+original, the following tradition is given in an old Buddhist
+book:[1]—“In a temple of the province of Makada [_Maghada_] there is a
+great stone. The Buddha once trod upon this stone; and the prints of
+the soles of his feet remain upon its surface. The length of the
+impressions is one foot and eight inches,[2] and the width of them a
+little more than six inches. On the sole-part of each footprint there
+is the impression of a wheel; and upon each of the prints of the ten
+toes there is a flower-like design, which sometimes radiates light.
+When the Buddha felt that the time of his Nirvâna was approaching, he
+went to Kushina [_Kusinârâ_], and there stood upon that stone. He stood
+with his face to the south. Then he said to his disciple Anan
+[_Ânanda_]: ‘In this place I leave the impression of my feet, to remain
+for a last token. Although a king of this country will try to destroy
+the impression, it can never be entirely destroyed.’ And indeed it has
+not been destroyed unto this day. Once a king who hated Buddhism caused
+the top of the stone to be pared off, so as to remove the impression;
+but after the surface had been removed, the footprints reappeared upon
+the stone.”
+
+ [1] The Chinese title is pronounced by Japanese as _Sei-iki-ki_.
+ “Sei-iki”(the Country of the West) was the old Japanese name for
+ India; and thus the title might be rendered, “The Book about India.” I
+ suppose this is the work known to Western scholars as _Si-yu-ki_.
+
+
+ [2] “One _shaku_ and eight _sun_.” But the Japanese foot and inch are
+ considerably longer than the English.
+
+
+Concerning the virtue of the representation of the footprints of the
+Buddha, there is sometimes quoted a text from the
+_Kwan-butsu-sanmai-kyō_ [“Buddha-dhyâna-samâdhi-sâgara-sûtra”], thus
+translated for me:—“In that time Shaka [“Sâkyamuni”] lifted up his
+foot…. When the Buddha lifted up his foot all could perceive upon the
+sole of it the appearance of a wheel of a thousand spokes…. And Shaka
+said: ‘Whosoever beholds the sign upon the sole of my foot shall be
+purified from all his faults. Even he who beholds the sign after my
+death shall be delivered from all the evil results of all his errors.”
+Various other texts of Japanese Buddhism affirm that whoever looks upon
+the footprints of the Buddha “shall be freed from the bonds of error,
+and conducted upon the Way of Enlightenment.”
+
+[Illustration: S’rîpâda-tracing at Dentsu-In, Koishikawa, Tōkyō]
+
+An outline of the footprints as engraved on one of the Japanese
+pedestals[3] should have some interest even for persons familiar with
+Indian sculptures of the S’rîpâda. The double-page drawing,
+accompanying this paper, and showing both footprints, has been made
+after the tracing at Dentsu-In, where the footprints have the full
+legendary dimension, It will be observed that there are only seven
+emblems: these are called in Japan the _Shichi-Sō_, or “Seven
+Appearances.” I got some information about them from the
+_Shō-Ekō-Hō-Kwan_,—a book used by the Jodo sect. This book also
+contains rough woodcuts of the footprints; and one of them I reproduce
+here for the purpose of calling attention to the curious form of the
+emblems upon the toes. They are said to be modifications of the
+_manji_, or svastikâ, but I doubt it. In the
+_Butsu-soku-séki_-tracings, the corresponding figures suggest the
+“flower-like design” mentioned in the tradition of the Maghada stone;
+while the symbols in the book-print suggest fire. Indeed their outline
+so much resembles the conventional flamelet-design of Buddhist
+decoration, that I cannot help thinking them originally intended to
+indicate the traditional luminosity of the footprints. Moreover, there
+is a text in the book called _Hō-Kai-Shidai_ that lends support to this
+supposition:—“The sole of the foot of the Buddha is flat,—like the base
+of a toilet-stand…. Upon it are lines forming the appearance of a wheel
+of a thousand spokes…. The toes are slender, round, long, straight,
+graceful, _and somewhat luminous_.”
+
+ [3] A monument at Nara exhibits the _S’rîpâda_ in a form differing
+ considerably from the design upon the Tōkyō pedestals.
+
+[Illustration: Left: S’rîpâda showing the svastikâ (From the
+Bukkyō-Hyakkwa-Zensho)
+Right: (From the Shō-Ekō-Hō-Kwan)]
+
+The explanation of the Seven Appearances which is given by the
+_Shō-Ekō-Hō-Kwan_ cannot be called satisfactory; but it is not without
+interest in relation to Japanese popular Buddhism. The emblems are
+considered in the following order:—
+
+I.—_The Svastikâ_. The figure upon each toe is said to be a
+modification of the _manji_;[4] and although I doubt whether this is
+always the case, I have observed that on some of the large kakémono
+representing the footprints, the emblem really _is_ the svastikâ,—not a
+flamelet nor a flower-shape.[5] The Japanese commentator explains the
+svastikâ as a symbol of “everlasting bliss.”
+
+ [4] Lit.: “The thousand-character” sign.
+
+
+ [5] On some monuments and drawings there is a sort of disk made by a
+ single line in spiral, on each toe,—together with the image of a small
+ wheel.
+
+
+II.—_The Fish_ (_Gyo_). The fish signifies freedom from all restraints.
+As in the water a fish moves easily in any direction, so in the
+Buddha-state the fully-emancipated knows no restraints or obstructions.
+
+III.—_The Diamond-Mace_ (Jap. _Kongō-sho;_—Sansc. “Vadjra”). Explained
+as signifying the divine force that “strikes and breaks all the lusts
+(_bonnō_) of the world.”
+
+IV.—_The Conch-Shell_ (Jap. “_Hora_”) or _Trumpet_. Emblem of the
+preaching of the Law. The book _Shin-zoku-butsu-ji-hen_ calls it the
+symbol of the voice of the Buddha. The _Dai-hi-kyō_ calls it the token
+of the preaching and of the power of the Mahayana doctrine. The
+_Dai-Nichi-Kyō_ says:—” At the sound of the blowing of the shell, all
+the heavenly deities are filled with delight, and come to hear the
+Law.”
+
+V.—_The Flower-Vase_ (Jap. “_Hanagamé_”). Emblem of _murō_,—a mystical
+word which might be literally rendered as “not-leaking,”—signifying
+that condition of supreme intelligence triumphant over birth and death.
+
+VI.—_The Wheel-of-a-Thousand-Spokes_ (Sansc. “Tchakra “). This emblem,
+called in Japanese _Senfuku-rin-sō_, is curiously explained by various
+quotations. The _Hokké-Monku_ says:—“The effect of a wheel is to crush
+something; and the effect of the Buddha’s preaching is to crush all
+delusions, errors, doubts, and superstitions. Therefore preaching the
+doctrine is called, ‘turning the Wheel.’”… The _Sei-Ri-Ron_ says: “Even
+as the common wheel has its spokes and its hub, so in Buddhism there
+are many branches of the _Hasshi Shōdo_ (‘Eight-fold Path,’ or eight
+rules of conduct).”
+
+VII.—_The Crown of Brahmâ_. Under the heel of the Buddha is the
+Treasure-Crown (_Hō-Kwan_) of Brahmâ (_Bon-Ten-O_),—in symbol of the
+Buddha’s supremacy above the gods.
+
+But I think that the inscriptions upon any of these _Butsu-soku-séki_
+will be found of more significance than the above imperfect attempts at
+an explanation of the emblems. The inscriptions upon the monument at
+Dentsu-In are typical. On different sides of the structure,—near the
+top, and placed by rule so as to face certain points of the
+compass,—there are engraved five Sanscrit characters which are symbols
+of the Five Elemental Buddhas, together with scriptural and
+commemorative texts. These latter have been translated for me as
+follows:—
+
+The HO-KO-HON-NYO-KYO says:—“In that time, from beneath his feet, the
+Buddha radiated a light having the appearance of a wheel of a thousand
+spokes. And all who saw that radiance became strictly upright, and
+obtained the Supreme Enlightenment.”
+
+The KWAN-BUTSU-SANMAI-KYO says:—“Whosoever looks upon the footprints of
+the Buddha shall be freed from the results even of innumerable
+thousands of imperfections.”
+
+The BUTSU-SETSU-MU-RYO-JU-KYO says:—“In the land that the Buddha treads
+in journeying, there is not even one person in all the multitude of the
+villages who is not benefited. Then throughout the world there is peace
+and good will. The sun and the moon shine clear and bright. Wind and
+rain come only at a suitable time. Calamity and pestilence cease. The
+country prospers; the people are free from care. Weapons become
+useless. All men reverence religion, and regulate their conduct in all
+matters with earnestness and modesty.”
+
+[Commemorative Text.]
+
+
+—The Fifth Month of the Eighteenth Year of Meiji, all the priests of
+this temple made and set up this pedestal-stone, bearing the likeness
+of the footprints of the Buddha, and placed the same within the main
+court of Dentsu-In, in order that the seed of holy enlightenment might
+be sown for future time, and for the sake of the advancement of
+Buddhism.
+
+TAIJO, priest,—being the sixty-sixth chief-priest by succession of this
+temple,—has respectfully composed.
+
+JUNYU, the minor priest, has reverentially inscribed.
+
+II
+
+Strange facts crowd into memory as one contemplates those graven
+footprints,—footprints giant-seeming, yet less so than the human
+personality of which they remain the symbol. Twenty-four hundred years
+ago, out of solitary meditation upon the pain and the mystery of being,
+the mind of an Indian pilgrim brought forth the highest truth ever
+taught to men, and in an era barren of science anticipated the
+uttermost knowledge of our present evolutional philosophy regarding the
+secret unity of life, the endless illusions of matter and of mind, and
+the birth and death of universes. He, by pure reason,—and he alone
+before our time,—found answers of worth to the questions of the Whence,
+the Whither, and the Why;—and he made with these answers another and a
+nobler faith than the creed of his fathers. He spoke, and returned to
+his dust; and the people worshipped the prints of his dead feet,
+because of the love that he had taught them. Thereafter waxed and waned
+the name of Alexander, and the power of Rome and the might of
+Islam;—nations arose and vanished;—cities grew and were not;—the
+children of another civilization, vaster than Romes, begirdled the
+earth with conquest, and founded far-off empires, and came at last to
+rule in the land of that pilgrim’s birth. And these, rich in the wisdom
+of four and twenty centuries, wondered at the beauty of his message,
+and caused all that he had said and done to be written down anew in
+languages unborn at the time when he lived and taught. Still burn his
+footprints in the East; and still the great West, marvelling, follows
+their gleam to seek the Supreme Enlightenment. Even thus, of old,
+Milinda the king followed the way to the house of Nagasena,—at first
+only to question, after the subtle method of the Greeks; yet, later, to
+accept with noble reverence the nobler method of the Master.
+
+
+
+
+Ululation
+
+
+She is lean as a wolf, and very old,—the white bitch that guards my
+gate at night. She played with most of the young men and women of the
+neighborhood when they were boys and girls. I found her in charge of my
+present dwelling on the day that I came to occupy it. She had guarded
+the place, I was told, for a long succession of prior
+tenants—apparently with no better reason than that she had been born in
+the woodshed at the back of the house. Whether well or ill treated she
+had served all occupants faultlessly as a watch. The question of food
+as wages had never seriously troubled her, because most of the families
+of the street daily contributed to her support.
+
+She is gentle and silent,—silent at least by day; and in spite of her
+gaunt ugliness, her pointed ears, and her somewhat unpleasant eyes,
+everybody is fond of her. Children ride on her back, and tease her at
+will; but although she has been known to make strange men feel
+uncomfortable, she never growls at a child. The reward of her patient
+good-nature is the friendship of the community. When the dog-killers
+come on their bi-annual round, the neighbors look after her interests.
+Once she was on the very point of being officially executed when the
+wife of the smith ran to the rescue, and pleaded successfully with the
+policeman superintending the massacres. “Put somebody’s name on the
+dog,” said the latter: “then it will be safe. Whose dog is it?” That
+question proved hard to answer. The dog was everybody’s and
+nobody’s—welcome everywhere but owned nowhere. “But where does it
+stay?” asked the puzzled constable. “It stays,” said the smith’s wife,
+“in the house of the foreigner.” “Then let the foreigner’s name be put
+upon the dog,” suggested the policeman.
+
+Accordingly I had my name painted on her back in big Japanese
+characters. But the neighbors did not think that she was sufficiently
+safeguarded by a single name. So the priest of Kobudera painted the
+name of the temple on her left side, in beautiful Chinese text; and the
+smith put the name of his shop on her right side; and the
+vegetable-seller put on her breast the ideographs for
+“eight-hundred,”—which represent the customary abbreviation of the word
+yaoya (vegetable-seller),—any yaoya being supposed to sell eight
+hundred or more different things. Consequently she is now a very
+curious-looking dog; but she is well protected by all that calligraphy.
+
+I have only one fault to find with her: she howls at night. Howling is
+one of the few pathetic pleasures of her existence. At first I tried to
+frighten her out of the habit; but finding that she refused to take me
+seriously, I concluded to let her howl. It would have been monstrous to
+beat her.
+
+Yet I detest her howl. It always gives me a feeling of vague disquiet,
+like the uneasiness that precedes the horror of nightmare. It makes me
+afraid,—indefinably, superstitiously afraid. Perhaps what I am writing
+will seem to you absurd; but you would not think it absurd if you once
+heard her howl. She does not howl like the common street-dogs. She
+belongs to some ruder Northern breed, much more wolfish, and retaining
+wild traits of a very peculiar kind.
+
+And her howl is also peculiar. It is incomparably weirder than the howl
+of any European dog; and I fancy that it is incomparably older. It may
+represent the original primitive cry of her species,—totally unmodified
+by centuries of domestication. It begins with a stifled moan, like the
+moan of a bad dream,—mounts into a long, long wail, like a wailing of
+wind,—sinks quavering into a chuckle,—rises again to a wail, very much
+higher and wilder than before,—breaks suddenly into a kind of atrocious
+laughter,—and finally sobs itself out in a plaint like the crying of a
+little child. The ghastliness of the performance is chiefly—though not
+entirely—in the goblin mockery of the laughing tones as contrasted with
+the piteous agony of the wailing ones: an incongruity that makes you
+think of madness. And I imagine a corresponding incongruity in the soul
+of the creature. I know that she loves me,—that she would throw away
+her poor life for me at an instant’s notice. I am sure that she would
+grieve if I were to die. But she would not think about the matter like
+other dogs,—like a dog with hanging ears, for example. She is too
+savagely close to Nature for that. Were she to find herself alone with
+my corpse in some desolate place, she would first mourn wildly for her
+friend; but, this duty performed, she would proceed to ease her sorrow
+in the simplest way possible,—by eating him,—by cracking his bones
+between those long wolf’s-teeth of hers. And thereafter, with spotless
+conscience, she would sit down and utter to the moon the funeral cry of
+her ancestors.
+
+It fills me, that cry, with a strange curiosity not less than with a
+strange horror,—because of certain extraordinary vowellings in it which
+always recur in the same order of sequence, and must represent
+particular forms of animal speech,—particular ideas. The whole thing is
+a song,—a song of emotions and thoughts not human, and therefore
+humanly unimaginable. But other dogs know what it means, and make
+answer over the miles of the night,—sometimes from so far away that
+only by straining my hearing to the uttermost can I detect the faint
+response. The words—(if I may call them words)—are very few; yet, to
+judge by their emotional effect, they must signify a great deal.
+Possibly they mean things myriads of years old,—things relating to
+odors, to exhalations, to influences and effluences inapprehensible by
+duller human sense,—impulses also, impulses without name, bestirred in
+ghosts of dogs by the light of great moons.
+
+Could we know the sensations of a dog,—the emotions and the ideas of a
+dog, we might discover some strange correspondence between their
+character and the character of that peculiar disquiet which the howl of
+the creature evokes. But since the senses of a dog are totally unlike
+those of a man, we shall never really know. And we can only surmise, in
+the vaguest way, the meaning of the uneasiness in ourselves. Some notes
+in the long cry,—and the weirdest of them,—oddly resemble those tones
+of the human voice that tell of agony and terror. Again, we have reason
+to believe that the sound of the cry itself became associated in human
+imagination, at some period enormously remote, with particular
+impressions of fear. It is a remarkable fact that in almost all
+countries (including Japan) the howling of dogs has been attributed to
+their perception of things viewless to man, and awful,—especially gods
+and ghosts;—and this unanimity of superstitious belief suggests that
+one element of the disquiet inspired by the cry is the dread of the
+supernatural. To-day we have ceased to be consciously afraid of the
+unseen;—knowing that we ourselves are supernatural,—that even the
+physical man, with all his life of sense, is more ghostly than any
+ghost of old imagining: but some dim inheritance of the primitive fear
+still slumbers in our being, and wakens perhaps, like an echo, to the
+sound of that wail in the night.
+
+Whatever thing invisible to human eyes the senses of a dog may at times
+perceive, it can be nothing resembling our idea of a ghost. Most
+probably the mysterious cause of start and whine is not anything
+_seen_. There is no anatomical reason for supposing a dog to possess
+exceptional powers of vision. But a dog’s organs of scent proclaim a
+faculty immeasurably superior to the sense of smell in man. The old
+universal belief in the superhuman perceptivities of the creature was a
+belief justified by fact; but the perceptivities are not visual. Were
+the howl of a dog really—as once supposed—an outcry of ghostly terror,
+the meaning might possibly be, “_I smell Them!_”—but not, “_I see
+Them!_” No evidence exists to support the fancy that a dog can see any
+forms of being which a man cannot see.
+
+But the night-howl of the white creature in my close forces me to
+wonder whether she does not _mentally_ see something really
+terrible,—something which we vainly try to keep out of moral
+consciousness: the ghoulish law of life. Nay, there are times when her
+cry seems to me not the mere cry of a dog, but the voice of the law
+itself,—the very speech of that Nature so inexplicably called by poets
+the loving, the merciful, the divine! Divine, perhaps, in some
+unknowable ultimate way,—but certainly not merciful, and still more
+certainly not loving. Only by eating each other do beings exist!
+Beautiful to the poet’s vision our world may seem,—with its loves, its
+hopes, its memories, its aspirations; but there is nothing beautiful in
+the fact that life is fed by continual murder,—that the tenderest
+affection, the noblest enthusiasm, the purest idealism, must be
+nourished by the eating of flesh and the drinking of blood. All life,
+to sustain itself, must devour life. You may imagine yourself divine if
+you please,—but you have to obey that law. Be, if you will, a
+vegetarian: none the less you must eat forms that have feeling and
+desire. Sterilize your food; and digestion stops. You cannot even drink
+without swallowing life. Loathe the name as we may, we are
+cannibals;—all being essentially is One; and whether we eat the flesh
+of a plant, a fish, a reptile, a bird, a mammal, or a man, the ultimate
+fact is the same. And for all life the end is the same: every creature,
+whether buried or burnt, is devoured,—and not only once or twice,—nor a
+hundred, nor a thousand, nor a myriad times! Consider the ground upon
+which we move, the soil out of which we came;—think of the vanished
+billions that have risen from it and crumbled back into its latency to
+feed what becomes our food! Perpetually we eat the dust of our
+race,—_the substance of our ancient selves_.
+
+But even so-called inanimate matter is self-devouring. Substance preys
+upon substance. As in the droplet monad swallows monad, so in the vast
+of Space do spheres consume each other. Stars give being to worlds and
+devour them; planets assimilate their own moons. All is a ravening that
+never ends but to recommence. And unto whomsoever thinks about these
+matters, the story of a divine universe, made and ruled by paternal
+love, sounds less persuasive than the Polynesian tale that the souls of
+the dead are devoured by the gods.
+
+Monstrous the law seems, because we have developed ideas and sentiments
+which are opposed to this demoniac Nature,—much as voluntary movement
+is opposed to the blind power of gravitation. But the possession of
+such ideas and sentiments does but aggravate the atrocity of our
+situation, without lessening in the least the gloom of the final
+problem.
+
+Anyhow the faith of the Far East meets that problem better than the
+faith of the West. To the Buddhist the Cosmos is not divine at
+all—quite the reverse. It is Karma;—it is the creation of thoughts and
+acts of error;—it is not governed by any providence;—it is a
+ghastliness, a nightmare. Likewise it is an illusion. It seems real
+only for the same reason that the shapes and the pains of an evil dream
+seem real to the dreamer. Our life upon earth is a state of sleep. Yet
+we do not sleep utterly. There are gleams in our darkness,—faint
+auroral wakenings of Love and Pity and Sympathy and Magnanimity: these
+are selfless and true;—these are eternal and divine;—these are the Four
+Infinite Feelings in whose after-glow all forms and illusions will
+vanish, like mists in the light of the sun. But, except in so far as we
+wake to these feelings, we are dreamers indeed,—moaning unaided in
+darkness,—tortured by shadowy horror. All of us dream; none are fully
+awake; and many, who pass for the wise of the world, know even less of
+the truth than my dog that howls in the night.
+
+Could she speak, my dog, I think that she might ask questions which no
+philosopher would be able to answer. For I believe that she is
+tormented by the pain of existence. Of course I do not mean that the
+riddle presents itself to her as it does to us,—nor that she can have
+reached any abstract conclusions by any mental processes like our own.
+The external world to her is “a continuum of smells.” She thinks,
+compares, remembers, reasons by smells. By smell she makes her
+estimates of character: all her judgments are founded upon smells.
+Smelling thousands of things which we cannot smell at all, she must
+comprehend them in a way of which we can form no idea. Whatever she
+knows has been learned through mental operations of an utterly
+unimaginable kind. But we may be tolerably sure that she thinks about
+most things in some odor-relation to the experience of eating or to the
+intuitive dread of being eaten. Certainly she knows a great deal more
+about the earth on which we tread than would be good for us to know;
+and probably, if capable of speech, she could tell us the strangest
+stories of air and water. Gifted, or afflicted, as she is with such
+terribly penetrant power of sense, her notion of apparent realities
+must be worse than sepulchral. Small wonder if she howl at the moon
+that shines upon such a world!
+
+And yet she is more awake, in the Buddhist meaning, than many of us.
+She possesses a rude moral code—inculcating loyalty, submission,
+gentleness, gratitude, and maternal love; together with various minor
+rules of conduct;—and this simple code she has always observed. By
+priests her state is termed a state of darkness of mind, because she
+cannot learn all that men should learn; but according to her light she
+has done well enough to merit some better condition in her next
+rebirth. So think the people who know her. When she dies they will give
+her an humble funeral, and have a sutra recited on behalf of her
+spirit. The priest will let a grave be made for her somewhere in the
+temple-garden, and will place over it a little sotoba bearing the
+text,—_Nyo-zé chikushō hotsu Bodai-shin_:[1] “Even within such as this
+animal, the Knowledge Supreme will unfold at last.”
+
+ [1] Lit., “the Bodhi-mind;”—that is to say, the Supreme Enlightenment,
+ the intelligence of Buddhahood itself.
+
+
+
+
+Bits of Poetry
+
+
+I
+
+Among a people with whom poetry has been for centuries a universal
+fashion of emotional utterance, we should naturally suppose the common
+ideal of life to be a noble one. However poorly the upper classes of
+such a people might compare with those of other nations, we could
+scarcely doubt that its lower classes were morally and otherwise in
+advance of our own lower classes. And the Japanese actually present us
+with such a social phenomenon.
+
+Poetry in Japan is universal as the air. It is felt by everybody. It is
+read by everybody. It is composed by almost everybody,—irrespective of
+class and condition. Nor is it thus ubiquitous in the mental atmosphere
+only: it is everywhere to be heard by the ear, and _seen by the eye!_
+
+As for audible poetry, wherever there is working there is singing. The
+toil of the fields and the labor of the streets are performed to the
+rhythm of chanted verse; and song would seem to be an expression of the
+life of the people in about the same sense that it is an expression of
+the life of cicadæ…. As for visible poetry, it appears everywhere,
+written or graven,—in Chinese or in Japanese characters,—as a form of
+decoration. In thousands and thousands of dwellings, you might observe
+that the sliding-screens, separating rooms or closing alcoves, have
+Chinese or Japanese decorative texts upon them;—and these texts are
+poems. In houses of the better class there are usually a number of
+_gaku_, or suspended tablets to be seen,—each bearing, for all design,
+a beautifully written verse. But poems can be found upon almost any
+kind of domestic utensil,—for example upon braziers, iron kettles,
+vases, wooden trays, lacquer ware, porcelains, chopsticks of the finer
+sort,—even toothpicks! Poems are painted upon shop-signs, panels,
+screens, and fans. Poems are printed upon towels, draperies, curtains,
+kerchiefs, silk-linings, and women’s crêpe-silk underwear. Poems are
+stamped or worked upon letter-paper, envelopes, purses, mirror-cases,
+travelling-bags. Poems are inlaid upon enamelled ware, cut upon
+bronzes, graven upon metal pipes, embroidered upon tobacco-pouches. It
+were a hopeless effort to enumerate a tithe of the articles decorated
+with poetical texts. Probably my readers know of those social
+gatherings at which it is the custom to compose verses, and to suspend
+the compositions to blossoming trees,—also of the Tanabata festival in
+honor of certain astral gods, when poems inscribed on strips of colored
+paper, and attached to thin bamboos, are to be seen even by the
+roadside,—all fluttering in the wind like so many tiny flags…. Perhaps
+you might find your way to some Japanese hamlet in which there are
+neither trees nor flowers, but never to any hamlet in which there is no
+visible poetry. You might wander,—as I have done,—into a settlement so
+poor that you could not obtain there, for love or money, even a cup of
+real tea; but I do not believe that you could discover a settlement in
+which there is nobody capable of making a poem.
+
+II
+
+Recently while looking over a manuscript-collection of verses,—mostly
+short poems of an emotional or descriptive character,—it occurred to me
+that a selection from them might serve to illustrate certain Japanese
+qualities of sentiment, as well as some little-known Japanese theories
+of artistic expression,—and I ventured forthwith, upon this essay. The
+poems, which had been collected for me by different persons at many
+different times and places, were chiefly of the kind written on
+particular occasions, and cast into forms more serried, if not also
+actually briefer, than anything in Western prosody. Probably few of my
+readers are aware of two curious facts relating to this order of
+composition. Both facts are exemplified in the history and in the texts
+of my collection,—though I cannot hope, in my renderings, to reproduce
+the original effect, whether of imagery or of feeling.
+
+The first curious fact is that, from very ancient times, the writing of
+short poems has been practised in Japan even more as a moral duty than
+as a mere literary art. The old ethical teaching was somewhat like
+this:—“Are you very angry?—do not say anything unkind, but compose a
+poem. Is your best-beloved dead?—do not yield to useless grief, but try
+to calm your mind by making a poem. Are you troubled because you are
+about to die, leaving so many things unfinished?—be brave, and write a
+poem on death! Whatever injustice or misfortune disturbs you, put aside
+your resentment or your sorrow as soon as possible, and write a few
+lines of sober and elegant verse for a moral exercise.” Accordingly, in
+the old days, every form of trouble was encountered with a poem.
+Bereavement, separation, disaster called forth verses in lieu of
+plaints. The lady who preferred death to loss of honor, composed a poem
+before piercing her throat The samurai sentenced to die by his own
+hand, wrote a poem before performing _hara-kiri_. Even in this less
+romantic era of Meiji, young people resolved upon suicide are wont to
+compose some verses before quitting the world. Also it is still the
+good custom to write a poem in time of ill-fortune. I have frequently
+known poems to be written under the most trying circumstances of misery
+or suffering,—nay even upon a bed of death;-and if the verses did not
+display any extraordinary talent, they at least afforded extraordinary
+proof of self-mastery under pain…. Surely this fact of composition as
+ethical practice has larger interest than all the treatises ever
+written about the rules of Japanese prosody.
+
+The other curious fact is only a fact of aesthetic theory. The common
+art-principle of the class of poems under present consideration is
+identical with the common principle of Japanese pictorial illustration.
+By the use of a few chosen words the composer of a short poem endeavors
+to do exactly what the painter endeavors to do with a few strokes of
+the brush,—to evoke an image or a mood,—to revive a sensation or an
+emotion. And the accomplishment of this purpose,—by poet or by
+picture-maker,—depends altogether upon capacity to _suggest_, and only
+to suggest. A Japanese artist would be condemned for attempting
+elaboration of detail in a sketch intended to recreate the memory of
+some landscape seen through the blue haze of a spring morning, or under
+the great blond light of an autumn after-noon. Not only would he be
+false to the traditions of his art: he would necessarily defeat his own
+end thereby. In the same way a poet would be condemned for attempting
+any _completeness_ of utterance in a very short poem: his object should
+be only to stir imagination without satisfying it. So the term
+_ittakkiri_—meaning “all gone,” or “entirely vanished,” in the sense of
+“all told,”—is contemptuously applied to verses in which the
+verse-maker has uttered his whole thought;—praise being reserved for
+compositions that leave in the mind the thrilling of a something
+unsaid. Like the single stroke of a temple-bell, the perfect short poem
+should set murmuring and undulating, in the mind of the hearer, many a
+ghostly aftertone of long duration.
+
+III
+
+But for the same reason that Japanese short poems may be said to
+resemble. Japanese pictures, a full comprehension of them requires an
+intimate knowledge of the life which they reflect. And this is
+especially true of the emotional class of such poems,—a literal
+translation of which, in the majority of cases, would signify almost
+nothing to the Western mind. Here, for example, is a little verse,
+pathetic enough to Japanese comprehension:—
+
+Chōchō ni!..
+Kyonen shishitaru
+Tsuma koishi!
+
+
+Translated, this would appear to mean only,—“_Two butterflies!… Last
+year my dear wife died!_” Unless you happen to know the pretty Japanese
+symbolism of the butterfly in relation to happy marriage, and the old
+custom of sending with the wedding-gift a large pair of
+paper-butterflies (_ochō-mechō_), the verse might well seem to be less
+than commonplace. Or take this recent composition, by a University
+student, which has been praised by good judges:—
+
+Furusato ni
+Fubo ari—mushi no
+Koë-goë![1]
+
+
+—“_In my native place the old folks [or, my parents] are—clamor of
+insect-voices!_”
+
+ [1] I must observe, however, that the praise was especially evoked by
+ the use of the term _koë-goë_—(literally meaning “voice after voice”
+ or a crying of many voices);—and the special value of the syllables
+ here can be appreciated only by a Japanese poet.
+
+
+The poet here is a country-lad. In unfamiliar fields he listens to the
+great autumn chorus of insects; and the sound revives for him the
+memory of his far-off home and of his parents. But here is something
+incomparably more touching,—though in literal translation probably more
+obscure,—than either of the preceding specimens;—
+
+Mi ni shimiru
+Kazé ya!
+Shōji ni
+Yubi no ato!
+
+
+—“_Oh, body-piercing wind!—that work of little fingers in the
+shōji!_”[2]…. What does this mean? It means the sorrowing of a mother
+for her dead child. _Shōji_ is the name given to those light
+white-paper screens which in a Japanese house serve both as windows and
+doors, admitting plenty of light, but concealing, like frosted glass,
+the interior from outer observation, and excluding the wind. Infants
+delight to break these by poking their fingers through the soft paper:
+then the wind blows through the holes. In this case the wind blows very
+cold indeed,—into the mother’s very heart;—for it comes through the
+little holes that were made by the fingers of her dead child.
+
+ [2] More literally:—“body-through-pierce wind—ah!—_shōji_ in the
+ traces of [viz.: holes made by] fingers!”
+
+
+The impossibility of preserving the inner quality of such poems in a
+literal rendering, will now be obvious. Whatever I attempt in this
+direction must of necessity be _ittakkiri;_—for the unspoken has to be
+expressed; and what the Japanese poet is able to say in seventeen or
+twenty-one syllables may need in English more than double that number
+of words. But perhaps this fact will lend additional interest to the
+following atoms of emotional expression:—
+
+A MOTHER’S REMEMBRANCE
+
+
+_Sweet and clear in the night, the voice of a boy at study,
+Reading out of a book…. I also once had a boy!_
+
+A MEMORY IN SPRING
+
+
+_She, who, departing hence, left to the flowers of the plum-tree,
+Blooming beside our eaves, the charm of her youth and beauty,
+And maiden pureness of heart, to quicken their flush and fragrance,—
+Ah! where does she dwell to-day, our dear little vanished sister?_
+
+FANCIES OF ANOTHER FAITH
+
+
+_(1) I sought in the place of graves the tomb of my vanished friend:
+From ancient cedars above there rippled a wild doves cry._
+
+_(2) Perhaps a freak of the wind-yet perhaps a sign of remembrance,—
+This fall of a single leaf on the water I pour for the dead._
+
+_(3)I whispered a prayer at the grave: a butterfly rose and fluttered—
+Thy spirit, perhaps, dear friend!…_
+
+IN A CEMETERY AT NIGHT
+
+
+_This light of the moon that plays on the water I pour for the dead,
+Differs nothing at all from the moonlight of other years._
+
+AFTER LONG ABSENCE
+
+
+_The garden that once I loved, and even the hedge of the garden,—
+All is changed and strange: the moonlight only is faithful;—
+The moon alone remembers the charm of the time gone by!_
+
+MOONLIGHT ON THE SEA
+
+
+_O vapory moon of spring!—would that one plunge into ocean
+Could win me renewal of life as a part of thy light on the waters!_
+
+AFTER FAREWELL
+
+
+_Whither now should! look?—where is the place of parting?
+Boundaries all have vanished;—nothing tells of direction:
+Only the waste of sea under the shining moon!_
+
+HAPPY POVERTY
+
+
+_Wafted into my room, the scent of the flowers of the plum-tree
+Changes my broken window into a source of delight._
+
+AUTUMN FANCIES
+
+
+_(1) Faded the clover now;—sere and withered the grasses:
+What dreams the matsumushi_[3] _in the desolate autumn-fields?_
+
+_(2) Strangely sad, I thought, sounded the bell of evening;—
+Haply that tone proclaimed the night in which autumn dies!_
+
+_(3) Viewing this autumn-moon, I dream of my native village
+Under the same soft light,—and the shadows about my home._
+
+ [3] A musical cricket—_calyptotryphus marmoratus_.
+
+
+IN TIME OF GRIEF, HEARING A SÉMI (CICADA)
+
+
+_Only “I,” “I,”—the cry of the foolish semi!
+Any one knows that the world is void as its cast-off shell._
+
+ON THE CAST-OFF SHELL OF A SÉMI
+
+
+_Only the pitiful husk!… O poor singer of summer,
+Wherefore thus consume all thy body in song?_
+
+SUBLIMITY OF INTELLECTUAL POWER
+
+
+_The mind that, undimmed, absorbs the foul and the pure together—
+Call it rather a sea one thousand fathoms deep!_[4]
+
+ [4] This is quite novel in its way,—a product of the University: the
+ original runs thus:—
+
+
+Nigoréru mo
+Suméru mo tomo ni
+Iruru koso
+Chi-hiro no umi no
+Kokoro nari-keré!
+
+
+SHINTŌ REVERY
+
+
+_Mad waves devour The rocks: I ask myself in the darkness,
+“Have I become a god?” Dim is The night and wild!_
+
+“Have I become a god?”—that is to say, “Have I died?—am I only a ghost
+in this desolation?” The dead, becoming _kami_ or gods, are thought to
+haunt wild solitudes by preference.
+
+IV
+
+The poems above rendered are more than pictorial: they suggest
+something of emotion or sentiment. But there are thousands of pictorial
+poems that do not; and these would seem mere insipidities to a reader
+ignorant of their true purpose. When you learn that some exquisite text
+of gold means only, “_Evening-sunlight on the wings of the
+water-fowl_,”—or,”_Now in my garden the flowers bloom, and the
+butterflies dance_,”—then your first interest in decorative poetry is
+apt to wither away. Yet these little texts have a very real merit of
+their own, and an intimate relation to Japanese aesthetic feeling and
+experience. Like the pictures upon screens and fans and cups, they give
+pleasure by recalling impressions of nature, by reviving happy
+incidents of travel or pilgrimage, by evoking the memory of beautiful
+days. And when this plain fact is fully understood, the persistent
+attachment of modern Japanese poets—notwithstanding their University
+training—to the ancient poetical methods, will be found reasonable
+enough.
+
+I need offer only a very few specimens of the purely pictorial poetry.
+The following—mere thumb-nail sketches in verse—are of recent date.
+
+LONESOMENESS
+
+Furu-dera ya:
+Kané mono iwazu;
+Sakura chiru.
+
+
+—“_Old temple: bell voiceless; cherry-flowers fall_.”
+
+MORNING AWAKENING AFTER A NIGHT’S REST IN A TEMPLE
+
+Yamadera no
+Shichō akéyuku:
+Taki no oto.
+
+
+—“_In the mountain-temple the paper mosquito-curtain is lighted by the
+dawn: sound of water-fall_.”
+
+WINTER-SCENE
+
+Yuki no mura;
+Niwatori naité;
+Aké shiroshi.
+
+
+“_Snow-village;—cocks crowing;—white dawn_.”
+
+Let me conclude this gossip on poetry by citing from another group of
+verses—also pictorial, in a certain sense, but chiefly remarkable for
+ingenuity—two curiosities of impromptu. The first is old, and is
+attributed to the famous poetess Chiyo. Having been challenged to make
+a poem of seventeen syllables referring to a square, a triangle, and a
+circle, she is said to have immediately responded,—
+
+Kaya no té wo
+Hitotsu hazushité,
+Tsuki-mi kana!
+
+
+—“_Detaching one corner of the mosquito-net, lo! I behold the moon!_”
+The top of the mosquito-net, suspended by cords at each of its four
+corners, represents the square;—letting down the net at one corner
+converts the square into a triangle;—and the moon represents the
+circle.
+
+[Illustration: Square  Triangle]
+
+The other curiosity is a recent impromptu effort to portray, in one
+verse of seventeen syllables, the last degree of
+devil-may-care-poverty,—perhaps the brave misery of the wandering
+student;—and I very much doubt whether the effort could be improved
+upon:—
+
+Nusundaru
+Kagashi no kasa ni
+Amé kyū nari.
+
+
+—“_Heavily pours the rain on the hat that I stole from the scarecrow!_”
+
+
+
+
+Japanese Buddhist Proverbs
+
+
+As representing that general quality of moral experience which remains
+almost unaffected by social modifications of any sort, the proverbial
+sayings of a people must always possess a special psychological
+interest for thinkers. In this kind of folklore the oral and the
+written literature of Japan is rich to a degree that would require a
+large book to exemplify. To the subject as a whole no justice could be
+done within the limits of a single essay. But for certain classes of
+proverbs and proverbial phrases something can be done within even a few
+pages; and sayings related to Buddhism, either by allusion or
+derivation, form a class which seems to me particularly worthy of
+study. Accordingly, with the help of a Japanese friend, I have selected
+and translated the following series of examples,—choosing the more
+simple and familiar where choice was possible, and placing the
+originals in alphabetical order to facilitate reference. Of course the
+selection is imperfectly representative; but it will serve to
+illustrate certain effects of Buddhist teaching upon popular thought
+and speech.
+
+
+1.—_Akuji mi ni tomaru._
+All evil done clings to the body.[1]
+
+ [1] The consequence of any evil act or thought never,—so long as karma
+ endures,—will cease to act upon the existence of the person guilty of
+ it.
+
+
+2.—_Atama soru yori kokoro wo soré._
+Better to shave the heart than to shave the head.[2]
+
+ [2] Buddhist nuns and priests have their heads completely shaven. The
+ proverb signifies that it is better to correct the heart,—to conquer
+ all vain regrets and desires,—than to become a religious. In common
+ parlance the phrase “to shave the head” means to become a monk or a
+ nun.
+
+
+3.—_Au wa wakaré no hajimé._
+Meeting is only the beginning of separation.[3]
+
+ [3] Regret and desire are equally vain in this world of impermanency;
+ for all joy is the beginning of an experience that must have its pain.
+ This proverb refers directly to the sutra-text,—_Shōja hitsumetsu
+ é-sha-jori_,—” All that live must surely die; and all that meet will
+ surely part.”
+
+
+4.—_Banji wa yumé._
+All things[4] are merely dreams.
+
+ [4] Literally, “ten thousand things.”
+
+
+5.—_Bonbu mo satoréba hotoké nari._
+Even a common man by obtaining knowledge becomes a Buddha.[5]
+
+ [5] The only real differences of condition are differences in
+ knowledge of the highest truth.
+
+
+6.—_Bonnō kunō._
+All lust is grief.[6]
+
+ [6] All sensual desire invariably brings sorrow.
+
+
+7—_Buppō to wara-ya no amé, dété kiké._
+One must go outside to hear Buddhist doctrine or the sound of rain on a
+straw roof.[7]
+
+ [7] There is an allusion here to the condition of the _shukké_
+ (priest): literally, “one who has left his house.” The proverb
+ suggests that the higher truths of Buddhism cannot be acquired by
+ those who continue to live in the world of follies and desires.
+
+
+8.—_Busshō en yori okoru._
+Out of karma-relation even the divine nature itself grows.[8]
+
+ [8] There is good as well as bad karma. Whatever hap-piness we enjoy
+ is not less a consequence of the acts and thoughts of previous lives,
+ than is any misfortune that comes to us. Every good thought and act
+ contributes to the evolution of the Buddha-nature within each of us.
+ Another proverb [No. 10],—_En naki shujō wa doshi gatashi_,—further
+ illustrates the meaning of this one.
+
+
+9.—_Enkō  ga tsuki wo toran to suru ga gotoshi._
+Like monkeys trying to snatch the moon’s reflection on water.[9]
+
+ [9] Allusion to a parable, said to have been related by the Buddha
+ himself, about some monkeys who found a well under a tree, and mistook
+ for reality the image of the moon in the water. They resolved to seize
+ the bright apparition. One monkey suspended himself by the tail from a
+ branch overhanging the well, a second monkey clung to the first, a
+ third to the second, a fourth to the third, and so on,—till the long
+ chain of bodies had almost reached the water. Suddenly the branch
+ broke under the unaccustomed weight; and all the monkeys were drowned.
+
+
+10.—_En naki shujō wa doshi gatashi._
+To save folk having no karma-relation would be difficult indeed![10]
+
+ [10] No karma-relation would mean an utter absence of merit as well as
+ of demerit.
+
+
+11.—_Fujō seppō suru hōshi wa, birataké ni umaru._
+The priest who preaches foul doctrine shall be reborn as a fungus.
+
+12.—_Gaki mo ninzu._
+Even gaki (_prêtas_) can make a crowd.[11]
+
+ [11] Literally: “Even gaki are a multitude (or, ‘population’).” This
+ is a popular saying used in a variety of ways. The ordinary meaning is
+ to the effect that no matter how poor or miserable the individuals
+ composing a multitude, they collectively represent a respectable
+ force. Jocosely the saying is sometimes used of a crowd of wretched or
+ tired-looking people,—sometimes of an assembly of weak boys desiring
+ to make some demonstration,—sometimes of a miserable-looking company
+ of soldiers.—Among the lowest classes of the people it is not uncommon
+ to call a deformed or greedy person a “gaki.”
+
+
+13.—_Gaki no mé ni midzu miézu._
+To the eyes of gaki water is viewless.[12]
+
+ [12] Some authorities state that those _prêtas_ who suffer especially
+ from thirst, as a consequence of faults committed in former lives, are
+ unable to see water.—This proverb is used in speaking of persons too
+ stupid or vicious to perceive a moral truth.
+
+
+14.—_Goshō wa daiji._
+The future life is the all-important thing.[13]
+
+ [13] The common people often use the curious expression
+ “_gosho-daiji_” as an equivalent for “extremely important.”
+
+
+15.—_Gun-mō no tai-zō wo saguru ga gotoshi._
+Like a lot of blind men feeling a great elephant.[14]
+
+ [14] Said of those who ignorantly criticise the doctrines of
+ Buddhism.—The proverb alludes to a celebrated fable in the _Avadânas_,
+ about a number of blind men who tried to decide the form of an
+ elephant by feeling the animal. One, feeling the leg, declared the
+ elephant to be like a tree; another, feeling the trunk only, declared
+ the elephant to be like a serpent; a third, who felt only the side,
+ said that the elephant was like a wall; a fourth, grasping the tail,
+ said that the elephant was like a rope, etc.
+
+
+16.—_Gwai-men nyo-Bosatsu; nai shin nyo-Yasha._
+In outward aspect a Bodhisattva; at innermost heart a demon.[15]
+
+ [15] _Yasha_ (Sanscrit _Yaksha_), a man-devouring demon.
+
+
+17.—_Hana wa né ni kaeru._
+The flower goes back to its root.[16]
+
+ [16] This proverb is most often used in reference to death,—signifying
+ that all forms go back into the nothingness out of which they spring.
+ But it may also be used in relation to the law of cause-and-effect.
+
+
+18.—_Hibiki no koë ni ozuru ga gotoshi._
+Even as the echo answers to the voice.[17]
+
+ [17] Referring to the doctrine of cause-and-effect. The philosophical
+ beauty of the comparison will be appreciated only if we bear in mind
+ that even the _tone_ of the echo repeats the tone of the voice.
+
+
+19.—_Hito wo tasukéru ga shukhé no yuku._
+The task of the priest is to save mankind.
+
+20.—_Hi wa kiyurédomo tō-shin wa kiyédzu._
+Though the flame be put out, the wick remains.[18]
+
+ [18] Although the passions may be temporarily overcome, their sources
+ remain. A proverb of like meaning is, _Bonnō no inu oëdomo sarazu:_
+ “Though driven away, the Dog of Lust cannot be kept from coming back
+ again.”
+
+
+21.—_Hotoké mo motowa bonbu._
+Even the Buddha was originally but a common man.
+
+22.—_Hotoké ni naru mo shami wo beru._
+Even to become a Buddha one must first become a novice.
+
+23.—_Hotoké no kao mo sando._
+Even a Buddha’s face,—only three times.[19]
+
+ [19] This is a short popular form of the longer proverb, _Hotoké no
+ kao mo sando nazuréba, hara wo tatsu:_ “Stroke even the face of a
+ Buddha three times, and his anger will be roused.”
+
+
+24.—_Hotoké tanondé Jigoku é yuku._
+Praying to Buddha one goes to hell.[20]
+
+ [20] The popular saying, _Oni no Nembutsu_,—“a devil’s praying,”—has a
+ similar meaning.
+
+
+25.—_Hotoké tsukutté tamashii irédzu._
+Making a Buddha without putting in the soul.[21]
+
+ [21] That is to say, making an image of the Buddha without giving it a
+ soul. This proverb is used in reference to the conduct of those who
+ undertake to do some work, and leave the most essential part of the
+ work unfinished. It contains an allusion to the curious ceremony
+ called _Kai-gen_, or “Eye-Opening.” This _Kai-gen_ is a kind of
+ consecration, by virtue of which a newly-made image is supposed to
+ become animated by the real presence of the divinity represented.
+
+
+26.—_Ichi-ju no kagé, ichi-ga no nagaré, tashō no en._
+Even [the experience of] a single shadow or a single flowing of water,
+is [made by] the karma-relations of a former life.[22]
+
+ [22] Even so trifling an occurrence as that of resting with another
+ person under the shadow of a tree, or drinking from the same spring
+ with another person, is caused by the karma-relations of some previous
+ existence.
+
+
+27.—_Ichi-mō shū-mō wo hiku._
+One blind man leads many blind men.[23]
+
+ [23] From the Buddhist work _Dai-chi-dō-ron_.—The reader will find a
+ similar proverb in Rhys-David’s “_Buddhist Suttas_” (Sacred Books of
+ the East), p. 173,—together with a very curious parable, cited in a
+ footnote, which an Indian commentator gives in explanation.
+
+
+28.—_Ingwa na ko._
+A karma-child.[24]
+
+ [24] A common saying among the lower classes in reference to an
+ unfortunate or crippled child. Here the word _ingwa_ is used
+ especially in the retributive sense. It usually signifies evil karma;
+ _kwahō_ being the term used in speaking of meritorious karma and its
+ results. While an unfortunate child is spoken of as “a child of
+ _ingwa_,” a very lucky person is called a “_kwahō-mono_,”—that is to
+ say, an instance, or example of _kwahō_.
+
+
+29.—_Ingwa wa, kuruma no wa._
+Cause-and-effect is like a wheel.[25]
+
+ [25] The comparison of _karma_ to the wheel of a wagon will be
+ familiar to students of Buddhism. The meaning of this proverb is
+ identical with that of the _Dhammapada_ verse:—“If a man speaks or
+ acts with an evil thought, pain follows him as the wheel follows the
+ foot of the ox that draws the carriage.”
+
+
+30.—_Innen ga fukai._
+The karma-relation is deep.[26]
+
+ [26] A saying very commonly used in speaking of the attachment of
+ lovers, or of the unfortunate results of any close relation between
+ two persons.
+
+
+31.—_Inochi wa fū-zen no tomoshibi._
+Life is a lamp-flame before a wind.[27]
+
+ [27] Or, “like the flame of a lamp exposed to the wind.” A frequent
+ expression in Buddhist literature is “the Wind of Death.”
+
+
+32.—_Issun no mushi ni mo, gobu no tamashii._
+Even a worm an inch long has a soul half-an-inch long.[28]
+
+ [28] Literally, “has a soul of five _bu_,”—five _bu_ being equal to
+ half of the Japanese inch. Buddhism forbids all taking of life, and
+ classes as _living_ things (_Ujō_) all forms having sentiency. The
+ proverb, however,—as the use of the word “soul” (_tamashii_)
+ implies,—reflects popular belief rather than Buddhist philosophy. It
+ signifies that any life, however small or mean, is entitled to mercy.
+
+
+33.—_Iwashi[29] no atama mo shinjin kara._
+Even the head of an _iwashi_, by virtue of faith, [will have power to
+save, or heal].
+
+ [29] The _iwashi_ is a very small fish, much resembling a sardine. The
+ proverb implies that the object of worship signifies little, so long
+ as the prayer is made with perfect faith and pure intention.
+
+
+34.—_Jigō-jitoku._[30]
+The fruit of ones own deeds [in a previous state of existence].
+
+ [30] Few popular Buddhist phrases are more often used than this.
+ _Jigō_ signifies ones own acts or thoughts; _jitoku_, to bring upon
+ oneself,—nearly always in the sense of misfortune, when the word is
+ used in the Buddhist way. “Well, it is a matter of _Jigō-jitoku_,”
+ people will observe on seeing a man being taken to prison; meaning,
+ “He is reaping the consequence of his own faults.”
+
+
+35.—_Jigoku dé hotoké._
+Like meeting with a Buddha in hell.[31]
+
+ [31] Refers to the joy of meeting a good friend in time of misfortune.
+ The above is an abbreviation. The full proverb is, _Jigoku dé hotoké
+ hotoke ni ōta yo da_.
+
+
+36.—_Jigoku Gokuraku wa kokoro ni ari._
+Hell and Heaven are in the hearts of men.[32]
+
+ [32] A proverb in perfect accord with the higher Buddhism.
+
+
+37.—_Jigoku mo sumika._
+Even Hell itself is a dwelling-place.[33]
+
+ [33] Meaning that even those obliged to live in hell must learn to
+ accommodate themselves to the situation. One should always try to make
+ the best of circumstances. A proverb of kindred signification is,
+ _Sumeba, Miyako:_ “Wheresoever ones home is, that is the Capital [or,
+ imperial City].”
+
+
+38.—_Jigoku ni mo shiru bito._
+Even in hell old acquaintances are welcome.
+
+39.—_Kagé no katachi ni shitagau gotoshi._
+Even as the shadow follows the shape.[34]
+
+ [34] Referring to the doctrine of cause-and-effect. Compare with verse
+ 2 of the _Dhammapada_.
+
+
+40.—_Kané wa Amida yori bikaru._
+Money shines even more brightly than Amida.[35]
+
+ [35] Amitâbha, the Buddha of Immeasurable Light. His image in the
+ temples is usually gilded from head to foot.—There are many other
+ ironical proverbs about the power of wealth,—such as _Jigoku no sata
+ mo kané shidai:_ “Even the Judgments of Hell may be influenced by
+ money.”
+
+
+41.—_Karu-toki no Jizō-gao; nasu-toki no Emma-gao._
+Borrowing-time, the face of Jizō; repaying-time, the face of Emma.[36]
+
+ [36] Emma is the Chinese and Japanese Yama,—in Buddhism the Lord of
+ Hell, and the Judge of the Dead. The proverb is best explained by the
+ accompanying drawings, which will serve to give an idea of the
+ commoner representations of both divinities.
+
+[Illustration: Jizō]
+
+[Illustration: Emma Dai-ō]
+
+42.—_Kiité Gokuraku, mité Jigoku._
+Heard of only, it is Paradise; seen, it is Hell.[37]
+
+ [37] Rumor is never trustworthy.
+
+
+43.—_Kōji mon wo idézu: akuji sen ni wo hashiru._
+Good actions go not outside of the gate: bad deeds travel a thousand
+_ri_.
+
+44.—_Kokoro no koma ni tadzuna wo yuru-suna._
+Never let go the reins of the wild colt of the heart.
+
+45.—_Kokoro no oni ga mi wo séméru._
+The body is tortured only by the demon of the heart.[38]
+
+ [38] Or “mind.” That is to say that we suffer only from the
+ consequences of our own faults.—The demon-torturer in the Buddhist
+ hell says to his victim:—“Blame not me!—I am only the creation of your
+ own deeds and thoughts: you made me for this!”—Compare with No. 36.
+
+
+46.—_Kokoro no shi to wa naré; kokoro wo shi to sezaré._
+Be the teacher of your heart: do not allow your heart to become your
+teacher.
+
+47.—_Kono yo wa kari no yado._
+This world is only a resting-place.[39]
+
+ [39] “This world is but a travellers’ inn,” would be an almost equally
+ correct translation. _Yado_ literally means a lodging, shelter, inn;
+ and the word is applied often to those wayside resting-houses at which
+ Japanese travellers halt during a journey. _Kari_ signifies temporary,
+ transient, fleeting,—as in the common Buddhist saying, _Kono yo kari
+ no yo:_ “This world is a fleeting world.” Even Heaven and Hell
+ represent to the Buddhist only halting places upon the journey to
+ Nirvâna.
+
+
+48.—_Kori wo chiribamé; midzu ni égaku._
+To inlay ice; to paint upon water.[40]
+
+ [40] Refers to the vanity of selfish effort for some merely temporary
+ end.
+
+
+49.—_Korokoro to
+Naku wa yamada no
+Hototogisu,
+Chichi nitéya aran,
+Haha nitéya aran._
+The bird that cries _korokoro_ in the mountain rice-field I know to be
+a _hototogisu;_—yet it may have been my father; it may have been my
+mother.[41]
+
+ [41] This verse-proverb is cited in the Buddhist work _Wōjō Yōshū_,
+ with the following comment:—“Who knows whether the animal in the
+ field, or the bird in the mountain-wood, has not been either his
+ father or his mother in some former state of existence?”—The
+ _hototogisu_ is a kind of cuckoo.
+
+
+50.—_Ko wa Sangai no kubikase._
+A child is a neck-shackle for the Three States of Existence.[42]
+
+ [42] That is to say, The love of parents for their child may impede
+ their spiritual progress—not only in this world, but through all their
+ future states of being,—just as a _kubikasé_, or Japanese cangue,
+ impedes the movements of the person upon whom it is placed. Parental
+ affection, being the strongest of earthly attachments, is particularly
+ apt to cause those whom it enslaves to commit wrongful acts in the
+ hope of benefiting their offspring.—The term Sangai here signifies the
+ three worlds of Desire, Form, and Formlessness,—all the states of
+ existence below Nirvâna. But the word is sometimes used to signify the
+ Past, the Present, and the Future.
+
+
+51.—_Kuchi wa wazawai no kado._
+The mouth is the front-gate of all misfortune.[43]
+
+ [43] That is to say, The chief cause of trouble is unguarded speech.
+ The word Kado means always the main entrance to a residence.
+
+
+52.—_Kwahō wa, nété maté._
+If you wish for good luck, sleep and wait.[44]
+
+ [44] _Kwahō_, a purely Buddhist term, signifying good fortune as the
+ result of good actions in a previous life, has come to mean in common
+ parlance good fortune of any kind. The proverb is often used in a
+ sense similar to that of the English saying: “Watched pot never
+ boils.” In a strictly Buddhist sense it would mean, “Do not be too
+ eager for the reward of good deeds.”
+
+
+53.—_Makanu tané wa haënu._
+Nothing will grow, if the seed be not sown.[45]
+
+ [45] Do not expect harvest, unless you sow the seed. Without earnest
+ effort no merit can be gained.
+
+
+54.—_Matéba, kanrō no hiyori._
+If you wait, ambrosial weather will come.[46]
+
+ [46] _Kanrō_, the sweet dew of Heaven, or _amrita_. All good things
+ come to him who waits.
+
+
+55.—_Meidō no michi ni Ō wa nashi._
+There is no King on the Road of Death.[47]
+
+ [47] Literally, “on the Road of Meidō.” The _Meidō_ is the Japanese
+ Hades,—the dark under-world to which all the dead must journey.
+
+
+56.—_Mekura hebi ni ojizu._
+The blind man does not fear the snake.[48]
+
+ [48] The ignorant and the vicious, not understanding the law of
+ cause-and-effect, do not fear the certain results of their folly.
+
+
+57.—_Mitsuréba, hakuru._
+Having waxed, wanes.[49]
+
+ [49] No sooner has the moon waxed full than it begins to wane. So the
+ height of prosperity is also the beginning of fortunes decline.
+
+
+58.—_Mon zen no kozō narawanu kyō wo yomu._
+The shop-boy in front of the temple-gate repeats the sutra which he
+never learned.[50]
+
+ [50] _Kozō_ means “acolyte” as well as “shop-boy,”“errand-boy,” or
+ “apprentice;” but in this case it refers to a boy employed in a shop
+ situated near or before the gate of a Buddhist temple. By constantly
+ hearing the sutra chanted in the temple, the boy learns to repeat the
+ words. A proverb of kindred meaning is, _Kangaku-In no suzumé wa,
+ Mōgyū wo sayézuru:_ “The sparrows of Kangaku-In [an ancient seat of
+ learning] chirp the Mōgyū,”—a Chinese text formerly taught to young
+ students. The teaching of either proverb is excellently expressed by a
+ third:—_Narau yori wa naréro:_ “Rather than study [an art], get
+ accustomed to it,”—that is to say, “keep constantly in contact with
+ it.” Observation and practice are even better than study.
+
+
+59.—_Mujō no kazé wa, toki erabazu._
+The Wind of Impermanency does not choose a time.[51]
+
+ [51] Death and Change do not conform their ways to human expectation.
+
+
+60.—_Neko mo Busshō ari._
+In even a cat the Buddha-nature exists.[52]
+
+ [52] Notwithstanding the legend that only the cat and the _mamushi_ (a
+ poisonous viper) failed to weep for the death of the Buddha.
+
+
+61.—_Néta ma ga Gokuraku._
+The interval of sleep is Paradise.[53]
+
+ [53] Only during sleep can we sometimes cease to know the sorrow and
+ pain of this world. (Compare with No. 83.)
+
+
+62.—_Nijiu-go Bosatsu mo soré-soré no yaku._
+Even each of the Twenty-five Bodhisattvas has his own particular duty
+to perform.
+
+63.—_Nin mité, hō toké._
+[First] see the person, [then] preach the doctrine.[54]
+
+ [54] The teaching of Buddhist doctrine should always be adapted to the
+ intelligence of the person to be instructed. There is another proverb
+ of the same kind,—_Ki ni yorité, hō wo toké:_ “According to the
+ understanding [of the person to be taught], preach the Law.”
+
+
+64.—_Ninshin ukégataku Buppoō aigatashi._
+It is not easy to be born among men, and to meet with [the good fortune
+of hearing the doctrine of] Buddhism.[55]
+
+ [55] Popular Buddhism teaches that to be born in the world of mankind,
+ and especially among a people professing Buddhism, is a very great
+ privilege. However miserable human existence, it is at least a state
+ in which some knowledge of divine truth may be obtained; whereas the
+ beings in other and lower conditions of life are relatively incapable
+ of spiritual progress.
+
+
+65.—_Oni mo jiu-hachi._
+Even a devil [is pretty] at eighteen.[56]
+
+ [56] There are many curious sayings and proverbs about the oni, or
+ Buddhist devil,—such as _Oni no mé ni mo namida_, “tears in even a
+ devil’s eyes;”—Oni no kakuran, “devil’s cholera” (said of the
+ unexpected sickness of some very strong and healthy person), etc.,
+ etc.—The class of demons called _Oni_, properly belong to the Buddhist
+ hells, where they act as torturers and jailers. They are not to be
+ confounded with the _Ma, Yasha, Kijin_, and other classes of evil
+ spirits. In Buddhist art they are represented as beings of enormous
+ strength, with the heads of bulls and of horses. The bull-headed
+ demons are called _Go-zu;_ the horse-headed _Mé-zu_.
+
+
+66.—_Oni mo mi, narétaru ga yoshi._
+Even a devil, when you become accustomed to the sight of him, may prove
+a pleasant acquaintance.
+
+67.—_Oni ni kanabō._
+An iron club for a demon.[57]
+
+ [57] Meaning that great power should be given only to the strong.
+
+
+68.—_Oni no nyōbo ni kijin._
+A devil takes a goblin to wife.[58]
+
+ [58] Meaning that a wicked man usually marries a wicked woman.
+
+
+69.—_Onna no ké ni wa dai-zō mo tsunagaru._
+With one hair of a woman you can tether even a great elephant.
+
+70.—_Onna wa Sangai ni iyé nashi._
+Women have no homes of their own in the Three States of Existence.
+
+71.—_Oya no ingwa ga ko ni mukuü._
+The karma of the parents is visited upon the child.[59]
+
+ [59] Said of the parents of crippled or deformed children. But the
+ popular idea here expressed is not altogether in accord with the
+ teachings of the higher Buddhism.
+
+
+72.—_Rakkwa éda ni kaerazu._
+The fallen blossom never returns to the branch.[60]
+
+ [60] That which has been done never can be undone: the past cannot be
+ recalled.—This proverb is an abbreviation of the longer Buddhist text:
+ _Rakkwa éda ni kaerazu; ha-kyō futatabi terasazu:_ “The fallen blossom
+ never returns to the branch; the shattered mirror never again
+ reflects.”
+
+
+73.—_Raku wa ku no tané; ku wa raku no tané._
+Pleasure is the seed of pain; pain is the seed of pleasure.
+
+74.—_Rokudō wa, mé no maë._
+The Six Roads are right before your eyes.[61]
+
+ [61] That is to say, Your future life depends upon your conduct in
+ this life; and you are thus free to choose for yourself the place of
+ your next birth.
+
+
+75.—_Sangai mu-an._
+There is no rest within the Three States of Existence.
+
+76.—_Sangai ni kaki nashi;—Rokudō ni hotori nashi._
+There is no fence to the Three States of Existence;—there is no
+neighborhood to the Six Roads.[62]
+
+ [62] Within the Three States (Sangai), or universes, of Desire, Form,
+ and Formlessness; and within the Six Worlds, or conditions of
+ being,—_Jigokudō_ (Hell), _Gakidō_ (Pretas), _Chikushōdō_ (Animal
+ Life), _Shuradō_ (World of Fighting and Slaughter), _Ningendō_
+ (Mankind), _Tenjōdō_ (Heavenly Spirits)—all existence is included.
+ Beyond there is only Nirvâna. “There is no fence,” “no
+ neighborhood,”—that is to say, no limit beyond which to escape,—no
+ middle-path between any two of these states. We shall be reborn into
+ some one of them according to our karma.—Compare with No. 74.
+
+
+77.—_Sangé ni wa sannen no tsumi mo hōrobu._
+One confession effaces the sins of even three years.
+
+78.—_San nin yoréba, kugai._
+Where even three persons come together, there is a world of pain.[63]
+
+ [63] _Kugai_ (lit.: “bitter world”) is a term often used to describe
+ the life of a prostitute.
+
+
+79.—_San nin yoréba, Monjū no chié._
+Where three persons come together, there is the wisdom of _Monjū_.[64]
+
+ [64] Monjū Bosatsu [_Mañdjus’ri Bodhisattva_] figures in Japanese
+ Buddhism as a special divinity of wisdom.—The proverb signifies that
+ three heads are better than one. A saying of like meaning is,_ Hiza to
+ mo dankō:_ “Consult even with your own knee;” that is to say, Despise
+ no advice, no matter how humble the source of it.
+
+
+80.—_Shaka ni sekkyō._
+Preaching to Sâkyamuni.
+
+81.—_Shami kara chōrō._
+To become an abbot one must begin as a novice.
+
+82.—_Shindaréba, koso ikitaré._
+Only by reason of having died does one enter into life.[65]
+
+ [65] I never hear this singular proverb without being re-minded of a
+ sentence in Huxley’s famous essay, _On the Physical Basis of
+ Life:_—“The living protoplasm not only ultimately dies and is resolved
+ into its mineral and lifeless constituents, but is always dying, and,
+ strange as the paradox may sound, _could not live unless it died_.”
+
+
+83.—_Shiranu ga, hotoké; minu ga, Gokuraku._
+Not to know is to be a Buddha; not to see is Paradise.
+
+84.—_Shōbo ni kidoku nashi._
+There is no miracle in true doctrine.[66]
+
+ [66] Nothing can happen except as a result of eternal and irrevocable
+ law.
+
+
+85.—_Shō-chié wa Bodai no samatagé._
+A little wisdom is a stumbling-block on the way to Buddhahood.[67]
+
+ [67] _Bodai_ is the same word as the Sanscrit _Bodhi_, signifying the
+ supreme enlightenment,—the knowledge that leads to Buddhahood; but it
+ is often used by Japanese Buddhists in the sense of divine bliss, or
+ the Buddha-state itself.
+
+
+86.—_Shōshi no kukai hetori nashi._
+There is no shore to the bitter Sea of Birth and Death.[68]
+
+ [68] Or, “the Pain-Sea of Life and Death.”
+
+
+87.—_Sodé no furi-awasé mo tashō no en._
+Even the touching of sleeves in passing is caused by some relation in a
+former life.
+
+88.—_Sun zen; shaku ma._
+An inch of virtue; a foot of demon.[69]
+
+ [69] _Ma_ (Sanscrit, _Mârakâyikas_) is the name given to a particular
+ class of spirits who tempt men to evil. But in Japanese folklore the
+ _Ma_ have a part much resembling that occupied in Western popular
+ superstition by goblins and fairies.
+
+
+89.—_Tanoshimi wa hanasimi no motoi._
+All joy is the source of sorrow.
+
+90.—_Tondé hi ni iru natsu no mushi._
+So the insects of summer fly to the flame.[70]
+
+ [70] Said especially in reference to the result of sensual indulgence.
+
+
+91.—_Tsuchi-botoké no midzu-asobi._
+Clay-Buddha’s water-playing.[71]
+
+ [71] That is to say, “As dangerous as for a clay Buddha to play with
+ water.” Children often amuse themselves by making little Buddhist
+ images of mud, which melt into shapelessness, of course, if placed in
+ water.
+
+
+92.—_Tsuki ni murakumo, hana ni kazé._
+Cloud-wrack to the moon; wind to flowers.[72]
+
+ [72] The beauty of the moon is obscured by masses of clouds; the trees
+ no sooner blossom than their flowers are scattered by the wind. All
+ beauty is evanescent.
+
+
+93.—_Tsuyu no inochi._
+Human life is like the dew of morning.
+
+94.—_U-ki wa, kokoro ni ari._
+Joy and sorrow exist only in the mind.
+
+95.—_Uri no tsuru ni nasubi wa naranu._
+Egg-plants do not grow upon melon-vines.
+
+96.—_Uso mo hōben._
+Even an untruth may serve as a device.[73]
+
+ [73] That is, a pious device for effecting conversion. Such a device
+ is justified especially by the famous parable of the third chapter of
+ the _Saddharma Pundarîka_.
+
+
+97.—_Waga ya no hotoké tattoshi._
+My family ancestors were all excellent Buddhas.[74]
+
+ [74] Meaning that one most reveres the _hotoké_—the spirits of the
+ dead regarded as Buddhas—in one’s own household-shrine. There is an
+ ironical play upon the word _hotoké_, which may mean either a dead
+ person simply, or a Buddha. Perhaps the spirit of this proverb may be
+ better explained by the help of another: _Nigéta sakana ni chisai wa
+ nai; shinda kodomo ni warui ko wa nai_—“Fish that escaped was never
+ small; child that died was never bad.”
+
+
+98.—_Yuki no haté wa, Nehan._
+The end of snow is Nirvâna.[75]
+
+ [75] This curious saying is the only one in my collection containing
+ the word _Nehan_ (Nirvâna), and is here inserted chiefly for that
+ reason. The common people seldom speak of _Nehan_, and have little
+ knowledge of those profound doctrines to which the term is related.
+ The above phrase, as might be inferred, is not a popular expression:
+ it is rather an artistic and poetical reference to the aspect of a
+ landscape covered with snow to the horizon-line,—so that beyond the
+ snow-circle there is only the great void of the sky.
+
+
+99.—_Zen ni wa zen no mukui; aku ni wa aku no mukui._
+Goodness [or, virtue] is the return for goodness; evil is the return
+for evil.[76]
+
+ [76] Not so commonplace a proverb as might appear at first sight; for
+ it refers especially to the Buddhist belief that every kindness shown
+ to us in this life is a return of kindness done to others in a former
+ life, and that every wrong inflicted upon us is the reflex of some
+ injustice which we committed in a previous birth.
+
+
+100.—_Zensé no yakusoku-goto._
+Promised [or, destined] from a former birth.[77]
+
+ [77] A very common saying,—often uttered as a comment upon the
+ unhappiness of separation, upon sudden misfortune, upon sudden death,
+ etc. It is used especially in relation to _shinjū_, or lovers’
+ suicide. Such suicide is popularly thought to be a result of cruelty
+ in some previous state of being, or the consequence of having broken,
+ in a former life, the mutual promise to become husband and wife.
+
+
+
+
+Suggestion
+
+
+I had the privilege of meeting him in Tōkyō, where he was making a
+brief stay on his way to India;—and we took a long walk together, and
+talked of Eastern religions, about which he knew incomparably more than
+I. Whatever I could tell him concerning local beliefs, he would comment
+upon in the most startling manner,—citing weird correspondences in some
+living cult of India, Burmah, or Ceylon. Then, all of a sudden, he
+turned the conversation into a totally unexpected direction.
+
+“I have been thinking,” he said, “about the constancy of the relative
+proportion of the sexes, and wondering whether Buddhist doctrine
+furnishes an explanation. For it seems to me that, under ordinary
+conditions of karma, human rebirth would necessarily proceed by a
+regular alternation.”
+
+“Do you mean,” I asked, “that a man would be reborn as a woman, and a
+woman as a man?”
+
+“Yes,” he replied, “because desire is creative, and the desire of
+either sex is towards the other.”
+
+“And how many men,” I said, “would want to be reborn as women?”
+
+“Probably very few,” he answered. “But the doctrine that desire is
+creative does not imply that the individual longing creates its own
+satisfaction,—quite the contrary. The true teaching is that the result
+of every selfish wish is in the nature of a penalty, and that what the
+wish creates must prove—to higher knowledge at least—the folly of
+wishing.”
+
+“There you are right,” I said; “but I do not yet understand your
+theory.”
+
+“Well,” he continued, “if the physical conditions of human rebirth are
+all determined by the karma of the will relating to physical
+conditions, then sex would be determined by the will in relation to
+sex. Now the will of either sex is towards the other. Above all things
+else, excepting life, man desires woman, and woman man. Each
+individual, moreover, independently of any personal relation, feels
+perpetually, you say, the influence of some inborn feminine or
+masculine ideal, which you call ‘a ghostly reflex of countless
+attachments in countless past lives.’ And the insatiable desire
+represented by this ideal would of itself suffice to create the
+masculine or the feminine body of the next existence.”
+
+“But most women,” I observed, “would like to be reborn as men; and the
+accomplishment of that wish would scarcely be in the nature of a
+penalty.”
+
+“Why not?” he returned. “The happiness or unhappiness of the new
+existence would not be decided by sex alone: it would of necessity
+depend upon many conditions in combination.”
+
+“Your theory is interesting,” I said;—“but I do not know how far it
+could be made to accord with accepted doctrine…. And what of the person
+able, through knowledge and practice of the higher law, to remain
+superior to all weaknesses of sex?”
+
+“Such a one,” he replied, “would be reborn neither as man nor as
+woman,—providing there were no pre-existent karma powerful enough to
+check or to weaken the results of the self-conquest.”
+
+“Reborn in some one of the heavens?” I queried,—“by the
+Apparitional Birth?”
+
+“Not necessarily,” he said. “Such a one might be reborn in a world of
+desire,—like this,—but neither as man only, nor as woman only.”
+
+“Reborn, then, in what form?” I asked.
+
+“In that of a perfect being,” he responded. “A man or a woman is
+scarcely more than half-a-being,—because in our present imperfect state
+either sex can be evolved only at the cost of the other. In the mental
+and the physical composition of every man, there is undeveloped woman;
+and in the composition of every woman there is undeveloped man. But a
+being complete would be both perfect man and perfect woman, possessing
+the highest faculties of both sexes, with the weaknesses of neither.
+Some humanity higher than our own,—in other worlds,—might be thus
+evolved.”
+
+“But you know,” I observed, “that there are Buddhist texts,—in the
+_Saddharma Pundarîka_, for example, and in the _Vinayas_,—which
+forbid….”
+
+“Those texts,” he interrupted, “refer to imperfect beings—less than man
+and less than woman: they could not refer to the condition that I have
+been supposing…. But, remember, I am not preaching a doctrine;—I am
+only hazarding a theory.”
+
+“May I put your theory some day into print?” I asked.
+
+“Why, yes,” he made answer,—“if you believe it worth thinking about.”
+
+And long afterwards I wrote it down thus, as fairly as I was able, from
+memory.
+
+
+
+
+Ingwa-banashi[1]
+
+
+ [1] Lit., “a tale of _ingwa_.” _Ingwa_ is a Japanese Buddhist term for
+ evil karma, or the evil consequence of faults committed in a former
+ state of existence. Perhaps the curious title of the narrative is best
+ explained by the Buddhist teaching that the dead have power to injure
+ the living only in consequence of evil actions committed by their
+ victims in some former life. Both title and narrative may be found in
+ the collection of weird stories entitled _Hyaku-Monogatari_.
+
+
+The daimyō’s wife was dying, and knew that she was dying. She had not
+been able to leave her bed since the early autumn of the tenth Bunsei.
+It was now the fourth month of the twelfth Bunsei,—the year 1829 by
+Western counting; and the cherry-trees were blossoming. She thought of
+the cherry-trees in her garden, and of the gladness of spring. She
+thought of her children. She thought of her husband’s various
+concubines,—especially the Lady Yukiko, nineteen years old.
+
+“My dear wife,” said the daimyō, “you have suffered very much for three
+long years. We have done all that we could to get you well,—watching
+beside you night and day, praying for you, and often fasting for your
+sake, But in spite of our loving care, and in spite of the skill of our
+best physicians, it would now seen that the end of your life is not far
+off. Probably we shall sorrow more than you will sorrow because of your
+having to leave what the Buddha so truly termed ‘this burning-house of
+the world. I shall order to be performed—no matter what the cost—every
+religious rite that can serve you in regard to your next rebirth; and
+all of us will pray without ceasing for you, that you may not have to
+wander in the Black Space, but may quickly enter Paradise, and attain
+to Buddha-hood.”
+
+He spoke with the utmost tenderness, pressing her the while. Then, with
+eyelids closed, she answered him in a voice thin as the voice of in
+insect:—
+
+“I am grateful—most grateful—for your kind words…. Yes, it is true, as
+you say, that I have been sick for three long years, and that I have
+been treated with all possible care and affection…. Why, indeed, should
+I turn away from the one true Path at the very moment of my death?…
+Perhaps to think of worldly matters at such a time is not right;—but I
+have one last request to make,—only one…. Call here to me the Lady
+Yukiko;—you know that I love her like a sister. I want to speak to her
+about the affairs of this household.”
+
+Yukiko came at the summons of the lord, and, in obedience to a sign
+from him, knelt down beside the couch. The daimyō’s wife opened her
+eyes, and looked at Yukiko, and spoke:—“Ah, here is Yukiko!… I am so
+pleased to see you, Yukiko!… Come a little closer,—so that you can hear
+me well: I am not able to speak loud…. Yukiko, I am going to die. I
+hope that you will be faithful in all things to our dear lord;—for I
+want you to take my place when I am gone…. I hope that you will always
+be loved by him,—yes, even a hundred times more than I have been,—and
+that you will very soon be promoted to a higher rank, and become his
+honored wife…. And I beg of you always to cherish our dear lord: never
+allow another woman to rob you of his affection…. This is what I wanted
+to say to you, dear Yukiko…. Have you been able to understand?”
+
+“Oh, my dear Lady,” protested Yukiko, “do not, I entreat you, say such
+strange things to me! You well know that I am of poor and mean
+condition:—how could I ever dare to aspire to become the wife of our
+lord!”
+
+“Nay, nay!” returned the wife, huskily,—“this is not a time for words
+of ceremony: let us speak only the truth to each other. After my death,
+you will certainly be promoted to a higher place; and I now assure you
+again that I wish you to become the wife of our lord—yes, I wish this,
+Yukiko, even more than I wish to become a Buddha!… Ah, I had almost
+forgotten!—I want you to do something for me, Yukiko. You know that in
+the garden there is a _yaë-zakura_,[2] which was brought here, the year
+before last, from Mount Yoshino in Yamato. I have been told that it is
+now in full bloom;—and I wanted so much to see it in flower! In a
+little while I shall be dead;—I must see that tree before I die. Now I
+wish you to carry me into the garden—at once, Yukiko,—so that I can see
+it…. Yes, upon your back, Yukiko;—take me upon your back….”
+
+ [2] _Yaë-zakura, yaë-no-sakura_, a variety of Japanese cherry-tree
+ that bears double-blossoms.
+
+
+While thus asking, her voice had gradually become clear and strong,—as
+if the intensity of the wish had given her new force: then she suddenly
+burst into tears. Yukiko knelt motionless, not knowing what to do; but
+the lord nodded assent.
+
+“It is her last wish in this world,” he said. “She always loved
+cherry-flowers; and I know that she wanted very much to see that
+Yamato-tree in blossom. Come, my dear Yukiko, let her have her will.”
+
+As a nurse turns her back to a child, that the child may cling to it,
+Yukiko offered her shoulders to the wife, and said:—
+
+“Lady, I am ready: please tell me how I best can help you.”
+
+“Why, this way!”—responded the dying woman, lifting herself with an
+almost superhuman effort by clinging to Yukiko’s shoulders. But as she
+stood erect, she quickly slipped her thin hands down over the
+shoulders, under the robe, and clutched the breasts of the girl,, and
+burst into a wicked laugh.
+
+“I have my wish!” she cried—“I have my wish for the
+cherry-bloom,[3]—but not the cherry-bloom of the garden!… I could not
+die before I got my wish. Now I have it!—oh, what a delight!”
+
+ [3] In Japanese poetry and proverbial phraseology, the physical beauty
+ of a woman is compared to the cherry-flower; while feminine moral
+ beauty is compared to the plum-flower.
+
+
+And with these words she fell forward upon the crouching girl, and
+died.
+
+The attendants at once attempted to lift the body from Yukiko’s
+shoulders, and to lay it upon the bed. But—strange to say!—this
+seemingly easy thing could not be done. The cold hands had attached
+themselves in some unaccountable way to the breasts of the
+girl,—appeared to have grown into the quick flesh. Yukiko became
+senseless with fear and pain.
+
+Physicians were called. They could not understand what had taken place.
+By no ordinary methods could the hands of the dead woman be unfastened
+from the body of her victim;—they so clung that any effort to remove
+them brought blood. This was not because the fingers held: it was
+because the flesh of the palms had united itself in some inexplicable
+manner to the flesh of the breasts!
+
+At that time the most skilful physician in Yedo was a foreigner,—a
+Dutch surgeon. It was decided to summon him. After a careful
+examination he said that he could not understand the case, and that for
+the immediate relief of Yukiko there was nothing to be done except to
+cut the hands from the corpse. He declared that it would be dangerous
+to attempt to detach them from the breasts. His advice was accepted;
+and the hands’ were amputated at the wrists. But they remained clinging
+to the breasts; and there they soon darkened and dried up,—like the
+hands of a person long dead.
+
+Yet this was only the beginning of the horror.
+
+Withered and bloodless though they seemed, those hands were not dead.
+At intervals they would stir—stealthily, like great grey spiders. And
+nightly thereafter,—beginning always at the Hour of the Ox,[4]—they
+would clutch and compress and torture. Only at the Hour of the Tiger
+the pain would cease.
+
+ [4] In ancient Japanese time, the Hour of the Ox was the special hour
+ of ghosts. It began at 2 A.M., and lasted until 4 A.M.—for the old
+ Japanese hour was double the length of the modern hour. The Hour of
+ the Tiger began at 4 A.M.
+
+
+Yukiko cut off her hair, and became a mendicant-nun,—taking the
+religious name of Dassetsu. She had an _ihai_ (mortuary tablet) made,
+bearing the _kaimyō_ of her dead mistress,—“_Myō-Kō-In-Den
+Chizan-Ryō-Fu Daishi_”;—and this she carried about with her in all her
+wanderings; and every day before it she humbly besought the dead for
+pardon, and performed a Buddhist service in order that the jealous
+spirit might find rest. But the evil karma that had rendered such an
+affliction possible could not soon be exhausted. Every night at the
+Hour of the Ox, the hands never failed to torture her, during more than
+seventeen years,—according to the testimony of those persons to whom
+she last told her story, when she stopped for one evening at the house
+of Noguchi Dengozayémon, in the village of Tanaka in the district of
+Kawachi in the province of Shimotsuké. This was in the third year of
+Kōkwa (1846). Thereafter nothing more was ever heard of her.
+
+
+
+
+Story of a Tengu[1]
+
+
+ [1] This story may be found in the curious old Japanese book called
+ _Jikkun-Shō_. The same legend has furnished the subject of an
+ interesting _Nō_-play, called _Dai-É_ (“The Great Assembly”).
+    In Japanese popular art, the Tengu are commonly represented either
+    as winged men with beak-shaped noses, or as birds of prey. There
+    are different kinds of Tengu; but all are supposed to be
+    mountain-haunting spirits, capable of assuming many forms, and
+    occasionally appearing as crows, vultures, or eagles. Buddhism
+    appears to class the Tengu among the Mârakâyikas.
+
+
+In the days of the Emperor Go-Reizei, there was a holy priest living in
+the temple of Saito, on the mountain called Hiyei-Zan, near Kyōto. One
+summer day this good priest, after a visit to the city, was returning
+to his temple by way of Kita-no-Ōji, when he saw some boys ill-treating
+a kite. They had caught the bird in a snare, and were beating it with
+sticks. “Oh, the, poor creature!” compassionately exclaimed the
+priest;—“why do you torment it so, children?” One of the boys made
+answer:—“We want to kill it to get the feathers.” Moved by pity, the
+priest persuaded the boys to let him have the kite in exchange for a
+fan that he was carrying; and he set the bird free. It had not been
+seriously hurt, and was able to fly away.
+
+Happy at having performed this Buddhist act of merit, the priest then
+resumed his walk. He had not proceeded very far when he saw a strange
+monk come out of a bamboo-grove by the road-side, and hasten towards
+him. The monk respectfully saluted him, and said:—“Sir, through your
+compassionate kindness my life has been saved; and I now desire to
+express my gratitude in a fitting manner.” Astonished at hearing
+himself thus addressed, the priest replied:—“Really, I cannot remember
+to have ever seen you before: please tell me who you are.” “It is not
+wonderful that you cannot recognize me in this form,” returned the
+monk: “I am the kite that those cruel boys were tormenting at
+Kita-no-Ōji. You saved my life; and there is nothing in this world more
+precious than life. So I now wish to return your kindness in some way
+or other. If there be anything that you would like to have, or to know,
+or to see,—anything that I can do for you, in short,—please to tell me;
+for as I happen to possess, in a small degree, the Six Supernatural
+Powers, I am able to gratify almost any wish that you can express.” On
+hearing these words, the priest knew that he was speaking with a Tengu;
+and he frankly made answer:—“My friend, I have long ceased to care for
+the things of this world: I am now seventy years of age; neither fame
+nor pleasure has any attraction for me. I feel anxious only about my
+future birth; but as that is a matter in which no one can help me, it
+were useless to ask about it. Really, I can think of but one thing
+worth wishing for. It has been my life-long regret that I was not in
+India in the time of the Lord Buddha, and could not attend the great
+assembly on the holy mountain Gridhrakûta. Never a day passes in which
+this regret does not come to me, in the hour of morning or of evening
+prayer. Ah, my friend! if it were possible to conquer Time and Space,
+like the Bodhisattvas, so that I could look upon that marvellous
+assembly, how happy should I be!”
+
+“Why,” the Tengu exclaimed, “that pious wish of yours can easily be
+satisfied. I perfectly well remember the assembly on the Vulture Peak;
+and I can cause everything that happened there to reappear before you,
+exactly as it occurred. It is our greatest delight to represent such
+holy matters…. Come this way with me!”
+
+And the priest suffered himself to be led to a place among pines, on
+the slope of a hill. “Now,” said the Tengu, “you have only to wait here
+for awhile, with your eyes shut. Do not open them until you hear the
+voice of the Buddha preaching the Law. Then you can look. But when you
+see the appearance of the Buddha, you must not allow your devout
+feelings to influence you in any way;—you must not bow down, nor pray,
+nor utter any such exclamation as, ‘_Even so, Lord!_’ or ‘_O thou
+Blessed One!_’ You must not speak at all. Should you make even the
+least sign of reverence, something very unfortunate might happen to
+me.” The priest gladly promised to follow these injunctions; and the
+Tengu hurried away as if to prepare the spectacle.
+
+The day waned and passed, and the darkness came; but the old priest
+waited patiently beneath a tree, keeping his eyes closed. At last a
+voice suddenly resounded above him,—a wonderful voice, deep and clear
+like the pealing of a mighty bell,—the voice of the Buddha Sâkyamuni
+proclaiming the Perfect Way. Then the priest, opening his eyes in a
+great radiance, perceived that all things had been changed: the place
+was indeed the Vulture Peak,—the holy Indian mountain Gridhrakûta; and
+the time was the time of the Sûtra of the Lotos of the Good Law. Now
+there were no pines about him, but strange shining trees made of the
+Seven Precious Substances, with foliage and fruit of gems;—and the
+ground was covered with Mandârava and Manjûshaka flowers showered from
+heaven;—and the night was filled with fragrance and splendour and the
+sweetness of the great Voice. And in mid-air, shining as a moon above
+the world, the priest beheld the Blessed One seated upon the
+Lion-throne, with Samantabhadra at his right hand, and Manjusri at his
+left,—and before them assembled—immeasurably spreading into Space, like
+a flood Of stars—the hosts of the Mahâsattvas and the Bodhisattvas with
+their countless following: “gods, demons, Nâgas, goblins, men, and
+beings not human.” Sâriputra he saw, and Kâsyapa, and Ânanda, with all
+the disciples of the Tathâgata,—and the Kings of the Devas,—and the
+Kings of the Four Directions, like pillars of fire,—and the great
+Dragon-Kings,—and the Gandharvas and Garudas,—and the Gods of the Sun
+and the Moon and the Wind,—and the shining myriads of Brahmâ’s heaven.
+And incomparably further than even the measureless circling of the
+glory of these, he saw—made visible by a single ray of light that shot
+from the forehead of the Blessed One to pierce beyond uttermost
+Time—the eighteen hundred thousand Buddha-fields of the Eastern Quarter
+with all their habitants,—and the beings in each of the Six States of
+Existence,—and even the shapes of the Buddhas extinct, that had entered
+into Nirvâna. These, and all the gods, and all the demons, he saw bow
+down before the Lion-throne; and he heard that multitude incalculable
+of beings praising the Sûtra of the Lotos of the Good Law,—like the
+roar of a sea before the Lord. Then forgetting utterly his
+pledge,—foolishly dreaming that he stood in the very presence of the
+very Buddha,—he cast himself down in worship with tears of love and
+thanksgiving; crying out with a loud voice, “_O thou Blessed One!_”…
+
+Instantly with a shock as of earthquake the stupendous spectacle
+disappeared; and the priest found himself alone in the dark, kneeling
+upon the grass of the mountain-side. Then a sadness unspeakable fell
+upon him, because of the loss of the vision, and because of the
+thoughtlessness that had caused him to break his word. As he
+sorrowfully turned his steps homeward, the goblin-monk once more
+appeared before him, and said to him in tones of reproach and
+pain:—“Because you did not keep the promise which you made to me, and
+heedlessly allowed your feelings to overcome you, the Gohotendó, who is
+the Guardian of the Doctrine, swooped down suddenly from heaven upon
+us, and smote us in great anger, crying out, ‘_How do ye dare thus to
+deceive a pious person?_’ Then the other monks, whom I had assembled,
+all fled in fear. As for myself, one of my wings has been broken,—so
+that now I cannot fly.” And with these words the Tengu vanished
+forever.
+
+
+
+
+At Yaidzu
+
+
+I
+
+Under a bright sun the old fishing-town of Yaidzu has a particular
+charm of neutral color. Lizard-like it takes the grey tints of the rude
+grey coast on which it rests,—curving along a little bay. It is
+sheltered from heavy seas by an extraordinary rampart of boulders. This
+rampart, on the water-side, is built in the form of terrace-steps;—the
+rounded stones of which it is composed being kept in position by a sort
+of basket-work woven between rows of stakes driven deeply into the
+ground,—a separate row of stakes sustaining each of the grades. Looking
+landward from the top of the structure, your gaze ranges over the whole
+town,—a broad space of grey-tiled roofs and weather-worn grey timbers,
+with here and there a pine-grove marking the place of a temple-court.
+Seaward, over leagues of water, there is a grand view,—a jagged blue
+range of peaks crowding sharply into the horizon, like prodigious
+amethysts,—and beyond them, to the left, the glorious spectre of Fuji,
+towering enormously above everything. Between sea-wall and sea there is
+no sand,—only a grey slope of stones, chiefly boulders; and these roll
+with the surf so that it is ugly work trying to pass the breakers on a
+rough day. If you once get struck by a stone-wave,—as I did several
+times,—you will not soon forget the experience.
+
+At certain hours the greater part of this rough slope is occupied by
+ranks of strange-looking craft,—fishing-boats of a form peculiar to the
+locality. They are very large,—capable of carrying forty or fifty men
+each;—and they have queer high prows, to which Buddhist or Shintō
+charms (_mamori_ or _shugo_) are usually attached. A common form of
+Shintō written charm (_shugo_) is furnished for this purpose from the
+temple of the Goddess of Fuji: the text reads:—_Fuji-san chōjō
+Sengen-gu dai-gyō manzoku_,—meaning that the owner of the boat pledges
+himself, in case of good-fortune at fishing, to perform great
+austerities in honor of the divinity whose shrine is upon the summit of
+Fuji.
+
+In every coast-province of Japan,—and even at different
+fishing-settlements of the same province,—the forms of boats and
+fishing-implements are peculiar to the district or settlement. Indeed
+it will sometimes be found that settlements, within a few miles of each
+other, respectively manufacture nets or boats as dissimilar in type as
+might be the inventions of races living thousands of miles apart. This
+amazing variety may be in some degree due to respect for local
+tradition,—to the pious conservatism that preserves ancestral teaching
+and custom unchanged through hundreds of years: but it is better
+explained by the fact that different communities practise different
+kinds of fishing; and the shapes of the nets or the boats made, at any
+one place, are likely to prove, on investigation, the inventions of a
+special experience. The big Yaidzu boats illustrate this fact. They
+were devised according to the particular requirements of the
+Yaidzu-fishing-industry, which supplies dried _katsuo_ (bonito) to all
+parts of the Empire; and it was necessary that they should be able to
+ride a very rough sea. To get them in or out of the water is a heavy
+job; but the whole village helps. A kind of slipway is improvised in a
+moment by laying flat wooden frames on the slope in a line; and over
+these frames the flat-bottomed vessels are hauled up or down by means
+of long ropes. You will see a hundred or more persons thus engaged in
+moving a single boat,—men, women, and children pulling together, in
+time to a curious melancholy chant. At the coming of a typhoon, the
+boats are moved far back into the streets. There is plenty of fun in
+helping at such work; and if you are a stranger, the fisher-folk will
+perhaps reward your pains by showing you the wonders of their sea:
+crabs with legs of astonishing length, balloon-fish that blow
+themselves up in the most absurd manner, and various other creatures of
+shapes so extraordinary that you can scarcely believe them natural
+without touching them.
+
+The big boats with holy texts at their prows are not the strangest
+objects on the beach. Even more remarkable are the bait-baskets of
+split bamboo,—baskets six feet high and eighteen feet round, with one
+small hole in the dome-shaped top. Ranged along the sea-wall to dry,
+they might at some distance be mistaken for habitations or huts of some
+sort. Then you see great wooden anchors, shaped like ploughshares, and
+shod with metal; iron anchors, with four flukes; prodigious wooden
+mallets, used for driving stakes; and various other implements, still
+more unfamiliar, of which you cannot even imagine the purpose. The
+indescribable antique queerness of everything gives you that weird
+sensation of remoteness,—of the far away in time and place,—which makes
+one doubt the reality of the visible. And the life of Yaidzu is
+certainly the life of many centuries ago. The people, too, are the
+people of Old Japan: frank and kindly as children—good children,—honest
+to a fault, innocent of the further world, loyal to the ancient
+traditions and the ancient gods.
+
+II
+
+I happened to be at Yaidzu during the three days of the _Bon_ or
+Festival of the Dead; and I hoped to see the beautiful farewell
+ceremony of the third and last day. In many parts of Japan, the ghosts
+are furnished with miniature ships for their voyage,—little models of
+junks or fishing-craft, each containing offerings of food and water and
+kindled incense; also a tiny lantern or lamp, if the ghost-ship be
+despatched at night. But at Yaidzu lanterns only are set afloat; and I
+was told that they would be launched after dark. Midnight being the
+customary hour elsewhere, I supposed that it was the hour of farewell
+at Yaidzu also, and I rashly indulged in a nap after supper, expecting
+to wake up in time for the spectacle. But by ten o’clock, when I went
+to the beach again, all was over, and everybody had gone home. Over the
+water I saw something like a long swarm of fire-flies,—the lanterns
+drifting out to sea in procession; but they were already too far to be
+distinguished except as points of colored light. I was much
+disappointed: I felt that I had lazily missed an opportunity which
+might never again return,—for these old Bon-customs are dying rapidly.
+But in another moment it occurred to me that I could very well venture
+to swim out to the lights. They were moving slowly. I dropped my robe
+on the beach, and plunged in. The sea was calm, and beautifully
+phosphorescent. Every stroke kindled a stream of yellow fire. I swam
+fast, and overtook the last of the lantern-fleet much sooner than I had
+hoped. I felt that it would be unkind to interfere with the little
+embarcations, or to divert them from their silent course: so I
+contented myself with keeping close to one of them, and studying its
+details.
+
+[Illustration: The Lights of the Dead]
+
+The structure was very simple. The bottom was a piece of thick plank,
+perfectly square, and measuring about ten inches across. Each one of
+its corners supported a slender slick about sixteen inches high; and
+these four uprights, united above by cross-pieces, sustained the paper
+sides. Upon the point of a long nail, driven up through the centre of
+the bottom, was fixed a lighted candle. The top was left open. The four
+sides presented five different colors,—blue, yellow, red, white, and
+black; these five colors respectively symbolizing Ether, Wind, Fire,
+Water, and Earth,—the five Buddhist elements which are metaphysically
+identified with the Five Buddhas. One of the paper-panes was red, one
+blue, one yellow; and the right half of the fourth pane was black,
+while the left half, uncolored, represented white. No _kaimyō_ was
+written upon any of the transparencies. Inside the lantern there was
+only the flickering candle.
+
+I watched those frail glowing shapes drifting through the night, and
+ever as they drifted scattering, under impulse of wind and wave, more
+and more widely apart. Each, with its quiver of color, seemed a life
+afraid,—trembling on the blind current that was bearing it into the
+outer blackness…. Are not we ourselves as lanterns launched upon a
+deeper and a dimmer sea, and ever separating further and further one
+from another as we drift to the inevitable dissolution? Soon the
+thought-light in each burns itself out: then the poor frames, and all
+that is left of their once fair colors, must melt forever into the
+colorless Void.
+
+Even in the moment of this musing I began to doubt whether I was really
+alone,—to ask myself whether there might not be something more than a
+mere shuddering of light in the thing that rocked beside me: some
+presence that haunted the dying flame, and was watching the watcher. A
+faint cold thrill passed over me,—perhaps some chill uprising from the
+depths,—perhaps the creeping only of a ghostly fancy. Old superstitions
+of the coast recurred to me,—old vague warnings of peril in the time of
+the passage of Souls. I reflected that were any evil to befall me out
+there in the night,—meddling, or seeming to meddle, with the lights of
+the Dead,—I should myself furnish the subject of some future weird
+legend…. I whispered the Buddhist formula of farewell—to the
+lights,—and made speed for shore.
+
+As I touched the stones again, I was startled by seeing two white
+shadows before me; but a kindly voice, asking if the water was cold,
+set me at ease. It was the voice of my old landlord, Otokichi the
+fishseller, who had come to look for me, accompanied by his wife.
+
+“Only pleasantly cool,” I made answer, as I threw on my robe to go home
+with them.
+
+“Ah,” said the wife, “it is not good to go out there on the night of
+the Bon!”
+
+“I did not go far,” I replied;—“I only wanted to look at the lanterns.”
+
+“Even a Kappa gets drowned sometimes,”[1] protested Otokichi. “There
+was a man of this village who swam home a distance of seven ri, in bad
+weather, after his boat had been broken. But he was drowned
+afterwards.”
+
+ [1] This is a common proverb:—_Kappa mo oboré-shini_. The Kappa is a
+ water-goblin, haunting rivers especially.
+
+
+Seven _ri_ means a trifle less than eighteen miles. I asked if any of
+the young men now in the settlement could do as much.
+
+“Probably some might,” the old man replied. “There are many strong
+swimmers. All swim here,—even the little children. But when fisher-folk
+swim like that, it is only to save their lives.”
+
+“Or to make love,” the wife added,—“like the Hashima girl.”
+
+“Who?” queried I.
+
+“A fisherman’s daughter,” said Otokichi. “She had a lover in Ajiro,
+several _ri_ distant; and she used to swim to him at night, and swim
+back in the morning. He kept a light burning to guide her. But one dark
+night the light was neglected—or blown out; and she lost her way, and
+was drowned…. The story is famous in Idzu.”
+
+—“So,” I said to myself, “in the Far East, it is poor Hero that does
+the swimming. And what, under such circumstances, would have been the
+Western estimate of Leander?”
+
+III
+
+Usually about the time of the Bon, the sea gets rough; and I was not
+surprised to find next morning that the surf was running high. All day
+it grew. By the middle of the afternoon, the waves had become
+wonderful; and I sat on the sea-wall, and watched them until sundown.
+
+It was a long slow rolling,—massive and formidable. Sometimes, just
+before breaking, a towering swell would crack all its green length with
+a tinkle as of shivering glass; then would fall and flatten with a peal
+that shook the wall beneath me…. I thought of the great dead Russian
+general who made his army to storm as a sea,—wave upon wave of
+steel,—thunder following thunder…. There was yet scarcely any wind; but
+there must have been wild weather elsewhere,—and the breakers were
+steadily heightening. Their motion fascinated. How indescribably
+complex such motion is,—yet how eternally new! Who could fully describe
+even five minutes of it? No mortal ever saw two waves break in exactly
+the same way.
+
+And probably no mortal ever watched the ocean-roll or heard its thunder
+without feeling serious. I have noticed that even animals,—horses and
+cows,—become meditative in the presence of the sea: they stand and
+stare and listen as if the sight and sound of that immensity made them
+forget all else in the world.
+
+There is a folk-saying of the coast:—“_The Sea has a soul and hears_.”
+And the meaning is thus explained: Never speak of your fear when you
+feel afraid at sea;—if you say that you are afraid, the waves will
+suddenly rise higher. Now this imagining seems to me absolutely
+natural. I must confess that when I am either in the sea, or upon it, I
+cannot fully persuade myself that it is not alive,—a conscious and a
+hostile power. Reason, for the time being, avails nothing against this
+fancy. In order to be able to think of the sea as a mere body of water,
+I must be upon some height from whence its heaviest billowing appears
+but a lazy creeping of tiny ripples.
+
+But the primitive fancy may be roused even more strongly in darkness
+than by daylight. How living seem the smoulderings and the flashings of
+the tide on nights of phosphorescence!—how reptilian the subtle
+shifting of the tints of its chilly flame! Dive into such a
+night-sea;—open your eyes in the black-blue gloom, and watch the weird
+gush of lights that follow your every motion: each luminous point, as
+seen through the flood, like the opening and closing of an eye! At such
+a moment, one feels indeed as if enveloped by some monstrous
+sentiency,—suspended within some vital substance that feels and sees
+and wills alike in every part, an infinite soft cold Ghost.
+
+IV
+
+Long I lay awake that night, and listened to the thunder-rolls and
+crashings of the mighty tide. Deeper than these distinct shocks of
+noise, and all the storming of the nearer waves, was the bass of the
+further surf,—a ceaseless abysmal muttering to which the building
+trembled,—a sound that seemed to imagination like the sound of the
+trampling of infinite cavalry, the massing of incalculable
+artillery,—some rushing, from the Sunrise, of armies wide as the world.
+
+Then I found myself thinking of the vague terror with which I had
+listened, when a child, to the voice of the sea;—and I remembered that
+in after-years, on different coasts in different parts of the world,
+the sound of surf had always revived the childish emotion. Certainly
+this emotion was older than I by thousands of thousands of
+centuries,—the inherited sum of numberless terrors ancestral. But
+presently there came to me the conviction that fear of the sea alone
+could represent but one element of the multitudinous awe awakened by
+its voice. For as I listened to that wild tide of the Suruga coast, I
+could distinguish nearly every sound of fear known to man: not merely
+noises of battle tremendous,—of interminable volleying,—of immeasurable
+charging,—but the roaring of beasts, the crackling and hissing of fire,
+the rumbling of earthquake, the thunder of ruin, and, above all these,
+a clamor continual as of shrieks and smothered shoutings,—the Voices
+that are said to be the voices of the drowned., Awfulness supreme of
+tumult,—combining all imaginable echoings of fury and destruction and
+despair!
+
+And to myself I said:—Is it wonderful that the voice of the sea should
+make us serious? Consonantly to its multiple utterance must respond all
+waves of immemorial fear that move in the vaster sea of
+soul-experience. Deep calleth unto deep. The visible abyss calls to
+that abyss invisible of elder being whose flood-flow made the ghosts of
+us.
+
+Wherefore there is surely more than a little truth in the ancient
+belief that the speech of the dead is the roar of the sea. Truly the
+fear and the pain of the dead past speak to us in that dim deep awe
+which the roar of the sea awakens.
+
+But there are sounds that move us much more profoundly than the voice
+of the sea can do, and in stranger ways,—sounds that also make us
+serious at times, and very serious,—sounds of music.
+
+Great music is a psychical storm, agitating to unimaginable depth the
+mystery of the past within us. Or we might say that it is a prodigious
+incantation, every different instrument and voice making separate
+appeal to different billions of prenatal memories. There are tones that
+call up all ghosts of youth and joy and tenderness;—there are tones
+that evoke all phantom pain of perished passion;—there are tones that
+resurrect all dead sensations of majesty and might and glory,—all
+expired exultations,—all forgotten magnanimities. Well may the
+influence of music seem inexplicable to the man who idly dreams that
+his life began less than a hundred years ago! But the mystery lightens
+for whomsoever learns that the substance of Self is older than the sun.
+He finds that music is a Necromancy;—he feels that to every ripple of
+melody, to every billow of harmony, there answers within him, out of
+the Sea of Death and Birth, some eddying immeasurable of ancient
+pleasure and pain.
+
+Pleasure and pain: they commingle always in great music; and therefore
+it is that music can move us more profoundly than the voice of ocean or
+than any other voice can do. But in music’s larger utterance it is ever
+the sorrow that makes the undertone,—the surf-mutter of the Sea of
+Soul…. Strange to think how vast the sum of joy and woe that must have
+been experienced before the sense of music could evolve in the brain of
+man!
+
+Somewhere it is said that human life is the music of the Gods,—that its
+sobs and laughter, its songs and shrieks and orisons, its outcries of
+delight and of despair, rise never to the hearing of the Immortals but
+as a perfect harmony…. Wherefore they could not desire to hush the
+tones of pain: it would spoil their music! The combination, without the
+agony-tones, would prove a discord unendurable to ears divine.
+
+And in one way we ourselves are as Gods,—since it is only the sum of
+the pains and the joys of past lives innumerable that makes for us,
+through memory organic, the ecstasy of music. All the gladness and the
+grief of dead generations come back to haunt us in countless forms of
+harmony and of melody. Even so,—a million years after we shall have
+ceased to view the sun,—will the gladness and the grief of our own
+lives pass with richer music into other hearts—there to bestir, for one
+mysterious moment, some deep and exquisite thrilling of voluptuous
+pain.
+
+
+
+
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+
+<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold;'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of In Ghostly Japan, by Lafcadio Hearn</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world 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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this eBook.
+</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: In Ghostly Japan</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Lafcadio Hearn</div>
+<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Release Date: June 16, 2003 [eBook #8128]<br />
+[Most recently updated: February 3, 2021]</div>
+<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
+<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Liz Warren</div>
+<div style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN GHOSTLY JAPAN ***</div>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:55%;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" />
+</div>
+
+<h1>In Ghostly Japan</h1>
+
+<h2 class="no-break">by Lafcadio Hearn</h2>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>Contents</h2>
+
+<table summary="" style="">
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap01">FRAGMENT</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap02">FURISODÉ</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap03">INCENSE</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap04">A STORY OF DIVINATION</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap05">SILKWORMS</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap06">A PASSIONAL KARMA</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap07">FOOTPRINTS OF THE BUDDHA</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap08">ULULATION</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap09">BITS OF POETRY</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap10">JAPANESE BUDDHIST PROVERBS</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap11">SUGGESTION</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap12">INGWA-BANASHI</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap13">STORY OF A TENGU</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap14">AT YAIDZU</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<h2>List of Illustrations</h2>
+
+<table summary="" style="">
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#illus01">The Mountain of Skulls</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#illus02">The Magical Incense</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#illus03">The Peony Lantern</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#illus04">The Lights of the Dead</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#illus05">S&rsquo;rîpâda-tracing at Dentsu-In, Koishikawa, Tōkyō</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#illus06">Shō-Ekō-Hō-Kwan</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#illus07">Square and Triangle</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#illus08">Jizō</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#illus09">Emma Dai-ō</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus01"></a>
+<a href="images/fig01.jpg">
+<img src="images/fig01.jpg" width="319" height="500" alt="Illustration:" /></a>
+<p class="caption">The Mountain of Skulls</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap01"></a>Fragment</h2>
+
+<p>
+And it was at the hour of sunset that they came to the foot of the mountain.
+There was in that place no sign of life,&mdash;neither token of water, nor
+trace of plant, nor shadow of flying bird,&mdash;nothing but desolation rising
+to desolation. And the summit was lost in heaven.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the Bodhisattva said to his young companion:&mdash;&ldquo;What you have
+asked to see will be shown to you. But the place of the Vision is far; and the
+way is rude. Follow after me, and do not fear: strength will be given
+you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+Twilight gloomed about them as they climbed. There was no beaten path, nor any
+mark of former human visitation; and the way was over an endless heaping of
+tumbled fragments that rolled or turned beneath the foot. Sometimes a mass
+dislodged would clatter down with hollow echoings;&mdash;sometimes the
+substance trodden would burst like an empty shell….Stars pointed and thrilled;
+and the darkness deepened.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do not fear, my son,&rdquo; said the Bodhisattva, guiding: &ldquo;danger
+there is none, though the way be grim.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Under the stars they climbed,&mdash;fast, fast,&mdash;mounting by help of power
+superhuman. High zones of mist they passed; and they saw below them, ever
+widening as they climbed, a soundless flood of cloud, like the tide of a milky
+sea.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+Hour after hour they climbed;&mdash;and forms invisible yielded to their tread
+with dull soft crashings;&mdash;and faint cold fires lighted and died at every
+breaking.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And once the pilgrim-youth laid hand on a something smooth that was not
+stone,&mdash;and lifted it,&mdash;and dimly saw the cheekless gibe of death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Linger not thus, my son!&rdquo; urged the voice of the
+teacher;&mdash;&ldquo;the summit that we must gain is very far away!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+On through the dark they climbed,&mdash;and felt continually beneath them the
+soft strange breakings,&mdash;and saw the icy fires worm and die,&mdash;till
+the rim of the night turned grey, and the stars began to fail, and the east
+began to bloom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet still they climbed,&mdash;fast, fast,&mdash;mounting by help of power
+superhuman. About them now was frigidness of death,&mdash;and silence
+tremendous….A gold flame kindled in the east.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then first to the pilgrim&rsquo;s gaze the steeps revealed their
+nakedness;&mdash;and a trembling seized him,&mdash;and a ghastly fear. For
+there was not any ground,&mdash;neither beneath him nor about him nor above
+him,&mdash;but a heaping only, monstrous and measureless, of skulls and
+fragments of skulls and dust of bone,&mdash;with a shimmer of shed teeth strown
+through the drift of it, like the shimmer of scrags of shell in the wrack of a
+tide.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do not fear, my son!&rdquo; cried the voice of the
+Bodhisattva;&mdash;&ldquo;only the strong of heart can win to the place of the
+Vision!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+Behind them the world had vanished. Nothing remained but the clouds beneath,
+and the sky above, and the heaping of skulls between,&mdash;up-slanting out of
+sight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the sun climbed with the climbers; and there was no warmth in the light of
+him, but coldness sharp as a sword. And the horror of stupendous height, and
+the nightmare of stupendous depth, and the terror of silence, ever grew and
+grew, and weighed upon the pilgrim, and held his feet,&mdash;so that suddenly
+all power departed from him, and he moaned like a sleeper in dreams.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Hasten, hasten, my son!&rdquo; cried the Bodhisattva: &ldquo;the day is
+brief, and the summit is very far away.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the pilgrim shrieked,&mdash;&ldquo;I fear! I fear unspeakably!&mdash;and
+the power has departed from me!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The power will return, my son,&rdquo; made answer the Bodhisattva….
+&ldquo;Look now below you and above you and about you, and tell me what you
+see.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I cannot,&rdquo; cried the pilgrim, trembling and clinging; &ldquo;I
+dare not look beneath! Before me and about me there is nothing but skulls of
+men.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And yet, my son,&rdquo; said the Bodhisattva, laughing
+softly,&mdash;&ldquo;and yet you do not know of what this mountain is
+made.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The other, shuddering, repeated:&mdash;&ldquo;I fear!&mdash;unutterably I
+ fear!…there is nothing but skulls of men!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A mountain of skulls it is,&rdquo; responded the Bodhisattva. &ldquo;But
+know, my son, that all of them ARE YOUR OWN! Each has at some time been the
+nest of your dreams and delusions and desires. Not even one of them is the
+skull of any other being. All,&mdash;all without exception,&mdash;have been
+yours, in the billions of your former lives.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap02"></a>Furisodé</h2>
+
+<p>
+Recently, while passing through a little street tenanted chiefly by dealers in
+old wares, I noticed a <i>furisodé</i>, or long-sleeved robe, of the rich
+purple tint called <i>murasaki</i>, hanging before one of the shops. It was a
+robe such as might have been worn by a lady of rank in the time of the
+Tokugawa. I stopped to look at the five crests upon it; and in the same moment
+there came to my recollection this legend of a similar robe said to have once
+caused the destruction of Yedo.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+Nearly two hundred and fifty years ago, the daughter of a rich merchant of the
+city of the Shōguns, while attending some temple-festival, perceived in the
+crowd a young samurai of remarkable beauty, and immediately fell in love with
+him. Unhappily for her, he disappeared in the press before she could learn
+through her attendants who he was or whence he had come. But his image remained
+vivid in her memory,&mdash;even to the least detail of his costume. The holiday
+attire then worn by samurai youths was scarcely less brilliant than that of
+young girls; and the upper dress of this handsome stranger had seemed
+wonderfully beautiful to the enamoured maiden. She fancied that by wearing a
+robe of like quality and color, bearing the same crest, she might be able to
+attract his notice on some future occasion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Accordingly she had such a robe made, with very long sleeves, according to the
+fashion of the period; and she prized it greatly. She wore it whenever she went
+out; and when at home she would suspend it in her room, and try to imagine the
+form of her unknown beloved within it. Sometimes she would pass hours before
+it,&mdash;dreaming and weeping by turns. And she would pray to the gods and the
+Buddhas that she might win the young man&rsquo;s affection,&mdash;often
+repeating the invocation of the Nichiren sect: <i>Namu myō hō rengé kyō!</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But she never saw the youth again; and she pined with longing for him, and
+sickened, and died, and was buried. After her burial, the long-sleeved robe
+that she had so much prized was given to the Buddhist temple of which her
+family were parishioners. It is an old custom to thus dispose of the garments
+of the dead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The priest was able to sell the robe at a good price; for it was a costly silk,
+and bore no trace of the tears that had fallen upon it. It was bought by a girl
+of about the same age as the dead lady. She wore it only one day. Then she fell
+sick, and began to act strangely,&mdash;crying out that she was haunted by the
+vision of a beautiful young man, and that for love of him she was going to die.
+And within a little while she died; and the long-sleeved robe was a second
+time presented to the temple.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again the priest sold it; and again it became the property of a young girl, who
+wore it only once. Then she also sickened, and talked of a beautiful shadow,
+and died, and was buried. And the robe was given a third time to the temple;
+and the priest wondered and doubted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nevertheless he ventured to sell the luckless garment once more. Once more it
+was purchased by a girl and once more worn; and the wearer pined and died. And
+the robe was given a fourth time to the temple.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the priest felt sure that there was some evil influence at work; and he
+told his acolytes to make a fire in the temple-court, and to burn the robe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So they made a fire, into which the robe was thrown. But as the silk began to
+burn, there suddenly appeared upon it dazzling characters of flame,&mdash;the
+characters of the invocation, <i>Namu myō hō rengé kyō;</i>&mdash;and these,
+one by one, leaped like great sparks to the temple roof; and the temple took
+fire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Embers from the burning temple presently dropped upon neighbouring roofs; and
+the whole street was soon ablaze. Then a sea-wind, rising, blew destruction
+into further streets; and the conflagration spread from street to street, and
+from district into district, till nearly the whole of the city was consumed.
+And this calamity, which occurred upon the eighteenth day of the first month of
+the first year of Meiréki (1655), is still remembered in Tōkyō as the
+<i>Furisodé-Kwaji</i>,&mdash;the Great Fire of the Long-sleeved Robe.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+According to a story-book called <i>Kibun-Daijin</i>, the name of the girl who caused
+the robe to be made was O-Samé; and she was the daughter of Hikoyemon, a
+wine-merchant of Hyakushō-machi, in the district of Azabu. Because of her
+beauty she was also called Azabu-Komachi, or the Komachi of Azabu.<a href="#fn-2.1" name="fnref-2.1" id="fnref-2.1"><sup>[1]</sup></a>
+The same book says that the temple of the tradition was a Nichiren temple
+called Hon-myoji, in the district of Hongo; and that the crest upon the robe
+was a <i>kikyō</i>-flower. But there are many different versions of the story;
+and I distrust the <i>Kibun-Daijin</i> because it asserts that the beautiful
+samurai was not really a man, but a transformed dragon, or water-serpent, that
+used to inhabit the lake at Uyéno,&mdash;<i>Shinobazu-no-Iké</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-2.1" id="fn-2.1"></a> <a href="#fnref-2.1">[1]</a>
+After more than a thousand years, the name of Komachi, or Ono-no-Komachi, is
+still celebrated in Japan. She was the most beautiful woman of her time, and so
+great a poet that she could move heaven by her verses, and cause rain to fall
+in time of drought. Many men loved her in vain; and many are said to have died
+for love of her. But misfortunes visited her when her youth had passed; and,
+after having been reduced to the uttermost want, she became a beggar, and died
+at last upon the public highway, near Kyōto. As it was thought shameful to bury
+her in the foul rags found upon her, some poor person gave a wornout
+summer-robe (<i>katabira</i>) to wrap her body in; and she was interred near
+Arashiyama at a spot still pointed out to travellers as the &ldquo;Place of the
+Katabira&rdquo; (<i>Katabira-no-Tsuchi</i>).
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap03"></a>Incense</h2>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>
+I see, rising out of darkness, a lotos in a vase. Most of the vase is
+invisible, but I know that it is of bronze, and that its glimpsing handles are
+bodies of dragons. Only the lotos is fully illuminated: three pure white
+flowers, and five great leaves of gold and green,&mdash;gold above, green on
+the upcurling under-surface,&mdash;an artificial lotos. It is bathed by a
+slanting stream of sunshine,&mdash;the darkness beneath and beyond is the dusk
+of a temple-chamber. I do not see the opening through which the radiance pours,
+but I am aware that it is a small window shaped in the outline-form of a
+temple-bell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The reason that I see the lotos&mdash;one memory of my first visit to a
+Buddhist sanctuary&mdash;is that there has come to me an odor of incense. Often
+when I smell incense, this vision defines; and usually thereafter other
+sensations of my first day in Japan revive in swift succession with almost
+painful acuteness.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+It is almost ubiquitous,&mdash;this perfume of incense. It makes one element of
+the faint but complex and never-to-be-forgotten odor of the Far East. It haunts
+the dwelling-house not less than the temple,&mdash;the home of the peasant not
+less than the yashiki of the prince. Shintō shrines, indeed, are free from
+it;&mdash;incense being an abomination to the elder gods. But wherever Buddhism
+lives there is incense. In every house containing a Buddhist shrine or Buddhist
+tablets, incense is burned at certain times; and in even the rudest country
+solitudes you will find incense smouldering before wayside images,&mdash;little
+stone figures of Fudō, Jizō, or Kwannon. Many experiences of
+travel,&mdash;strange impressions of sound as well as of sight,&mdash;remain
+associated in my own memory with that fragrance:&mdash;vast silent shadowed
+avenues leading to weird old shrines;&mdash;mossed flights of worn steps
+ascending to temples that moulder above the clouds;&mdash;joyous tumult of
+festival nights;&mdash;sheeted funeral-trains gliding by in glimmer of
+lanterns; murmur of household prayer in fishermen&rsquo;s huts on far wild
+coasts;&mdash;and visions of desolate little graves marked only by threads of
+blue smoke ascending,&mdash;graves of pet animals or birds remembered by simple
+hearts in the hour of prayer to Amida, the Lord of Immeasurable Light.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the odor of which I speak is that of cheap incense only,&mdash;the incense
+in general use. There are many other kinds of incense; and the range of quality
+is amazing. A bundle of common incense-rods&mdash;(they are about as thick as
+an ordinary pencil-lead, and somewhat longer)&mdash;can be bought for a few
+sen; while a bundle of better quality, presenting to inexperienced eyes only
+some difference in color, may cost several yen, and be cheap at the price.
+Still costlier sorts of incense,&mdash;veritable luxuries,&mdash;take the form
+of lozenges, wafers, pastilles; and a small envelope of such material may be
+worth four or five pounds-sterling. But the commercial and industrial
+questions relating to Japanese incense represent the least interesting part of
+a remarkably curious subject.
+</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>
+Curious indeed, but enormous by reason of it infinity of tradition and detail.
+I am afraid even to think of the size of the volume that would be needed to
+cover it…. Such a work would properly begin with some brief account of the
+earliest knowledge and use of aromatics in Japan. I would next treat of the
+records and legends of the first introduction of Buddhist incense from
+Korea,&mdash;when King Shōmyō of Kudara, in 551 A. D., sent to the
+island-empire a collection of sutras, an image of the Buddha, and one complete
+set of furniture for a temple. Then something would have to be said about those
+classifications of incense which were made during the tenth century, in the
+periods of Engi and of Tenryaku,&mdash;and about the report of the ancient
+state-councillor, Kimitaka-Sangi, who visited China in the latter part of the
+thirteenth century, and transmitted to the Emperor Yomei the wisdom of the
+Chinese concerning incense. Then mention should be made of the ancient incenses
+still preserved in various Japanese temples, and of the famous fragments of
+<i>ranjatai</i> (publicly exhibited at Nara in the tenth year of Meiji) which
+furnished supplies to the three great captains, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and
+Iyeyasu. After this should follow an outline of the history of mixed incenses
+made in Japan,&mdash;with notes on the classifications devised by the luxurious
+Takauji, and on the nomenclature established later by Ashikaga Yoshimasa, who
+collected one hundred and thirty varieties of incense, and invented for the
+more precious of them names recognized even to this day,&mdash;such as
+&ldquo;Blossom-Showering,&rdquo; &ldquo;Smoke-of-Fuji,&rdquo; and
+&ldquo;Flower-of-the-Pure-Law.&rdquo; Examples ought to be given likewise of
+traditions attaching to historical incenses preserved in several princely
+families, together with specimens of those hereditary recipes for
+incense-making which have been transmitted from generation to generation
+through hundreds of years, and are still called after their august
+inventors,&mdash;as &ldquo;the Method of Hina-Dainagon,&rdquo; &ldquo;the
+Method of Sentō-In,&rdquo; etc. Recipes also should be given of those strange
+incenses made &ldquo;<i>to imitate the perfume of the lotos, the smell of the
+summer breeze, and the odor of the autumn wind</i>.&rdquo; Some legends of the
+great period of incense-luxury should be cited,&mdash;such as the story of Sué
+Owari-no-Kami, who built for himself a palace of incense-woods, and set fire to
+it on the night of his revolt, when the smoke of its burning perfumed the land
+to a distance of twelve miles…. Of course the mere compilation of materials for
+a history of mixed-incenses would entail the study of a host of documents,
+treatises, and books,&mdash;particularly of such strange works as the
+<i>Kun-Shū-Rui-Shō</i>, or &ldquo;Incense-Collector&rsquo;s
+Classifying-Manual&rdquo;;&mdash;containing the teachings of the Ten Schools of
+the Art of Mixing Incense; directions as to the best seasons for
+incense-making; and instructions about the &ldquo;<i>different kinds of
+fire</i>&rdquo; to be used for burning incense&mdash;(one kind is called
+&ldquo;literary fire,&rdquo; and another &ldquo;military fire&rdquo;); together
+with rules for pressing the ashes of a censer into various artistic designs
+corresponding to season and occasion…. A special chapter should certainly be
+given to the incense-bags (<i>kusadama</i>) hung up in houses to drive away
+goblins,&mdash;and to the smaller incense-bags formerly carried about the
+person as a protection against evil spirits. Then a very large part of the work
+would have to be devoted to the religious uses and legends of incense,&mdash;a
+huge subject in itself. There would also have to be considered the curious
+history of the old &ldquo;incense-assemblies,&rdquo; whose elaborate ceremonial
+could be explained only by help of numerous diagrams. One chapter at least
+would be required for the subject of the ancient importation of
+incense-materials from India, China, Annam, Siam, Cambodia, Ceylon, Sumatra,
+Java, Borneo, and various islands of the Malay archipelago,&mdash;places all
+named in rare books about incense. And a final chapter should treat of the
+romantic literature of incense,&mdash;the poems, stories, and dramas in which
+incense-rites are mentioned; and especially those love-songs comparing the body
+to incense, and passion to the eating flame:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+Even as burns the perfume lending thy robe its fragance,<br />
+Smoulders my life away, consumed by the pain of longing!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+….The merest outline of the subject is terrifying! I shall attempt nothing more
+than a few notes about the religious, the luxurious, and the ghostly uses of
+incense.
+</p>
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>
+The common incense everywhere burned by poor people before Buddhist icons is
+called <i>an-soku-kō</i>. This is very cheap. Great quantities of it are burned
+by pilgrims in the bronze censers set before the entrances of famous temples;
+and in front of roadside images you may often see bundles of it. These are for
+the use of pious wayfarers, who pause before every Buddhist image on their path
+to repeat a brief prayer and, when possible, to set a few rods smouldering at
+the feet of the statue. But in rich temples, and during great religious
+ceremonies, much more expensive incense is used. Altogether three classes of
+perfumes are employed in Buddhist rites: <i>kō</i>, or incense-proper, in many
+varieties&mdash;(the word literally means only &ldquo;fragrant
+substance&rdquo;);&mdash;<i>dzukō</i>, an odorous ointment; and <i>makkō</i>, a
+fragrant powder. <i>Kō</i> is burned; <i>dzukō</i> is rubbed upon the hands of
+the priest as an ointment of purification; and <i>makkō</i> is sprinkled about
+the sanctuary. This <i>makkō</i> is said to be identical with the
+sandalwood-powder so frequently mentioned in Buddhist texts. But it is only the
+true incense which can be said to bear an important relation to the religious
+service.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Incense,&rdquo; declares the <i>Soshi-Ryaku</i>,<a href="#fn-3.1" name="fnref-3.1" id="fnref-3.1"><sup>[1]</sup></a>
+&ldquo;is the Messenger of Earnest Desire. When the rich Sudatta wished to
+invite the Buddha to a repast, he made use of incense. He was wont to ascend to
+the roof of his house on the eve of the day of the entertainment, and to remain
+standing there all night, holding a censer of precious incense. And as often as
+he did thus, the Buddha never failed to come on the following day at the exact
+time desired.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-3.1" id="fn-3.1"></a> <a href="#fnref-3.1">[1]</a>
+&ldquo;Short [or Epitomized] History of Priests.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This text plainly implies that incense, as a burnt-offering, symbolizes the
+pious desires of the faithful. But it symbolizes other things also; and it has
+furnished many remarkable similes to Buddhist literature. Some of these, and
+not the least interesting, occur in prayers, of which the following, from the
+book called <i>Hōji-san</i><a href="#fn-3.2" name="fnref-3.2" id="fnref-3.2"><sup>[2]</sup></a>
+is a striking example:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-3.2" id="fn-3.2"></a> <a href="#fnref-3.2">[2]</a>
+&ldquo;The Praise of Pious Observances.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Let my body remain pure like a censer!&mdash;let my thought be
+ever as a fire of wisdom, purely consuming the incense of sîla and of
+dhyâna,</i><a href="#fn-3.3" name="fnref-3.3" id="fnref-3.3"><sup>[3]</sup></a>
+<i>that so may I do homage to all the Buddhas in the Ten Directions of the
+Past, the Present, and the Future!</i>&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-3.3" id="fn-3.3"></a> <a href="#fnref-3.3">[3]</a>
+By <i>sîla</i> is meant the observance of the rules of purity in act and
+thought. <i>Dhyâna</i> (called by Japanese Buddhists <i>Zenjō</i>) is one of
+the higher forms of meditation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sometimes in Buddhist sermons the destruction of Karma by virtuous effort is
+likened to the burning of incense by a pure flame,&mdash;sometimes, again, the
+life of man is compared to the smoke of incense. In his &ldquo;Hundred Writings
+&ldquo;(<i>Hyaku-tsū-kiri-kami</i>), the Shinshū priest Myōden says, quoting
+from the Buddhist work <i>Kujikkajō</i>, or &ldquo;Ninety Articles
+&ldquo;:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In the burning of incense we see that so long as any incense remains, so
+long does the burning continue, and the smoke mount skyward. Now the breath of
+this body of ours,&mdash;this impermanent combination of Earth, Water, Air, and
+Fire,&mdash;is like that smoke. And the changing of the incense into cold ashes
+when the flame expires is an emblem of the changing of our bodies into ashes
+when our funeral pyres have burnt themselves out.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He also tells us about that Incense-Paradise of which every believer ought to
+be reminded by the perfume of earthly incense:&mdash;&ldquo;In the
+Thirty-Second Vow for the Attainment of the Paradise of Wondrous
+Incense,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;it is written: &lsquo;<i>That Paradise is
+formed of hundreds of thousands of different kinds of incense, and of
+substances incalculably precious;&mdash;the beauty of it incomparably exceeds
+anything in the heavens or in the sphere of man;&mdash;the fragrance of it
+perfumes all the worlds of the Ten Directions of Space; and all who perceive
+that odor practise Buddha-deeds.</i>&rsquo; In ancient times there were men of
+superior wisdom and virtue who, by reason of their vow, obtained perception of
+the odor; but we, who are born with inferior wisdom and virtue in these later
+days, cannot obtain such perception. Nevertheless it will be well for us, when
+we smell the incense kindled before the image of Amida, to imagine that its
+odor is the wonderful fragrance of Paradise, and to repeat the <i>Nembutsu</i>
+in gratitude for the mercy of the Buddha.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<h3>IV</h3>
+
+<p>
+But the use of incense in Japan is not confined to religious rites and
+ceremonies: indeed the costlier kinds of incense are manufactured chiefly for
+social entertainments. Incense-burning has been an amusement of the aristocracy
+ever since the thirteenth century. Probably you have heard of the Japanese
+tea-ceremonies, and their curious Buddhist history; and I suppose that every
+foreign collector of Japanese <i>bric-à-brac</i> knows something about the
+luxury to which these ceremonies at one period attained,&mdash;a luxury well
+attested by the quality of the beautiful utensils formerly employed in them.
+But there were, and still are, incense-ceremonies much more elaborate and
+costly than the tea-ceremonies,&mdash;and also much more interesting. Besides
+music, embroidery, poetical composition and other branches of the old-fashioned
+female education, the young lady of pre-Meiji days was expected to acquire
+three especially polite accomplishments,&mdash;the art of arranging flowers,
+(<i>ikébana</i>), the art of ceremonial tea-making (<i>cha-no-yu</i> or
+<i>cha-no-e</i>),<a href="#fn-3.4" name="fnref-3.4" id="fnref-3.4"><sup>[4]</sup></a>
+and the etiquette of incense-parties (<i>kō-kwai</i> or <i>kō-é</i>).
+Incense-parties were invented before the time of the Ashikaga shōguns, and were
+most in vogue during the peaceful period of the Tokugawa rule. With the fall of
+the shōgunate they went out of fashion; but recently they have been to some
+extent revived. It is not likely, however, that they will again become really
+fashionable in the old sense,&mdash;partly because they represented rare forms
+of social refinement that never can be revived, and partly because of their
+costliness.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-3.4" id="fn-3.4"></a> <a href="#fnref-3.4">[4]</a>
+Girls are still trained in the art of arranging flowers, and in the etiquette
+of the dainty, though somewhat tedious, <i>cha-no-yu</i>. Buddhist priests have
+long enjoyed a reputation as teachers of the latter. When the pupil has reached
+a certain degree of proficiency, she is given a diploma or certificate. The tea
+used in these ceremonies is a powdered tea of remarkable fragrance,&mdash;the
+best qualities of which fetch very high prices.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In translating <i>kō-kwai</i> as &ldquo;incense-party,&rdquo; I use the word
+&ldquo;party&rdquo; in the meaning that it takes in such compounds as
+&ldquo;card-party,&rdquo; &ldquo;whist-party,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;chess-party&rdquo;;&mdash;for a <i>kō-kwai</i> is a meeting held only
+with the object of playing a game,&mdash;a very curious game. There are several
+kinds of incense-games; but in all of them the contest depends upon the ability
+to remember and to name different kinds of incense by the perfume alone. That
+variety of <i>kō-kwai</i> called <i>Jitchū-kō</i>
+(&ldquo;ten-burning-incense&rdquo;) is generally conceded to be the most
+amusing; and I shall try to tell you how it is played.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+The numeral &ldquo;ten,&rdquo; in the Japanese, or rather Chinese name of this
+diversion, does not refer to ten kinds, but only to ten packages of incense;
+for <i>Jitchū-kō</i>, besides being the most amusing, is the very simplest of
+incense-games, and is played with only four kinds of incense. One kind must be
+supplied by the guests invited to the party; and three are furnished by the
+person who gives the entertainment. Each of the latter three supplies of
+incense&mdash;usually prepared in packages containing one hundred wafers is
+divided into four parts; and each part is put into a separate paper numbered or
+marked so as to indicate the quality. Thus four packages are prepared of the
+incense classed as No. 1, four of incense No. 2, and four of incense No.
+3,&mdash;or twelve in all. But the incense given by the guests,&mdash;always
+called &ldquo;guest-incense&rdquo;&mdash;is not divided: it is only put into a
+wrapper marked with an abbreviation of the Chinese character signifying
+&ldquo;guest.&rdquo; Accordingly we have a total of thirteen packages to start
+with; but three are to be used in the preliminary sampling, or
+&ldquo;experimenting&rdquo;&mdash;as the Japanese term it,&mdash;after the
+following manner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We shall suppose the game to be arranged for a party of six,&mdash;though there
+is no rule limiting the number of players. The six take their places in line,
+or in a half-circle&mdash;if the room be small; but they do not sit close
+together, for reasons which will presently appear. Then the host, or the person
+appointed to act as incense-burner, prepares a package of the incense classed
+as No 1, kindles it in a censer, and passes the censer to the guest occupying
+the first seat,<a href="#fn-3.5" name="fnref-3.5" id="fnref-3.5"><sup>[5]</sup></a>
+with the announcement&mdash;&ldquo;This is incense No 1&rdquo; The guest
+receives the censer according to the graceful etiquette required in the
+<i>kō-kwai</i>, inhales the perfume, and passes on the vessel to his neighbor,
+who receives it in like manner and passes it to the third guest, who presents
+it to the fourth,&mdash;and so on. When the censer has gone the round of the
+party, it is returned to the incense-burner. One package of incense No. 2, and
+one of No. 3, are similarly prepared, announced, and tested. But with the
+&ldquo;guest-incense&rdquo; no experiment is made. The player should be able to
+remember the different odors of the incenses tested; and he is expected to
+identify the guest-incense at the proper time merely by the unfamiliar quality
+of its fragrance.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-3.5" id="fn-3.5"></a> <a href="#fnref-3.5">[5]</a>
+The places occupied by guests in a Japanese <i>zashiki</i>, or reception room
+are numbered from the alcove of the apartment. The place of the most honored is
+immediately before the alcove: this is the first seat, and the rest are
+numbered from it, usually to the left.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The original thirteen packages having thus by &ldquo;experimenting&rdquo; been
+reduced to ten, each player is given one set of ten small tablets&mdash;usually
+of gold-lacquer,&mdash;every set being differently ornamented. The backs only
+of these tablets are decorated; and the decoration is nearly always a floral
+design of some sort:&mdash;thus one set might be decorated with chrysanthemums
+in gold, another with tufts of iris-plants, another with a spray of
+plum-blossoms, etc. But the faces of the tablets bear numbers or marks; and
+each set comprises three tablets numbered &ldquo;1,&rdquo; three numbered
+&ldquo;2,&rdquo; three numbered &ldquo;3,&rdquo; and one marked with the
+character signifying &ldquo;guest.&rdquo; After these tablet-sets have been
+distributed, a box called the &ldquo;tablet-box&rdquo; is placed before the
+first player; and all is ready for the real game.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The incense-burner retires behind a little screen, shuffles the flat packages
+like so many cards, takes the uppermost, prepares its contents in the censer,
+and then, returning to the party, sends the censer upon its round. This time,
+of course, he does not announce what kind of incense he has used. As the censer
+passes from hand to hand, each player, after inhaling the fume, puts into the
+tablet-box one tablet bearing that mark or number which he supposes to be the
+mark or number of the incense he has smelled. If, for example, he thinks the
+incense to be &ldquo;guest-incense,&rdquo; he drops into the box that one of
+his tablets marked with the ideograph meaning &ldquo;guest;&rdquo; or if he
+believes that he has inhaled the perfume of No. 2, he puts into the box a
+tablet numbered &ldquo;2.&rdquo; When the round is over, tablet-box and censer
+are both returned to the incense-burner. He takes the six tablets out of the
+box, and wraps them up in the paper which contained the incense guessed about.
+The tablets themselves keep the personal as well as the general
+record,&mdash;since each player remembers the particular design upon his own
+set.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The remaining nine packages of incense are consumed and judged in the same way,
+according to the chance order in which the shuffling has placed them. When all
+the incense has been used, the tablets are taken out of their wrappings, the
+record is officially put into writing, and the victor of the day is announced.
+I here offer the translation of such a record: it will serve to explain, almost
+at a glance, all the complications of the game.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+According to this record the player who used the tablets decorated with the
+design called &ldquo;Young Pine,&rdquo; made but two mistakes; while the holder
+of the &ldquo;White-Lily&rdquo; set made only one correct guess. But it is
+quite a feat to make ten correct judgments in succession. The olfactory nerves
+are apt to become somewhat numbed long before the game is concluded; and,
+therefore it is customary during the <i>Kō-kwai</i> to rinse the mouth at
+intervals with pure vinegar, by which operation the sensitivity is partially
+restored.
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+RECORD OF A KŌ-KWAI.
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+Order in which the ten packages of incense were used:&mdash; 
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10<br />
+No. No. &mdash; No. No. No. No. No. No. No.<br />
+III I &ldquo;GUEST&rdquo; II I III II I III II
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Names given to the six sets of tablets used, according to decorative designs on
+the back:<br />
+&ldquo;Gold Chrysanthemum&rdquo; 1    3    1    2*  Guest  1     2*   2    3* 3         3<br />
+&ldquo;Young Bamboo&rdquo;   3*   1*   1    2*   1*   Guest  3    2    1 3     
+   4<br />
+&ldquo;Red Peony&rdquo;     Guest 1*   2    2*   3     1     3    2    3* 1    
+    3<br />
+&ldquo;White Lily&rdquo;     1    3    1    3    2     2     1    3   Guest 2* 
+       1<br />
+&ldquo;Young Pine&rdquo;     3*   1* Guest* 3    1*    2     2*   1*   3* 2*   
+     8 (Winner)<br />
+&ldquo;Cherry-Blossom-in-a-Mist&rdquo;      1    3  Guest* 2*   1*    3*    1  
+ 2    3* 2*         6
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Guesses recorded by numbers on the tablet; correct being marked *
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No. of correct guesses
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+NAMES OF INCENSE USED.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I. &ldquo;Tasogare&rdquo; (&ldquo;Who-Is-there?&rdquo; I. e.
+&ldquo;Evening-Dusk&rdquo;).<br />
+II. &ldquo;Baikwa&rdquo; (&ldquo;Plum Flower&rdquo;).<br />
+III. &ldquo;Wakakusa&rdquo; (&ldquo;Young Grass&rdquo;).<br />
+IV.  (&ldquo;Guest Incense&rdquo;) &ldquo;Yamaji-no-Tsuyu&rdquo;
+(&ldquo;Dew-on-the-Mountain-Path&rdquo;).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the Japanese original of the foregoing record were appended the names of the
+players, the date of the entertainment, and the name of the place where the
+party was held. It is the custom In some families to enter all such records in
+a book especially made for the purpose, and furnished with an index which
+enables the <i>Kō-kwai</i> player to refer immediately to any interesting fact
+belonging to the history of any past game.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The reader will have noticed that the four kinds of incense used were
+designated by very pretty names. The incense first mentioned, for example, is
+called by the poets&rsquo; name for the gloaming,&mdash;<i>Tasogaré</i> (lit:
+&ldquo;Who is there?&rdquo; or &ldquo; Who is it?&rdquo;)&mdash;a word which in
+this relation hints of the toilet-perfume that reveals some charming presence
+to the lover waiting in the dusk. Perhaps some curiosity will be felt regarding
+the composition of these incenses. I can give the Japanese recipes for two
+sorts; but I have not been able to identify all of the materials named:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<i>Recipe for Yamaji-no-Tsuyu.</i>
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+   Ingredients                   Proportions.<br />
+                                              about
+Jinkō (aloes-wood)               4 <i>mommé</i>      (½ oz.)
+Cōoji (cloves)                   4 &rdquo;            &rdquo;
+Kunroku (olibanum)               4 &rdquo;            &rdquo;
+Hakkō (artemisia Schmidtiana)    4 &rdquo;            &rdquo;
+Jakō (musk)                      1 <i>bu</i>         (⅛ oz.)
+Kōkō(?)                          4 <i>mommé</i>      (½ oz.)
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+<i>To 21 pastilles</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<i>Recipe for Baikwa.</i>
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+   Ingredients                   Proportions.<br />
+                                              about
+Jinkō (aloes)                    20 <i>mommé</i>    (2 1/2 oz.)
+Chōji (cloves)                   12 &ldquo;         (1 1/2 oz.)
+Kōkō(?)                       8 1/3 &ldquo;         (1 1/40 oz.)
+Byakudan (sandal-wood)            4 &ldquo;         (1/2 oz.)
+Kanshō (spikenard)                2 <i>bu</i>        (1/4 oz.)
+Kwakkō (Bishop&rsquo;s-wort?)     1 <i>bu</i> 2 <i>shu</i>  (3/16 oz.)
+Kunroku (olibanum)                3 &rdquo;  3 &rdquo;    (15/22 oz.)
+Shōmokkō (?)                      2 &rdquo;         (1/4 oz.)
+Jakō (musk)                       3 &rdquo; 2 <i>shu</i>   (7/16 oz.)
+Ryūnō (refined Borneo Camphor)    3 <i>shu</i>       (3/8 oz.)
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+<i>To 50 pastilles</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The incense used at a <i>Kō-kwai</i> ranges in value, according to the style of
+the entertainment, from $2.50 to $30.00 per envelope of 100 wafers&mdash;wafers
+usually not more than one-fourth of an inch in diameter. Sometimes an incense
+is used worth even more than $30.00 per envelope: this contains
+<i>ranjatai</i>, an aromatic of which the perfume is compared to that of
+&ldquo;musk mingled with orchid-flowers.&rdquo; But there is some
+incense,&mdash;never sold,&mdash;which is much more precious than
+<i>ranjatai</i>,&mdash;incense valued less for its composition than for its
+history: I mean the incense brought centuries ago from China or from India by
+the Buddhist missionaries, and presented to princes or to other persons of high
+rank. Several ancient Japanese temples also include such foreign incense among
+their treasures. And very rarely a little of this priceless material is
+contributed to an incense-party,&mdash;much as in Europe, on very extraordinary
+occasions, some banquet is glorified by the production of a wine several
+hundred years old.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Like the tea-ceremonies, the <i>Kō-kwai</i> exact observance of a very complex
+and ancient etiquette. But this subject could interest few readers; and I shall
+only mention some of the rules regarding preparations and precautions. First of
+all, it is required that the person invited to an incense-party shall attend
+the same in as <i>odorless</i> a condition as possible: a lady, for instance,
+must not use hair-oil, or put on any dress that has been kept in a perfumed
+chest-of-drawers. Furthermore, the guest should prepare for the contest by
+taking a prolonged hot bath, and should eat only the lightest and least odorous
+kind of food before going to the rendezvous. It is forbidden to leave the room
+during the game, or to open any door or window, or to indulge in needless
+conversation. Finally I may observe that, while judging the incense, a player
+is expected to take not less than three inhalations, or more than five.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this economical era, the <i>Kō-kwai</i> takes of necessity a much humbler
+form than it assumed in the time of the great daimyō, of the princely abbots,
+and of the military aristocracy. A full set of the utensils required for the
+game can now be had for about $50.00; but the materials are of the poorest
+kind. The old-fashioned sets were fantastically expensive. Some were worth
+thousands of dollars. The incense-burner&rsquo;s desk,&mdash;the writing-box,
+paper-box, tablet-box, etc.,&mdash;the various stands or <i>dai</i>,&mdash;were
+of the costliest gold-lacquer;&mdash;the pincers and other instruments were of
+gold, curiously worked;&mdash;and the censer&mdash;whether of precious metal,
+bronze, or porcelain,&mdash;was always a <i>chef-d&rsquo;œuvre</i>, designed by
+some artist of renown.
+</p>
+
+<h3>V</h3>
+
+<p>
+Although the original signification of incense in Buddhist ceremonies was
+chiefly symbolical, there is good reason to suppose that various beliefs older
+than Buddhism,&mdash;some, perhaps, peculiar to the race; others probably of
+Chinese or Korean derivation,&mdash;began at an early period to influence the
+popular use of incense in Japan. Incense is still burned in the presence of a
+corpse with the idea that its fragrance shields both corpse and newly-parted
+soul from malevolent demons; and by the peasants it is often burned also to
+drive away goblins and the evil powers presiding over diseases. But formerly it
+was used to summon spirits as well as to banish them. Allusions to its
+employment in various weird rites may be found in some of the old dramas and
+romances. One particular sort of incense, imported from China, was said to have
+the power of calling up human spirits. This was the wizard-incense referred to
+in such ancient love-songs as the following:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;I have heard of the magical incense that summons the souls of the
+absent:<br />
+Would I had some to burn, in the nights when I wait alone!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is an interesting mention of this incense in the Chinese book,
+<i>Shang-hai-king</i>. It was called <i>Fwan-hwan-hiang</i> (by Japanese
+pronunciation, <i>Hangon-kō</i>), or &ldquo;Spirit-Recalling-Incense;&rdquo;
+and it was made in Tso-Chau, or the District of the Ancestors, situated by the
+Eastern Sea. To summon the ghost of any dead person&mdash;or even that of a
+living person, according to some authorities,&mdash;it was only necessary to
+kindle some of the incense, and to pronounce certain words, while keeping the
+mind fixed upon the memory of that person. Then, in the smoke of the incense,
+the remembered face and form would appear.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus02"></a>
+<a href="images/fig02.jpg">
+<img src="images/fig02.jpg" width="311" height="500" alt="Illustration:" /></a>
+<p class="caption">The Magical Incense</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In many old Japanese and Chinese books mention is made of a famous story about
+this incense,&mdash;a story of the Chinese Emperor Wu, of the Han dynasty. When
+the Emperor had lost his beautiful favorite, the Lady Li, he sorrowed so much
+that fears were entertained for his reason. But all efforts made to divert his
+mind from the thought of her proved unavailing. One day he ordered some
+Spirit-Recalling-Incense to be procured, that he might summon her from the
+dead. His counsellors prayed him to forego his purpose, declaring that the
+vision could only intensify his grief. But he gave no heed to their advice, and
+himself performed the rite,&mdash;kindling the incense, and keeping his mind
+fixed upon the memory of the Lady Li. Presently, within the thick blue smoke
+arising from the incense, the outline, of a feminine form became visible. It
+defined, took tints of life, slowly became luminous, and the Emperor recognized
+the form of his beloved At first the apparition was faint; but it soon became
+distinct as a living person, and seemed with each moment to grow more
+beautiful. The Emperor whispered to the vision, but received no answer. He
+called aloud, and the presence made no sign. Then unable to control himself, he
+approached the censer. But the instant that he touched the smoke, the phantom
+trembled and vanished.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+Japanese artists are still occasionally inspired by the legends of the
+Hangon-ho. Only last year, in Tōkyō, at an exhibition of new kakemono, I saw a
+picture of a young wife kneeling before an alcove wherein the smoke of the
+magical incense was shaping the shadow of the absent
+husband.<a href="#fn-3.6" name="fnref-3.6" id="fnref-3.6"><sup>[6]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-3.6" id="fn-3.6"></a> <a href="#fnref-3.6">[6]</a>
+Among the curious Tōkyō inventions of 1898 was a new variety of cigarettes
+called <i>Hangon-sō</i>, or &ldquo;Herb of Hangon,&rdquo;&mdash;a name
+suggesting that their smoke operated like the spirit-summoning incense. As a
+matter of fact, the chemical action of the tobacco-smoke would define, upon a
+paper fitted into the mouth-piece of each cigarette, the photographic image of
+a dancing-girl.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Although the power of making visible the forms of the dead has been claimed for
+one sort of incense only, the burning of any kind of incense is supposed to
+summon viewless spirits in multitude. These come to devour the smoke. They are
+called <i>Jiki-kō-ki</i>, or &ldquo;incense-eating goblins;&rdquo; and they
+belong to the fourteenth of the thirty-six classes of Gaki (<i>prêtas</i>)
+recognized by Japanese Buddhism. They are the ghosts of men who anciently, for
+the sake of gain, made or sold bad incense; and by the evil karma of that
+action they now find themselves in the state of hunger-suffering spirits, and
+compelled to seek their only food in the smoke of incense.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap04"></a>A Story of Divination</h2>
+
+<p>
+I once knew a fortune-teller who really believed in the science that he
+professed. He had learned, as a student of the old Chinese philosophy, to
+believe in divination long before he thought of practising it. During his youth
+he had been in the service of a wealthy daimyō, but subsequently, like
+thousands of other samurai, found himself reduced to desperate straits by the
+social and political changes of Meiji. It was then that he became a
+fortune-teller,&mdash;an itinerant <i>uranaiya</i>,&mdash;travelling on foot
+from town to town, and returning to his home rarely more than once a year with
+the proceeds of his journey. As a fortune-teller he was tolerably
+successful,&mdash;chiefly, I think, because of his perfect sincerity, and
+because of a peculiar gentle manner that invited confidence. His system was the
+old scholarly one: he used the book known to English readers as the
+<i>Yî-King</i>,&mdash;also a set of ebony blocks which could be so arranged as
+to form any of the Chinese hexagrams;&mdash;and he always began his divination
+with an earnest prayer to the gods.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The system itself he held to be infallible in the hands of a master. He
+confessed that he had made some erroneous predictions; but he said that these
+mistakes had been entirely due to his own miscomprehension of certain texts or
+diagrams. To do him justice I must mention that in my own case&mdash;(he told
+my fortune four times),&mdash;his predictions were fulfilled in such wise that
+I became afraid of them. You may disbelieve in
+fortune-telling,&mdash;intellectually scorn it; but something of inherited
+superstitious tendency lurks within most of us; and a few strange experiences
+can so appeal to that inheritance as to induce the most unreasoning hope or
+fear of the good or bad luck promised you by some diviner. Really to see our
+future would be a misery. Imagine the result of knowing that there must happen
+to you, within the next two months, some terrible misfortune which you cannot
+possibly provide against!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was already an old man when I first saw him in Izumo,&mdash;certainly more
+than sixty years of age, but looking very much younger. Afterwards I met him in
+Ōsaka, in Kyōto, and in Kobé. More than once I tried to persuade him to pass
+the colder months of the winter-season under my roof,&mdash;for he possessed an
+extraordinary knowledge of traditions, and could have been of inestimable
+service to me in a literary way. But partly because the habit of wandering had
+become with him a second nature, and partly because of a love of independence
+as savage as a gipsy&rsquo;s, I was never able to keep him with me for more
+than two days at a time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Every year he used to come to Tōkyō,&mdash;usually in the latter part of
+autumn. Then, for several weeks, he would flit about the city, from district to
+district, and vanish again. But during these fugitive trips he never failed to
+visit me; bringing welcome news of Izumo people and places,&mdash;bringing also
+some queer little present, generally of a religious kind, from some famous
+place of pilgrimage. On these occasions I could get a few hours&rsquo; chat
+with him. Sometimes the talk was of strange things seen or heard during his
+recent journey; sometimes it turned upon old legends or beliefs; sometimes it
+was about fortune-telling. The last time we met he told me of an exact Chinese
+science of divination which he regretted never having been able to learn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Any one learned in that science,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;would be able,
+for example, not only to tell you the exact time at which any post or beam of
+this house will yield to decay, but even to tell you the direction of the
+breaking, and all its results. I can best explain what I mean by relating a
+story.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+&ldquo;The story is about the famous Chinese fortune-teller whom we call in
+Japan Shōko Setsu, and it is written in the book <i>Baikwa-Shin-Eki</i>, which
+is a book of divination. While still a very young man, Shōko Setsu obtained a
+high position by reason of his learning and virtue; but he resigned it and went
+into solitude that he might give his whole time to study. For years thereafter
+he lived alone in a hut among the mountains; studying without a fire in winter,
+and without a fan in summer; writing his thoughts upon the wall of his
+room&mdash;for lack of paper;&mdash;and using only a tile for his pillow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;One day, in the period of greatest summer heat, he found himself
+overcome by drowsiness; and he lay down to rest, with his tile under his head.
+Scarcely had he fallen asleep when a rat ran across his face and woke him with
+a start. Feeling angry, he seized his tile and flung it at the rat; but the rat
+escaped unhurt, and the tile was broken. Shōko Setsu looked sorrowfully at the
+fragments of his pillow, and reproached himself for his hastiness. Then
+suddenly he perceived, upon the freshly exposed clay of the broken tile, some
+Chinese characters&mdash;between the upper and lower surfaces. Thinking this
+very strange, he picked up the pieces, and carefully examined them. He found
+that along the line of fracture seventeen characters had been written within
+the clay before the tile had been baked; and the characters read thus:
+&lsquo;<i>In the Year of the Hare, in the fourth month, on the seventeenth day,
+at the Hour of the Serpent, this tile, after serving as a pillow, will be
+thrown at a rat and broken.</i>&rsquo; Now the prediction had really been
+fulfilled at the Hour of the Serpent on the seventeenth day of the fourth month
+of the Year of the Hare. Greatly astonished, Shōko Setsu once again looked at
+the fragments, and discovered the seal and the name of the maker. At once he
+left his hut, and, taking with him the pieces of the tile, hurried to the
+neighboring town in search of the tilemaker. He found the tilemaker in the
+course of the day, showed him the broken tile, and asked him about its history.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;After having carefully examined the shards, the tilemaker said:
+&mdash;&lsquo;This tile was made in my house; but the characters in the clay
+were written by an old man&mdash;a fortune-teller,&mdash;who asked permission
+to write upon the tile before it was baked.&rsquo; &lsquo;Do you know where he
+lives?&rsquo; asked Shōko Setsu. &lsquo;He used to live,&rsquo; the tilemaker
+answered, &lsquo;not very far from here; and I can show you the way to the
+house. But I do not know his name.&rsquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Having been guided to the house, Shōko Setsu presented himself at the
+entrance, and asked for permission to speak to the old man. A serving-student
+courteously invited him to enter, and ushered him into an apartment where
+several young men were at study. As Shōko Setsu took his seat, all the youths
+saluted him. Then the one who had first addressed him bowed and said: &lsquo;We
+are grieved to inform you that our master died a few days ago. But we have been
+waiting for you, because he predicted that you would come to-day to this house,
+at this very hour. Your name is Shōko Setsu. And our master told us to give you
+a book which he believed would be of service to you. Here is the
+book;&mdash;please to accept it.&rsquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Shōko Setsu was not less delighted than surprised; for the book was a
+manuscript of the rarest and most precious kind,&mdash;containing all the
+secrets of the science of divination. After having thanked the young men, and
+properly expressed his regret for the death of their teacher, he went back to
+his hut, and there immediately proceeded to test the worth of the book by
+consulting its pages in regard to his own fortune. The book suggested to him
+that on the south side of his dwelling, at a particular spot near one corner of
+the hut, great luck awaited him. He dug at the place indicated, and found a jar
+containing gold enough to make him a very wealthy man.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>
+My old acquaintance left this world as lonesomely as he had lived in it. Last
+winter, while crossing a mountain-range, he was overtaken by a snowstorm, and
+lost his way. Many days later he was found standing erect at the foot of a
+pine, with his little pack strapped to his shoulders: a statue of
+ice&mdash;arms folded and eyes closed as in meditation. Probably, while waiting
+for the storm to pass, he had yielded to the drowsiness of cold, and the drift
+had risen over him as he slept. Hearing of this strange death I remembered the
+old Japanese saying,&mdash;<i>Uranaiya minouyé shiradzu:</i> &ldquo;The
+fortune-teller knows not his own fate.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap05"></a>Silkworms</h2>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>
+I was puzzled by the phrase, &ldquo;silkworm-moth eyebrow,&rdquo; in an old
+Japanese, or rather Chinese proverb:&mdash;<i>The silkworm-moth eyebrow of a
+woman is the axe that cuts down the wisdom of man.</i> So I went to my friend
+Niimi, who keeps silkworms, to ask for an explanation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Is it possible,&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;that you never saw a
+silkworm-moth? The silkworm-moth has very beautiful eyebrows.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Eyebrows?&rdquo; I queried, in astonishment. &ldquo;Well, call them what
+you like,&rdquo; returned Niimi;&mdash;&ldquo;the poets call them eyebrows….
+Wait a moment, and I will show you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He left the guest-room, and presently returned with a white paper-fan, on which
+a silkworm-moth was sleepily reposing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We always reserve a few for breeding,&rdquo; he said;&mdash;&ldquo;this
+one is just out of the cocoon. It cannot fly, of course: none of them can fly….
+Now look at the eyebrows.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I looked, and saw that the antennae, very short and feathery, were so arched
+back over the two jewel-specks of eyes in the velvety head, as to give the
+appearance of a really handsome pair of eyebrows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Niimi took me to see his worms.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+In Niimi&rsquo;s neighborhood, where there are plenty of mulberrytrees, many
+families keep silkworms;&mdash;the tending and feeding being mostly done by
+women and children. The worms are kept in large oblong trays, elevated upon
+light wooden stands about three feet high. It is curious to see hundreds of
+caterpillars feeding all together in one tray, and to hear the soft papery
+noise which they make while gnawing their mulberry-leaves. As they approach
+maturity, the creatures need almost constant attention. At brief intervals some
+expert visits each tray to inspect progress, picks up the plumpest feeders, and
+decides, by gently rolling them between forefinger and thumb, which are ready
+to spin. These are dropped into covered boxes, where they soon swathe
+themselves out of sight in white floss. A few only of the best are suffered to
+emerge from their silky sleep,&mdash;the selected breeders. They have beautiful
+wings, but cannot use them. They have mouths, but do not eat. They only pair,
+lay eggs, and die. For thousands of years their race has been so well-cared
+for, that it can no longer take any care of itself.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+It was the evolutional lesson of this latter fact that chiefly occupied me
+while Niimi and his younger brother (who feeds the worms) were kindly
+explaining the methods of the industry. They told me curious things about
+different breeds, and also about a wild variety of silkworm that cannot be
+domesticated:&mdash;it spins splendid silk before turning into a vigorous moth
+which can use its wings to some purpose. But I fear that I did not act like a
+person who felt interested in the subject; for, even while I tried to listen, I
+began to muse.
+</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>
+First of all, I found myself thinking about a delightful revery by M. Anatole
+France, in which he says that if he had been the Demiurge, he would have put
+youth at the end of life instead of at the beginning, and would have otherwise
+so ordered matters that every human being should have three stages of
+development, somewhat corresponding to those of the lepidoptera. Then it
+occurred to me that this fantasy was in substance scarcely more than the
+delicate modification of a most ancient doctrine, common to nearly all the
+higher forms of religion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Western faiths especially teach that our life on earth is a larval state of
+greedy helplessness, and that death is a pupa-sleep out of which we should
+soar into everlasting light. They tell us that during its sentient existence,
+the outer body should be thought of only as a kind of caterpillar, and
+thereafter as a chrysalis;&mdash;and they aver that we lose or gain, according
+to our behavior as larvæ, the power to develop wings under the mortal
+wrapping. Also they tell us not to trouble ourselves about the fact that we see
+no Psyché-imago detach itself from the broken cocoon: this lack of visual
+evidence signifies nothing, because we have only the purblind vision of grubs.
+Our eyes are but half-evolved. Do not whole scales of colors invisibly exist
+above and below the limits of our retinal sensibility? Even so the
+butterfly-man exists,&mdash;although, as a matter of course, we cannot see him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But what would become of this human imago in a state of perfect bliss? From the
+evolutional point of view the question has interest; and its obvious answer was
+suggested to me by the history of those silkworms,&mdash;which have been
+domesticated for only a few thousand years. Consider the result of our
+celestial domestication for&mdash;let us say&mdash;several millions of years: I
+mean the final consequence, to the wishers, of being able to gratify every wish
+at will.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Those silkworms have all that they wish for,&mdash;even considerably more.
+Their wants, though very simple, are fundamentally identical with the
+necessities of mankind,&mdash;food, shelter, warmth, safety, and comfort. Our
+endless social struggle is mainly for these things. Our dream of heaven is the
+dream of obtaining them free of cost in pain; and the condition of those
+silkworms is the realization, in a small way, of our imagined Paradise. (I am
+not considering the fact that a vast majority of the worms are predestined to
+torment and the second death; for my theme is of heaven, not of lost souls. I
+am speaking of the elect&mdash;those worms preördained to salvation and
+rebirth.) Probably they can feel only very weak sensations: they are certainly
+incapable of prayer. But if they were able to pray, they could not ask for
+anything more than they already receive from the youth who feeds and tends
+them. He is their providence,&mdash;a god of whose existence they can be aware
+in only the vaguest possible way, but just such a god as they require. And we
+should foolishly deem ourselves fortunate to be equally well cared-for in
+proportion to our more complex wants. Do not our common forms of prayer prove
+our desire for like attention? Is not the assertion of our &ldquo;need of
+divine love&rdquo; an involuntary confession that we wish to be treated like
+silkworms,&mdash;to live without pain by the help of gods? Yet if the gods were
+to treat us as we want, we should presently afford fresh evidence,&mdash;in the
+way of what is called &ldquo;the evidence from degeneration,&rdquo;&mdash;that
+the great evolutional law is far above the gods.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An early stage of that degeneration would be represented by total incapacity to
+help ourselves;&mdash;then we should begin to lose the use of our higher
+sense-organs;&mdash;later on, the brain would shrink to a vanishing pin-point
+of matter;&mdash;still later we should dwindle into mere amorphous sacs, mere
+blind stomachs. Such would be the physical consequence of that kind of divine
+love which we so lazily wish for. The longing for perpetual bliss in perpetual
+peace might well seem a malevolent inspiration from the Lords of Death and
+Darkness. All life that feels and thinks has been, and can continue to be, only
+as the product of struggle and pain,&mdash;only as the outcome of endless
+battle with the Powers of the Universe. And cosmic law is uncompromising.
+Whatever organ ceases to know pain,&mdash;whatever faculty ceases to be used
+under the stimulus of pain,&mdash;must also cease to exist. Let pain and its
+effort be suspended, and life must shrink back, first into protoplasmic
+shapelessness, thereafter into dust.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+Buddhism&mdash;which, in its own grand way, is a doctrine of
+evolution&mdash;rationally proclaims its heaven but a higher stage of
+development through pain, and teaches that even in paradise the cessation of
+effort produces degradation. With equal reasonableness it declares that the
+capacity for pain in the superhuman world increases always in proportion to the
+capacity for pleasure. (There is little fault to be found with this teaching
+from a scientific standpoint,&mdash;since we know that higher evolution must
+involve an increase of sensitivity to pain.) In the Heavens of Desire, says the
+<i>Shōbō-nen-jō-kyō</i>, the pain of death is so great that all the agonies of all the
+hells united could equal but one-sixteenth part of such
+pain.<a href="#fn-5.1" name="fnref-5.1" id="fnref-5.1"><sup>[1]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-5.1" id="fn-5.1"></a> <a href="#fnref-5.1">[1]</a>
+This statement refers only to the Heavens of Sensuous Pleasure,&mdash;not to
+the Paradise of Amida, nor to those heavens into which one enters by the
+Apparitional Birth. But even in the highest and most immaterial zones of
+being,&mdash;in the Heavens of Formlessness,&mdash;the cessation of effort and
+of the pain of effort, involves the penalty of rebirth in a lower state of
+existence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The foregoing comparison is unnecessarily strong; but the Buddhist teaching
+about heaven is in substance eminently logical. The suppression of
+pain&mdash;mental or physical,&mdash;in any conceivable state of sentient
+existence, would necessarily involve the suppression also of
+pleasure;&mdash;and certainly all progress, whether moral or material, depends
+upon the power to meet and to master pain. In a silkworm-paradise such as our
+mundane instincts lead us to desire, the seraph freed from the necessity of
+toil, and able to satisfy his every want at will, would lose his wings at last,
+and sink back to the condition of a grub….
+</p>
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>
+I told the substance of my revery to Niimi. He used to be a great reader of
+Buddhist books.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I was reminded of a queer Buddhist story by
+the proverb that you asked me to explain,&mdash;<i>The silkworm-moth eyebrow of
+a woman is the axe that cuts down the wisdom of man.</i> According to our
+doctrine, the saying would be as true of life in heaven as of life upon earth….
+This is the story:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;When Shaka<a href="#fn-5.2" name="fnref-5.2" id="fnref-5.2"><sup>[2]</sup></a>
+dwelt in this world, one of his disciples, called Nanda, was bewitched by the
+beauty of a woman; and Shaka desired to save him from the results of this
+illusion. So he took Nanda to a wild place in the mountains where there were
+apes, and showed him a very ugly female ape, and asked him: &lsquo;Which is the
+more beautiful, Nanda, &mdash;the woman that you love, or this female
+ape?&rsquo; &lsquo;Oh, Master!&rsquo; exclaimed Nanda, &lsquo;how can a lovely
+woman be compared with an ugly ape?&rsquo; &lsquo;Perhaps you will presently
+find reason to make the comparison yourself,&rsquo; answered the
+Buddha;&mdash;and instantly by supernatural power he ascended with Nanda to the
+<i>San-Jūsan-Ten</i>, which is the Second of the Six Heavens of Desire. There,
+within a palace of jewels, Nanda saw a multitude of heavenly maidens
+celebrating some festival with music and dance; and the beauty of the least
+among them incomparably exceeded that of the fairest woman of earth. &lsquo;O
+Master,&rsquo; cried Nanda, &lsquo;what wonderful festival is this?&rsquo;
+&lsquo;Ask some of those people,&rsquo; responded Shaka. So Nanda questioned
+one of the celestial maidens; and she said to him:&mdash;&lsquo;This festival
+is to celebrate the good tidings that have been brought to us. There is now in
+the human world, among the disciples of Shaka, a most excellent youth called
+Nanda, who is soon to be reborn into this heaven, and to become our bridegroom,
+because of his holy life. We wait for him with rejoicing.&rsquo; This reply
+filled the heart of Nanda with delight. Then the Buddha asked him: &lsquo;Is
+there any one among these maidens, Nanda, equal in beauty to the woman with
+whom you have been in love?&rsquo; &lsquo;Nay, Master!&rsquo; answered Nanda;
+&lsquo;even as that woman surpassed in beauty the female ape that we saw on the
+mountain, so is she herself surpassed by even the least among these.&rsquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-5.2" id="fn-5.2"></a> <a href="#fnref-5.2">[2]</a>
+Sâkyamuni.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then the Buddha immediately descended with Nanda to the depths of the
+hells, and took him into a torture-chamber where myriads of men and women were
+being boiled alive in great caldrons, and otherwise horribly tormented by
+devils. Then Nanda found himself standing before a huge vessel which was filled
+with molten metal;&mdash;and he feared and wondered because this vessel had as
+yet no occupant. An idle devil sat beside it, yawning. &lsquo;Master,&rsquo;
+Nanda inquired of the Buddha, &lsquo;for whom has this vessel been
+prepared?&rsquo; &lsquo;Ask the devil,&rsquo; answered Shaka. Nanda did so; and
+the devil said to him: &lsquo;There is a man called Nanda,&mdash;now one of
+Shaka&rsquo;s disciples,&mdash;about to be reborn into one of the heavens, on
+account of his former good actions. But after having there indulged himself, he
+is to be reborn in this hell; and his place will be in that pot. I am waiting
+for him.&rsquo;&rdquo;<a href="#fn-5.3" name="fnref-5.3" id="fnref-5.3"><sup>[3]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-5.3" id="fn-5.3"></a> <a href="#fnref-5.3">[3]</a>
+I give the story substantially as it was told to me; but I have not been able
+to compare it with any published text. My friend says that he has seen two
+Chinese versions,&mdash;one in the <i>Hongyō-kyō</i> (?), the other in the
+<i>Zōichi-agon-kyō</i> (Ekôttarâgamas). In Mr. Henry Clarke Warren&rsquo;s
+<i>Buddhism in Translations</i> (the most interesting and valuable single
+volume of its kind that I have ever seen), there is a Pali version of the
+legend, which differs considerably from the above.&mdash;This Nanda, according
+to Mr. Warren&rsquo;s work, was a prince, and the younger half-brother of
+Sâkyamuni.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap06"></a>A Passional Karma</h2>
+
+<p>
+One of the never-failing attractions of the Tōkyō stage is the performance, by
+the famous Kikugorō and his company, of the <i>Botan-Dōrō</i>, or
+&ldquo;Peony-Lantern.&rdquo; This weird play, of which the scenes are laid in
+the middle of the last century, is the dramatization of a romance by the
+novelist Encho, written in colloquial Japanese, and purely Japanese in local
+color, though inspired by a Chinese tale. I went to see the play; and Kikugorō
+made me familiar with a new variety of the pleasure of fear. &ldquo;Why not
+give English readers the ghostly part of the story?&rdquo;&mdash;asked a friend
+who guides me betimes through the mazes of Eastern philosophy. &ldquo;It would
+serve to explain some popular ideas of the supernatural which Western people
+know very little about. And I could help you with the translation.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I gladly accepted the suggestion; and we composed the following summary of the
+more extraordinary portion of Enchō&rsquo;s romance. Here and there we found it
+necessary to condense the original narrative; and we tried to keep close to the
+text only in the conversational passages,&mdash;some of which happen to possess
+a particular quality of psychological interest.
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>
+&mdash;<i>This is the story of the Ghosts in the Romance of the
+Peony-Lantern:</i>&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>
+There once lived in the district of Ushigomé, in Yedo, a
+<i>hatamoto</i><a href="#fn-6.1" name="fnref-6.1" id="fnref-6.1"><sup>[1]</sup></a>
+called Iijima Heizayémon, whose only daughter, Tsuyu, was beautiful as her
+name, which signifies &ldquo;Morning Dew.&rdquo; Iijima took a second wife when
+his daughter was about sixteen; and, finding that O-Tsuyu could not be happy
+with her mother-in-law, he had a pretty villa built for the girl at Yanagijima,
+as a separate residence, and gave her an excellent maidservant, called O-Yoné,
+to wait upon her.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.1" id="fn-6.1"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.1">[1]</a>
+The <i>hatamoto</i> were samurai forming the special military force of the
+Shōgun. The name literally signifies &ldquo;Banner-Supporters.&rdquo; These
+were the highest class of samurai,&mdash;not only as the immediate vassals of
+the Shōgun, but as a military aristocracy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+O-Tsuyu lived happily enough in her new home until one day when the family
+physician, Yamamoto Shijō, paid her a visit in company with a young samurai
+named Hagiwara Shinzaburō, who resided in the Nedzu quarter. Shinzaburō was an
+unusually handsome lad, and very gentle; and the two young people fell in love
+with each other at sight. Even before the brief visit was over, they
+contrived,&mdash;unheard by the old doctor,&mdash;to pledge themselves to each
+other for life. And, at parting, O-Tsuyu whispered to the
+youth,&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Remember! If you do not come to see me again, I shall
+certainly die!</i>&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shinzaburō never forgot those words; and he was only too eager to see more of
+O-Tsuyu. But etiquette forbade him to make the visit alone: he was obliged to
+wait for some other chance to accompany the doctor, who had promised to take
+him to the villa a second time. Unfortunately the old man did not keep this
+promise. He had perceived the sudden affection of O-Tsuyu; and he feared that
+her father would hold him responsible for any serious results. Iijima
+Heizayémon had a reputation for cutting off heads. And the more Shijō thought
+about the possible consequences of his introduction of Shinzaburō at the Iijima
+villa, the more he became afraid. Therefore he purposely abstained from calling
+upon his young friend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Months passed; and O-Tsuyu, little imagining the true cause of
+Shinzaburō&rsquo;s neglect, believed that her love had been scorned. Then she
+pined away, and died. Soon afterwards, the faithful servant O-Yoné also died,
+through grief at the loss of her mistress; and the two were buried side by side
+in the cemetery of Shin-Banzui-In,&mdash;a temple which still stands in the
+neighborhood of Dango-Zaka, where the famous chrysanthemum-shows are yearly
+held.
+</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>
+Shinzaburō knew nothing of what had happened; but his disappointment and his
+anxiety had resulted in a prolonged illness. He was slowly recovering, but
+still very weak, when he unexpectedly received another visit from Yamamoto
+Shijō. The old man made a number of plausible excuses for his apparent neglect.
+Shinzaburō said to him:&mdash;&ldquo;I have been sick ever since the beginning
+of spring;&mdash;even now I cannot eat anything…. Was it not rather unkind of
+you never to call? I thought that we were to make another visit together to the
+house of the Lady Iijima; and I wanted to take to her some little present as a
+return for our kind reception. Of course I could not go by myself.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shijō gravely responded,&mdash;&ldquo;I am very sorry to tell you that the
+young lady is dead!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Dead!&rdquo; repeated Shinzaburō, turning white,&mdash;&ldquo;did you
+say that she is dead?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The doctor remained silent for a moment, as if collecting himself: then he
+resumed, in the quick light tone of a man resolved not to take trouble
+seriously:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My great mistake was in having introduced you to her; for it seems that
+she fell in love with you at once. I am afraid that you must have said
+something to encourage this affection&mdash;when you were in that little room
+together. At all events, I saw how she felt towards you; and then I became
+uneasy,&mdash;fearing that her father might come to hear of the matter, and lay
+the whole blame upon me. So&mdash;to be quite frank with you,&mdash;I decided
+that it would be better not to call upon you; and I purposely stayed away for a
+long time. But, only a few days ago, happening to visit Iijima&rsquo;s house, I
+heard, to my great surprise, that his daughter had died, and that her servant
+O-Yoné had also died. Then, remembering all that had taken place, I knew that
+the young lady must have died of love for you…. [<i>Laughing</i>] Ah, you are
+really a sinful fellow! Yes, you are! [<i>Laughing</i>] Isn&rsquo;t it a sin to
+have been born so handsome that the girls die for love of you?<a href="#fn-6.2" name="fnref-6.2" id="fnref-6.2"><sup>[2]</sup></a>
+[<i>Seriously</i>] Well, we must leave the dead to the dead. It is no use to
+talk further about the matter;&mdash;all that you now can do for her is to
+repeat the Nembutsu<a href="#fn-6.3" name="fnref-6.3" id="fnref-6.3"><sup>[3]</sup></a>….
+Good-bye.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.2" id="fn-6.2"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.2">[2]</a>
+Perhaps this conversation may seem strange to the Western reader; but it is
+true to life. The whole of the scene is characteristically Japanese.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.3" id="fn-6.3"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.3">[3]</a>
+The invocation <i>Namu Amida Butsu!</i> (&ldquo;Hail to the Buddha
+Amitâbha!&rdquo;),&mdash;repeated, as a prayer, for the sake of the dead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And the old man retired hastily,&mdash;anxious to avoid further converse about
+the painful event for which he felt himself to have been unwittingly
+responsible.
+</p>
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>
+Shinzaburō long remained stupefied with grief by the news of O-Tsuyu&rsquo;s
+death. But as soon as he found himself again able to think clearly, he
+inscribed the dead girl&rsquo;s name upon a mortuary tablet, and placed the
+tablet in the Buddhist shrine of his house, and set offerings before it, and
+recited prayers. Every day thereafter he presented offerings, and repeated the
+<i>Nembutsu;</i> and the memory of O-Tsuyu was never absent from his thought.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing occurred to change the monotony of his solitude before the time of the
+Bon,&mdash;the great Festival of the Dead,&mdash;which begins upon the
+thirteenth day of the seventh month. Then he decorated his house, and prepared
+everything for the festival;&mdash;hanging out the lanterns that guide the
+returning spirits, and setting the food of ghosts on the <i>shōryōdana</i>, or
+Shelf of Souls. And on the first evening of the Bon, after sun-down, he kindled
+a small lamp before the tablet of O-Tsuyu, and lighted the lanterns.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The night was clear, with a great moon,&mdash;and windless, and very warm.
+Shinzaburō sought the coolness of his veranda. Clad only in a light
+summer-robe, he sat there thinking, dreaming, sorrowing;&mdash;sometimes
+fanning himself; sometimes making a little smoke to drive the mosquitoes away.
+Everything was quiet. It was a lonesome neighborhood, and there were few
+passers-by. He could hear only the soft rushing of a neighboring stream, and
+the shrilling of night-insects.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But all at once this stillness was broken by a sound of women&rsquo;s
+<i>geta</i><a href="#fn-6.4" name="fnref-6.4" id="fnref-6.4"><sup>[4]</sup></a>
+approaching&mdash;<i>kara-kon, kara-kon;</i>&mdash;and the sound drew nearer and
+nearer, quickly, till it reached the live-hedge surrounding the garden. Then
+Shinzaburö, feeling curious, stood on tiptoe, so as to look over the hedge; and
+he saw two women passing. One, who was carrying a beautiful lantern decorated
+with peony-flowers,<a href="#fn-6.5" name="fnref-6.5" id="fnref-6.5"><sup>[5]</sup></a>
+appeared to be a servant;&mdash;the other was a slender girl of about
+seventeen, wearing a long-sleeved robe embroidered with designs of
+autumn-blossoms. Almost at the same instant both women turned their faces
+toward Shinzaburō;&mdash;and to his utter astonishment, he recognized O-Tsuyu
+and her servant O-Yoné.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.4" id="fn-6.4"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.4">[4]</a>
+<i>Komageta</i> in the original. The geta is a wooden sandal, or clog, of which
+there are many varieties,&mdash;some decidedly elegant. The <i>komageta</i>, or
+&ldquo;pony-geta&rdquo; is so-called because of the sonorous hoof-like echo
+which it makes on hard ground.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.5" id="fn-6.5"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.5">[5]</a>
+The sort of lantern here referred to is no longer made; and its shape can best
+be understood by a glance at the picture accompanying this story. It was
+totally unlike the modern domestic band-lantern, painted with the owner&rsquo;s
+crest; but it was not altogether unlike some forms of lanterns still
+manufactured for the Festival of the Dead, and called <i>Bon-dōrō</i>. The
+flowers ornamenting it were not painted: they were artificial flowers of
+crêpe-silk, and were attached to the top of the lantern.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus03"></a>
+<a href="images/fig03.jpg">
+<img src="images/fig03.jpg" width="325" height="500" alt="Illustration:" /></a>
+<p class="caption">The Peony Lantern</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+They stopped immediately; and the girl cried out,&mdash;&ldquo;Oh, how
+strange!… Hagiwara Sama!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shinzaburō simultaneously called to the maid:&mdash;&ldquo;O-Yoné! Ah, you are
+O-Yoné!&mdash;I remember you very well.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Hagiwara Sama!&rdquo; exclaimed O-Yoné in a tone of supreme amazement.
+&ldquo;Never could I have believed it possible!… Sir, we were told that you had
+died.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How extraordinary!&rdquo; cried Shinzaburō. &ldquo;Why, I was told that
+both of you were dead!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ah, what a hateful story!&rdquo; returned O-Yoné. &ldquo;Why repeat such
+unlucky words?… Who told you?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Please to come in,&rdquo; said Shinzaburō;&mdash;&ldquo;here we can talk
+better. The garden-gate is open.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So they entered, and exchanged greeting; and when Shinzaburō had made them
+comfortable, he said:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I trust that you will pardon my discourtesy in not having called upon
+you for so long a time. But Shijō, the doctor, about a month ago, told me that
+you had both died.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So it was he who told you?&rdquo; exclaimed O-Yoné. &ldquo;It was very
+wicked of him to say such a thing. Well, it was also Shijō who told us that
+<i>you</i> were dead. I think that he wanted to deceive you,&mdash;which was
+not a difficult thing to do, because you are so confiding and trustful.
+Possibly my mistress betrayed her liking for you in some words which found
+their way to her father&rsquo;s ears; and, in that case, O-Kuni&mdash;the new
+wife&mdash;might have planned to make the doctor tell you that we were dead, so
+as to bring about a separation. Anyhow, when my mistress heard that you had
+died, she wanted to cut off her hair immediately, and to become a nun. But I
+was able to prevent her from cutting off her hair; and I persuaded her at last
+to become a nun only in her heart. Afterwards her father wished her to marry a
+certain young man; and she refused. Then there was a great deal of
+trouble,&mdash;chiefly caused by O-Kuni;&mdash;and we went away from the villa,
+and found a very small house in Yanaka-no-Sasaki. There we are now just barely
+able to live, by doing a little private work…. My mistress has been constantly
+repeating the <i>Nembutsu</i> for your sake. To-day, being the first day of the
+Bon, we went to visit the temples; and we were on our way home&mdash;thus
+late&mdash;when this strange meeting happened.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, how extraordinary!&rdquo; cried Shinzaburō. &ldquo;Can it be
+true?-or is it only a dream? Here I, too, have been constantly reciting the
+<i>Nembutsu</i> before a tablet with her name upon it! Look!&rdquo; And he
+showed them O-Tsuyu&rsquo;s tablet in its place upon the Shelf of Souls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We are more than grateful for your kind remembrance,&rdquo; returned
+O-Yoné, smiling…. &ldquo;Now as for my mistress,&rdquo;&mdash;she continued,
+turning towards O-Tsuyu, who had all the while remained demure and silent,
+half-hiding her face with her sleeve,&mdash;&ldquo;as for my mistress, she
+actually says that she would not mind being disowned by her father for the time
+of seven existences,<a href="#fn-6.6" name="fnref-6.6" id="fnref-6.6"><sup>[6]</sup></a>
+or even being killed by him, for your sake! Come! will you not allow her to
+stay here to-night?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.6" id="fn-6.6"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.6">[6]</a>
+&ldquo;For the time of seven existences,&rdquo;&mdash;that is to say, for the
+time of seven successive lives. In Japanese drama and romance it is not
+uncommon to represent a father as disowning his child &ldquo;for the time of
+seven lives.&rdquo; Such a disowning is called <i>shichi-shō madé no mandō</i>,
+a disinheritance for seven lives,&mdash;signifying that in six future lives
+after the present the erring son or daughter will continue to feel the parental
+displeasure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shinzaburō turned pale for joy. He answered in a voice trembling with
+emotion:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Please remain; but do not speak loud&mdash;because there is a
+troublesome fellow living close by,&mdash;a <i>ninsomi</i><a href="#fn-6.7" name="fnref-6.7" id="fnref-6.7"><sup>[7]</sup></a>
+called Hakuōdō Yusai, who tells peoples fortunes by looking at their faces. He
+is inclined to be curious; and it is better that he should not know.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.7" id="fn-6.7"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.7">[7]</a>
+The profession is not yet extinct. The <i>ninsomi</i> uses a kind of magnifying
+glass (or magnifying-mirror sometimes), called <i>tengankyō</i> or
+<i>ninsomégané</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The two women remained that night in the house of the young samurai, and
+returned to their own home a little before daybreak. And after that night they
+came every nighht for seven nights,&mdash;whether the weather were foul or
+fair,&mdash;always at the same hour. And Shinzaburō became more and more
+attached to the girl; and the twain were fettered, each to each, by that bond
+of illusion which is stronger than bands of iron.
+</p>
+
+<h3>IV</h3>
+
+<p>
+Now there was a man called Tomozō, who lived in a small cottage adjoining
+Shinzaburō&rsquo;s residence, Tomozō and his wife O-Miné were both employed by
+Shinzaburō as servants. Both seemed to be devoted to their young master; and by
+his help they were able to live in comparative comfort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One night, at a very late hour, Tomozō heard the voice of a woman in his
+master&rsquo;s apartment; and this made him uneasy. He feared that Shinzaburō,
+being very gentle and affectionate, might be made the dupe of some cunning
+wanton,&mdash;in which event the domestics would be the first to suffer. He
+therefore resolved to watch; and on the following night he stole on tiptoe to
+Shinzaburō&rsquo;s dwelling, and looked through a chink in one of the sliding
+shutters. By the glow of a night-lantern within the sleeping-room, he was able
+to perceive that his master and a strange woman were talking together under the
+mosquito-net. At first he could not see the woman distinctly. Her back was
+turned to him;&mdash;he only observed that she was very slim, and that she
+appeared to be very young,&mdash;judging from the fashion of her dress and
+hair.<a href="#fn-6.8" name="fnref-6.8" id="fnref-6.8"><sup>[8]</sup></a>
+Putting his ear to the chink, he could hear the conversation plainly. The woman
+said:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And if I should be disowned by my father, would you then let me come and
+live with you?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.8" id="fn-6.8"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.8">[8]</a>
+The color and form of the dress, and the style of wearing the hair, are by
+Japanese custom regulated according to the age of the woman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shinzaburō answered:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Most assuredly I would&mdash;nay, I should be glad of the chance. But
+there is no reason to fear that you will ever be disowned by your father; for
+you are his only daughter, and he loves you very much. What I do fear is that
+some day we shall be cruelly separated.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She responded softly:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Never, never could I even think of accepting any other man for my
+husband. Even if our secret were to become known, and my father were to kill me
+for what I have done, still&mdash;after death itself&mdash;I could never cease
+to think of you. And I am now quite sure that you yourself would not be able to
+live very long without me.&rdquo;… Then clinging closely to him, with her lips
+at his neck, she caressed him; and he returned her caresses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tomozō wondered as he listened,&mdash;because the language of the woman was not
+the language of a common woman, but the language of a lady of rank.<a href="#fn-6.9" name="fnref-6.9" id="fnref-6.9"><sup>[9]</sup></a>
+Then he determined at all hazards to get one glimpse of her face; and he crept
+round the house, backwards and forwards, peering through every crack and chink.
+And at last he was able to see;&mdash;but therewith an icy trembling seized
+him; and the hair of his head stood up.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.9" id="fn-6.9"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.9">[9]</a>
+The forms of speech used by the samurai, and other superior classes, differed
+considerably from those of the popular idiom; but these differences could not
+be effectively rendered into English.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For the face was the face of a woman long dead,&mdash;and the fingers caressing
+were fingers of naked bone,&mdash;and of the body below the waist there was not
+anything: it melted off into thinnest trailing shadow. Where the eyes of the
+lover deluded saw youth and grace and beauty, there appeared to the eyes of the
+watcher horror only, and the emptiness of death. Simultaneously another
+woman&rsquo;s figure, and a weirder, rose up from within the chamber, and
+swiftly made toward the watcher, as if discerning his presence. Then, in
+uttermost terror, he fled to the dwelling of Hakuōdō Yusai, and, knocking
+frantically at the doors, succeeded in arousing him.
+</p>
+
+<h3>V</h3>
+
+<p>
+Hakuōdō Yusai, the <i>ninsomi</i>, was a very old man; but in his time he had
+travelled much, and he had heard and seen so many things that he could not be
+easily surprised. Yet the story of the terrified Tomozō both alarmed and amazed
+him. He had read in ancient Chinese books of love between the living and the
+dead; but he had never believed it possible. Now, however, he felt convinced
+that the statement of Tomozō was not a falsehood, and that something very
+strange was really going on in the house of Hagiwara. Should the truth prove to
+be what Tomozō imagined, then the young samurai was a doomed man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If the woman be a ghost,&rdquo;&mdash;said Yusai to the frightened
+servant, &ldquo;&mdash;if the woman be a ghost, your master must die very
+soon,&mdash;unless something extraordinary can be done to save him. And if the
+woman be a ghost, the signs of death will appear upon his face. For the spirit
+of the living is <i>yōki</i>, and pure;&mdash;the spirit of the dead is
+<i>inki</i>, and unclean: the one is Positive, the other Negative. He whose
+bride is a ghost cannot live. Even though in his blood there existed the force
+of a life of one hundred years, that force must quickly perish…. Still, I shall
+do all that I can to save Hagiwara Sama. And in the meantime, Tomozō, say
+nothing to any other person,&mdash;not even to your wife,&mdash;about this
+matter. At sunrise I shall call upon your master.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<h3>VI</h3>
+
+<p>
+When questioned next morning by Yusai, Shinzaburō at first attempted to deny
+that any women had been visiting the house; but finding this artless policy of
+no avail, and perceiving that the old man&rsquo;s purpose was altogether
+unselfish, he was finally persuaded to acknowledge what had really occurred,
+and to give his reasons for wishing to keep the matter a secret. As for the
+lady Iijima, he intended, he said, to make her his wife as soon as possible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, madness!&rdquo; cried Yusai,&mdash;losing all patience in the
+intensity of his alarm. &ldquo;Know, sir, that the people who have been coming
+here, night after night, are dead! Some frightful delusion is upon you!… Why,
+the simple fact that you long supposed O-Tsuyu to be dead, and repeated the
+<i>Nembutsu</i> for her, and made offerings before her tablet, is itself the
+proof!… The lips of the dead have touched you!&mdash;the hands of the dead have
+caressed you!… Even at this moment I see in your face the signs of
+death&mdash;and you will not believe!… Listen to me now, sir,&mdash;I beg of
+you,&mdash;if you wish to save yourself: otherwise you have less than twenty
+days to live. They told you&mdash;those people&mdash;that they were residing in
+the district of Shitaya, in Yanaka-no-Sasaki. Did you ever visit them at that
+place? No!&mdash;of course you did not! Then go to-day,&mdash;as soon as you
+can,&mdash;to Yanaka-no-Sasaki, and try to find their home!…&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And having uttered this counsel with the most vehement earnestness, Hakuōdō
+Yusai abruptly took his departure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shinzaburō, startled though not convinced, resolved after a moment&rsquo;s
+reflection to follow the advice of the <i>ninsomi</i>, and to go to Shitaya. It
+was yet early in the morning when he reached the quarter of Yanaka-no-Sasaki,
+and began his search for the dwelling of O-Tsuyu. He went through every street
+and side-street, read all the names inscribed at the various entrances, and
+made inquiries whenever an opportunity presented itself. But he could not find
+anything resembling the little house mentioned by O-Yoné; and none of the
+people whom he questioned knew of any house in the quarter inhabited by two
+single women. Feeling at last certain that further research would be useless,
+he turned homeward by the shortest way, which happened to lead through the
+grounds of the temple Shin-Banzui-In.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suddenly his attention was attracted by two new tombs, placed side by side, at
+the rear of the temple. One was a common tomb, such as might have been erected
+for a person of humble rank: the other was a large and handsome monument; and
+hanging before it was a beautiful peony-lantern, which had probably been left
+there at the time of the Festival of the Dead. Shinzaburō remembered that the
+peony-lantern carried by O-Yoné was exactly similar; and the coincidence
+impressed him as strange. He looked again at the tombs; but the tombs explained
+nothing. Neither bore any personal name,&mdash;only the Buddhist <i>kaimyō</i>,
+or posthumous appellation. Then he determined to seek information at the
+temple. An acolyte stated, in reply to his questions, that the large tomb had
+been recently erected for the daughter of Iijima Heizayémon, the
+<i>hatamoto</i> of Ushigomé; and that the small tomb next to it was that of her
+servant O-Yoné, who had died of grief soon after the young lady&rsquo;s
+funeral.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Immediately to Shinzaburö&rsquo;s memory there recurred, with another and
+sinister meaning, the words of O-Yoné:&mdash;&ldquo;<i>We went away, and found
+a very small house in Yanaka-no-Sasaki. There we are now just barely able to
+live&mdash;by doing a little private work</i>….&rdquo; Here was indeed the very
+small house,&mdash;and in Yanaka-no-Sasaki. But the little <i>private
+work…?</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Terror-stricken, the samurai hastened with all speed to the house of Yusai, and
+begged for his counsel and assistance. But Yusai declared himself unable to be
+of any aid in such a case. All that he could do was to send Shinzaburō to the
+high-priest Ryōseki, of Shin-Banzui-In, with a letter praying for immediate
+religious help.
+</p>
+
+<h3>VII</h3>
+
+<p>
+The high-priest Ryōseki was a learned and a holy man. By spiritual vision he
+was able to know the secret of any sorrow, and the nature of the karma that had
+caused it. He heard unmoved the story of Shinzaburō, and said to him:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A very great danger now threatens you, because of an error committed in
+one of your former states of existence. The karma that binds you to the dead is
+very strong; but if I tried to explain its character, you would not be able to
+understand. I shall therefore tell you only this,&mdash;that the dead person
+has no desire to injure you out of hate, feels no enmity towards you: she is
+influenced, on the contrary, by the most passionate affection for you. Probably
+the girl has been in love with you from a time long preceding your present
+life,&mdash;from a time of not less than three or four past existences; and it
+would seem that, although necessarily changing her form and condition at each
+succeeding birth, she has not been able to cease from following after you.
+Therefore it will not be an easy thing to escape from her influence…. But now I
+am going to lend you this powerful <i>mamori</i>.<a href="#fn-6.10" name="fnref-6.10" id="fnref-6.10"><sup>[10]</sup></a>
+It is a pure gold image of that Buddha called the Sea-Sounding
+Tathâgata&mdash;<i>Kai-On-Nyōrai</i>,&mdash;because his preaching of the Law sounds
+through the world like the sound of the sea. And this little image is
+especially a
+<i>shiryō-yoké</i>,<a href="#fn-6.11" name="fnref-6.11" id="fnref-6.11"><sup>[11]</sup></a>&mdash;which
+protects the living from the dead. This you must wear, in its covering, next to
+your body,&mdash;under the girdle…. Besides, I shall presently perform in the
+temple, a <i>segaki</i>-service<a href="#fn-6.12" name="fnref-6.12" id="fnref-6.12"><sup>[12]</sup></a>
+for the repose of the troubled spirit…. And here is a holy sutra, called
+<i>Ubō-Darani-Kyō</i>, or &ldquo;Treasure-Raining Sûtra&rdquo;<a href="#fn-6.13" name="fnref-6.13" id="fnref-6.13"><sup>[13]</sup></a>
+you must be careful to recite it every night in your house&mdash;without fail….
+Furthermore I shall give you this package of
+<i>o-fuda</i>;<a href="#fn-6.14" name="fnref-6.14" id="fnref-6.14"><sup>[14]</sup></a>&mdash;you
+must paste one of them over every opening of your house,&mdash;no matter how
+small. If you do this, the power of the holy texts will prevent the dead from
+entering. But&mdash;whatever may happen&mdash;do not fail to recite the
+sutra.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.10" id="fn-6.10"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.10">[10]</a>
+The Japanese word <i>mamori</i> has significations at least as numerous as
+those attaching to our own term &ldquo;amulet.&rdquo; It would be impossible,
+in a mere footnote, even to suggest the variety of Japanese religious objects
+to which the name is given. In this instance, the <i>mamori</i> is a very small
+image, probably enclosed in a miniature shrine of lacquer-work or metal, over
+which a silk cover is drawn. Such little images were often worn by
+<i>samurai</i> on the person. I was recently shown a miniature figure of
+Kwannon, in an iron case, which had been carried by an officer through the
+Satsuma war. He observed, with good reason, that it had probably saved his
+life; for it had stopped a bullet of which the dent was plainly visible.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.11" id="fn-6.11"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.11">[11]</a>
+From <i>shiryō</i>, a ghost, and <i>yokeru</i>, to exclude. The Japanese have,
+two kinds of ghosts proper in their folk-lore: the spirits of the dead,
+<i>shiryō</i>; and the spirits of the living, <i>ikiryō</i>. A house or a
+person may be haunted by an <i>ikiryō</i> as well as by a <i>shiryō</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.12" id="fn-6.12"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.12">[12]</a>
+A special service,&mdash;accompanying offerings of food, etc., to those dead
+having no living relatives or friends to care for them,&mdash;is thus termed.
+In this case, however, the service would be of a particular and exceptional
+kind.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.13" id="fn-6.13"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.13">[13]</a>
+The name would be more correctly written <i>Ubō-Darani-Kyō</i>. It is the Japanese
+pronunciation of the title of a very short sutra translated out of Sanscrit
+into Chinese by the Indian priest Amoghavajra, probably during the eighth
+century. The Chinese text contains transliterations of some mysterious Sanscrit
+words,&mdash;apparently talismanic words,&mdash;like those to be seen in
+Kern&rsquo;s translation of the Saddharma-Pundarîka, ch. xxvi.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.14" id="fn-6.14"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.14">[14]</a>
+<i>O-fuda</i> is the general name given to religious texts used as charms or
+talismans. They are sometimes stamped or burned upon wood, but more commonly
+written or printed upon narrow strips of paper. <i>O-fuda</i> are pasted above
+house-entrances, on the walls of rooms, upon tablets placed in household
+shrines, etc., etc. Some kinds are worn about the person;&mdash;others are made
+into pellets, and swallowed as spiritual medicine. The text of the larger
+<i>o-fuda</i> is often accompanied by curious pictures or symbolic
+illustrations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shinzaburō humbly thanked the high-priest; and then, taking with him the image,
+the sutra, and the bundle of sacred texts, he made all haste to reach his home
+before the hour of sunset.
+</p>
+
+<h3>VIII</h3>
+
+<p>
+With Yusai&rsquo;s advice and help, Shinzaburō was able before dark to fix the
+holy texts over all the apertures of his dwelling. Then the <i>ninsomi</i>
+returned to his own house,&mdash;leaving the youth alone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Night came, warm and clear. Shinzaburō made fast the doors, bound the precious
+amulet about his waist, entered his mosquito-net, and by the glow of a
+night-lantern began to recite the <i>Ubō-Darani-Kyō</i>. For a long time he
+chanted the words, comprehending little of their meaning;&mdash;then he tried
+to obtain some rest. But his mind was still too much disturbed by the strange
+events of the day. Midnight passed; and no sleep came to him. At last he heard
+the boom of the great temple-bell of Dentsu-In announcing the eighth
+hour.<a href="#fn-6.15" name="fnref-6.15" id="fnref-6.15"><sup>[15]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.15" id="fn-6.15"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.15">[15]</a>
+According to the old Japanese way of counting time, this <i>yatsudoki</i> or
+eighth hour was the same as our two o&rsquo;clock in the morning. Each Japanese
+hour was equal to two European hours, so that there were only six hours instead
+of our twelve; and these six hours were counted backwards in the
+order,&mdash;9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4. Thus the ninth hour corresponded to our midday,
+or midnight; half-past nine to our one o&rsquo;clock; eight to our two
+o&rsquo;clock. Two o&rsquo;clock in the morning, also called &ldquo;the Hour of
+the Ox,&rdquo; was the Japanese hour of ghosts and goblins.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It ceased; and Shinzaburō suddenly heard the sound of <i>geta</i> approaching
+from the old direction,&mdash;but this time more slowly: <i>karan-koron,
+karan-koron!</i> At once a cold sweat broke over his forehead. Opening the
+sutra hastily, with trembling hand, he began again to recite it aloud. The
+steps came nearer and nearer,&mdash;reached the live hedge,&mdash;stopped!
+Then, strange to say, Shinzaburō felt unable to remain under his mosquito-net:
+something stronger even than his fear impelled him to look; and, instead of
+continuing to recite the <i>Ubō-Darani-Kyō</i>, he foolishly approached the
+shutters, and through a chink peered out into the night. Before the house he
+saw O-Tsuyu standing, and O-Yoné with the peony-lantern; and both of them were
+gazing at the Buddhist texts pasted above the entrance. Never before&mdash;not
+even in what time she lived&mdash;had O-Tsuyu appeared so beautiful; and
+Shinzaburō felt his heart drawn towards her with a power almost resistless. But
+the terror of death and the terror of the unknown restrained; and there went on
+within him such a struggle between his love and his fear that he became as one
+suffering in the body the pains of the Shō-netsu hell.<a href="#fn-6.16" name="fnref-6.16" id="fnref-6.16"><sup>[16]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.16" id="fn-6.16"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.16">[16]</a>
+<i>En-netsu</i> or <i>Shō-netsu</i> (Sanscrit &ldquo;Tapana&rdquo;) is the
+sixth of the Eight Hot Hells of Japanese Buddhism. One day of life in this hell
+is equal in duration to thousands (some say millions) of human years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently he heard the voice of the maid-servant, saying:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My dear mistress, there is no way to enter. The heart of Hagiwara Sama
+must have changed. For the promise that he made last night has been broken; and
+the doors have been made fast to keep us out…. We cannot go in to-night…. It
+will be wiser for you to make up your mind not to think any more about him,
+because his feeling towards you has certainly changed. It is evident that he
+does not want to see you. So it will be better not to give yourself any more
+trouble for the sake of a man whose heart is so unkind.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the girl answered, weeping:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, to think that this could happen after the pledges which we made to
+each other!… Often I was told that the heart of a man changes as quickly as the
+sky of autumn;&mdash;yet surely the heart of Hagiwara Sama cannot be so cruel
+that he should really intend to exclude me in this way!… Dear Yone, please find
+some means of taking me to him…. Unless you do, I will never, never go home
+again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus she continued to plead, veiling her face with her long sleeves,&mdash;and
+very beautiful she looked, and very touching; but the fear of death was strong
+upon her lover.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+O-Yoné at last made answer,&mdash;&ldquo;My dear young lady, why will you
+trouble your mind about a man who seems to be so cruel?… Well, let us see if
+there be no way to enter at the back of the house: come with me!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And taking O-Tsuyu by the hand, she led her away toward the rear of the
+dwelling; and there the two disappeared as suddenly as the light disappears
+when the flame of a lamp is blown out.
+</p>
+
+<h3>IX</h3>
+
+<p>
+Night after night the shadows came at the Hour of the Ox; and nightly
+Shinzaburō heard the weeping of O-Tsuyu. Yet he believed himself
+saved,&mdash;little imagining that his doom had already been decided by the
+character of his dependents.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tomozō had promised Yusai never to speak to any other person&mdash;not even to
+O-Miné&mdash;of the strange events that were taking place. But Tomozō was not
+long suffered by the haunters to rest in peace. Night after night O-Yoné
+entered into his dwelling, and roused him from his sleep, and asked him to
+remove the <i>o-fuda</i> placed over one very small window at the back of his
+master&rsquo;s house. And Tomozō, out of fear, as often promised her to take
+away the <i>o-fuda</i> before the next sundown; but never by day could he make
+up his mind to remove it,&mdash;believing that evil was intended to Shinzaburō.
+At last, in a night of storm, O-Yoné startled him from slumber with a cry of
+reproach, and stooped above his pillow, and said to him: &ldquo;Have a care how
+you trifle with us! If, by to-morrow night, you do not take away that text, you
+shall learn how I can hate!&rdquo; And she made her face so frightful as she
+spoke that Tomozō nearly died of terror.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+O-Miné, the wife of Tomozō, had never till then known of these visits: even to
+her husband they had seemed like bad dreams. But on this particular night it
+chanced that, waking suddenly, she heard the voice of a woman talking to
+Tomozō. Almost in the same moment the talk-ing ceased; and when O-Miné looked
+about her, she saw, by the light of the night-lamp, only her
+husband,&mdash;shuddering and white with fear. The stranger was gone; the doors
+were fast: it seemed impossible that anybody could have entered. Nevertheless
+the jealousy of the wife had been aroused; and she began to chide and to
+question Tomozō in such a manner that he thought himself obliged to betray the
+secret, and to explain the terrible dilemma in which he had been placed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the passion of O-Miné yielded to wonder and alarm; but she was a subtle
+woman, and she devised immediately a plan to save her husband by the sacrifice
+of her master. And she gave Tomozō a cunning counsel,&mdash;telling him to make
+conditions with the dead.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+They came again on the following night at the Hour of the Ox; and O-Miné hid
+herself on hearing the sound of their coming,&mdash;<i>karan-koron,
+karan-koron!</i> But Tomozō went out to meet them in the dark, and even found
+courage to say to them what his wife had told him to say:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is true that I deserve your blame;&mdash;but I had no wish to cause
+you anger. The reason that the <i>o-fuda</i> has not been taken away is that my
+wife and I are able to live only by the help of Hagiwara Sama, and that we
+cannot expose him to any danger without bringing misfortune upon ourselves. But
+if we could obtain the sum of a hundred <i>ryō</i> in gold, we should be able
+to please you, because we should then need no help from anybody. Therefore if
+you will give us a hundred <i>ryō</i>, I can take the <i>o-fuda</i> away
+without being afraid of losing our only means of support.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he had uttered these words, O-Yoné and O-Tsuyu looked at each other in
+silence for a moment. Then O-Yoné said:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Mistress, I told you that it was not right to trouble this man,
+&mdash;as we have no just cause of ill will against him. But it is certainly
+useless to fret yourself about Hagiwara Sama, because his heart has changed
+towards you. Now once again, my dear young lady, let me beg you not to think
+any more about him!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But O-Tsuyu, weeping, made answer:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Dear Yone, whatever may happen, I cannot possibly keep myself from
+thinking about him! You know that you can get a hundred <i>ryō</i> to have the
+<i>o-fuda</i> taken off…. Only once more, I pray, dear Yone!&mdash;only once
+more bring me face to face with Hagiwara Sama,&mdash;I beseech you!&rdquo; And
+hiding her face with her sleeve, she thus continued to plead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! why will you ask me to do these things?&rdquo; responded O-Yoné.
+&ldquo;You know very well that I have no money. But since you will persist in
+this whim of yours, in spite of all that I can say, I suppose that I must try
+to find the money somehow, and to bring it here to-morrow night….&rdquo; Then,
+turning to the faithless Tomozō, she said:&mdash;&ldquo;Tomozō, I must tell you
+that Hagiwara Sama now wears upon his body a <i>mamori</i> called by the name
+of <i>Kai-On-Nyōrai</i>, and that so long as he wears it we cannot approach
+him. So you will have to get that <i>mamori</i> away from him, by some means or
+other, as well as to remove the <i>o-fuda</i>.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tomozō feebly made answer:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That also I can do, if you will promise to bring me the hundred
+<i>ryō</i>.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, mistress,&rdquo; said O-Yoné, &ldquo;you will wait,&mdash;will you
+not,&mdash;until to-morrow night?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, dear Yoné!&rdquo; sobbed the other,&mdash;&ldquo;have we to go back
+to-night again without seeing Hagiwara Sama? Ah! it is cruel!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And the shadow of the mistress, weeping, was led away by the shadow of the
+maid.
+</p>
+
+<h3>X</h3>
+
+<p>
+Another day went, and another night came, and the dead came with it. But this
+time no lamentation was heard without the house of Hagiwara; for the faithless
+servant found his reward at the Hour of the Ox, and removed the <i>o-fuda</i>.
+Moreover he had been able, while his master was at the bath, to steal from its
+case the golden <i>mamori</i>, and to substitute for it an image of copper; and
+he had buried the <i>Kai-On-Nyōrai</i> in a desolate field. So the visitants
+found nothing to oppose their entering. Veiling their faces with their sleeves
+they rose and passed, like a streaming of vapor, into the little window from
+over which the holy text had been torn away. But what happened thereafter
+within the house Tomozō never knew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sun was high before he ventured again to approach his master&rsquo;s
+dwelling, and to knock upon the sliding-doors. For the first time in years he
+obtained no response; and the silence made him afraid. Repeatedly he called,
+and received no answer. Then, aided by O-Miné, he succeeded in effecting an
+entrance and making his way alone to the sleeping-room, where he called again
+in vain. He rolled back the rumbling shutters to admit the light; but still
+within the house there was no stir. At last he dared to lift a corner of the
+mosquito-net. But no sooner had he looked beneath than he fled from the house,
+with a cry of horror.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shinzaburō was dead&mdash;hideously dead;&mdash;and his face was the face of a
+man who had died in the uttermost agony of fear;&mdash;and lying beside him in
+the bed were the bones of a woman! And the bones of the arms, and the bones of
+the hands, clung fast about his neck.
+</p>
+
+<h3>XI</h3>
+
+<p>
+Hakuōdō Yusai, the fortune-teller, went to view the corpse at the prayer of the
+faithless Tomozō. The old man was terrified and astonished at the spectacle,
+but looked about him with a keen eye. He soon perceived that the <i>o-fuda</i>
+had been taken from the little window at the back of the house; and on
+searching the body of Shinzaburō, he discovered that the golden <i>mamori</i>
+had been taken from its wrapping, and a copper image of Fudō put in place of
+it. He suspected Tomozō of the theft; but the whole occurrence was so very
+extraordinary that he thought it prudent to consult with the priest Ryōseki
+before taking further action. Therefore, after having made a careful
+examination of the premises, he betook himself to the temple Shin-Banzui-In, as
+quickly as his aged limbs could bear him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ryōseki, without waiting to hear the purpose of the old man&rsquo;s visit, at
+once invited him into a private apartment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You know that you are always welcome here,&rdquo; said Ryōseki.
+&ldquo;Please seat yourself at ease…. Well, I am sorry to tell you that
+Hagiwara Sama is dead.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yusai wonderingly exclaimed:&mdash;&ldquo;Yes, he is dead;&mdash;but how did
+you learn of it?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The priest responded:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Hagiwara Sama was suffering from the results of an evil karma; and his
+attendant was a bad man. What happened to Hagiwara Sama was
+unavoidable;&mdash;his destiny had been determined from a time long before his
+last birth. It will be better for you not to let your mind be troubled by this
+event.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yusai said:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have heard that a priest of pure life may gain power to see into the
+future for a hundred years; but truly this is the first time in my existence
+that I have had proof of such power…. Still, there is another matter about
+which I am very anxious….&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You mean,&rdquo; interrupted Ryōseki, &ldquo;the stealing of the holy
+<i>mamori</i>, the <i>Kai-On-Nyōrai</i>. But you must not give yourself any
+concern about that. The image has been buried in a field; and it will be found
+there and returned to me during the eighth month of the coming year. So please
+do not be anxious about it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+More and more amazed, the old <i>ninsomi</i> ventured to observe:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have studied the <i>In-Yō</i>,<a href="#fn-6.17" name="fnref-6.17" id="fnref-6.17"><sup>[17]</sup></a>
+and the science of divination; and I make my living by telling peoples&rsquo;
+fortunes;&mdash;but I cannot possibly understand how you know these
+things.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-6.17" id="fn-6.17"></a> <a href="#fnref-6.17">[17]</a>
+The Male and Female principles of the universe, the Active and Passive forces
+of Nature. Yusai refers here to the old Chinese nature-philosophy,&mdash;better
+known to Western readers by the name FENG-SHUI.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ryōseki answered gravely:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Never mind how I happen to know them…. I now want to speak to you about
+Hagiwara&rsquo;s funeral. The House of Hagiwara has its own family-cemetery, of
+course; but to bury him there would not be proper. He must be buried beside
+O-Tsuyu, the Lady Iijima; for his karma-relation to her was a very deep one.
+And it is but right that you should erect a tomb for him at your own cost,
+because you have been indebted to him for many favors.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus it came to pass that Shinzaburō was buried beside O-Tsuyu, in the cemetery
+of Shin-Banzui-In, in Yanaka-no-Sasaki.
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+&mdash;<i>Here ends the story of the Ghosts in the Romance of the
+Peony-Lantern.</i>&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>
+My friend asked me whether the story had interested me; and I answered by
+telling him that I wanted to go to the cemetery of Shin-Banzui-In,&mdash;so as
+to realize more definitely the local color of the author&rsquo;s studies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I shall go with you at once,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But what did you
+think of the personages?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;To Western thinking,&rdquo; I made answer, &ldquo;Shinzaburō is a
+despicable creature. I have been mentally comparing him with the true lovers of
+our old ballad-literature. They were only too glad to follow a dead sweetheart
+into the grave; and nevertheless, being Christians, they believed that they had
+only one human life to enjoy in this world. But Shinzaburō was a
+Buddhist,&mdash;with a million lives behind him and a million lives before him;
+and he was too selfish to give up even one miserable existence for the sake of
+the girl that came back to him from the dead. Then he was even more cowardly
+than selfish. Although a samurai by birth and training, he had to beg a priest
+to save him from ghosts. In every way he proved himself contemptible; and
+O-Tsuyu did quite right in choking him to death.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;From the Japanese point of view, likewise,&rdquo; my friend responded,
+&ldquo;Shinzaburō is rather contemptible. But the use of this weak character
+helped the author to develop incidents that could not otherwise, perhaps, have
+been so effectively managed. To my thinking, the only attractive character in
+the story is that of O-Yoné: type of the old-time loyal and loving
+servant,&mdash;intelligent, shrewd, full of resource,&mdash;faithful not only
+unto death, but beyond death…. Well, let us go to Shin-Banzui-In.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We found the temple uninteresting, and the cemetery an abomination of
+desolation. Spaces once occupied by graves had been turned into potato-patches.
+Between were tombs leaning at all angles out of the perpendicular, tablets made
+illegible by scurf, empty pedestals, shattered water-tanks, and statues of
+Buddhas without heads or hands. Recent rains had soaked the black
+soil,&mdash;leaving here and there small pools of slime about which swarms of
+tiny frogs were hopping. Everything&mdash;excepting the
+potato-patches&mdash;seemed to have been neglected for years. In a shed just
+within the gate, we observed a woman cooking; and my companion presumed to ask
+her if she knew anything about the tombs described in the Romance of the
+Peony-Lantern.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ah! the tombs of O-Tsuyu and O-Yoné?&rdquo; she responded,
+smiling;&mdash;&ldquo;you will find them near the end of the first row at the
+back of the temple&mdash;next to the statue of Jizo.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Surprises of this kind I had met with elsewhere in Japan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We picked our way between the rain-pools and between the green ridges of young
+potatoes,&mdash;whose roots were doubtless feeding on the sub-stance of many
+another O-Tsuyu and O-Yoné;&mdash;and we reached at last two lichen-eaten tombs
+of which the inscriptions seemed almost obliterated. Beside the larger tomb was
+a statue of Jizo, with a broken nose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The characters are not easy to make out,&rdquo; said my
+friend&mdash;&ldquo;but wait!&rdquo;…. He drew from his sleeve a sheet of soft
+white paper, laid it over the inscription, and began to rub the paper with a
+lump of clay. As he did so, the characters appeared in white on the blackened
+surface.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;<i>Eleventh day, third month&mdash;Rat, Elder Brother, Fire&mdash;Sixth
+year of Horéki</i> [A. D. 1756].&rsquo;… This would seem to be the grave of
+some innkeeper of Nedzu, named Kichibei. Let us see what is on the other
+monument.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With a fresh sheet of paper he presently brought out the text of a kaimyō, and
+read,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;<i>En-myō-In, Hō-yō-I-tei-ken-shi,
+Hō-ni&rsquo;:&mdash;&lsquo;Nun-of-the-Law, Illustrious, Pure-of-heart-and-will,
+Famed-in-the-Law,&mdash;inhabiting the
+Mansion-of-the-Preaching-of-Wonder.</i>&rsquo;…. The grave of some Buddhist
+nun.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What utter humbug!&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;That woman was only making
+fun of us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now,&rdquo; my friend protested, &ldquo;you are unjust to the, woman!
+You came here because you wanted a sensation; and she tried her very best to
+please you. You did not suppose that ghost-story was true, did you?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap07"></a>Footprints of the Buddha</h2>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>
+I was recently surprised to find, in Anderson&rsquo;s catalogue of Japanese and
+Chinese paintings in the British Museum, this remarkable
+statement:&mdash;&ldquo;It is to be noted that in Japan the figure of the
+Buddha is never represented by the feet, or pedestal alone, as in the Amravati
+remains, and many other Indian art-relics.&rdquo; As a matter of fact the
+representation is not even rare in Japan. It is to be found not only upon stone
+monuments, but also in religious paintings,&mdash;especially certain kakemono
+suspended in temples. These kakemono usually display the footprints upon a very
+large scale, with a multitude of mystical symbols and characters. The
+sculptures may be less common; but in Tōkyō alone there are a number of
+<i>Butsu-soku-séki</i>, or &ldquo;Buddha-foot stones,&rdquo; which I have
+seen,&mdash;and probably several which I have not seen. There is one at the
+temple of Ekō-In, near Ryōgoku-bashi; one at the temple of Denbō-In, in
+Koishikawa; one at the temple of Denbō-In, in Asakusa; and a beautiful example
+at Zōjōji in Shiba. These are not cut out of a single block, but are composed
+of fragments cemented into the irregular traditional shape, and capped with a
+heavy slab of Nebukawa granite, on the polished surface of which the design is
+engraved in lines about one-tenth of an inch in depth. I should judge the
+average height of these pedestals to be about two feet four inches, and their
+greatest diameter about three feet. Around the footprints there are carved (in
+most of the examples) twelve little bunches of leaves and buds of the
+<i>Bodai-jū</i> (&ldquo;Bodhidruma&rdquo;), or Bodhi-tree of Buddhist legend.
+In all cases the footprint design is about the same; but the monuments are
+different in quality and finish. That of Zōjōji,&mdash;with figures of
+divinities cut in low relief on its sides,&mdash;is the most ornate and costly
+of the four. The specimen at Ekō-In is very poor and plain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first <i>Butsu-soku-séki</i> made in Japan was that erected at Tōdaiji, in Nara.
+It was designed after a similar monument in China, said to be the faithful copy
+of an Indian original. Concerning this Indian original, the following tradition
+is given in an old Buddhist
+book:<a href="#fn-7.1" name="fnref-7.1" id="fnref-7.1"><sup>[1]</sup></a>&mdash;&ldquo;In
+a temple of the province of Makada [<i>Maghada</i>] there is a great stone. The
+Buddha once trod upon this stone; and the prints of the soles of his feet
+remain upon its surface. The length of the impressions is one foot and eight
+inches,<a href="#fn-7.2" name="fnref-7.2" id="fnref-7.2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> and
+the width of them a little more than six inches. On the sole-part of each
+footprint there is the impression of a wheel; and upon each of the prints of
+the ten toes there is a flower-like design, which sometimes radiates light.
+When the Buddha felt that the time of his Nirvâna was approaching, he went to
+Kushina [<i>Kusinârâ</i>], and there stood upon that stone. He stood with his
+face to the south. Then he said to his disciple Anan [<i>Ânanda</i>]: &lsquo;In
+this place I leave the impression of my feet, to remain for a last token.
+Although a king of this country will try to destroy the impression, it can
+never be entirely destroyed.&rsquo; And indeed it has not been destroyed unto
+this day. Once a king who hated Buddhism caused the top of the stone to be
+pared off, so as to remove the impression; but after the surface had been
+removed, the footprints reappeared upon the stone.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-7.1" id="fn-7.1"></a> <a href="#fnref-7.1">[1]</a>
+The Chinese title is pronounced by Japanese as <i>Sei-iki-ki</i>.
+&ldquo;Sei-iki&rdquo;(the Country of the West) was the old Japanese name for
+India; and thus the title might be rendered, &ldquo;The Book about
+India.&rdquo; I suppose this is the work known to Western scholars as
+<i>Si-yu-ki</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-7.2" id="fn-7.2"></a> <a href="#fnref-7.2">[2]</a>
+&ldquo;One <i>shaku</i> and eight <i>sun</i>.&rdquo; But the Japanese foot and
+inch are considerably longer than the English.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+Concerning the virtue of the representation of the footprints of the Buddha,
+there is sometimes quoted a text from the <i>Kwan-butsu-sanmai-kyō</i>
+[&ldquo;Buddha-dhyâna-samâdhi-sâgara-sûtra&rdquo;], thus translated for
+me:&mdash;&ldquo;In that time Shaka [&ldquo;Sâkyamuni&rdquo;] lifted up his
+foot…. When the Buddha lifted up his foot all could perceive upon the sole of
+it the appearance of a wheel of a thousand spokes…. And Shaka said:
+&lsquo;Whosoever beholds the sign upon the sole of my foot shall be purified
+from all his faults. Even he who beholds the sign after my death shall be
+delivered from all the evil results of all his errors.&rdquo; Various other
+texts of Japanese Buddhism affirm that whoever looks upon the footprints of the
+Buddha &ldquo;shall be freed from the bonds of error, and conducted upon the
+Way of Enlightenment.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus05"></a>
+<a href="images/fig05.jpg">
+<img src="images/fig05.jpg" width="500" height="388" alt="Illustration:" /></a>
+<p class="caption">S&rsquo;rîpâda-tracing at Dentsu-In, Koishikawa, Tōkyō</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+An outline of the footprints as engraved on one of the Japanese
+pedestals<a href="#fn-7.3" name="fnref-7.3" id="fnref-7.3"><sup>[3]</sup></a>
+should have some interest even for persons familiar with Indian sculptures of
+the S&rsquo;rîpâda. The double-page drawing, accompanying this paper, and
+showing both footprints, has been made after the tracing at Dentsu-In, where
+the footprints have the full legendary dimension, It will be observed that
+there are only seven emblems: these are called in Japan the <i>Shichi-Sō</i>,
+or &ldquo;Seven Appearances.&rdquo; I got some information about them from the
+<i>Shō-Ekō-Hō-Kwan</i>,&mdash;a book used by the Jodo sect. This book also
+contains rough woodcuts of the footprints; and one of them I reproduce here for
+the purpose of calling attention to the curious form of the emblems upon the
+toes. They are said to be modifications of the <i>manji</i>, or svastikâ, but I
+doubt it. In the <i>Butsu-soku-séki</i>-tracings, the corresponding figures
+suggest the &ldquo;flower-like design&rdquo; mentioned in the tradition of the
+Maghada stone; while the symbols in the book-print suggest fire. Indeed their
+outline so much resembles the conventional flamelet-design of Buddhist
+decoration, that I cannot help thinking them originally intended to indicate
+the traditional luminosity of the footprints. Moreover, there is a text in the
+book called <i>Hō-Kai-Shidai</i> that lends support to this
+supposition:&mdash;&ldquo;The sole of the foot of the Buddha is
+flat,&mdash;like the base of a toilet-stand…. Upon it are lines forming the
+appearance of a wheel of a thousand spokes…. The toes are slender, round, long,
+straight, graceful, <i>and somewhat luminous</i>.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-7.3" id="fn-7.3"></a> <a href="#fnref-7.3">[3]</a>
+A monument at Nara exhibits the <i>S&rsquo;rîpâda</i> in a form differing	
+considerably from the design upon the Tōkyō pedestals.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus06"></a>
+<a href="images/fig06.jpg">
+<img src="images/fig06.jpg" width="500" height="423" alt="Illustration:" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Left: S&rsquo;rîpâda showing the svastikâ (From the Bukkyō-Hyakkwa-Zensho)<br />
+Right: (From the Shō-Ekō-Hō-Kwan)</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The explanation of the Seven Appearances which is given by the
+<i>Shō-Ekō-Hō-Kwan</i> cannot be called satisfactory; but it is not without
+interest in relation to Japanese popular Buddhism. The emblems are considered
+in the following order:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I.&mdash;<i>The Svastikâ</i>. The figure upon each toe is said to be a modification of
+the <i>manji</i>;<a href="#fn-7.4" name="fnref-7.4" id="fnref-7.4"><sup>[4]</sup></a>
+and although I doubt whether this is always the case, I have observed that on
+some of the large kakémono representing the footprints, the emblem really
+<i>is</i> the svastikâ,&mdash;not a flamelet nor a flower-shape.<a href="#fn-7.5" name="fnref-7.5" id="fnref-7.5"><sup>[5]</sup></a>
+The Japanese commentator explains the svastikâ as a symbol of
+&ldquo;everlasting bliss.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-7.4" id="fn-7.4"></a> <a href="#fnref-7.4">[4]</a>
+Lit.: &ldquo;The thousand-character&rdquo; sign.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-7.5" id="fn-7.5"></a> <a href="#fnref-7.5">[5]</a>
+On some monuments and drawings there is a sort of disk made by a single line
+in spiral, on each toe,&mdash;together with the image of a small wheel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+II.&mdash;<i>The Fish</i> (<i>Gyo</i>). The fish signifies freedom from all
+restraints. As in the water a fish moves easily in any direction, so in the
+Buddha-state the fully-emancipated knows no restraints or obstructions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+III.&mdash;<i>The Diamond-Mace</i> (Jap. <i>Kongō-sho;</i>&mdash;Sansc.
+&ldquo;Vadjra&rdquo;). Explained as signifying the divine force that
+&ldquo;strikes and breaks all the lusts (<i>bonnō</i>) of the world.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+IV.&mdash;<i>The Conch-Shell</i> (Jap. &ldquo;<i>Hora</i>&rdquo;) or
+<i>Trumpet</i>. Emblem of the preaching of the Law. The book
+<i>Shin-zoku-butsu-ji-hen</i> calls it the symbol of the voice of the Buddha.
+The <i>Dai-hi-kyō</i> calls it the token of the preaching and of the power of
+the Mahayana doctrine. The <i>Dai-Nichi-Kyō</i> says:&mdash;&rdquo; At the
+sound of the blowing of the shell, all the heavenly deities are filled with
+delight, and come to hear the Law.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+V.&mdash;<i>The Flower-Vase</i> (Jap. &ldquo;<i>Hanagamé</i>&rdquo;). Emblem of
+<i>murō</i>,&mdash;a mystical word which might be literally rendered as
+&ldquo;not-leaking,&rdquo;&mdash;signifying that condition of supreme
+intelligence triumphant over birth and death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+VI.&mdash;<i>The Wheel-of-a-Thousand-Spokes</i> (Sansc. &ldquo;Tchakra
+&ldquo;). This emblem, called in Japanese <i>Senfuku-rin-sō</i>, is curiously
+explained by various quotations. The <i>Hokké-Monku</i> says:&mdash;&ldquo;The
+effect of a wheel is to crush something; and the effect of the Buddha&rsquo;s
+preaching is to crush all delusions, errors, doubts, and superstitions.
+Therefore preaching the doctrine is called, &lsquo;turning the
+Wheel.&rsquo;&rdquo;… The <i>Sei-Ri-Ron</i> says: &ldquo;Even as the common
+wheel has its spokes and its hub, so in Buddhism there are many branches of the
+<i>Hasshi Shōdo</i> (&lsquo;Eight-fold Path,&rsquo; or eight rules of
+conduct).&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+VII.&mdash;<i>The Crown of Brahmâ</i>. Under the heel of the Buddha is the
+Treasure-Crown (<i>Hō-Kwan</i>) of Brahmâ (<i>Bon-Ten-O</i>),&mdash;in symbol
+of the Buddha&rsquo;s supremacy above the gods.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But I think that the inscriptions upon any of these <i>Butsu-soku-séki</i> will
+be found of more significance than the above imperfect attempts at an
+explanation of the emblems. The inscriptions upon the monument at Dentsu-In are
+typical. On different sides of the structure,&mdash;near the top, and placed by
+rule so as to face certain points of the compass,&mdash;there are engraved five
+Sanscrit characters which are symbols of the Five Elemental Buddhas, together
+with scriptural and commemorative texts. These latter have been translated for
+me as follows:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The HO-KO-HON-NYO-KYO says:&mdash;&ldquo;In that time, from beneath his feet,
+the Buddha radiated a light having the appearance of a wheel of a thousand
+spokes. And all who saw that radiance became strictly upright, and obtained the
+Supreme Enlightenment.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The KWAN-BUTSU-SANMAI-KYO says:&mdash;&ldquo;Whosoever looks upon the
+footprints of the Buddha shall be freed from the results even of innumerable
+thousands of imperfections.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The BUTSU-SETSU-MU-RYO-JU-KYO says:&mdash;&ldquo;In the land that the Buddha
+treads in journeying, there is not even one person in all the multitude of the
+villages who is not benefited. Then throughout the world there is peace and
+good will. The sun and the moon shine clear and bright. Wind and rain come only
+at a suitable time. Calamity and pestilence cease. The country prospers; the
+people are free from care. Weapons become useless. All men reverence religion,
+and regulate their conduct in all matters with earnestness and modesty.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+[Commemorative Text.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;The Fifth Month of the Eighteenth Year of Meiji, all the priests of this
+temple made and set up this pedestal-stone, bearing the likeness of the
+footprints of the Buddha, and placed the same within the main court of
+Dentsu-In, in order that the seed of holy enlightenment might be sown for
+future time, and for the sake of the advancement of Buddhism.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+T<small>AIJO</small>, priest,&mdash;being the sixty-sixth chief-priest by
+succession of this temple,&mdash;has respectfully composed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+J<small>UNYU</small>, the minor priest, has reverentially inscribed.
+</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>
+Strange facts crowd into memory as one contemplates those graven
+footprints,&mdash;footprints giant-seeming, yet less so than the human
+personality of which they remain the symbol. Twenty-four hundred years ago, out
+of solitary meditation upon the pain and the mystery of being, the mind of an
+Indian pilgrim brought forth the highest truth ever taught to men, and in an
+era barren of science anticipated the uttermost knowledge of our present
+evolutional philosophy regarding the secret unity of life, the endless
+illusions of matter and of mind, and the birth and death of universes. He, by
+pure reason,&mdash;and he alone before our time,&mdash;found answers of worth
+to the questions of the Whence, the Whither, and the Why;&mdash;and he made
+with these answers another and a nobler faith than the creed of his fathers. He
+spoke, and returned to his dust; and the people worshipped the prints of his
+dead feet, because of the love that he had taught them. Thereafter waxed and
+waned the name of Alexander, and the power of Rome and the might of
+Islam;&mdash;nations arose and vanished;&mdash;cities grew and were
+not;&mdash;the children of another civilization, vaster than Romes, begirdled
+the earth with conquest, and founded far-off empires, and came at last to rule
+in the land of that pilgrim&rsquo;s birth. And these, rich in the wisdom of
+four and twenty centuries, wondered at the beauty of his message, and caused
+all that he had said and done to be written down anew in languages unborn at
+the time when he lived and taught. Still burn his footprints in the East; and
+still the great West, marvelling, follows their gleam to seek the Supreme
+Enlightenment. Even thus, of old, Milinda the king followed the way to the
+house of Nagasena,&mdash;at first only to question, after the subtle method of
+the Greeks; yet, later, to accept with noble reverence the nobler method of the
+Master.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap08"></a>Ululation</h2>
+
+<p>
+She is lean as a wolf, and very old,&mdash;the white bitch that guards my gate
+at night. She played with most of the young men and women of the neighborhood
+when they were boys and girls. I found her in charge of my present dwelling on
+the day that I came to occupy it. She had guarded the place, I was told, for a
+long succession of prior tenants&mdash;apparently with no better reason than
+that she had been born in the woodshed at the back of the house. Whether well
+or ill treated she had served all occupants faultlessly as a watch. The
+question of food as wages had never seriously troubled her, because most of the
+families of the street daily contributed to her support.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She is gentle and silent,&mdash;silent at least by day; and in spite of her
+gaunt ugliness, her pointed ears, and her somewhat unpleasant eyes, everybody
+is fond of her. Children ride on her back, and tease her at will; but although
+she has been known to make strange men feel uncomfortable, she never growls at
+a child. The reward of her patient good-nature is the friendship of the
+community. When the dog-killers come on their bi-annual round, the neighbors
+look after her interests. Once she was on the very point of being officially
+executed when the wife of the smith ran to the rescue, and pleaded successfully
+with the policeman superintending the massacres. &ldquo;Put somebody&rsquo;s
+name on the dog,&rdquo; said the latter: &ldquo;then it will be safe. Whose dog
+is it?&rdquo; That question proved hard to answer. The dog was
+everybody&rsquo;s and nobody&rsquo;s&mdash;welcome everywhere but owned
+nowhere. &ldquo;But where does it stay?&rdquo; asked the puzzled constable.
+&ldquo;It stays,&rdquo; said the smith&rsquo;s wife, &ldquo;in the house of the
+foreigner.&rdquo; &ldquo;Then let the foreigner&rsquo;s name be put upon the
+dog,&rdquo; suggested the policeman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Accordingly I had my name painted on her back in big Japanese characters. But
+the neighbors did not think that she was sufficiently safeguarded by a single
+name. So the priest of Kobudera painted the name of the temple on her left
+side, in beautiful Chinese text; and the smith put the name of his shop on her
+right side; and the vegetable-seller put on her breast the ideographs for
+&ldquo;eight-hundred,&rdquo;&mdash;which represent the customary abbreviation
+of the word yaoya (vegetable-seller),&mdash;any yaoya being supposed to sell
+eight hundred or more different things. Consequently she is now a very
+curious-looking dog; but she is well protected by all that calligraphy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have only one fault to find with her: she howls at night. Howling is one of
+the few pathetic pleasures of her existence. At first I tried to frighten her
+out of the habit; but finding that she refused to take me seriously, I
+concluded to let her howl. It would have been monstrous to beat her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet I detest her howl. It always gives me a feeling of vague disquiet, like the
+uneasiness that precedes the horror of nightmare. It makes me
+afraid,&mdash;indefinably, superstitiously afraid. Perhaps what I am writing
+will seem to you absurd; but you would not think it absurd if you once heard
+her howl. She does not howl like the common street-dogs. She belongs to some
+ruder Northern breed, much more wolfish, and retaining wild traits of a very
+peculiar kind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And her howl is also peculiar. It is incomparably weirder than the howl of any
+European dog; and I fancy that it is incomparably older. It may represent the
+original primitive cry of her species,&mdash;totally unmodified by centuries of
+domestication. It begins with a stifled moan, like the moan of a bad
+dream,&mdash;mounts into a long, long wail, like a wailing of wind,&mdash;sinks
+quavering into a chuckle,&mdash;rises again to a wail, very much higher and
+wilder than before,&mdash;breaks suddenly into a kind of atrocious
+laughter,&mdash;and finally sobs itself out in a plaint like the crying of a
+little child. The ghastliness of the performance is chiefly&mdash;though not
+entirely&mdash;in the goblin mockery of the laughing tones as contrasted with
+the piteous agony of the wailing ones: an incongruity that makes you think of
+madness. And I imagine a corresponding incongruity in the soul of the creature.
+I know that she loves me,&mdash;that she would throw away her poor life for me
+at an instant&rsquo;s notice. I am sure that she would grieve if I were to die.
+But she would not think about the matter like other dogs,&mdash;like a dog with
+hanging ears, for example. She is too savagely close to Nature for that. Were
+she to find herself alone with my corpse in some desolate place, she would
+first mourn wildly for her friend; but, this duty performed, she would
+proceed to ease her sorrow in the simplest way possible,&mdash;by eating
+him,&mdash;by cracking his bones between those long wolf&rsquo;s-teeth of hers.
+And thereafter, with spotless conscience, she would sit down and utter to the
+moon the funeral cry of her ancestors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It fills me, that cry, with a strange curiosity not less than with a strange
+horror,&mdash;because of certain extraordinary vowellings in it which always
+recur in the same order of sequence, and must represent particular forms of
+animal speech,&mdash;particular ideas. The whole thing is a song,&mdash;a song
+of emotions and thoughts not human, and therefore humanly unimaginable. But
+other dogs know what it means, and make answer over the miles of the
+night,&mdash;sometimes from so far away that only by straining my hearing to
+the uttermost can I detect the faint response. The words&mdash;(if I may call
+them words)&mdash;are very few; yet, to judge by their emotional effect, they
+must signify a great deal. Possibly they mean things myriads of years
+old,&mdash;things relating to odors, to exhalations, to influences and
+effluences inapprehensible by duller human sense,&mdash;impulses also, impulses
+without name, bestirred in ghosts of dogs by the light of great moons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Could we know the sensations of a dog,&mdash;the emotions and the ideas of a
+dog, we might discover some strange correspondence between their character and
+the character of that peculiar disquiet which the howl of the creature evokes.
+But since the senses of a dog are totally unlike those of a man, we shall never
+really know. And we can only surmise, in the vaguest way, the meaning of the
+uneasiness in ourselves. Some notes in the long cry,&mdash;and the weirdest of
+them,&mdash;oddly resemble those tones of the human voice that tell of agony
+and terror. Again, we have reason to believe that the sound of the cry itself
+became associated in human imagination, at some period enormously remote, with
+particular impressions of fear. It is a remarkable fact that in almost all
+countries (including Japan) the howling of dogs has been attributed to their
+perception of things viewless to man, and awful,&mdash;especially gods and
+ghosts;&mdash;and this unanimity of superstitious belief suggests that one
+element of the disquiet inspired by the cry is the dread of the supernatural.
+To-day we have ceased to be consciously afraid of the unseen;&mdash;knowing
+that we ourselves are supernatural,&mdash;that even the physical man, with all
+his life of sense, is more ghostly than any ghost of old imagining: but some
+dim inheritance of the primitive fear still slumbers in our being, and wakens
+perhaps, like an echo, to the sound of that wail in the night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whatever thing invisible to human eyes the senses of a dog may at times
+perceive, it can be nothing resembling our idea of a ghost. Most probably the
+mysterious cause of start and whine is not anything <i>seen</i>. There is no
+anatomical reason for supposing a dog to possess exceptional powers of vision.
+But a dog&rsquo;s organs of scent proclaim a faculty immeasurably superior to
+the sense of smell in man. The old universal belief in the superhuman
+perceptivities of the creature was a belief justified by fact; but the
+perceptivities are not visual. Were the howl of a dog really&mdash;as once
+supposed&mdash;an outcry of ghostly terror, the meaning might possibly be,
+&ldquo;<i>I smell Them!</i>&rdquo;&mdash;but not, &ldquo;<i>I see
+Them!</i>&rdquo; No evidence exists to support the fancy that a dog can see any
+forms of being which a man cannot see.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the night-howl of the white creature in my close forces me to wonder
+whether she does not <i>mentally</i> see something really
+terrible,&mdash;something which we vainly try to keep out of moral
+consciousness: the ghoulish law of life. Nay, there are times when her cry
+seems to me not the mere cry of a dog, but the voice of the law
+itself,&mdash;the very speech of that Nature so inexplicably called by poets
+the loving, the merciful, the divine! Divine, perhaps, in some unknowable
+ultimate way,&mdash;but certainly not merciful, and still more certainly not
+loving. Only by eating each other do beings exist! Beautiful to the
+poet&rsquo;s vision our world may seem,&mdash;with its loves, its hopes, its
+memories, its aspirations; but there is nothing beautiful in the fact that life
+is fed by continual murder,&mdash;that the tenderest affection, the noblest
+enthusiasm, the purest idealism, must be nourished by the eating of flesh and
+the drinking of blood. All life, to sustain itself, must devour life. You may
+imagine yourself divine if you please,&mdash;but you have to obey that law. Be,
+if you will, a vegetarian: none the less you must eat forms that have feeling
+and desire. Sterilize your food; and digestion stops. You cannot even drink
+without swallowing life. Loathe the name as we may, we are cannibals;&mdash;all
+being essentially is One; and whether we eat the flesh of a plant, a fish, a
+reptile, a bird, a mammal, or a man, the ultimate fact is the same. And for all
+life the end is the same: every creature, whether buried or burnt, is
+devoured,&mdash;and not only once or twice,&mdash;nor a hundred, nor a
+thousand, nor a myriad times! Consider the ground upon which we move, the soil
+out of which we came;&mdash;think of the vanished billions that have risen from
+it and crumbled back into its latency to feed what becomes our food!
+Perpetually we eat the dust of our race,&mdash;<i>the substance of our ancient
+selves</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But even so-called inanimate matter is self-devouring. Substance preys upon
+substance. As in the droplet monad swallows monad, so in the vast of Space do
+spheres consume each other. Stars give being to worlds and devour them; planets
+assimilate their own moons. All is a ravening that never ends but to
+recommence. And unto whomsoever thinks about these matters, the story of a
+divine universe, made and ruled by paternal love, sounds less persuasive than
+the Polynesian tale that the souls of the dead are devoured by the gods.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Monstrous the law seems, because we have developed ideas and sentiments which
+are opposed to this demoniac Nature,&mdash;much as voluntary movement is
+opposed to the blind power of gravitation. But the possession of such ideas and
+sentiments does but aggravate the atrocity of our situation, without lessening
+in the least the gloom of the final problem.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Anyhow the faith of the Far East meets that problem better than the faith of
+the West. To the Buddhist the Cosmos is not divine at all&mdash;quite the
+reverse. It is Karma;&mdash;it is the creation of thoughts and acts of
+error;&mdash;it is not governed by any providence;&mdash;it is a ghastliness, a
+nightmare. Likewise it is an illusion. It seems real only for the same reason
+that the shapes and the pains of an evil dream seem real to the dreamer. Our
+life upon earth is a state of sleep. Yet we do not sleep utterly. There are
+gleams in our darkness,&mdash;faint auroral wakenings of Love and Pity and
+Sympathy and Magnanimity: these are selfless and true;&mdash;these are eternal
+and divine;&mdash;these are the Four Infinite Feelings in whose after-glow all
+forms and illusions will vanish, like mists in the light of the sun. But,
+except in so far as we wake to these feelings, we are dreamers
+indeed,&mdash;moaning unaided in darkness,&mdash;tortured by shadowy horror.
+All of us dream; none are fully awake; and many, who pass for the wise of the
+world, know even less of the truth than my dog that howls in the night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Could she speak, my dog, I think that she might ask questions which no
+philosopher would be able to answer. For I believe that she is tormented by the
+pain of existence. Of course I do not mean that the riddle presents itself to
+her as it does to us,&mdash;nor that she can have reached any abstract
+conclusions by any mental processes like our own. The external world to her is
+&ldquo;a continuum of smells.&rdquo; She thinks, compares, remembers, reasons
+by smells. By smell she makes her estimates of character: all her judgments are
+founded upon smells. Smelling thousands of things which we cannot smell at all,
+she must comprehend them in a way of which we can form no idea. Whatever she
+knows has been learned through mental operations of an utterly unimaginable
+kind. But we may be tolerably sure that she thinks about most things in some
+odor-relation to the experience of eating or to the intuitive dread of being
+eaten. Certainly she knows a great deal more about the earth on which we tread
+than would be good for us to know; and probably, if capable of speech, she
+could tell us the strangest stories of air and water. Gifted, or afflicted, as
+she is with such terribly penetrant power of sense, her notion of apparent
+realities must be worse than sepulchral. Small wonder if she howl at the moon
+that shines upon such a world!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And yet she is more awake, in the Buddhist meaning, than many of us. She
+possesses a rude moral code&mdash;inculcating loyalty, submission, gentleness,
+gratitude, and maternal love; together with various minor rules of
+conduct;&mdash;and this simple code she has always observed. By priests her
+state is termed a state of darkness of mind, because she cannot learn all that
+men should learn; but according to her light she has done well enough to merit
+some better condition in her next rebirth. So think the people who know her.
+When she dies they will give her an humble funeral, and have a sutra recited on
+behalf of her spirit. The priest will let a grave be made for her somewhere in
+the temple-garden, and will place over it a little sotoba bearing the
+text,&mdash;<i>Nyo-zé chikushō hotsu Bodai-shin</i>:<a href="#fn-8.1" name="fnref-8.1" id="fnref-8.1"><sup>[1]</sup></a>
+&ldquo;Even within such as this animal, the Knowledge Supreme will unfold at
+last.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-8.1" id="fn-8.1"></a> <a href="#fnref-8.1">[1]</a>
+Lit., &ldquo;the Bodhi-mind;&rdquo;&mdash;that is to say, the Supreme
+Enlightenment, the intelligence of Buddhahood itself.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap09"></a>Bits of Poetry</h2>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>
+Among a people with whom poetry has been for centuries a universal fashion of
+emotional utterance, we should naturally suppose the common ideal of life to be
+a noble one. However poorly the upper classes of such a people might compare
+with those of other nations, we could scarcely doubt that its lower classes
+were morally and otherwise in advance of our own lower classes. And the
+Japanese actually present us with such a social phenomenon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poetry in Japan is universal as the air. It is felt by everybody. It is read by
+everybody. It is composed by almost everybody,&mdash;irrespective of class and
+condition. Nor is it thus ubiquitous in the mental atmosphere only: it is
+everywhere to be heard by the ear, and <i>seen by the eye!</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As for audible poetry, wherever there is working there is singing. The toil of
+the fields and the labor of the streets are performed to the rhythm of chanted
+verse; and song would seem to be an expression of the life of the people in
+about the same sense that it is an expression of the life of cicadæ…. As for
+visible poetry, it appears everywhere, written or graven,&mdash;in Chinese or
+in Japanese characters,&mdash;as a form of decoration. In thousands and
+thousands of dwellings, you might observe that the sliding-screens, separating
+rooms or closing alcoves, have Chinese or Japanese decorative texts upon
+them;&mdash;and these texts are poems. In houses of the better class there are
+usually a number of <i>gaku</i>, or suspended tablets to be seen,&mdash;each
+bearing, for all design, a beautifully written verse. But poems can be found
+upon almost any kind of domestic utensil,&mdash;for example upon braziers, iron
+kettles, vases, wooden trays, lacquer ware, porcelains, chopsticks of the finer
+sort,&mdash;even toothpicks! Poems are painted upon shop-signs, panels,
+screens, and fans. Poems are printed upon towels, draperies, curtains,
+kerchiefs, silk-linings, and women&rsquo;s crêpe-silk underwear. Poems are
+stamped or worked upon letter-paper, envelopes, purses, mirror-cases,
+travelling-bags. Poems are inlaid upon enamelled ware, cut upon bronzes, graven
+upon metal pipes, embroidered upon tobacco-pouches. It were a hopeless effort
+to enumerate a tithe of the articles decorated with poetical texts. Probably my
+readers know of those social gatherings at which it is the custom to compose
+verses, and to suspend the compositions to blossoming trees,&mdash;also of the
+Tanabata festival in honor of certain astral gods, when poems inscribed on
+strips of colored paper, and attached to thin bamboos, are to be seen even by
+the roadside,&mdash;all fluttering in the wind like so many tiny flags….
+Perhaps you might find your way to some Japanese hamlet in which there are
+neither trees nor flowers, but never to any hamlet in which there is no visible
+poetry. You might wander,&mdash;as I have done,&mdash;into a settlement so poor
+that you could not obtain there, for love or money, even a cup of real tea; but
+I do not believe that you could discover a settlement in which there is nobody
+capable of making a poem.
+</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>
+Recently while looking over a manuscript-collection of verses,&mdash;mostly
+short poems of an emotional or descriptive character,&mdash;it occurred to me
+that a selection from them might serve to illustrate certain Japanese qualities
+of sentiment, as well as some little-known Japanese theories of artistic
+expression,&mdash;and I ventured forthwith, upon this essay. The poems, which
+had been collected for me by different persons at many different times and
+places, were chiefly of the kind written on particular occasions, and cast into
+forms more serried, if not also actually briefer, than anything in Western
+prosody. Probably few of my readers are aware of two curious facts relating to
+this order of composition. Both facts are exemplified in the history and in the
+texts of my collection,&mdash;though I cannot hope, in my renderings, to
+reproduce the original effect, whether of imagery or of feeling.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first curious fact is that, from very ancient times, the writing of short
+poems has been practised in Japan even more as a moral duty than as a mere
+literary art. The old ethical teaching was somewhat like this:&mdash;&ldquo;Are
+you very angry?&mdash;do not say anything unkind, but compose a poem. Is your
+best-beloved dead?&mdash;do not yield to useless grief, but try to calm your
+mind by making a poem. Are you troubled because you are about to die, leaving
+so many things unfinished?&mdash;be brave, and write a poem on death! Whatever
+injustice or misfortune disturbs you, put aside your resentment or your sorrow
+as soon as possible, and write a few lines of sober and elegant verse for a
+moral exercise.&rdquo; Accordingly, in the old days, every form of trouble was
+encountered with a poem. Bereavement, separation, disaster called forth verses
+in lieu of plaints. The lady who preferred death to loss of honor, composed a
+poem before piercing her throat The samurai sentenced to die by his own hand,
+wrote a poem before performing <i>hara-kiri</i>. Even in this less romantic era
+of Meiji, young people resolved upon suicide are wont to compose some verses
+before quitting the world. Also it is still the good custom to write a poem in
+time of ill-fortune. I have frequently known poems to be written under the most
+trying circumstances of misery or suffering,&mdash;nay even upon a bed of
+death;-and if the verses did not display any extraordinary talent, they at
+least afforded extraordinary proof of self-mastery under pain…. Surely this
+fact of composition as ethical practice has larger interest than all the
+treatises ever written about the rules of Japanese prosody.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The other curious fact is only a fact of aesthetic theory. The common
+art-principle of the class of poems under present consideration is identical
+with the common principle of Japanese pictorial illustration. By the use of a
+few chosen words the composer of a short poem endeavors to do exactly what the
+painter endeavors to do with a few strokes of the brush,&mdash;to evoke an
+image or a mood,&mdash;to revive a sensation or an emotion. And the
+accomplishment of this purpose,&mdash;by poet or by
+picture-maker,&mdash;depends altogether upon capacity to <i>suggest</i>, and
+only to suggest. A Japanese artist would be condemned for attempting
+elaboration of detail in a sketch intended to recreate the memory of some
+landscape seen through the blue haze of a spring morning, or under the great
+blond light of an autumn after-noon. Not only would he be false to the
+traditions of his art: he would necessarily defeat his own end thereby. In the
+same way a poet would be condemned for attempting any <i>completeness</i> of
+utterance in a very short poem: his object should be only to stir imagination
+without satisfying it. So the term <i>ittakkiri</i>&mdash;meaning &ldquo;all
+gone,&rdquo; or &ldquo;entirely vanished,&rdquo; in the sense of &ldquo;all
+told,&rdquo;&mdash;is contemptuously applied to verses in which the verse-maker
+has uttered his whole thought;&mdash;praise being reserved for compositions
+that leave in the mind the thrilling of a something unsaid. Like the single
+stroke of a temple-bell, the perfect short poem should set murmuring and
+undulating, in the mind of the hearer, many a ghostly aftertone of long
+duration.
+</p>
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>
+But for the same reason that Japanese short poems may be said to resemble.
+Japanese pictures, a full comprehension of them requires an intimate knowledge
+of the life which they reflect. And this is especially true of the emotional
+class of such poems,&mdash;a literal translation of which, in the majority of
+cases, would signify almost nothing to the Western mind. Here, for example, is
+a little verse, pathetic enough to Japanese comprehension:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+Chōchō ni!..<br />
+Kyonen shishitaru<br />
+Tsuma koishi!
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+Translated, this would appear to mean only,&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Two butterflies!…
+Last year my dear wife died!</i>&rdquo; Unless you happen to know the pretty
+Japanese symbolism of the butterfly in relation to happy marriage, and the old
+custom of sending with the wedding-gift a large pair of paper-butterflies
+(<i>ochō-mechō</i>), the verse might well seem to be less than commonplace. Or
+take this recent composition, by a University student, which has been praised
+by good judges:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+Furusato ni<br />
+Fubo ari&mdash;mushi no<br />
+Koë-goë!<a href="#fn-9.1" name="fnref-9.1" id="fnref-9.1"><sup>[1]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+&mdash;&ldquo;<i>In my native place the old folks [or, my parents]
+are&mdash;clamor of insect-voices!</i>&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-9.1" id="fn-9.1"></a> <a href="#fnref-9.1">[1]</a>
+I must observe, however, that the praise was especially evoked by the use of
+the term <i>koë-goë</i>&mdash;(literally meaning &ldquo;voice after
+voice&rdquo; or a crying of many voices);&mdash;and the special value of the
+syllables here can be appreciated only by a Japanese poet.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+The poet here is a country-lad. In unfamiliar fields he listens to the great
+autumn chorus of insects; and the sound revives for him the memory of his
+far-off home and of his parents. But here is something incomparably more
+touching,&mdash;though in literal translation probably more obscure,&mdash;than
+either of the preceding specimens;&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+Mi ni shimiru<br />
+Kazé ya!<br />
+Shōji ni<br />
+Yubi no ato!
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Oh, body-piercing wind!&mdash;that work of little fingers in the
+shōji!</i>&rdquo;<a href="#fn-9.2" name="fnref-9.2" id="fnref-9.2"><sup>[2]</sup></a>….
+What does this mean? It means the sorrowing of a mother for her dead child.
+<i>Shōji</i> is the name given to those light white-paper screens which in a
+Japanese house serve both as windows and doors, admitting plenty of light, but
+concealing, like frosted glass, the interior from outer observation, and
+excluding the wind. Infants delight to break these by poking their fingers
+through the soft paper: then the wind blows through the holes. In this case the
+wind blows very cold indeed,&mdash;into the mother&rsquo;s very
+heart;&mdash;for it comes through the little holes that were made by the
+fingers of her dead child.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-9.2" id="fn-9.2"></a> <a href="#fnref-9.2">[2]</a>
+More literally:&mdash;&ldquo;body-through-pierce wind&mdash;ah!&mdash;<i>shōji</i>
+in the traces of [viz.: holes made by] fingers!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The impossibility of preserving the inner quality of such poems in a literal
+rendering, will now be obvious. Whatever I attempt in this direction must of
+necessity be <i>ittakkiri;</i>&mdash;for the unspoken has to be expressed; and
+what the Japanese poet is able to say in seventeen or twenty-one syllables may
+need in English more than double that number of words. But perhaps this fact
+will lend additional interest to the following atoms of emotional
+expression:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+A MOTHER&rsquo;S REMEMBRANCE
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>Sweet and clear in the night, the voice of a boy at study,<br />
+Reading out of a book…. I also once had a boy!</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+A MEMORY IN SPRING
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>She, who, departing hence, left to the flowers of the plum-tree,<br />
+Blooming beside our eaves, the charm of her youth and beauty,<br />
+And maiden pureness of heart, to quicken their flush and fragrance,&mdash;<br />
+Ah! where does she dwell to-day, our dear little vanished sister?</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+FANCIES OF ANOTHER FAITH
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>(1) I sought in the place of graves the tomb of my vanished friend:<br />
+From ancient cedars above there rippled a wild doves cry.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>(2) Perhaps a freak of the wind-yet perhaps a sign of remembrance,&mdash;<br />
+This fall of a single leaf on the water I pour for the dead.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>(3)I whispered a prayer at the grave: a butterfly rose and fluttered&mdash;<br />
+Thy spirit, perhaps, dear friend!…</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+IN A CEMETERY AT NIGHT
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>This light of the moon that plays on the water I pour for the dead,<br />
+Differs nothing at all from the moonlight of other years.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+AFTER LONG ABSENCE
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>The garden that once I loved, and even the hedge of the garden,&mdash;<br />
+All is changed and strange: the moonlight only is faithful;&mdash;<br />
+The moon alone remembers the charm of the time gone by!</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+MOONLIGHT ON THE SEA
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>O vapory moon of spring!&mdash;would that one plunge into ocean<br />
+Could win me renewal of life as a part of thy light on the waters!</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+AFTER FAREWELL
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>Whither now should! look?&mdash;where is the place of parting?<br />
+Boundaries all have vanished;&mdash;nothing tells of direction:<br />
+Only the waste of sea under the shining moon!</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+HAPPY POVERTY
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>Wafted into my room, the scent of the flowers of the plum-tree<br />
+Changes my broken window into a source of delight.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+AUTUMN FANCIES
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>(1) Faded the clover now;&mdash;sere and withered the grasses:<br />
+What dreams the matsumushi</i><a href="#fn-9.3" name="fnref-9.3" id="fnref-9.3"><sup>[3]</sup></a>
+<i>in the desolate autumn-fields?</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>(2) Strangely sad, I thought, sounded the bell of evening;&mdash;<br />
+Haply that tone proclaimed the night in which autumn dies!</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>(3) Viewing this autumn-moon, I dream of my native village<br />
+Under the same soft light,&mdash;and the shadows about my home.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-9.3" id="fn-9.3"></a> <a href="#fnref-9.3">[3]</a>
+A musical cricket&mdash;<i>calyptotryphus marmoratus</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+IN TIME OF GRIEF, HEARING A SÉMI (CICADA)
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>Only &ldquo;I,&rdquo; &ldquo;I,&rdquo;&mdash;the cry of the foolish semi!<br />
+Any one knows that the world is void as its cast-off shell.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+ON THE CAST-OFF SHELL OF A SÉMI
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>Only the pitiful husk!… O poor singer of summer,<br />
+Wherefore thus consume all thy body in song?</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+SUBLIMITY OF INTELLECTUAL POWER
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>The mind that, undimmed, absorbs the foul and the pure together&mdash;<br />
+Call it rather a sea one thousand fathoms deep!</i><a href="#fn-9.4" name="fnref-9.4" id="fnref-9.4"><sup>[4]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-9.4" id="fn-9.4"></a> <a href="#fnref-9.4">[4]</a>
+This is quite novel in its way,&mdash;a product of the University: the original
+runs thus:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+Nigoréru mo<br />
+Suméru mo tomo ni<br />
+Iruru koso<br />
+Chi-hiro no umi no<br />
+Kokoro nari-keré!
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+SHINTŌ REVERY
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+<i>Mad waves devour The rocks: I ask myself in the darkness,<br />
+&ldquo;Have I become a god?&rdquo; Dim is The night and wild!</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+&ldquo;Have I become a god?&rdquo;&mdash;that is to say, &ldquo;Have I
+died?&mdash;am I only a ghost in this desolation?&rdquo; The dead, becoming
+<i>kami</i> or gods, are thought to haunt wild solitudes by preference.
+</p>
+
+<h3>IV</h3>
+
+<p>
+The poems above rendered are more than pictorial: they suggest something of
+emotion or sentiment. But there are thousands of pictorial poems that do not;
+and these would seem mere insipidities to a reader ignorant of their true
+purpose. When you learn that some exquisite text of gold means only,
+&ldquo;<i>Evening-sunlight on the wings of the
+water-fowl</i>,&rdquo;&mdash;or,&rdquo;<i>Now in my garden the flowers bloom,
+and the butterflies dance</i>,&rdquo;&mdash;then your first interest in
+decorative poetry is apt to wither away. Yet these little texts have a very
+real merit of their own, and an intimate relation to Japanese aesthetic feeling
+and experience. Like the pictures upon screens and fans and cups, they give
+pleasure by recalling impressions of nature, by reviving happy incidents of
+travel or pilgrimage, by evoking the memory of beautiful days. And when this
+plain fact is fully understood, the persistent attachment of modern Japanese
+poets&mdash;notwithstanding their University training&mdash;to the ancient
+poetical methods, will be found reasonable enough.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I need offer only a very few specimens of the purely pictorial poetry. The
+following&mdash;mere thumb-nail sketches in verse&mdash;are of recent date.
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+LONESOMENESS<br />
+<br />
+Furu-dera ya:<br />
+Kané mono iwazu;<br />
+Sakura chiru.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Old temple: bell voiceless; cherry-flowers fall</i>.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+MORNING AWAKENING AFTER A NIGHT&rsquo;S REST IN A TEMPLE<br />
+<br />
+Yamadera no<br />
+Shichō akéyuku:<br />
+Taki no oto.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+&mdash;&ldquo;<i>In the mountain-temple the paper mosquito-curtain is lighted
+by the dawn: sound of water-fall</i>.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+WINTER-SCENE<br />
+<br />
+Yuki no mura;<br />
+Niwatori naité;<br />
+Aké shiroshi.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+&ldquo;<i>Snow-village;&mdash;cocks crowing;&mdash;white dawn</i>.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+Let me conclude this gossip on poetry by citing from another group of
+verses&mdash;also pictorial, in a certain sense, but chiefly remarkable for
+ingenuity&mdash;two curiosities of impromptu. The first is old, and is
+attributed to the famous poetess Chiyo. Having been challenged to make a poem
+of seventeen syllables referring to a square, a triangle, and a circle, she is
+said to have immediately responded,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+Kaya no té wo<br />
+Hitotsu hazushité,<br />
+Tsuki-mi kana!
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Detaching one corner of the mosquito-net, lo! I behold the
+moon!</i>&rdquo; The top of the mosquito-net, suspended by cords at each of its
+four corners, represents the square;&mdash;letting down the net at one corner
+converts the square into a triangle;&mdash;and the moon represents the circle.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus07"></a>
+<a href="images/fig07.jpg">
+<img src="images/fig07.jpg" width="400" height="205" alt="Illustration:" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Square                                        Triangle</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The other curiosity is a recent impromptu effort to portray, in one verse of
+seventeen syllables, the last degree of devil-may-care-poverty,&mdash;perhaps
+the brave misery of the wandering student;&mdash;and I very much doubt whether
+the effort could be improved upon:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+Nusundaru<br />
+Kagashi no kasa ni<br />
+Amé kyū nari.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Heavily pours the rain on the hat that I stole from the
+scarecrow!</i>&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap10"></a>Japanese Buddhist Proverbs</h2>
+
+<p>
+As representing that general quality of moral experience which remains almost
+unaffected by social modifications of any sort, the proverbial sayings of a
+people must always possess a special psychological interest for thinkers. In
+this kind of folklore the oral and the written literature of Japan is rich to a
+degree that would require a large book to exemplify. To the subject as a whole
+no justice could be done within the limits of a single essay. But for certain
+classes of proverbs and proverbial phrases something can be done within even a
+few pages; and sayings related to Buddhism, either by allusion or derivation,
+form a class which seems to me particularly worthy of study. Accordingly, with
+the help of a Japanese friend, I have selected and translated the following
+series of examples,&mdash;choosing the more simple and familiar where choice
+was possible, and placing the originals in alphabetical order to facilitate
+reference. Of course the selection is imperfectly representative; but it will
+serve to illustrate certain effects of Buddhist teaching upon popular thought
+and speech.<br /><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+1.&mdash;<i>Akuji mi ni tomaru.</i><br />
+All evil done clings to the body.<a href="#fn-10.1" name="fnref-10.1" id="fnref-10.1"><sup>[1]</sup></a>
+</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.1" id="fn-10.1"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.1">[1]</a>
+The consequence of any evil act or thought never,&mdash;so long as karma
+endures,&mdash;will cease to act upon the existence of the person guilty of it.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+2.&mdash;<i>Atama soru yori kokoro wo soré.</i><br />
+Better to shave the heart than to shave the head.<a href="#fn-10.2" name="fnref-10.2" id="fnref-10.2"><sup>[2]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.2" id="fn-10.2"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.2">[2]</a>
+Buddhist nuns and priests have their heads completely shaven. The proverb
+signifies that it is better to correct the heart,&mdash;to conquer all vain
+regrets and desires,&mdash;than to become a religious. In common parlance the
+phrase &ldquo;to shave the head&rdquo; means to become a monk or a nun.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+3.&mdash;<i>Au wa wakaré no hajimé.</i><br />
+Meeting is only the beginning of separation.<a href="#fn-10.3" name="fnref-10.3" id="fnref-10.3"><sup>[3]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.3" id="fn-10.3"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.3">[3]</a>
+Regret and desire are equally vain in this world of impermanency; for all joy
+is the beginning of an experience that must have its pain. This proverb refers
+directly to the sutra-text,&mdash;<i>Shōja hitsumetsu é-sha-jori</i>,&mdash;&rdquo;
+All that live must surely die; and all that meet will surely part.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+4.&mdash;<i>Banji wa yumé.</i><br />
+All things<a href="#fn-10.4" name="fnref-10.4" id="fnref-10.4"><sup>[4]</sup></a>
+are merely dreams.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.4" id="fn-10.4"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.4">[4]</a>
+Literally, &ldquo;ten thousand things.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+5.&mdash;<i>Bonbu mo satoréba hotoké nari.</i><br />
+Even a common man by obtaining knowledge becomes a Buddha.<a href="#fn-10.5" name="fnref-10.5" id="fnref-10.5"><sup>[5]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.5" id="fn-10.5"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.5">[5]</a>
+The only real differences of condition are differences in knowledge of the
+highest truth.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+6.&mdash;<i>Bonnō kunō.</i><br />
+All lust is grief.<a href="#fn-10.6" name="fnref-10.6" id="fnref-10.6"><sup>[6]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.6" id="fn-10.6"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.6">[6]</a>
+All sensual desire invariably brings sorrow.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+7&mdash;<i>Buppō to wara-ya no amé, dété kiké.</i><br />
+One must go outside to hear Buddhist doctrine or the sound of rain on a straw
+roof.<a href="#fn-10.7" name="fnref-10.7" id="fnref-10.7"><sup>[7]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.7" id="fn-10.7"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.7">[7]</a>
+There is an allusion here to the condition of the <i>shukké</i> (priest):
+literally, &ldquo;one who has left his house.&rdquo; The proverb suggests that
+the higher truths of Buddhism cannot be acquired by those who continue to live
+in the world of follies and desires.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+8.&mdash;<i>Busshō en yori okoru.</i><br />
+Out of karma-relation even the divine nature itself grows.<a href="#fn-10.8" name="fnref-10.8" id="fnref-10.8"><sup>[8]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.8" id="fn-10.8"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.8">[8]</a>
+There is good as well as bad karma. Whatever hap-piness we enjoy is not less a
+consequence of the acts and thoughts of previous lives, than is any misfortune
+that comes to us. Every good thought and act contributes to the evolution of
+the Buddha-nature within each of us. Another proverb [No. 10],&mdash;<i>En naki
+shujō wa doshi gatashi</i>,&mdash;further illustrates the meaning of this one.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+9.&mdash;<i>Enkō  ga tsuki wo toran to suru ga gotoshi.</i><br />
+Like monkeys trying to snatch the moon&rsquo;s reflection on water.<a href="#fn-10.9" name="fnref-10.9" id="fnref-10.9"><sup>[9]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.9" id="fn-10.9"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.9">[9]</a>
+Allusion to a parable, said to have been related by the Buddha himself, about
+some monkeys who found a well under a tree, and mistook for reality the image
+of the moon in the water. They resolved to seize the bright apparition. One
+monkey suspended himself by the tail from a branch overhanging the well, a
+second monkey clung to the first, a third to the second, a fourth to the third,
+and so on,&mdash;till the long chain of bodies had almost reached the water.
+Suddenly the branch broke under the unaccustomed weight; and all the monkeys
+were drowned.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+10.&mdash;<i>En naki shujō wa doshi gatashi.</i><br />
+To save folk having no karma-relation would be difficult indeed!<a href="#fn-10.10" name="fnref-10.10" id="fnref-10.10"><sup>[10]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.10" id="fn-10.10"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.10">[10]</a>
+No karma-relation would mean an utter absence of merit as well as of demerit.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+11.&mdash;<i>Fujō seppō suru hōshi wa, birataké ni umaru.</i><br />
+The priest who preaches foul doctrine shall be reborn as a fungus.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+12.&mdash;<i>Gaki mo ninzu.</i><br />
+Even gaki (<i>prêtas</i>) can make a crowd.<a href="#fn-10.11" name="fnref-10.11" id="fnref-10.11"><sup>[11]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.11" id="fn-10.11"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.11">[11]</a>
+Literally: &ldquo;Even gaki are a multitude (or,
+&lsquo;population&rsquo;).&rdquo; This is a popular saying used in a variety of
+ways. The ordinary meaning is to the effect that no matter how poor or
+miserable the individuals composing a multitude, they collectively represent a
+respectable force. Jocosely the saying is sometimes used of a crowd of wretched
+or tired-looking people,&mdash;sometimes of an assembly of weak boys desiring
+to make some demonstration,&mdash;sometimes of a miserable-looking company of
+soldiers.&mdash;Among the lowest classes of the people it is not uncommon to
+call a deformed or greedy person a &ldquo;gaki.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+13.&mdash;<i>Gaki no mé ni midzu miézu.</i><br />
+To the eyes of gaki water is viewless.<a href="#fn-10.12" name="fnref-10.12" id="fnref-10.12"><sup>[12]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.12" id="fn-10.12"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.12">[12]</a>
+Some authorities state that those <i>prêtas</i> who suffer especially from
+thirst, as a consequence of faults committed in former lives, are unable to see
+water.&mdash;This proverb is used in speaking of persons too stupid or vicious
+to perceive a moral truth.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+14.&mdash;<i>Goshō wa daiji.</i><br />
+The future life is the all-important thing.<a href="#fn-10.13" name="fnref-10.13" id="fnref-10.13"><sup>[13]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.13" id="fn-10.13"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.13">[13]</a>
+The common people often use the curious expression &ldquo;<i>gosho-daiji</i>&rdquo;
+as an equivalent for &ldquo;extremely important.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+15.&mdash;<i>Gun-mō no tai-zō wo saguru ga gotoshi.</i><br />
+Like a lot of blind men feeling a great elephant.<a href="#fn-10.14" name="fnref-10.14" id="fnref-10.14"><sup>[14]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.14" id="fn-10.14"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.14">[14]</a>
+Said of those who ignorantly criticise the doctrines of Buddhism.&mdash;The
+proverb alludes to a celebrated fable in the <i>Avadânas</i>, about a number of
+blind men who tried to decide the form of an elephant by feeling the animal.
+One, feeling the leg, declared the elephant to be like a tree; another, feeling
+the trunk only, declared the elephant to be like a serpent; a third, who felt
+only the side, said that the elephant was like a wall; a fourth, grasping the
+tail, said that the elephant was like a rope, etc.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+16.&mdash;<i>Gwai-men nyo-Bosatsu; nai shin nyo-Yasha.</i><br />
+In outward aspect a Bodhisattva; at innermost heart a
+demon.<a href="#fn-10.15" name="fnref-10.15" id="fnref-10.15"><sup>[15]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.15" id="fn-10.15"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.15">[15]</a>
+<i>Yasha</i> (Sanscrit <i>Yaksha</i>), a man-devouring demon.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+17.&mdash;<i>Hana wa né ni kaeru.</i><br />
+The flower goes back to its root.<a href="#fn-10.16" name="fnref-10.16" id="fnref-10.16"><sup>[16]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.16" id="fn-10.16"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.16">[16]</a>
+This proverb is most often used in reference to death,&mdash;signifying that
+all forms go back into the nothingness out of which they spring. But it may
+also be used in relation to the law of cause-and-effect.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+18.&mdash;<i>Hibiki no koë ni ozuru ga gotoshi.</i><br />
+Even as the echo answers to the voice.<a href="#fn-10.17" name="fnref-10.17" id="fnref-10.17"><sup>[17]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.17" id="fn-10.17"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.17">[17]</a>
+Referring to the doctrine of cause-and-effect. The philosophical beauty of the
+comparison will be appreciated only if we bear in mind that even the
+<i>tone</i> of the echo repeats the tone of the voice.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+19.&mdash;<i>Hito wo tasukéru ga shukhé no yuku.</i><br />
+The task of the priest is to save mankind.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+20.&mdash;<i>Hi wa kiyurédomo tō-shin wa kiyédzu.</i><br />
+Though the flame be put out, the wick remains.<a href="#fn-10.18" name="fnref-10.18" id="fnref-10.18"><sup>[18]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.18" id="fn-10.18"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.18">[18]</a>
+Although the passions may be temporarily overcome, their sources remain. A
+proverb of like meaning is, <i>Bonnō no inu oëdomo sarazu:</i> &ldquo;Though
+driven away, the Dog of Lust cannot be kept from coming back again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+21.&mdash;<i>Hotoké mo motowa bonbu.</i><br />
+Even the Buddha was originally but a common man.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+22.&mdash;<i>Hotoké ni naru mo shami wo beru.</i><br />
+Even to become a Buddha one must first become a novice.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+23.&mdash;<i>Hotoké no kao mo sando.</i><br />
+Even a Buddha&rsquo;s face,&mdash;only three times.<a href="#fn-10.19" name="fnref-10.19" id="fnref-10.19"><sup>[19]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.19" id="fn-10.19"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.19">[19]</a>
+This is a short popular form of the longer proverb, <i>Hotoké no kao mo sando
+nazuréba, hara wo tatsu:</i> &ldquo;Stroke even the face of a Buddha three
+times, and his anger will be roused.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+24.&mdash;<i>Hotoké tanondé Jigoku é yuku.</i><br />
+Praying to Buddha one goes to hell.<a href="#fn-10.20" name="fnref-10.20" id="fnref-10.20"><sup>[20]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.20" id="fn-10.20"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.20">[20]</a>
+The popular saying, <i>Oni no Nembutsu</i>,&mdash;&ldquo;a devil&rsquo;s
+praying,&rdquo;&mdash;has a similar meaning.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+25.&mdash;<i>Hotoké tsukutté tamashii irédzu.</i><br />
+Making a Buddha without putting in the soul.<a href="#fn-10.21" name="fnref-10.21" id="fnref-10.21"><sup>[21]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.21" id="fn-10.21"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.21">[21]</a>
+That is to say, making an image of the Buddha without giving it a soul. This
+proverb is used in reference to the conduct of those who undertake to do some
+work, and leave the most essential part of the work unfinished. It contains an
+allusion to the curious ceremony called <i>Kai-gen</i>, or
+&ldquo;Eye-Opening.&rdquo; This <i>Kai-gen</i> is a kind of consecration, by
+virtue of which a newly-made image is supposed to become animated by the real
+presence of the divinity represented.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+26.&mdash;<i>Ichi-ju no kagé, ichi-ga no nagaré, tashō no en.</i><br />
+Even [the experience of] a single shadow or a single flowing of water, is [made
+by] the karma-relations of a former life.<a href="#fn-10.22" name="fnref-10.22" id="fnref-10.22"><sup>[22]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.22" id="fn-10.22"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.22">[22]</a>
+Even so trifling an occurrence as that of resting with another person under the
+shadow of a tree, or drinking from the same spring with another person, is
+caused by the karma-relations of some previous existence.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+27.&mdash;<i>Ichi-mō shū-mō wo hiku.</i><br />
+One blind man leads many blind men.<a href="#fn-10.23" name="fnref-10.23" id="fnref-10.23"><sup>[23]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.23" id="fn-10.23"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.23">[23]</a>
+From the Buddhist work <i>Dai-chi-dō-ron</i>.&mdash;The reader will find a
+similar proverb in Rhys-David&rsquo;s &ldquo;<i>Buddhist Suttas</i>&rdquo;
+(Sacred Books of the East), p. 173,&mdash;together with a very curious parable,
+cited in a footnote, which an Indian commentator gives in explanation.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+28.&mdash;<i>Ingwa na ko.</i><br />
+A karma-child.<a href="#fn-10.24" name="fnref-10.24" id="fnref-10.24"><sup>[24]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.24" id="fn-10.24"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.24">[24]</a>
+A common saying among the lower classes in reference to an unfortunate or
+crippled child. Here the word <i>ingwa</i> is used especially in the
+retributive sense. It usually signifies evil karma; <i>kwahō</i> being the term
+used in speaking of meritorious karma and its results. While an unfortunate
+child is spoken of as &ldquo;a child of <i>ingwa</i>,&rdquo; a very lucky
+person is called a &ldquo;<i>kwahō-mono</i>,&rdquo;&mdash;that is to say, an
+instance, or example of <i>kwahō</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+29.&mdash;<i>Ingwa wa, kuruma no wa.</i><br />
+Cause-and-effect is like a wheel.<a href="#fn-10.25" name="fnref-10.25" id="fnref-10.25"><sup>[25]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.25" id="fn-10.25"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.25">[25]</a>
+The comparison of <i>karma</i> to the wheel of a wagon will be familiar to
+students of Buddhism. The meaning of this proverb is identical with that of the
+<i>Dhammapada</i> verse:&mdash;&ldquo;If a man speaks or acts with an evil
+thought, pain follows him as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws
+the carriage.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+30.&mdash;<i>Innen ga fukai.</i><br />
+The karma-relation is deep.<a href="#fn-10.26" name="fnref-10.26" id="fnref-10.26"><sup>[26]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.26" id="fn-10.26"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.26">[26]</a>
+A saying very commonly used in speaking of the attachment of lovers, or of the
+unfortunate results of any close relation between two persons.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+31.&mdash;<i>Inochi wa fū-zen no tomoshibi.</i><br />
+Life is a lamp-flame before a wind.<a href="#fn-10.27" name="fnref-10.27" id="fnref-10.27"><sup>[27]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.27" id="fn-10.27"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.27">[27]</a>
+Or, &ldquo;like the flame of a lamp exposed to the wind.&rdquo; A frequent
+expression in Buddhist literature is &ldquo;the Wind of Death.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+32.&mdash;<i>Issun no mushi ni mo, gobu no tamashii.</i><br />
+Even a worm an inch long has a soul half-an-inch long.<a href="#fn-10.28" name="fnref-10.28" id="fnref-10.28"><sup>[28]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.28" id="fn-10.28"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.28">[28]</a>
+Literally, &ldquo;has a soul of five <i>bu</i>,&rdquo;&mdash;five <i>bu</i>
+being equal to half of the Japanese inch. Buddhism forbids all taking of life,
+and classes as <i>living</i> things (<i>Ujō</i>) all forms having sentiency.
+The proverb, however,&mdash;as the use of the word &ldquo;soul&rdquo;
+(<i>tamashii</i>) implies,&mdash;reflects popular belief rather than Buddhist
+philosophy. It signifies that any life, however small or mean, is entitled to
+mercy.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+33.&mdash;<i>Iwashi<a href="#fn-10.29" name="fnref-10.29" id="fnref-10.29"><sup>[29]</sup></a>
+no atama mo shinjin kara.</i><br />
+Even the head of an <i>iwashi</i>, by virtue of faith, [will have power to
+save, or heal].
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.29" id="fn-10.29"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.29">[29]</a>
+The <i>iwashi</i> is a very small fish, much resembling a sardine. The proverb
+implies that the object of worship signifies little, so long as the prayer is
+made with perfect faith and pure intention.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+34.&mdash;<i>Jigō-jitoku.</i><a href="#fn-10.30" name="fnref-10.30" id="fnref-10.30"><sup>[30]</sup></a><br />
+The fruit of ones own deeds [in a previous state of existence].
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.30" id="fn-10.30"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.30">[30]</a>
+Few popular Buddhist phrases are more often used than this. <i>Jigō</i>
+signifies ones own acts or thoughts; <i>jitoku</i>, to bring upon
+oneself,&mdash;nearly always in the sense of misfortune, when the word is used
+in the Buddhist way. &ldquo;Well, it is a matter of <i>Jigō-jitoku</i>,&rdquo;
+people will observe on seeing a man being taken to prison; meaning, &ldquo;He
+is reaping the consequence of his own faults.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+35.&mdash;<i>Jigoku dé hotoké.</i><br />
+Like meeting with a Buddha in hell.<a href="#fn-10.31" name="fnref-10.31" id="fnref-10.31"><sup>[31]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.31" id="fn-10.31"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.31">[31]</a>
+Refers to the joy of meeting a good friend in time of misfortune. The above is
+an abbreviation. The full proverb is, <i>Jigoku dé hotoké hotoke ni ōta yo
+da</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+36.&mdash;<i>Jigoku Gokuraku wa kokoro ni ari.</i><br />
+Hell and Heaven are in the hearts of men.<a href="#fn-10.32" name="fnref-10.32" id="fnref-10.32"><sup>[32]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.32" id="fn-10.32"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.32">[32]</a>
+A proverb in perfect accord with the higher Buddhism.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+37.&mdash;<i>Jigoku mo sumika.</i><br />
+Even Hell itself is a dwelling-place.<a href="#fn-10.33" name="fnref-10.33" id="fnref-10.33"><sup>[33]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.33" id="fn-10.33"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.33">[33]</a>
+Meaning that even those obliged to live in hell must learn to accommodate
+themselves to the situation. One should always try to make the best of
+circumstances. A proverb of kindred signification is, <i>Sumeba, Miyako:</i>
+&ldquo;Wheresoever ones home is, that is the Capital [or, imperial
+City].&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+38.&mdash;<i>Jigoku ni mo shiru bito.</i><br />
+Even in hell old acquaintances are welcome.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+39.&mdash;<i>Kagé no katachi ni shitagau gotoshi.</i><br />
+Even as the shadow follows the shape.<a href="#fn-10.34" name="fnref-10.34" id="fnref-10.34"><sup>[34]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.34" id="fn-10.34"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.34">[34]</a>
+Referring to the doctrine of cause-and-effect. Compare with verse 2 of the
+<i>Dhammapada</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+40.&mdash;<i>Kané wa Amida yori bikaru.</i><br />
+Money shines even more brightly than Amida.<a href="#fn-10.35" name="fnref-10.35" id="fnref-10.35"><sup>[35]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.35" id="fn-10.35"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.35">[35]</a>
+Amitâbha, the Buddha of Immeasurable Light. His image in the temples is
+usually gilded from head to foot.&mdash;There are many other ironical proverbs
+about the power of wealth,&mdash;such as <i>Jigoku no sata mo kané shidai:</i>
+&ldquo;Even the Judgments of Hell may be influenced by money.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+41.&mdash;<i>Karu-toki no Jizō-gao; nasu-toki no Emma-gao.</i><br />
+Borrowing-time, the face of Jizō; repaying-time, the face of Emma.<a href="#fn-10.36" name="fnref-10.36" id="fnref-10.36"><sup>[36]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.36" id="fn-10.36"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.36">[36]</a>
+Emma is the Chinese and Japanese Yama,&mdash;in Buddhism the Lord of Hell, and
+the Judge of the Dead. The proverb is best explained by the accompanying
+drawings, which will serve to give an idea of the commoner representations of
+both divinities.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus08"></a>
+<a href="images/fig08.jpg">
+<img src="images/fig08.jpg" width="381" height="400" alt="Illustration:" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Jizō</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus09"></a>
+<a href="images/fig09.jpg">
+<img src="images/fig09.jpg" width="381" height="467" alt="Illustration:" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Emma Dai-ō</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+42.&mdash;<i>Kiité Gokuraku, mité Jigoku.</i><br />
+Heard of only, it is Paradise; seen, it is Hell.<a href="#fn-10.37" name="fnref-10.37" id="fnref-10.37"><sup>[37]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.37" id="fn-10.37"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.37">[37]</a>
+Rumor is never trustworthy.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+43.&mdash;<i>Kōji mon wo idézu: akuji sen ni wo hashiru.</i><br />
+Good actions go not outside of the gate: bad deeds travel a thousand <i>ri</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+44.&mdash;<i>Kokoro no koma ni tadzuna wo yuru-suna.</i><br />
+Never let go the reins of the wild colt of the heart.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+45.&mdash;<i>Kokoro no oni ga mi wo séméru.</i><br />
+The body is tortured only by the demon of the heart.<a href="#fn-10.38" name="fnref-10.38" id="fnref-10.38"><sup>[38]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.38" id="fn-10.38"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.38">[38]</a>
+Or &ldquo;mind.&rdquo; That is to say that we suffer only from the
+consequences of our own faults.&mdash;The demon-torturer in the Buddhist hell
+says to his victim:&mdash;&ldquo;Blame not me!&mdash;I am only the creation of
+your own deeds and thoughts: you made me for this!&rdquo;&mdash;Compare with
+No. 36.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+46.&mdash;<i>Kokoro no shi to wa naré; kokoro wo shi to sezaré.</i><br />
+Be the teacher of your heart: do not allow your heart to become your teacher.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+47.&mdash;<i>Kono yo wa kari no yado.</i><br />
+This world is only a resting-place.<a href="#fn-10.39" name="fnref-10.39" id="fnref-10.39"><sup>[39]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.39" id="fn-10.39"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.39">[39]</a>
+&ldquo;This world is but a travellers&rsquo; inn,&rdquo; would be an almost
+equally correct translation. <i>Yado</i> literally means a lodging, shelter,
+inn; and the word is applied often to those wayside resting-houses at which
+Japanese travellers halt during a journey. <i>Kari</i> signifies temporary,
+transient, fleeting,&mdash;as in the common Buddhist saying, <i>Kono yo kari no
+yo:</i> &ldquo;This world is a fleeting world.&rdquo; Even Heaven and Hell
+represent to the Buddhist only halting places upon the journey to Nirvâna.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+48.&mdash;<i>Kori wo chiribamé; midzu ni égaku.</i><br />
+To inlay ice; to paint upon water.<a href="#fn-10.40" name="fnref-10.40" id="fnref-10.40"><sup>[40]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.40" id="fn-10.40"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.40">[40]</a>
+Refers to the vanity of selfish effort for some merely temporary end.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+49.&mdash;<i>Korokoro to<br />
+Naku wa yamada no<br />
+Hototogisu,<br />
+Chichi nitéya aran,<br />
+Haha nitéya aran.</i><br />
+The bird that cries <i>korokoro</i> in the mountain rice-field I know to be a
+<i>hototogisu;</i>&mdash;yet it may have been my father; it may have been my
+mother.<a href="#fn-10.41" name="fnref-10.41" id="fnref-10.41"><sup>[41]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.41" id="fn-10.41"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.41">[41]</a>
+This verse-proverb is cited in the Buddhist work <i>Wōjō Yōshū</i>, with the
+following comment:&mdash;&ldquo;Who knows whether the animal in the field, or
+the bird in the mountain-wood, has not been either his father or his mother in
+some former state of existence?&rdquo;&mdash;The <i>hototogisu</i> is a kind
+of cuckoo.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+50.&mdash;<i>Ko wa Sangai no kubikase.</i><br />
+A child is a neck-shackle for the Three States of
+Existence.<a href="#fn-10.42" name="fnref-10.42" id="fnref-10.42"><sup>[42]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.42" id="fn-10.42"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.42">[42]</a>
+That is to say, The love of parents for their child may impede their spiritual
+progress&mdash;not only in this world, but through all their future states of
+being,&mdash;just as a <i>kubikasé</i>, or Japanese cangue, impedes the
+movements of the person upon whom it is placed. Parental affection, being the
+strongest of earthly attachments, is particularly apt to cause those whom it
+enslaves to commit wrongful acts in the hope of benefiting their
+offspring.&mdash;The term Sangai here signifies the three worlds of Desire,
+Form, and Formlessness,&mdash;all the states of existence below Nirvâna. But
+the word is sometimes used to signify the Past, the Present, and the Future.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+51.&mdash;<i>Kuchi wa wazawai no kado.</i><br />
+The mouth is the front-gate of all misfortune.<a href="#fn-10.43" name="fnref-10.43" id="fnref-10.43"><sup>[43]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.43" id="fn-10.43"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.43">[43]</a>
+That is to say, The chief cause of trouble is unguarded speech. The word Kado
+means always the main entrance to a residence.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+52.&mdash;<i>Kwahō wa, nété maté.</i><br />
+If you wish for good luck, sleep and wait.<a href="#fn-10.44" name="fnref-10.44" id="fnref-10.44"><sup>[44]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.44" id="fn-10.44"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.44">[44]</a>
+<i>Kwahō</i>, a purely Buddhist term, signifying good fortune as the result of
+good actions in a previous life, has come to mean in common parlance good
+fortune of any kind. The proverb is often used in a sense similar to that of
+the English saying: &ldquo;Watched pot never boils.&rdquo; In a strictly
+Buddhist sense it would mean, &ldquo;Do not be too eager for the reward of good
+deeds.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+53.&mdash;<i>Makanu tané wa haënu.</i><br />
+Nothing will grow, if the seed be not sown.<a href="#fn-10.45" name="fnref-10.45" id="fnref-10.45"><sup>[45]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.45" id="fn-10.45"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.45">[45]</a>
+Do not expect harvest, unless you sow the seed. Without earnest effort no
+merit can be gained.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+54.&mdash;<i>Matéba, kanrō no hiyori.</i><br />
+If you wait, ambrosial weather will come.<a href="#fn-10.46" name="fnref-10.46" id="fnref-10.46"><sup>[46]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.46" id="fn-10.46"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.46">[46]</a>
+<i>Kanrō</i>, the sweet dew of Heaven, or <i>amrita</i>. All good things come
+to him who waits.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+55.&mdash;<i>Meidō no michi ni Ō wa nashi.</i><br />
+There is no King on the Road of Death.<a href="#fn-10.47" name="fnref-10.47" id="fnref-10.47"><sup>[47]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.47" id="fn-10.47"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.47">[47]</a>
+Literally, &ldquo;on the Road of Meidō.&rdquo; The <i>Meidō</i> is the Japanese
+Hades,&mdash;the dark under-world to which all the dead must journey.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+56.&mdash;<i>Mekura hebi ni ojizu.</i><br />
+The blind man does not fear the snake.<a href="#fn-10.48" name="fnref-10.48" id="fnref-10.48"><sup>[48]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.48" id="fn-10.48"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.48">[48]</a>
+The ignorant and the vicious, not understanding the law of cause-and-effect,
+do not fear the certain results of their folly.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+57.&mdash;<i>Mitsuréba, hakuru.</i><br />
+Having waxed, wanes.<a href="#fn-10.49" name="fnref-10.49" id="fnref-10.49"><sup>[49]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.49" id="fn-10.49"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.49">[49]</a>
+No sooner has the moon waxed full than it begins to wane. So the height of
+prosperity is also the beginning of fortunes decline.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+58.&mdash;<i>Mon zen no kozō narawanu kyō wo yomu.</i><br />
+The shop-boy in front of the temple-gate repeats the sutra which he never
+learned.<a href="#fn-10.50" name="fnref-10.50" id="fnref-10.50"><sup>[50]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.50" id="fn-10.50"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.50">[50]</a>
+<i>Kozō</i> means &ldquo;acolyte&rdquo; as well as
+&ldquo;shop-boy,&rdquo;&ldquo;errand-boy,&rdquo; or &ldquo;apprentice;&rdquo;
+but in this case it refers to a boy employed in a shop situated near or before
+the gate of a Buddhist temple. By constantly hearing the sutra chanted in the
+temple, the boy learns to repeat the words. A proverb of kindred meaning is,
+<i>Kangaku-In no suzumé wa, Mōgyū wo sayézuru:</i> &ldquo;The sparrows of
+Kangaku-In [an ancient seat of learning] chirp the Mōgyū,&rdquo;&mdash;a
+Chinese text formerly taught to young students. The teaching of either proverb
+is excellently expressed by a third:&mdash;<i>Narau yori wa naréro:</i>
+&ldquo;Rather than study [an art], get accustomed to it,&rdquo;&mdash;that is
+to say, &ldquo;keep constantly in contact with it.&rdquo; Observation and
+practice are even better than study.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+59.&mdash;<i>Mujō no kazé wa, toki erabazu.</i><br />
+The Wind of Impermanency does not choose a time.<a href="#fn-10.51" name="fnref-10.51" id="fnref-10.51"><sup>[51]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.51" id="fn-10.51"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.51">[51]</a>
+Death and Change do not conform their ways to human expectation.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+60.&mdash;<i>Neko mo Busshō ari.</i><br />
+In even a cat the Buddha-nature exists.<a href="#fn-10.52" name="fnref-10.52" id="fnref-10.52"><sup>[52]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.52" id="fn-10.52"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.52">[52]</a>
+Notwithstanding the legend that only the cat and the <i>mamushi</i> (a
+poisonous viper) failed to weep for the death of the Buddha.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+61.&mdash;<i>Néta ma ga Gokuraku.</i><br />
+The interval of sleep is Paradise.<a href="#fn-10.53" name="fnref-10.53" id="fnref-10.53"><sup>[53]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.53" id="fn-10.53"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.53">[53]</a>
+Only during sleep can we sometimes cease to know the sorrow and pain of this
+world. (Compare with No. 83.)
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+62.&mdash;<i>Nijiu-go Bosatsu mo soré-soré no yaku.</i><br />
+Even each of the Twenty-five Bodhisattvas has his own particular duty to
+perform.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+63.&mdash;<i>Nin mité, hō toké.</i><br />
+[First] see the person, [then] preach the doctrine.<a href="#fn-10.54" name="fnref-10.54" id="fnref-10.54"><sup>[54]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.54" id="fn-10.54"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.54">[54]</a>
+The teaching of Buddhist doctrine should always be adapted to the intelligence
+of the person to be instructed. There is another proverb of the same
+kind,&mdash;<i>Ki ni yorité, hō wo toké:</i> &ldquo;According to the
+understanding [of the person to be taught], preach the Law.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+64.&mdash;<i>Ninshin ukégataku Buppoō aigatashi.</i><br />
+It is not easy to be born among men, and to meet with [the good fortune of
+hearing the doctrine of] Buddhism.<a href="#fn-10.55" name="fnref-10.55" id="fnref-10.55"><sup>[55]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.55" id="fn-10.55"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.55">[55]</a>
+Popular Buddhism teaches that to be born in the world of mankind, and
+especially among a people professing Buddhism, is a very great privilege.
+However miserable human existence, it is at least a state in which some
+knowledge of divine truth may be obtained; whereas the beings in other and
+lower conditions of life are relatively incapable of spiritual progress.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+65.&mdash;<i>Oni mo jiu-hachi.</i><br />
+Even a devil [is pretty] at eighteen.<a href="#fn-10.56" name="fnref-10.56" id="fnref-10.56"><sup>[56]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.56" id="fn-10.56"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.56">[56]</a>
+There are many curious sayings and proverbs about the oni, or Buddhist
+devil,&mdash;such as <i>Oni no mé ni mo namida</i>, &ldquo;tears in even a
+devil&rsquo;s eyes;&rdquo;&mdash;Oni no kakuran, &ldquo;devil&rsquo;s
+cholera&rdquo; (said of the unexpected sickness of some very strong and healthy
+person), etc., etc.&mdash;The class of demons called <i>Oni</i>, properly
+belong to the Buddhist hells, where they act as torturers and jailers. They are
+not to be confounded with the <i>Ma, Yasha, Kijin</i>, and other classes of
+evil spirits. In Buddhist art they are represented as beings of enormous
+strength, with the heads of bulls and of horses. The bull-headed demons are
+called <i>Go-zu;</i> the horse-headed <i>Mé-zu</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+66.&mdash;<i>Oni mo mi, narétaru ga yoshi.</i><br />
+Even a devil, when you become accustomed to the sight of him, may prove a
+pleasant acquaintance.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+67.&mdash;<i>Oni ni kanabō.</i><br />
+An iron club for a demon.<a href="#fn-10.57" name="fnref-10.57" id="fnref-10.57"><sup>[57]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.57" id="fn-10.57"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.57">[57]</a>
+Meaning that great power should be given only to the strong.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+68.&mdash;<i>Oni no nyōbo ni kijin.</i><br />
+A devil takes a goblin to wife.<a href="#fn-10.58" name="fnref-10.58" id="fnref-10.58"><sup>[58]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.58" id="fn-10.58"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.58">[58]</a>
+Meaning that a wicked man usually marries a wicked woman.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+69.&mdash;<i>Onna no ké ni wa dai-zō mo tsunagaru.</i><br />
+With one hair of a woman you can tether even a great elephant.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+70.&mdash;<i>Onna wa Sangai ni iyé nashi.</i><br />
+Women have no homes of their own in the Three States of Existence.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+71.&mdash;<i>Oya no ingwa ga ko ni mukuü.</i><br />
+The karma of the parents is visited upon the child.<a href="#fn-10.59" name="fnref-10.59" id="fnref-10.59"><sup>[59]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.59" id="fn-10.59"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.59">[59]</a>
+Said of the parents of crippled or deformed children. But the popular idea
+here expressed is not altogether in accord with the teachings of the higher
+Buddhism.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+72.&mdash;<i>Rakkwa éda ni kaerazu.</i><br />
+The fallen blossom never returns to the branch.<a href="#fn-10.60" name="fnref-10.60" id="fnref-10.60"><sup>[60]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.60" id="fn-10.60"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.60">[60]</a>
+That which has been done never can be undone: the past cannot be
+recalled.&mdash;This proverb is an abbreviation of the longer Buddhist text:
+<i>Rakkwa éda ni kaerazu; ha-kyō futatabi terasazu:</i> &ldquo;The fallen
+blossom never returns to the branch; the shattered mirror never again
+reflects.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+73.&mdash;<i>Raku wa ku no tané; ku wa raku no tané.</i><br />
+Pleasure is the seed of pain; pain is the seed of pleasure.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+74.&mdash;<i>Rokudō wa, mé no maë.</i><br />
+The Six Roads are right before your eyes.<a href="#fn-10.61" name="fnref-10.61" id="fnref-10.61"><sup>[61]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.61" id="fn-10.61"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.61">[61]</a>
+That is to say, Your future life depends upon your conduct in this life; and
+you are thus free to choose for yourself the place of your next birth.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+75.&mdash;<i>Sangai mu-an.</i><br />
+There is no rest within the Three States of Existence.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+76.&mdash;<i>Sangai ni kaki nashi;&mdash;Rokudō ni hotori nashi.</i><br />
+There is no fence to the Three States of Existence;&mdash;there is no
+neighborhood to the Six Roads.<a href="#fn-10.62" name="fnref-10.62" id="fnref-10.62"><sup>[62]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.62" id="fn-10.62"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.62">[62]</a>
+Within the Three States (Sangai), or universes, of Desire, Form, and
+Formlessness; and within the Six Worlds, or conditions of
+being,&mdash;<i>Jigokudō</i> (Hell), <i>Gakidō</i> (Pretas), <i>Chikushōdō</i>
+(Animal Life), <i>Shuradō</i> (World of Fighting and Slaughter),
+<i>Ningendō</i> (Mankind), <i>Tenjōdō</i> (Heavenly Spirits)&mdash;all
+existence is included. Beyond there is only Nirvâna. &ldquo;There is no
+fence,&rdquo; &ldquo;no neighborhood,&rdquo;&mdash;that is to say, no limit
+beyond which to escape,&mdash;no middle-path between any two of these states.
+We shall be reborn into some one of them according to our karma.&mdash;Compare
+with No. 74.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+77.&mdash;<i>Sangé ni wa sannen no tsumi mo hōrobu.</i><br />
+One confession effaces the sins of even three years.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+78.&mdash;<i>San nin yoréba, kugai.</i><br />
+Where even three persons come together, there is a world of pain.<a href="#fn-10.63" name="fnref-10.63" id="fnref-10.63"><sup>[63]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.63" id="fn-10.63"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.63">[63]</a>
+<i>Kugai</i> (lit.: &ldquo;bitter world&rdquo;) is a term often used to
+describe the life of a prostitute.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+79.&mdash;<i>San nin yoréba, Monjū no chié.</i><br />
+Where three persons come together, there is the wisdom of <i>Monjū</i>.<a href="#fn-10.64" name="fnref-10.64" id="fnref-10.64"><sup>[64]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.64" id="fn-10.64"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.64">[64]</a>
+Monjū Bosatsu [<i>Mañdjus&rsquo;ri Bodhisattva</i>] figures in Japanese
+Buddhism as a special divinity of wisdom.&mdash;The proverb signifies that
+three heads are better than one. A saying of like meaning is,<i> Hiza to mo
+dankō:</i> &ldquo;Consult even with your own knee;&rdquo; that is to say,
+Despise no advice, no matter how humble the source of it.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+80.&mdash;<i>Shaka ni sekkyō.</i><br />
+Preaching to Sâkyamuni.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+81.&mdash;<i>Shami kara chōrō.</i><br />
+To become an abbot one must begin as a novice.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+82.&mdash;<i>Shindaréba, koso ikitaré.</i><br />
+Only by reason of having died does one enter into life.<a href="#fn-10.65" name="fnref-10.65" id="fnref-10.65"><sup>[65]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.65" id="fn-10.65"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.65">[65]</a>
+I never hear this singular proverb without being re-minded of a sentence in
+Huxley&rsquo;s famous essay, <i>On the Physical Basis of Life:</i>&mdash;&ldquo;The
+living protoplasm not only ultimately dies and is resolved into its mineral and
+lifeless constituents, but is always dying, and, strange as the paradox may
+sound, <i>could not live unless it died</i>.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+83.&mdash;<i>Shiranu ga, hotoké; minu ga, Gokuraku.</i><br />
+Not to know is to be a Buddha; not to see is Paradise.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+84.&mdash;<i>Shōbo ni kidoku nashi.</i><br />
+There is no miracle in true doctrine.<a href="#fn-10.66" name="fnref-10.66" id="fnref-10.66"><sup>[66]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.66" id="fn-10.66"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.66">[66]</a>
+Nothing can happen except as a result of eternal and irrevocable law.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+85.&mdash;<i>Shō-chié wa Bodai no samatagé.</i><br />
+A little wisdom is a stumbling-block on the way to Buddhahood.<a href="#fn-10.67" name="fnref-10.67" id="fnref-10.67"><sup>[67]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.67" id="fn-10.67"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.67">[67]</a>
+<i>Bodai</i> is the same word as the Sanscrit <i>Bodhi</i>, signifying the
+supreme enlightenment,&mdash;the knowledge that leads to Buddhahood; but it is
+often used by Japanese Buddhists in the sense of divine bliss, or the
+Buddha-state itself.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+86.&mdash;<i>Shōshi no kukai hetori nashi.</i><br />
+There is no shore to the bitter Sea of Birth and Death.<a href="#fn-10.68" name="fnref-10.68" id="fnref-10.68"><sup>[68]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.68" id="fn-10.68"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.68">[68]</a>
+Or, &ldquo;the Pain-Sea of Life and Death.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+87.&mdash;<i>Sodé no furi-awasé mo tashō no en.</i><br />
+Even the touching of sleeves in passing is caused by some relation in a former
+life.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+88.&mdash;<i>Sun zen; shaku ma.</i><br />
+An inch of virtue; a foot of demon.<a href="#fn-10.69" name="fnref-10.69" id="fnref-10.69"><sup>[69]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.69" id="fn-10.69"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.69">[69]</a>
+<i>Ma</i> (Sanscrit, <i>Mârakâyikas</i>) is the name given to a particular
+class of spirits who tempt men to evil. But in Japanese folklore the <i>Ma</i>
+have a part much resembling that occupied in Western popular superstition by
+goblins and fairies.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+89.&mdash;<i>Tanoshimi wa hanasimi no motoi.</i><br />
+All joy is the source of sorrow.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+90.&mdash;<i>Tondé hi ni iru natsu no mushi.</i><br />
+So the insects of summer fly to the flame.<a href="#fn-10.70" name="fnref-10.70" id="fnref-10.70"><sup>[70]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.70" id="fn-10.70"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.70">[70]</a>
+Said especially in reference to the result of sensual indulgence.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+91.&mdash;<i>Tsuchi-botoké no midzu-asobi.</i><br />
+Clay-Buddha&rsquo;s water-playing.<a href="#fn-10.71" name="fnref-10.71" id="fnref-10.71"><sup>[71]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.71" id="fn-10.71"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.71">[71]</a>
+That is to say, &ldquo;As dangerous as for a clay Buddha to play with
+water.&rdquo; Children often amuse themselves by making little Buddhist images
+of mud, which melt into shapelessness, of course, if placed in water.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+92.&mdash;<i>Tsuki ni murakumo, hana ni kazé.</i><br />
+Cloud-wrack to the moon; wind to flowers.<a href="#fn-10.72" name="fnref-10.72" id="fnref-10.72"><sup>[72]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.72" id="fn-10.72"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.72">[72]</a>
+The beauty of the moon is obscured by masses of clouds; the trees no sooner
+blossom than their flowers are scattered by the wind. All beauty is evanescent.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+93.&mdash;<i>Tsuyu no inochi.</i><br />
+Human life is like the dew of morning.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+94.&mdash;<i>U-ki wa, kokoro ni ari.</i><br />
+Joy and sorrow exist only in the mind.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+95.&mdash;<i>Uri no tsuru ni nasubi wa naranu.</i><br />
+Egg-plants do not grow upon melon-vines.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+96.&mdash;<i>Uso mo hōben.</i><br />
+Even an untruth may serve as a device.<a href="#fn-10.73" name="fnref-10.73" id="fnref-10.73"><sup>[73]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.73" id="fn-10.73"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.73">[73]</a>
+That is, a pious device for effecting conversion. Such a device is justified
+especially by the famous parable of the third chapter of the <i>Saddharma
+Pundarîka</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+97.&mdash;<i>Waga ya no hotoké tattoshi.</i><br />
+My family ancestors were all excellent Buddhas.<a href="#fn-10.74" name="fnref-10.74" id="fnref-10.74"><sup>[74]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.74" id="fn-10.74"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.74">[74]</a>
+Meaning that one most reveres the <i>hotoké</i>&mdash;the spirits of the dead
+regarded as Buddhas&mdash;in one&rsquo;s own household-shrine. There is an
+ironical play upon the word <i>hotoké</i>, which may mean either a dead person
+simply, or a Buddha. Perhaps the spirit of this proverb may be better explained
+by the help of another: <i>Nigéta sakana ni chisai wa nai; shinda kodomo ni
+warui ko wa nai</i>&mdash;&ldquo;Fish that escaped was never small; child that
+died was never bad.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+98.&mdash;<i>Yuki no haté wa, Nehan.</i><br />
+The end of snow is Nirvâna.<a href="#fn-10.75" name="fnref-10.75" id="fnref-10.75"><sup>[75]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.75" id="fn-10.75"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.75">[75]</a>
+This curious saying is the only one in my collection containing the word <i>Nehan</i>
+(Nirvâna), and is here inserted chiefly for that reason. The common people
+seldom speak of <i>Nehan</i>, and have little knowledge of those profound
+doctrines to which the term is related. The above phrase, as might be inferred,
+is not a popular expression: it is rather an artistic and poetical reference to
+the aspect of a landscape covered with snow to the horizon-line,&mdash;so that
+beyond the snow-circle there is only the great void of the sky.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+99.&mdash;<i>Zen ni wa zen no mukui; aku ni wa aku no mukui.</i><br />
+Goodness [or, virtue] is the return for goodness; evil is the return for
+evil.<a href="#fn-10.76" name="fnref-10.76" id="fnref-10.76"><sup>[76]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.76" id="fn-10.76"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.76">[76]</a>
+Not so commonplace a proverb as might appear at first sight; for it refers
+especially to the Buddhist belief that every kindness shown to us in this life
+is a return of kindness done to others in a former life, and that every wrong
+inflicted upon us is the reflex of some injustice which we committed in a
+previous birth.
+</p>
+
+<p class="noindent">
+100.&mdash;<i>Zensé no yakusoku-goto.</i><br />
+Promised [or, destined] from a former birth.<a href="#fn-10.77" name="fnref-10.77" id="fnref-10.77"><sup>[77]</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-10.77" id="fn-10.77"></a> <a href="#fnref-10.77">[77]</a>
+A very common saying,&mdash;often uttered as a comment upon the unhappiness of
+separation, upon sudden misfortune, upon sudden death, etc. It is used
+especially in relation to <i>shinjū</i>, or lovers&rsquo; suicide. Such suicide
+is popularly thought to be a result of cruelty in some previous state of being,
+or the consequence of having broken, in a former life, the mutual promise to
+become husband and wife.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap11"></a>Suggestion</h2>
+
+<p>
+I had the privilege of meeting him in Tōkyō, where he was making a brief stay
+on his way to India;&mdash;and we took a long walk together, and talked of
+Eastern religions, about which he knew incomparably more than I. Whatever I
+could tell him concerning local beliefs, he would comment upon in the most
+startling manner,&mdash;citing weird correspondences in some living cult of
+India, Burmah, or Ceylon. Then, all of a sudden, he turned the conversation
+into a totally unexpected direction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have been thinking,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;about the constancy of the
+relative proportion of the sexes, and wondering whether Buddhist doctrine
+furnishes an explanation. For it seems to me that, under ordinary conditions of
+karma, human rebirth would necessarily proceed by a regular alternation.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do you mean,&rdquo; I asked, &ldquo;that a man would be reborn as a
+woman, and a woman as a man?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;because desire is creative, and the
+desire of either sex is towards the other.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And how many men,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;would want to be reborn as
+women?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Probably very few,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;But the doctrine that
+desire is creative does not imply that the individual longing creates its own
+satisfaction,&mdash;quite the contrary. The true teaching is that the result of
+every selfish wish is in the nature of a penalty, and that what the wish
+creates must prove&mdash;to higher knowledge at least&mdash;the folly of
+wishing.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There you are right,&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;but I do not yet understand
+your theory.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;if the physical conditions of human
+rebirth are all determined by the karma of the will relating to physical
+conditions, then sex would be determined by the will in relation to sex. Now
+the will of either sex is towards the other. Above all things else, excepting
+life, man desires woman, and woman man. Each individual, moreover,
+independently of any personal relation, feels perpetually, you say, the
+influence of some inborn feminine or masculine ideal, which you call &lsquo;a
+ghostly reflex of countless attachments in countless past lives.&rsquo; And the
+insatiable desire represented by this ideal would of itself suffice to create
+the masculine or the feminine body of the next existence.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But most women,&rdquo; I observed, &ldquo;would like to be reborn as
+men; and the accomplishment of that wish would scarcely be in the nature of a
+penalty.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; he returned. &ldquo;The happiness or unhappiness of the
+new existence would not be decided by sex alone: it would of necessity depend
+upon many conditions in combination.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Your theory is interesting,&rdquo; I said;&mdash;&ldquo;but I do not
+know how far it could be made to accord with accepted doctrine…. And what of
+the person able, through knowledge and practice of the higher law, to remain
+superior to all weaknesses of sex?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Such a one,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;would be reborn neither as man nor
+as woman,&mdash;providing there were no pre-existent karma powerful enough to
+check or to weaken the results of the self-conquest.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Reborn in some one of the heavens?&rdquo; I queried,&mdash;&ldquo;by
+the<br />
+Apparitional Birth?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not necessarily,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Such a one might be reborn in a
+world of desire,&mdash;like this,&mdash;but neither as man only, nor as woman
+only.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Reborn, then, in what form?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In that of a perfect being,&rdquo; he responded. &ldquo;A man or a woman
+is scarcely more than half-a-being,&mdash;because in our present imperfect
+state either sex can be evolved only at the cost of the other. In the mental
+and the physical composition of every man, there is undeveloped woman; and in
+the composition of every woman there is undeveloped man. But a being complete
+would be both perfect man and perfect woman, possessing the highest faculties
+of both sexes, with the weaknesses of neither. Some humanity higher than our
+own,&mdash;in other worlds,&mdash;might be thus evolved.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But you know,&rdquo; I observed, &ldquo;that there are Buddhist
+texts,&mdash;in the <i>Saddharma Pundarîka</i>, for example, and in the
+<i>Vinayas</i>,&mdash;which forbid….&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Those texts,&rdquo; he interrupted, &ldquo;refer to imperfect
+beings&mdash;less than man and less than woman: they could not refer to the
+condition that I have been supposing…. But, remember, I am not preaching a
+doctrine;&mdash;I am only hazarding a theory.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;May I put your theory some day into print?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why, yes,&rdquo; he made answer,&mdash;&ldquo;if you believe it worth
+thinking about.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And long afterwards I wrote it down thus, as fairly as I was able, from memory.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap12"></a>Ingwa-banashi<a href="#fn-12.1" name="fnref-12.1" id="fnref-12.1"><sup>[1]</sup></a></h2>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-12.1" id="fn-12.1"></a> <a href="#fnref-12.1">[1]</a>
+Lit., &ldquo;a tale of <i>ingwa</i>.&rdquo; <i>Ingwa</i> is a Japanese Buddhist
+term for evil karma, or the evil consequence of faults committed in a former
+state of existence. Perhaps the curious title of the narrative is best
+explained by the Buddhist teaching that the dead have power to injure the
+living only in consequence of evil actions committed by their victims in some
+former life. Both title and narrative may be found in the collection of weird
+stories entitled <i>Hyaku-Monogatari</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The daimyō&rsquo;s wife was dying, and knew that she was dying. She had not
+been able to leave her bed since the early autumn of the tenth Bunsei. It was
+now the fourth month of the twelfth Bunsei,&mdash;the year 1829 by Western
+counting; and the cherry-trees were blossoming. She thought of the cherry-trees
+in her garden, and of the gladness of spring. She thought of her children. She
+thought of her husband&rsquo;s various concubines,&mdash;especially the Lady
+Yukiko, nineteen years old.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My dear wife,&rdquo; said the daimyō, &ldquo;you have suffered very much
+for three long years. We have done all that we could to get you
+well,&mdash;watching beside you night and day, praying for you, and often
+fasting for your sake, But in spite of our loving care, and in spite of the
+skill of our best physicians, it would now seen that the end of your life is
+not far off. Probably we shall sorrow more than you will sorrow because of your
+having to leave what the Buddha so truly termed &lsquo;this burning-house of
+the world. I shall order to be performed&mdash;no matter what the
+cost&mdash;every religious rite that can serve you in regard to your next
+rebirth; and all of us will pray without ceasing for you, that you may not have
+to wander in the Black Space, but may quickly enter Paradise, and attain to
+Buddha-hood.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He spoke with the utmost tenderness, pressing her the while. Then, with eyelids
+closed, she answered him in a voice thin as the voice of in insect:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am grateful&mdash;most grateful&mdash;for your kind words…. Yes, it is
+true, as you say, that I have been sick for three long years, and that I have
+been treated with all possible care and affection…. Why, indeed, should I turn
+away from the one true Path at the very moment of my death?… Perhaps to think
+of worldly matters at such a time is not right;&mdash;but I have one last
+request to make,&mdash;only one…. Call here to me the Lady Yukiko;&mdash;you
+know that I love her like a sister. I want to speak to her about the affairs of
+this household.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yukiko came at the summons of the lord, and, in obedience to a sign from him,
+knelt down beside the couch. The daimyō&rsquo;s wife opened her eyes, and
+looked at Yukiko, and spoke:&mdash;&ldquo;Ah, here is Yukiko!… I am so pleased
+to see you, Yukiko!… Come a little closer,&mdash;so that you can hear me well:
+I am not able to speak loud…. Yukiko, I am going to die. I hope that you will
+be faithful in all things to our dear lord;&mdash;for I want you to take my
+place when I am gone…. I hope that you will always be loved by him,&mdash;yes,
+even a hundred times more than I have been,&mdash;and that you will very soon
+be promoted to a higher rank, and become his honored wife…. And I beg of you
+always to cherish our dear lord: never allow another woman to rob you of his
+affection…. This is what I wanted to say to you, dear Yukiko…. Have you been
+able to understand?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, my dear Lady,&rdquo; protested Yukiko, &ldquo;do not, I entreat you,
+say such strange things to me! You well know that I am of poor and mean
+condition:&mdash;how could I ever dare to aspire to become the wife of our
+lord!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nay, nay!&rdquo; returned the wife, huskily,&mdash;&ldquo;this is not a
+time for words of ceremony: let us speak only the truth to each other. After my
+death, you will certainly be promoted to a higher place; and I now assure you
+again that I wish you to become the wife of our lord&mdash;yes, I wish this,
+Yukiko, even more than I wish to become a Buddha!… Ah, I had almost
+forgotten!&mdash;I want you to do something for me, Yukiko. You know that in
+the garden there is a <i>yaë-zakura</i>,<a href="#fn-12.2" name="fnref-12.2" id="fnref-12.2"><sup>[2]</sup></a>
+which was brought here, the year before last, from Mount Yoshino in Yamato. I
+have been told that it is now in full bloom;&mdash;and I wanted so much to see
+it in flower! In a little while I shall be dead;&mdash;I must see that tree
+before I die. Now I wish you to carry me into the garden&mdash;at once,
+Yukiko,&mdash;so that I can see it…. Yes, upon your back, Yukiko;&mdash;take me
+upon your back….&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-12.2" id="fn-12.2"></a> <a href="#fnref-12.2">[2]</a>
+<i>Yaë-zakura, yaë-no-sakura</i>, a variety of Japanese cherry-tree that bears
+double-blossoms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While thus asking, her voice had gradually become clear and strong,&mdash;as if
+the intensity of the wish had given her new force: then she suddenly burst into
+tears. Yukiko knelt motionless, not knowing what to do; but the lord nodded
+assent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is her last wish in this world,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;She always
+loved cherry-flowers; and I know that she wanted very much to see that
+Yamato-tree in blossom. Come, my dear Yukiko, let her have her will.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a nurse turns her back to a child, that the child may cling to it, Yukiko
+offered her shoulders to the wife, and said:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lady, I am ready: please tell me how I best can help you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why, this way!&rdquo;&mdash;responded the dying woman, lifting herself
+with an almost superhuman effort by clinging to Yukiko&rsquo;s shoulders. But
+as she stood erect, she quickly slipped her thin hands down over the shoulders,
+under the robe, and clutched the breasts of the girl,, and burst into a wicked
+laugh.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have my wish!&rdquo; she cried&mdash;&ldquo;I have my wish for the
+cherry-bloom,<a href="#fn-12.3" name="fnref-12.3" id="fnref-12.3"><sup>[3]</sup></a>&mdash;but
+not the cherry-bloom of the garden!… I could not die before I got my wish. Now
+I have it!&mdash;oh, what a delight!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-12.3" id="fn-12.3"></a> <a href="#fnref-12.3">[3]</a>
+In Japanese poetry and proverbial phraseology, the physical beauty of a woman
+is compared to the cherry-flower; while feminine moral beauty is compared to
+the plum-flower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And with these words she fell forward upon the crouching girl, and died.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The attendants at once attempted to lift the body from Yukiko&rsquo;s
+shoulders, and to lay it upon the bed. But&mdash;strange to say!&mdash;this
+seemingly easy thing could not be done. The cold hands had attached themselves
+in some unaccountable way to the breasts of the girl,&mdash;appeared to have
+grown into the quick flesh. Yukiko became senseless with fear and pain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Physicians were called. They could not understand what had taken place. By no
+ordinary methods could the hands of the dead woman be unfastened from the body
+of her victim;&mdash;they so clung that any effort to remove them brought
+blood. This was not because the fingers held: it was because the flesh of the
+palms had united itself in some inexplicable manner to the flesh of the
+breasts!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At that time the most skilful physician in Yedo was a foreigner,&mdash;a Dutch
+surgeon. It was decided to summon him. After a careful examination he said that
+he could not understand the case, and that for the immediate relief of Yukiko
+there was nothing to be done except to cut the hands from the corpse. He
+declared that it would be dangerous to attempt to detach them from the breasts.
+His advice was accepted; and the hands&rsquo; were amputated at the wrists. But
+they remained clinging to the breasts; and there they soon darkened and dried
+up,&mdash;like the hands of a person long dead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet this was only the beginning of the horror.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Withered and bloodless though they seemed, those hands were not dead. At
+intervals they would stir&mdash;stealthily, like great grey spiders. And
+nightly thereafter,&mdash;beginning always at the Hour of the Ox,<a href="#fn-12.4" name="fnref-12.4" id="fnref-12.4"><sup>[4]</sup></a>&mdash;they
+would clutch and compress and torture. Only at the Hour of the Tiger the pain
+would cease.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-12.4" id="fn-12.4"></a> <a href="#fnref-12.4">[4]</a>
+In ancient Japanese time, the Hour of the Ox was the special hour of ghosts. It
+began at 2 A.M., and lasted until 4 A.M.&mdash;for the old Japanese hour was
+double the length of the modern hour. The Hour of the Tiger began at 4 A.M.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yukiko cut off her hair, and became a mendicant-nun,&mdash;taking the religious
+name of Dassetsu. She had an <i>ihai</i> (mortuary tablet) made, bearing the
+<i>kaimyō</i> of her dead mistress,&mdash;&ldquo;<i>Myō-Kō-In-Den Chizan-Ryō-Fu
+Daishi</i>&rdquo;;&mdash;and this she carried about with her in all her
+wanderings; and every day before it she humbly besought the dead for pardon,
+and performed a Buddhist service in order that the jealous spirit might find
+rest. But the evil karma that had rendered such an affliction possible could
+not soon be exhausted. Every night at the Hour of the Ox, the hands never
+failed to torture her, during more than seventeen years,&mdash;according to the
+testimony of those persons to whom she last told her story, when she stopped
+for one evening at the house of Noguchi Dengozayémon, in the village of Tanaka
+in the district of Kawachi in the province of Shimotsuké. This was in the third
+year of Kōkwa (1846). Thereafter nothing more was ever heard of her.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap13"></a>Story of a Tengu<a href="#fn-13.1" name="fnref-13.1" id="fnref-13.1"><sup>[1]</sup></a></h2>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-13.1" id="fn-13.1"></a> <a href="#fnref-13.1">[1]</a>
+This story may be found in the curious old Japanese book called
+<i>Jikkun-Shō</i>. The same legend has furnished the subject of an interesting
+<i>Nō</i>-play, called <i>Dai-É</i> (&ldquo;The Great Assembly&rdquo;).<br />
+    In Japanese popular art, the Tengu are commonly represented either as
+winged men with beak-shaped noses, or as birds of prey. There are different
+kinds of Tengu; but all are supposed to be mountain-haunting spirits, capable
+of assuming many forms, and occasionally appearing as crows, vultures, or
+eagles. Buddhism appears to class the Tengu among the Mârakâyikas.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the days of the Emperor Go-Reizei, there was a holy priest living in the
+temple of Saito, on the mountain called Hiyei-Zan, near Kyōto. One summer day
+this good priest, after a visit to the city, was returning to his temple by way
+of Kita-no-Ōji, when he saw some boys ill-treating a kite. They had caught the
+bird in a snare, and were beating it with sticks. &ldquo;Oh, the, poor
+creature!&rdquo; compassionately exclaimed the priest;&mdash;&ldquo;why do you
+torment it so, children?&rdquo; One of the boys made answer:&mdash;&ldquo;We
+want to kill it to get the feathers.&rdquo; Moved by pity, the priest persuaded
+the boys to let him have the kite in exchange for a fan that he was carrying;
+and he set the bird free. It had not been seriously hurt, and was able to fly
+away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Happy at having performed this Buddhist act of merit, the priest then resumed
+his walk. He had not proceeded very far when he saw a strange monk come out of
+a bamboo-grove by the road-side, and hasten towards him. The monk respectfully
+saluted him, and said:&mdash;&ldquo;Sir, through your compassionate kindness
+my life has been saved; and I now desire to express my gratitude in a fitting
+manner.&rdquo; Astonished at hearing himself thus addressed, the priest
+replied:&mdash;&ldquo;Really, I cannot remember to have ever seen you before:
+please tell me who you are.&rdquo; &ldquo;It is not wonderful that you cannot
+recognize me in this form,&rdquo; returned the monk: &ldquo;I am the kite that
+those cruel boys were tormenting at Kita-no-Ōji. You saved my life; and there
+is nothing in this world more precious than life. So I now wish to return your
+kindness in some way or other. If there be anything that you would like to
+have, or to know, or to see,&mdash;anything that I can do for you, in
+short,&mdash;please to tell me; for as I happen to possess, in a small degree,
+the Six Supernatural Powers, I am able to gratify almost any wish that you can
+express.&rdquo; On hearing these words, the priest knew that he was speaking
+with a Tengu; and he frankly made answer:&mdash;&ldquo;My friend, I have long
+ceased to care for the things of this world: I am now seventy years of age;
+neither fame nor pleasure has any attraction for me. I feel anxious only about
+my future birth; but as that is a matter in which no one can help me, it were
+useless to ask about it. Really, I can think of but one thing worth wishing
+for. It has been my life-long regret that I was not in India in the time of the
+Lord Buddha, and could not attend the great assembly on the holy mountain
+Gridhrakûta. Never a day passes in which this regret does not come to me, in
+the hour of morning or of evening prayer. Ah, my friend! if it were possible to
+conquer Time and Space, like the Bodhisattvas, so that I could look upon that
+marvellous assembly, how happy should I be!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why,&rdquo; the Tengu exclaimed, &ldquo;that pious wish of yours can
+easily be satisfied. I perfectly well remember the assembly on the Vulture
+Peak; and I can cause everything that happened there to reappear before you,
+exactly as it occurred. It is our greatest delight to represent such holy
+matters…. Come this way with me!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And the priest suffered himself to be led to a place among pines, on the slope
+of a hill. &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said the Tengu, &ldquo;you have only to wait here
+for awhile, with your eyes shut. Do not open them until you hear the voice of
+the Buddha preaching the Law. Then you can look. But when you see the
+appearance of the Buddha, you must not allow your devout feelings to influence
+you in any way;&mdash;you must not bow down, nor pray, nor utter any such
+exclamation as, &lsquo;<i>Even so, Lord!</i>&rsquo; or &lsquo;<i>O thou Blessed
+One!</i>&rsquo; You must not speak at all. Should you make even the least sign
+of reverence, something very unfortunate might happen to me.&rdquo; The priest
+gladly promised to follow these injunctions; and the Tengu hurried away as if
+to prepare the spectacle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The day waned and passed, and the darkness came; but the old priest waited
+patiently beneath a tree, keeping his eyes closed. At last a voice suddenly
+resounded above him,&mdash;a wonderful voice, deep and clear like the pealing
+of a mighty bell,&mdash;the voice of the Buddha Sâkyamuni proclaiming the
+Perfect Way. Then the priest, opening his eyes in a great radiance, perceived
+that all things had been changed: the place was indeed the Vulture
+Peak,&mdash;the holy Indian mountain Gridhrakûta; and the time was the time of
+the Sûtra of the Lotos of the Good Law. Now there were no pines about him, but
+strange shining trees made of the Seven Precious Substances, with foliage and
+fruit of gems;&mdash;and the ground was covered with Mandârava and Manjûshaka
+flowers showered from heaven;&mdash;and the night was filled with fragrance and
+splendour and the sweetness of the great Voice. And in mid-air, shining as a
+moon above the world, the priest beheld the Blessed One seated upon the
+Lion-throne, with Samantabhadra at his right hand, and Manjusri at his
+left,&mdash;and before them assembled&mdash;immeasurably spreading into Space,
+like a flood Of stars&mdash;the hosts of the Mahâsattvas and the Bodhisattvas
+with their countless following: &ldquo;gods, demons, Nâgas, goblins, men, and
+beings not human.&rdquo; Sâriputra he saw, and Kâsyapa, and Ânanda, with all
+the disciples of the Tathâgata,&mdash;and the Kings of the Devas,&mdash;and the
+Kings of the Four Directions, like pillars of fire,&mdash;and the great
+Dragon-Kings,&mdash;and the Gandharvas and Garudas,&mdash;and the Gods of the
+Sun and the Moon and the Wind,&mdash;and the shining myriads of Brahmâ&rsquo;s
+heaven. And incomparably further than even the measureless circling of the
+glory of these, he saw&mdash;made visible by a single ray of light that shot
+from the forehead of the Blessed One to pierce beyond uttermost Time&mdash;the
+eighteen hundred thousand Buddha-fields of the Eastern Quarter with all their
+habitants,&mdash;and the beings in each of the Six States of
+Existence,&mdash;and even the shapes of the Buddhas extinct, that had entered
+into Nirvâna. These, and all the gods, and all the demons, he saw bow down
+before the Lion-throne; and he heard that multitude incalculable of beings
+praising the Sûtra of the Lotos of the Good Law,&mdash;like the roar of a sea
+before the Lord. Then forgetting utterly his pledge,&mdash;foolishly dreaming
+that he stood in the very presence of the very Buddha,&mdash;he cast himself
+down in worship with tears of love and thanksgiving; crying out with a loud
+voice, &ldquo;<i>O thou Blessed One!</i>&rdquo;…
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Instantly with a shock as of earthquake the stupendous spectacle disappeared;
+and the priest found himself alone in the dark, kneeling upon the grass of the
+mountain-side. Then a sadness unspeakable fell upon him, because of the loss of
+the vision, and because of the thoughtlessness that had caused him to break his
+word. As he sorrowfully turned his steps homeward, the goblin-monk once more
+appeared before him, and said to him in tones of reproach and
+pain:&mdash;&ldquo;Because you did not keep the promise which you made to me,
+and heedlessly allowed your feelings to overcome you, the Gohotendó, who is the
+Guardian of the Doctrine, swooped down suddenly from heaven upon us, and smote
+us in great anger, crying out, &lsquo;<i>How do ye dare thus to deceive a pious
+person?</i>&rsquo; Then the other monks, whom I had assembled, all fled in fear.
+As for myself, one of my wings has been broken,&mdash;so that now I cannot
+fly.&rdquo; And with these words the Tengu vanished forever.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap14"></a>At Yaidzu</h2>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>
+Under a bright sun the old fishing-town of Yaidzu has a particular charm of
+neutral color. Lizard-like it takes the grey tints of the rude grey coast on
+which it rests,&mdash;curving along a little bay. It is sheltered from heavy
+seas by an extraordinary rampart of boulders. This rampart, on the water-side,
+is built in the form of terrace-steps;&mdash;the rounded stones of which it is
+composed being kept in position by a sort of basket-work woven between rows of
+stakes driven deeply into the ground,&mdash;a separate row of stakes sustaining
+each of the grades. Looking landward from the top of the structure, your gaze
+ranges over the whole town,&mdash;a broad space of grey-tiled roofs and
+weather-worn grey timbers, with here and there a pine-grove marking the place
+of a temple-court. Seaward, over leagues of water, there is a grand
+view,&mdash;a jagged blue range of peaks crowding sharply into the horizon,
+like prodigious amethysts,&mdash;and beyond them, to the left, the glorious
+spectre of Fuji, towering enormously above everything. Between sea-wall and sea
+there is no sand,&mdash;only a grey slope of stones, chiefly boulders; and
+these roll with the surf so that it is ugly work trying to pass the breakers on
+a rough day. If you once get struck by a stone-wave,&mdash;as I did several
+times,&mdash;you will not soon forget the experience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At certain hours the greater part of this rough slope is occupied by ranks of
+strange-looking craft,&mdash;fishing-boats of a form peculiar to the locality.
+They are very large,&mdash;capable of carrying forty or fifty men
+each;&mdash;and they have queer high prows, to which Buddhist or Shintō charms
+(<i>mamori</i> or <i>shugo</i>) are usually attached. A common form of Shintō
+written charm (<i>shugo</i>) is furnished for this purpose from the temple of
+the Goddess of Fuji: the text reads:&mdash;<i>Fuji-san chōjō Sengen-gu dai-gyō
+manzoku</i>,&mdash;meaning that the owner of the boat pledges himself, in case
+of good-fortune at fishing, to perform great austerities in honor of the
+divinity whose shrine is upon the summit of Fuji.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In every coast-province of Japan,&mdash;and even at different
+fishing-settlements of the same province,&mdash;the forms of boats and
+fishing-implements are peculiar to the district or settlement. Indeed it will
+sometimes be found that settlements, within a few miles of each other,
+respectively manufacture nets or boats as dissimilar in type as might be the
+inventions of races living thousands of miles apart. This amazing variety may
+be in some degree due to respect for local tradition,&mdash;to the pious
+conservatism that preserves ancestral teaching and custom unchanged through
+hundreds of years: but it is better explained by the fact that different
+communities practise different kinds of fishing; and the shapes of the nets or
+the boats made, at any one place, are likely to prove, on investigation, the
+inventions of a special experience. The big Yaidzu boats illustrate this fact.
+They were devised according to the particular requirements of the
+Yaidzu-fishing-industry, which supplies dried <i>katsuo</i> (bonito) to all
+parts of the Empire; and it was necessary that they should be able to ride a
+very rough sea. To get them in or out of the water is a heavy job; but the
+whole village helps. A kind of slipway is improvised in a moment by laying flat
+wooden frames on the slope in a line; and over these frames the flat-bottomed
+vessels are hauled up or down by means of long ropes. You will see a hundred or
+more persons thus engaged in moving a single boat,&mdash;men, women, and
+children pulling together, in time to a curious melancholy chant. At the coming
+of a typhoon, the boats are moved far back into the streets. There is plenty of
+fun in helping at such work; and if you are a stranger, the fisher-folk will
+perhaps reward your pains by showing you the wonders of their sea: crabs with
+legs of astonishing length, balloon-fish that blow themselves up in the most
+absurd manner, and various other creatures of shapes so extraordinary that you
+can scarcely believe them natural without touching them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The big boats with holy texts at their prows are not the strangest objects on
+the beach. Even more remarkable are the bait-baskets of split
+bamboo,&mdash;baskets six feet high and eighteen feet round, with one small
+hole in the dome-shaped top. Ranged along the sea-wall to dry, they might at
+some distance be mistaken for habitations or huts of some sort. Then you see
+great wooden anchors, shaped like ploughshares, and shod with metal; iron
+anchors, with four flukes; prodigious wooden mallets, used for driving stakes;
+and various other implements, still more unfamiliar, of which you cannot even
+imagine the purpose. The indescribable antique queerness of everything gives
+you that weird sensation of remoteness,&mdash;of the far away in time and
+place,&mdash;which makes one doubt the reality of the visible. And the life of
+Yaidzu is certainly the life of many centuries ago. The people, too, are the
+people of Old Japan: frank and kindly as children&mdash;good
+children,&mdash;honest to a fault, innocent of the further world, loyal to the
+ancient traditions and the ancient gods.
+</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>
+I happened to be at Yaidzu during the three days of the <i>Bon</i> or Festival
+of the Dead; and I hoped to see the beautiful farewell ceremony of the third
+and last day. In many parts of Japan, the ghosts are furnished with miniature
+ships for their voyage,&mdash;little models of junks or fishing-craft, each
+containing offerings of food and water and kindled incense; also a tiny lantern
+or lamp, if the ghost-ship be despatched at night. But at Yaidzu lanterns only
+are set afloat; and I was told that they would be launched after dark. Midnight
+being the customary hour elsewhere, I supposed that it was the hour of farewell
+at Yaidzu also, and I rashly indulged in a nap after supper, expecting to wake
+up in time for the spectacle. But by ten o&rsquo;clock, when I went to the
+beach again, all was over, and everybody had gone home. Over the water I saw
+something like a long swarm of fire-flies,&mdash;the lanterns drifting out to
+sea in procession; but they were already too far to be distinguished except as
+points of colored light. I was much disappointed: I felt that I had lazily
+missed an opportunity which might never again return,&mdash;for these old
+Bon-customs are dying rapidly. But in another moment it occurred to me that I
+could very well venture to swim out to the lights. They were moving slowly. I
+dropped my robe on the beach, and plunged in. The sea was calm, and beautifully
+phosphorescent. Every stroke kindled a stream of yellow fire. I swam fast, and
+overtook the last of the lantern-fleet much sooner than I had hoped. I felt
+that it would be unkind to interfere with the little embarcations, or to divert
+them from their silent course: so I contented myself with keeping close to one
+of them, and studying its details.
+</p>
+
+<div class="fig" style="width:100%;">
+<a name="illus04"></a>
+<a href="images/fig04.jpg">
+<img src="images/fig04.jpg" width="600" height="392" alt="Illustration:" /></a>
+<p class="caption">The Lights of the Dead</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The structure was very simple. The bottom was a piece of thick plank, perfectly
+square, and measuring about ten inches across. Each one of its corners
+supported a slender slick about sixteen inches high; and these four uprights,
+united above by cross-pieces, sustained the paper sides. Upon the point of a
+long nail, driven up through the centre of the bottom, was fixed a lighted
+candle. The top was left open. The four sides presented five different
+colors,&mdash;blue, yellow, red, white, and black; these five colors
+respectively symbolizing Ether, Wind, Fire, Water, and Earth,&mdash;the five
+Buddhist elements which are metaphysically identified with the Five Buddhas.
+One of the paper-panes was red, one blue, one yellow; and the right half of the
+fourth pane was black, while the left half, uncolored, represented white. No
+<i>kaimyō</i> was written upon any of the transparencies. Inside the lantern
+there was only the flickering candle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I watched those frail glowing shapes drifting through the night, and ever as
+they drifted scattering, under impulse of wind and wave, more and more widely
+apart. Each, with its quiver of color, seemed a life afraid,&mdash;trembling on
+the blind current that was bearing it into the outer blackness…. Are not we
+ourselves as lanterns launched upon a deeper and a dimmer sea, and ever
+separating further and further one from another as we drift to the inevitable
+dissolution? Soon the thought-light in each burns itself out: then the poor
+frames, and all that is left of their once fair colors, must melt forever into
+the colorless Void.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even in the moment of this musing I began to doubt whether I was really
+alone,&mdash;to ask myself whether there might not be something more than a
+mere shuddering of light in the thing that rocked beside me: some presence that
+haunted the dying flame, and was watching the watcher. A faint cold thrill
+passed over me,&mdash;perhaps some chill uprising from the
+depths,&mdash;perhaps the creeping only of a ghostly fancy. Old superstitions
+of the coast recurred to me,&mdash;old vague warnings of peril in the time of
+the passage of Souls. I reflected that were any evil to befall me out there in
+the night,&mdash;meddling, or seeming to meddle, with the lights of the
+Dead,&mdash;I should myself furnish the subject of some future weird legend…. I
+whispered the Buddhist formula of farewell&mdash;to the lights,&mdash;and made
+speed for shore.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As I touched the stones again, I was startled by seeing two white shadows
+before me; but a kindly voice, asking if the water was cold, set me at ease. It
+was the voice of my old landlord, Otokichi the fishseller, who had come to look
+for me, accompanied by his wife.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Only pleasantly cool,&rdquo; I made answer, as I threw on my robe to go
+home with them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said the wife, &ldquo;it is not good to go out there on the
+night of the Bon!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I did not go far,&rdquo; I replied;&mdash;&ldquo;I only wanted to look
+at the lanterns.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Even a Kappa gets drowned sometimes,&rdquo;<a href="#fn-14.1" name="fnref-14.1" id="fnref-14.1"><sup>[1]</sup></a>
+protested Otokichi. &ldquo;There was a man of this village who swam home a
+distance of seven ri, in bad weather, after his boat had been broken. But he
+was drowned afterwards.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a name="fn-14.1" id="fn-14.1"></a> <a href="#fnref-14.1">[1]</a>
+This is a common proverb:&mdash;<i>Kappa mo oboré-shini</i>. The Kappa is a
+water-goblin, haunting rivers especially.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Seven <i>ri</i> means a trifle less than eighteen miles. I asked if any of the
+young men now in the settlement could do as much.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Probably some might,&rdquo; the old man replied. &ldquo;There are many
+strong swimmers. All swim here,&mdash;even the little children. But when
+fisher-folk swim like that, it is only to save their lives.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Or to make love,&rdquo; the wife added,&mdash;&ldquo;like the Hashima
+girl.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Who?&rdquo; queried I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A fisherman&rsquo;s daughter,&rdquo; said Otokichi. &ldquo;She had a
+lover in Ajiro, several <i>ri</i> distant; and she used to swim to him at
+night, and swim back in the morning. He kept a light burning to guide her. But
+one dark night the light was neglected&mdash;or blown out; and she lost her
+way, and was drowned…. The story is famous in Idzu.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;&ldquo;So,&rdquo; I said to myself, &ldquo;in the Far East, it is poor
+Hero that does the swimming. And what, under such circumstances, would have
+been the Western estimate of Leander?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>
+Usually about the time of the Bon, the sea gets rough; and I was not surprised
+to find next morning that the surf was running high. All day it grew. By the
+middle of the afternoon, the waves had become wonderful; and I sat on the
+sea-wall, and watched them until sundown.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a long slow rolling,&mdash;massive and formidable. Sometimes, just
+before breaking, a towering swell would crack all its green length with a
+tinkle as of shivering glass; then would fall and flatten with a peal that
+shook the wall beneath me…. I thought of the great dead Russian general who
+made his army to storm as a sea,&mdash;wave upon wave of steel,&mdash;thunder
+following thunder…. There was yet scarcely any wind; but there must have been
+wild weather elsewhere,&mdash;and the breakers were steadily heightening. Their
+motion fascinated. How indescribably complex such motion is,&mdash;yet how
+eternally new! Who could fully describe even five minutes of it? No mortal ever
+saw two waves break in exactly the same way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And probably no mortal ever watched the ocean-roll or heard its thunder without
+feeling serious. I have noticed that even animals,&mdash;horses and
+cows,&mdash;become meditative in the presence of the sea: they stand and stare
+and listen as if the sight and sound of that immensity made them forget all
+else in the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a folk-saying of the coast:&mdash;&ldquo;<i>The Sea has a soul and
+hears</i>.&rdquo; And the meaning is thus explained: Never speak of your fear
+when you feel afraid at sea;&mdash;if you say that you are afraid, the waves
+will suddenly rise higher. Now this imagining seems to me absolutely natural. I
+must confess that when I am either in the sea, or upon it, I cannot fully
+persuade myself that it is not alive,&mdash;a conscious and a hostile power.
+Reason, for the time being, avails nothing against this fancy. In order to be
+able to think of the sea as a mere body of water, I must be upon some height
+from whence its heaviest billowing appears but a lazy creeping of tiny ripples.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the primitive fancy may be roused even more strongly in darkness than by
+daylight. How living seem the smoulderings and the flashings of the tide on
+nights of phosphorescence!&mdash;how reptilian the subtle shifting of the tints
+of its chilly flame! Dive into such a night-sea;&mdash;open your eyes in the
+black-blue gloom, and watch the weird gush of lights that follow your every
+motion: each luminous point, as seen through the flood, like the opening and
+closing of an eye! At such a moment, one feels indeed as if enveloped by some
+monstrous sentiency,&mdash;suspended within some vital substance that feels and
+sees and wills alike in every part, an infinite soft cold Ghost.
+</p>
+
+<h3>IV</h3>
+
+<p>
+Long I lay awake that night, and listened to the thunder-rolls and crashings of
+the mighty tide. Deeper than these distinct shocks of noise, and all the
+storming of the nearer waves, was the bass of the further surf,&mdash;a
+ceaseless abysmal muttering to which the building trembled,&mdash;a sound that
+seemed to imagination like the sound of the trampling of infinite cavalry, the
+massing of incalculable artillery,&mdash;some rushing, from the Sunrise, of
+armies wide as the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I found myself thinking of the vague terror with which I had listened,
+when a child, to the voice of the sea;&mdash;and I remembered that in
+after-years, on different coasts in different parts of the world, the sound of
+surf had always revived the childish emotion. Certainly this emotion was older
+than I by thousands of thousands of centuries,&mdash;the inherited sum of
+numberless terrors ancestral. But presently there came to me the conviction
+that fear of the sea alone could represent but one element of the multitudinous
+awe awakened by its voice. For as I listened to that wild tide of the Suruga
+coast, I could distinguish nearly every sound of fear known to man: not merely
+noises of battle tremendous,&mdash;of interminable volleying,&mdash;of
+immeasurable charging,&mdash;but the roaring of beasts, the crackling and
+hissing of fire, the rumbling of earthquake, the thunder of ruin, and, above
+all these, a clamor continual as of shrieks and smothered shoutings,&mdash;the
+Voices that are said to be the voices of the drowned., Awfulness supreme of
+tumult,&mdash;combining all imaginable echoings of fury and destruction and
+despair!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And to myself I said:&mdash;Is it wonderful that the voice of the sea should
+make us serious? Consonantly to its multiple utterance must respond all waves
+of immemorial fear that move in the vaster sea of soul-experience. Deep calleth
+unto deep. The visible abyss calls to that abyss invisible of elder being whose
+flood-flow made the ghosts of us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wherefore there is surely more than a little truth in the ancient belief that
+the speech of the dead is the roar of the sea. Truly the fear and the pain of
+the dead past speak to us in that dim deep awe which the roar of the sea
+awakens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But there are sounds that move us much more profoundly than the voice of the
+sea can do, and in stranger ways,&mdash;sounds that also make us serious at
+times, and very serious,&mdash;sounds of music.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Great music is a psychical storm, agitating to unimaginable depth the mystery
+of the past within us. Or we might say that it is a prodigious incantation,
+every different instrument and voice making separate appeal to different
+billions of prenatal memories. There are tones that call up all ghosts of youth
+and joy and tenderness;&mdash;there are tones that evoke all phantom pain of
+perished passion;&mdash;there are tones that resurrect all dead sensations of
+majesty and might and glory,&mdash;all expired exultations,&mdash;all forgotten
+magnanimities. Well may the influence of music seem inexplicable to the man who
+idly dreams that his life began less than a hundred years ago! But the mystery
+lightens for whomsoever learns that the substance of Self is older than the
+sun. He finds that music is a Necromancy;&mdash;he feels that to every ripple
+of melody, to every billow of harmony, there answers within him, out of the Sea
+of Death and Birth, some eddying immeasurable of ancient pleasure and pain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pleasure and pain: they commingle always in great music; and therefore it is
+that music can move us more profoundly than the voice of ocean or than any
+other voice can do. But in music&rsquo;s larger utterance it is ever the sorrow
+that makes the undertone,&mdash;the surf-mutter of the Sea of Soul…. Strange
+to think how vast the sum of joy and woe that must have been experienced before
+the sense of music could evolve in the brain of man!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Somewhere it is said that human life is the music of the Gods,&mdash;that its
+sobs and laughter, its songs and shrieks and orisons, its outcries of delight
+and of despair, rise never to the hearing of the Immortals but as a perfect
+harmony…. Wherefore they could not desire to hush the tones of pain: it would
+spoil their music! The combination, without the agony-tones, would prove a
+discord unendurable to ears divine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And in one way we ourselves are as Gods,&mdash;since it is only the sum of the
+pains and the joys of past lives innumerable that makes for us, through memory
+organic, the ecstasy of music. All the gladness and the grief of dead
+generations come back to haunt us in countless forms of harmony and of melody.
+Even so,&mdash;a million years after we shall have ceased to view the
+sun,&mdash;will the gladness and the grief of our own lives pass with richer
+music into other hearts&mdash;there to bestir, for one mysterious moment, some
+deep and exquisite thrilling of voluptuous pain.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of In Ghostly Japan, by Lafcadio Hearn
+#5 in our series by Lafcadio Hearn
+
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+Title: In Ghostly Japan
+
+Author: Lafcadio Hearn
+
+Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8128]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on June 16, 2003]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN GHOSTLY JAPAN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Liz Warren
+
+
+
+
+In Ghostly Japan
+
+
+Fragment
+
+And it was at the hour of sunset that they came to the foot of
+the mountain. There was in that place no sign of life,--neither
+token of water, nor trace of plant, nor shadow of flying bird,--
+nothing but desolation rising to desolation. And the summit was
+lost in heaven.
+
+Then the Bodhisattva said to his young companion:--"What you have
+asked to see will be shown to you. But the place of the Vision is
+far; and the way is rude. Follow after me, and do not fear:
+strength will be given you."
+
+
+Twilight gloomed about them as they climbed. There was no beaten
+path, nor any mark of former human visitation; and the way was
+over an endless heaping of tumbled fragments that rolled or
+turned beneath the foot. Sometimes a mass dislodged would clatter
+down with hollow echoings;--sometimes the substance trodden would
+burst like an empty shell....Stars pointed and thrilled; and the
+darkness deepened.
+
+"Do not fear, my son," said the Bodhisattva, guiding: "danger
+there is none, though the way be grim."
+
+Under the stars they climbed,--fast, fast,--mounting by help of
+power superhuman. High zones of mist they passed; and they saw
+below them, ever widening as they climbed, a soundless flood of
+cloud, like the tide of a milky sea.
+
+
+Hour after hour they climbed;--and forms invisible yielded to
+their tread with dull soft crashings;--and faint cold fires
+lighted and died at every breaking.
+
+And once the pilgrim-youth laid hand on a something smooth that
+was not stone,--and lifted it,--and dimly saw the cheekless gibe
+of death.
+
+"Linger not thus, my son!" urged the voice of the teacher;--"the
+summit that we must gain is very far away!"
+
+
+On through the dark they climbed,--and felt continually beneath
+them the soft strange breakings,--and saw the icy fires worm and
+die,--till the rim of the night turned grey, and the stars began
+to fail, and the east began to bloom.
+
+Yet still they climbed,--fast, fast,--mounting by help of power
+superhuman. About them now was frigidness of death,--and silence
+tremendous....A gold flame kindled in the east.
+
+Then first to the pilgrim's gaze the steeps revealed their
+nakedness;--and a trembling seized him,--and a ghastly fear. For
+there was not any ground,--neither beneath him nor about him nor
+above him,--but a heaping only, monstrous and measureless, of
+skulls and fragments of skulls and dust of bone,--with a shimmer
+of shed teeth strown through the drift of it, like the shimmer of
+scrags of shell in the wrack of a tide.
+
+"Do not fear, my son!" cried the voice of the Bodhisattva;--"only
+the strong of heart can win to the place of the Vision!"
+
+
+Behind them the world had vanished. Nothing remained but the
+clouds beneath, and the sky above, and the heaping of skulls
+between,--up-slanting out of sight.
+
+Then the sun climbed with the climbers; and there was no warmth
+in the light of him, but coldness sharp as a sword. And the
+horror of stupendous height, and the nightmare of stupendous
+depth, and the terror of silence, ever grew and grew, and weighed
+upon the pilgrim, and held his feet,--so that suddenly all power
+departed from him, and he moaned like a sleeper in dreams.
+
+"Hasten, hasten, my son!" cried the Bodhisattva: "the day is
+brief, and the summit is very far away."
+
+But the pilgrim shrieked,--"I fear! I fear unspeakably!--and the
+power has departed from me!"
+
+"The power will return, my son," made answer the Bodhisattva....
+"Look now below you and above you and about you, and tell me what
+you see."
+
+"I cannot," cried the pilgrim, trembling and clinging; "I dare
+not look beneath! Before me and about me there is nothing but
+skulls of men."
+
+"And yet, my son," said the Bodhisattva, laughing softly,--"and
+yet you do not know of what this mountain is made."
+
+The other, shuddering, repeated:--"I fear!--unutterably I
+ fear!...there is nothing but skulls of men!"
+
+"A mountain of skulls it is," responded the Bodhisattva. "But
+know, my son, that all of them ARE YOUR OWN! Each has at some
+time been the nest of your dreams and delusions and desires. Not
+even one of them is the skull of any other being. All,--all
+without exception,--have been yours, in the billions of your
+former lives."
+
+
+FURISODE
+
+Recently, while passing through a little street tenanted chiefly
+by dealers in old wares, I noticed a furisode, or long-sleeved
+robe, of the rich purple tint called murasaki, hanging before one
+of the shops. It was a robe such as might have been worn by a
+lady of rank in the time of the Tokugawa. I stopped to look at
+the five crests upon it; and in the same moment there came to my
+recollection this legend of a similar robe said to have once
+caused the destruction of Yedo.
+
+
+Nearly two hundred and fifty years ago, the daughter of a rich
+merchant of the city of the Shoguns, while attending some temple-
+festival, perceived in the crowd a young samurai of remarkable
+beauty, and immediately fell in love with him. Unhappily for her, he
+disappeared in the press before she could learn through her
+attendants who he was or whence he had come. But his image remained
+vivid in her memory,--even to the least detail of his costume. The
+holiday attire then worn by samurai youths was scarcely less
+brilliant than that of young girls; and the upper dress of this
+handsome stranger had seemed wonderfully beautiful to the enamoured
+maiden. She fancied that by wearing a robe of like quality and
+color, bearing the same crest, she might be able to attract his
+notice on some future occasion.
+
+Accordingly she had such a robe made, with very long sleeves,
+according to the fashion of the period; and she prized it
+greatly. She wore it whenever she went out; and when at home she
+would suspend it in her room, and try to imagine the form of her
+unknown beloved within it. Sometimes she would pass hours before
+it,--dreaming and weeping by turns. And she would pray to the
+gods and the Buddhas that she might win the young man's
+affection,--often repeating the invocation of the Nichiren sect:
+Namu myo ho reng� kyo!
+
+But she never saw the youth again; and she pined with longing for
+him, and sickened, and died, and was buried. After her burial,
+the long-sleeved robe that she had so much prized was given to
+the Buddhist temple of which her family were parishioners. It is
+an old custom to thus dispose of the garments of the dead.
+
+The priest was able to sell the robe at a good price; for it was
+a costly silk, and bore no trace of the tears that had fallen
+upon it. It was bought by a girl of about the same age as the
+dead lady. She wore it only one day. Then she fell sick, and
+began to act strangely,--crying out that she was haunted by the
+vision of a beautiful young man, and that for love of him she was
+going to die. And within a little while she died; and the long-
+sleeved robe was a second time presented to the temple.
+
+Again the priest sold it; and again it became the property of a
+young girl, who wore it only once. Then she also sickened, and
+talked of a beautiful shadow, and died, and was buried. And the
+robe was given a third time to the temple; and the priest
+wondered and doubted.
+
+Nevertheless he ventured to sell the luckless garment once more.
+Once more it was purchased by a girl and once more worn; and the
+wearer pined and died. And the robe was given a fourth time to
+the temple.
+
+Then the priest felt sure that there was some evil influence at
+work; and he told his acolytes to make a fire in the temple-
+court, and to burn the robe.
+
+So they made a fire, into which the robe was thrown. But as the
+silk began to burn, there suddenly appeared upon it dazzling
+characters of flame,--the characters of the invocation, Namu myo
+ho reng� kyo;--and these, one by one, leaped like great sparks to
+the temple roof; and the temple took fire.
+
+Embers from the burning temple presently dropped upon
+neighbouring roofs; and the whole street was soon ablaze. Then a
+sea-wind, rising, blew destruction into further streets; and the
+conflagration spread from street to street, and from district
+into district, till nearly the whole of the city was consumed.
+And this calamity, which occurred upon the eighteenth day of the
+first month of the first year of Meireki (1655), is still
+remembered in Tokyo as the Furisode-Kwaji,--the Great Fire of the
+Long-sleeved Robe.
+
+
+According to a story-book called Kibun-Daijin, the name of the girl
+who caused the robe to be made was O-Same; and she was the daughter
+of Hikoyemon, a wine-merchant of Hyakusho-machi, in the district of
+Azabu. Because of her beauty she was also called Azabu-Komachi, or
+the Komachi of Azabu.(1) The same book says that the temple of the
+tradition was a Nichiren temple called Hon-myoji, in the district of
+Hongo; and that the crest upon the robe was a kikyo-flower. But
+there are many different versions of the story; and I distrust the
+Kibun-Daijin because it asserts that the beautiful samurai was not
+really a man, but a transformed dragon, or water-serpent, that used
+to inhabit the lake at Uyeno,--Shinobazu-no-Ike.
+
+1 After more than a thousand years, the name of Komachi, or Ono-no-
+Komachi, is still celebrated in Japan. She was the most beautiful
+woman of her time, and so great a poet that she could move heaven by
+her verses, and cause rain to fall in time of drought. Many men
+loved her in vain; and many are said to have died for love of her.
+But misfortunes visited her when her youth had passed; and, after
+having been reduced to the uttermost want, she became a beggar, and
+died at last upon the public highway, near Kyoto. As it was thought
+shameful to bury her in the foul rags found upon her, some poor
+person gave a wornout summer-robe (katabira) to wrap her body in;
+and she was interred near Arashiyama at a spot still pointed out to
+travellers as the "Place of the Katabira" (Katabira-no-Tsuchi).
+
+
+Incense
+
+I see, rising out of darkness, a lotos in a vase. Most of the vase
+is invisible, but I know that it is of bronze, and that its
+glimpsing handles are bodies of dragons. Only the lotos is fully
+illuminated: three pure white flowers, and five great leaves of gold
+and green,--gold above, green on the upcurling under-surface,--an
+artificial lotos. It is bathed by a slanting stream of sunshine,--
+the darkness beneath and beyond is the dusk of a temple-chamber. I
+do not see the opening through which the radiance pours, but I am
+aware that it is a small window shaped in the outline-form of a
+temple-bell.
+
+The reason that I see the lotos--one memory of my first visit to
+a Buddhist sanctuary--is that there has come to me an odor of
+incense. Often when I smell incense, this vision defines; and
+usually thereafter other sensations of my first day in Japan
+revive in swift succession with almost painful acuteness.
+
+
+It is almost ubiquitous,--this perfume of incense. It makes one
+element of the faint but complex and never-to-be-forgotten odor
+of the Far East. It haunts the dwelling-house not less than the
+temple,--the home of the peasant not less than the yashiki of the
+prince. Shinto shrines, indeed, are free from it;--incense being
+an abomination to the elder gods. But wherever Buddhism lives
+there is incense. In every house containing a Buddhist shrine or
+Buddhist tablets, incense is burned at certain times; and in even
+the rudest country solitudes you will find incense smouldering
+before wayside images,--little stone figures of Fudo, Jizo, or
+Kwannon. Many experiences of travel,--strange impressions of
+sound as well as of sight,--remain associated in my own memory
+with that fragrance:--vast silent shadowed avenues leading to
+weird old shrines;--mossed flights of worn steps ascending to
+temples that moulder above the clouds;--joyous tumult of festival
+nights;--sheeted funeral-trains gliding by in glimmer of
+lanterns; murmur of household prayer in fishermen's huts on far
+wild coasts;--and visions of desolate little graves marked only
+by threads of blue smoke ascending,--graves of pet animals or
+birds remembered by simple hearts in the hour of prayer to Amida,
+the Lord of Immeasurable Light.
+
+But the odor of which I speak is that of cheap incense only,--the
+incense in general use. There are many other kinds of incense;
+and the range of quality is amazing. A bundle of common incense-
+rods--(they are about as thick as an ordinary pencil-lead, and
+somewhat longer)--can be bought for a few sen; while a bundle of
+better quality, presenting to inexperienced eyes only some
+difference in color, may cost several yen, and be cheap at the
+price. Still costlier sorts of incense,--veritable luxuries,--
+take the form of lozenges, wafers, pastilles; and a small
+envelope of such material may be worth four or five pounds-
+sterling. But the commercial and industrial questions relating to
+Japanese incense represent the least interesting part of a
+remarkably curious subject.
+
+
+II
+
+Curious indeed, but enormous by reason of it infinity of
+tradition and detail. I am afraid even to think of the size of
+the volume that would be needed to cover it.... Such a work would
+properly begin with some brief account of the earliest knowledge
+and use of aromatics in Japan. I would next treat of the records
+and legends of the first introduction of Buddhist incense fron
+Korea,--when King Shomyo of Kudara, in 551 A. D., sent to the
+island-empire a collection of sutras, an image of the Buddha, and
+one complete set of furniture for a temple. Then something would
+have to be said about those classifications of incense which were
+made during the tenth century, in the periods of Engi and of
+Tenryaku,--and about the report of the ancient state-councillor,
+Kimitaka-Sangi, who visited China in the latter part of the
+thirteenth century, and transmitted to the Emperor Yomei the
+wisdom of the Chinese concerning incense. Then mention should be
+made of the ancient incenses still preserved in various Japanese
+temples, and of the famous fragments of ranjatai (publicly
+exhibited at Nara in the tenth year of Meiji) which furnished
+supplies to the three great captains, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and
+Iyeyasu. After this should fol-low an outline of the history of
+mixed incenses made in Japan,--with notes on the classifications
+devised by the luxurious Takauji, and on the nomenclature
+established later by Ashikaga Yoshimasa, who collected one
+hundred and thirty varieties of incense, and invented for the
+more precious of them names recognized even to this day,--such as
+"Blossom-Showering," "Smoke-of-Fuji," and "Flower-of-the-Pure-
+Law." Examples ought to be given likewise of traditions attaching
+to historical incenses preserved in several princely families,
+together with specimens of those hereditary recipes for incense-
+making which have been transmitted from generation to generation
+through hundreds of years, and are still called after their
+august inventors,--as "the Method of Hina-Dainagon," "the Method
+of Sento-In," etc. Recipes also should be given of those strange
+incenses made "to imitate the perfume of the lotos, the smell of
+the summer breeze, and the odor of the autumn wind." Some legends
+of the great period of incense-luxury should be cited,--such as
+the story of Sue Owari-no-Kami, who built for himself a palace of
+incense-woods, and set fire to it on the night of his revolt,
+when the smoke of its burning perfumed the land to a distance of
+twelve miles.... Of course the mere compilation of materials for
+a history of mixed-incenses would entail the study of a host of
+documents, treatises, and books,--particularly of such strange
+works as the Kun-Shu-Rui-Sho, or "Incense-Collector's
+Classifying-Manual";--containing the teachings of the Ten Schools
+of the Art of Mixing Incense; directions as to the best seasons
+for incense-making; and instructions about the "different kinds
+of fire" to be used for burning incense--(one kind is called
+"literary fire," and another "military fire"); together with
+rules for pressing the ashes of a censer into various artistic
+designs corresponding to season and occasion.... A special
+chapter should certainly be given to the incense-bags (kusadama)
+hung up in houses to drive away goblins,--and to the smaller
+incense-bags formerly carried about the person as a protection
+against evil spirits. Then a very large part of the work would
+have to be devoted to the religious uses and legends of incense,
+--a huge subject in itself. There would also have to be
+considered the curious history of the old "incense-assemblies,"
+whose elaborate ceremonial could be explained only by help of
+numerous diagrams. One chapter at least would be required for the
+subject of the ancient importation of incense-materials from
+India, China, Annam, Siam, Cambodia, Ceylon, Sumatra, Java,
+Borneo, and various islands of the Malay archipelago,--places all
+named in rare books about incense. And a final chapter should
+treat of the romantic literature of incense,--the poems, stories,
+and dramas in which incense-rites are mentioned; and especially
+those love-songs comparing the body to incense, and passion to
+the eating flame:--
+
+Even as burns the perfume lending thy robe its fragance,
+Smoulders my life away, consumed by the pain of longing!
+
+....The merest outline of the subject is terrifying! I shall
+attempt nothing more than a few notes about the religious, the
+luxurious, and the ghostly uses of incense.
+
+
+III
+
+The common incense everywhere burned by poor people before
+Buddhist icons is called an-soku-ko. This is very cheap. Great
+quantities of it are burned by pilgrims in the bronze censers set
+before the entrances of famous temples; and in front of roadside
+images you may often see bundles of it. These are for the use of
+pious wayfarers, who pause before every Buddhist image on their
+path to repeat a brief prayer and, when possible, to set a few
+rods smouldering at the feet of the statue. But in rich temples,
+and during great religious ceremonies, much more expensive
+incense is used. Altogether three classes of perfumes are
+employed in Buddhist rites: ko, or incense-proper, in many
+varieties--(the word literally means only "fragrant substance");
+--dzuko, an odorous ointment; and makko, a fragrant powder. Ko is
+burned; dzuko is rubbed upon the hands of the priest as an
+ointment of purification; and makko is sprinkled about the
+sanctuary. This makko is said to be identical with the
+sandalwood-powder so frequently mentioned in Buddhist texts. But
+it is only the true incense which can be said to bear an
+important relation to the religious service.
+
+"Incense," declares the Soshi-Ryaku,(1) "is the Messenger of
+Earnest Desire. When the rich Sudatta wished to invite the Buddha
+to a repast, he made use of incense. He was wont to ascend to the
+roof of his house on the eve of the day of the entertainment, and
+to remain standing there all night, holding a censer of precious
+incense. And as often as he did thus, the Buddha never failed to
+come on the following day at the exact time desired."
+
+This text plainly implies that incense, as a burnt-offering,
+symbolizes the pious desires of the faithful. But it symbolizes
+other things also; and it has furnished many remarkable similes
+to Buddhist literature. Some of these, and not the least
+interesting, occur in prayers, of which the following, from the
+book called Hoji-san (2) is a striking example:--
+
+--"Let my body remain pure like a censer!--let my thought be ever
+as a fire of wisdom, purely consuming the incense of sila and of
+dhyana, (3) that so may I do homage to all the Buddhas in the Ten
+Directions of the Past, the Present, and the Future!"
+
+Sometimes in Buddhist sermons the destruction of Karma by
+virtuous effort is likened to the burning of incense by a pure
+flame,--sometimes, again, the life of man is compared to the
+smoke of incense. In his "Hundred Writings "(Hyaku-tsu-kiri-
+kami), the Shinshu priest Myoden says, quoting from the Buddhist
+work Kujikkajo, or "Ninety Articles ":--
+
+"In the burning of incense we see that so long as any incense
+remains, so long does the burning continue, and the smoke mount
+skyward. Now the breath of this body of ours,--this impermanent
+combination of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire,--is like that smoke.
+And the changing of the incense into cold ashes when the flame
+expires is an emblem of the changing of our bodies into ashes
+when our funeral pyres have burnt themselves out."
+
+He also tells us about that Incense-Paradise of which every
+believer ought to be reminded by the perfume of earthly incense:
+--"In the Thirty- Second Vow for the Attainment of the Paradise
+of Wondrous Incense," he says, "it is written: 'That Paradise is
+formed of hundreds of thousands of different kinds of incense,
+and of substances incalculably precious;--the beauty of it
+incomparably exceeds anything in the heavens or in the sphere of
+man;--the fragrance of it perfumes all the worlds of the Ten
+Directions of Space; and all who perceive that odor practise
+Buddha-deeds.' In ancient times there were men of superior wisdom
+and virtue who, by reason of their vow, obtained perception of
+the odor; but we, who are born with inferior wisdom and virtue in
+these later days, cannot obtain such perception. Nevertheless it
+will be well for us, when we smell the incense kindled before the
+image of Amida, to imagine that its odor is the wonderful
+fragrance of Paradise, and to repeat the Nembutsu in gratitude
+for the mercy of the Buddha."
+
+1 "Short [or Epitomized] History of Priests."
+2 "The Praise of Pious Observances."
+3 By sila is meant the observance of the rules of purity
+in act and thought. Dhyana (called by Japanese Buddhists Zenjo)
+is one of the higher forms of meditation.
+
+
+IV
+
+But the use of incense in Japan is not confined to religious
+rites and ceremonies: indeed the costlier kinds of incense are
+manufactured chiefly for social entertainments. Incense-burning
+has been an amusement of the aristocracy ever since the
+thirteenth century. Probably you have heard of the Japanese tea-
+ceremonies, and their curious Buddhist history; and I suppose
+that every foreign collector of Japanese bric-a'-brac knows
+something about the luxury to which these ceremonies at one
+period attained,--a luxury well attested by the quality of the
+beautiful utensils formerly employed in them. But there were, and
+still are, incense-ceremonies much more elaborate and costly than
+the tea-ceremonies,--and also much more interesting. Besides
+music, embroidery, poetical composition and other branches of the
+old-fashioned female education, the young lady of pre-Meiji days
+was expected to acquire three especially polite accomplishments,
+--the art of arranging flowers, (ikebana), the art of ceremonial
+tea-making (cha-no-yu or cha-no-e),(1) and the etiquette of
+incense-parties (ko-kwai or ko-e). Incense-parties were invented
+before the time of the Ashikaga shoguns, and were most in vogue
+during the peaceful period of the Tokugawa rule. With the fall of
+the shogunate they went out of fashion; but recently they have
+been to some extent revived. It is not likely, however, that they
+will again become really fashionable in the old sense,--partly
+because they represented rare forms of social refinement that
+never can be revived, and partly because of their costliness.
+
+In translating ko-kwai as "incense-party," I use the word "party"
+in the meaning that it takes in such compounds as "card-party,"
+"whist-party," "chess-party";--for a ko-kwai is a meeting held
+only with the object of playing a game,--a very curious game.
+There are several kinds of incense-games; but in all of them the
+contest depends upon the ability to remember and to name
+different kinds of incense by the perfume alone. That variety of
+ko-kwai called Jitchu-ko ("ten-burning-incense") is generally
+conceded to be the most amusing; and I shall try to tell you how
+it is played.
+
+
+The numeral "ten," in the Japanese, or rather Chinese name of
+this diversion, does not refer to ten kinds, but only to ten
+packages of incense; for Jitchu-ko, besides being the most
+amusing, is the very simplest of incense-games, and is played
+with only four kinds of incense. One kind must be supplied by the
+guests invited to the party; and three are furnished by the
+person who gives the entertainment. Each of the latter three
+supplies of incense--usually prepared in packages containing one
+hundred wafers is divided into four parts; and each part is put
+into a separate paper numbered or marked so as to indicate the
+quality. Thus four packages are prepared of the incense classed
+as No. 1, four of incense No. 2, and four of incense No. 3,--or
+twelve in all. But the incense given by the guests,--always
+called "guest-incense"--is not divided: it is only put into a
+wrapper marked with an abbreviation of the Chinese character
+signifying "guest." Accordingly we have a total of thirteen
+packages to start with; but three are to be used in the
+preliminary sampling, or "experimenting"--as the Japanese term
+it,--after the following manner.
+
+We shall suppose the game to be arranged for a party of six,--
+though there is no rule limiting the number of players. The six
+take their places in line, or in a half-circle--if the room be
+small; but they do not sit close together, for reasons which will
+presently appear. Then the host, or the person appointed to act
+as incense-burner, prepares a package of the incense classed as
+No 1, kindles it in a censer, and passes the censer to the guest
+occupying the first seat, (2) with the announcement--"This is
+incense No 1" The guest receives the censer according to the
+graceful etiquette required in the ko-kwai, inhales the perfume,
+and passes on the vessel to his neighbor, who receives it in like
+manner and passes it to the third guest, who presents it to the
+fourth,--and so on. When the censer has gone the round of the
+party, it is returned to the incense-burner. One package of
+incense No. 2, and one of No. 3, are similarly prepared,
+announced, and tested. But with the "guest-incense" no experiment
+is made. The player should be able to remember the different
+odors of the incenses tested; and he is expected to identify the
+guest-incense at the proper time merely by the unfamiliar quality
+of its fragrance.
+
+The original thirteen packages having thus by "experimenting"
+been reduced to ten, each player is given one set of ten small
+tablets--usually of gold-lacquer,--every set being differently
+ornamented. The backs only of these tablets are decorated; and
+the decoration is nearly always a floral design of some sort:--
+thus one set might be decorated with chrysanthemums in gold,
+another with tufts of iris-plants, another with a spray of plum-
+blossoms, etc. But the faces of the tablets bear numbers or
+marks; and each set comprises three tablets numbered "1," three
+numbered "2," three numbered "3," and one marked with the
+character signifying "guest." After these tablet-sets have been
+distributed, a box called the "tablet-box" is placed before the
+first player; and all is ready for the real game.
+
+The incense-burner retires behind a little screen, shuffles the
+flat packages like so many cards, takes the uppermost, prepares
+its contents in the censer, and then, returning to the party,
+sends the censer upon its round. This time, of course, he does
+not announce what kind of incense he has used. As the censer
+passes from hand to hand, each player, after inhaling the fume,
+puts into the tablet-box one tablet bearing that mark or number
+which he supposes to be the mark or number of the incense he has
+smelled. If, for example, he thinks the incense to be "guest-
+incense," he drops into the box that one of his tablets marked
+with the ideograph meaning "guest;" or if he believes that he has
+inhaled the perfume of No. 2, he puts into the box a tablet
+numbered "2." When the round is over, tablet-box and censer are
+both returned to the incense-burner. He takes the six tablets out
+of the box, and wraps them up in the paper which contained the
+incense guessed about. The tablets themselves keep the personal
+as well as the general record,--since each player remembers the
+particular design upon his own set.
+
+The remaining nine packages of incense art consumed and judged in
+the same way, according to the chance order in which the
+shuffling has placed them. When all the incense has been used,
+the tablets are taken out of their wrappings, the record is
+officially put into writing, and the victor of the day is
+announced. I here offer the translation of such a record: it will
+serve to explain, almost at a glance, all the complications of
+the game.
+
+According to this record the player who used the tablets
+decorated with the design called "Young Pine," made but two
+mistakes; while the holder of the "White-Lily" set made only one
+correct guess. But it is quite a feat to make ten correct
+judgments in succession. The olfactory nerves are apt to become
+somewhat numbed long before the game is concluded; and, therefore
+it is customary during the Ko-kwai to rinse the mouth at
+intervals with pure vinegar, by which operation the sensitivity
+is partially restored.
+
+                     RECORD OF A KO-KWAI.
+
+                  Order in which the ten packages of incense were
+used:--
+                  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10
+Names given
+to the six        No. No.       No.   No.  No.  No.  No.  No.
+No.
+tablets used,     III I  GUEST  II    I    III  II   I    III
+II
+according to
+decorative
+designs on the
+back:             Guesses recorded by nos. on tablet; correct
+                  being marked *
+      No. of correct
+
+      guesses
+
+"Gold
+Chrysanthemum"   1    3    1    2*  Guest  1     2*   2    3*
+3         3
+
+"Young Bamboo"   3*   1*   1    2*   1*   Guest  3    2    1
+3         4
+
+"Red Peony"     Guest 1*   2    2*   3     1     3    2    3*
+1         3
+
+"White Lily"     1    3    1    3    2     2     1    3   Guest
+2*         1
+
+"Young Pine"     3*   1* Guest* 3    1*    2     2*   1*   3*
+2*         8 (Winner)
+
+"Cherry-Blossom
+-in-a-Mist"      1    3  Guest* 2*   1*    3*    1    2    3*
+2*         6
+
+NAMES OF INCENSE USED.
+
+I.   "Tasogare" ("Who-Is-there?" I. e. "Evening-Dusk").
+II.  "Baikwa" ("Plum Flower").
+III. "Wakakusa" ("Young Grass").
+IV.  ("Guest Incense") "Yamaji-no-Tsuyu"
+("Dew-on-the-Mountain-Path").  To the Japanese original of the
+foregoing record were appended the names of the players, the date of
+the entertainment, and the name of the place where the party was
+held. It is the custom In some families to enter all such records in
+a book especially made for the purpose, and furnished with an index
+which enables the Ko-kwai player to refer immediately to any
+interesting fact belonging to the history of any past game.
+
+The reader will have noticed that the four kinds of incense used
+were designated by very pretty names. The incense first
+mentioned, for example, is called by the poets' name for the
+gloaming,--Tasogare (lit: "Who is there?" or " Who is it?")--a
+word which in this relation hints of the toilet-perfume that
+reveals some charming presence to the lover waiting in the dusk.
+Perhaps some curiosity will be felt regarding the composition of
+these incenses. I can give the Japanese recipes for two sorts;
+but I have not been able to identify all of the materials
+named:--
+
+Recipe for Yamaji-no-Tsuyu.
+
+   Ingredients                   Proportions.
+                                              about
+Jinko (aloes-wood)               4 momme     (1/2 oz.)
+Choji (cloves)                   4 "            "
+Kunroku (olibanum)               4 "            "
+Hakko (artemisia Schmidtiana)    4 "            "
+Jako (musk)                      1 bu         (1/8 oz.)
+Koko(?)                          4 momme     (1/2 oz.)
+
+To 21 pastilles
+
+
+Recipe for Baikwa.
+
+   Ingredients                   Proportions.
+                                              about
+Jinko (aloes)                    20 momme    (2 1/2 oz.)
+Choji (cloves)                   12 "         (1 1/2 oz.)
+Koko(?)                       8 1/3 "         (1 1/40 oz.)
+Byakudan (sandal-wood)            4 "         (1/2 oz.)
+Kansho (spikenard)                2 bu        (1/4 oz.)
+Kwakko (Bishop's-wort?)           1 bu 2 sbu  (3/16 oz.)
+Kunroku (olibanum)                3 "  3 "    (15/22 oz.)
+Shomokko (?)                      2 "         (1/4 oz.)
+Jako (musk)                       3 " 2 sbu   (7/16 oz.)
+Ryuno (refined Borneo Camphor)    3 sbu       (3/8 oz.)
+
+To 50 pastilles
+
+
+The incense used at a Ko-kwai ranges in value, according to the
+style of the entertainment, from $2.50 to $30.00 per envelope of
+100 wafers--wafers usually not more than one-fourth of an inch in
+diameter. Sometimes an incense is used worth even more than
+$30.00 per envelope: this contains ranjatai, an aromatic of which
+the perfume is compared to that of "musk mingled with orchid-
+flowers." But there is some incense,--never sold,--which is much
+more precious than ranjatai,--incense valued less for its com-
+position than for its history: I mean the incense brought
+centuries ago from China or from India by the Buddhist
+missionaries, and presented to princes or to other persons of
+high rank. Several ancient Japanese temples also include such
+foreign incense among their treasures. And very rarely a little
+of this priceless material is contributed to an incense-party,--
+much as in Europe, on very extraordinary occasions, some banquet
+is glorified by the production of a wine several hundred years
+old.
+
+Like the tea-ceremonies, the Ko-kwai exact observance of a very
+complex and ancient etiquette. But this subject could interest
+few readers; and I shall only mention some of the rules regarding
+preparations and precautions. First of all, it is required that
+the person invited to an incense-party shall attend the same in
+as _odorless_ a condition as possible: a lady, for instance, must
+not use hair-oil, or put on any dress that has been kept in a
+perfumed chest-of-drawers. Furthermore, the guest should prepare
+for the contest by taking a prolonged hot bath, and should eat
+only the lightest and least odorous kind of food before going to
+the rendezvous. It is forbidden to leave the room during the
+game, or to open any door or window, or to indulge in needless
+conversation. Finally I may observe that, while judging the
+incense, a player is expected to take not less than three
+inhalations, or more than five.
+
+
+In this economical era, the Ko-kwai takes of necessity a much
+humbler form than it assumed in the time of the great daimyo, of
+the princely abbots, and of the military aristocracy. A full set
+of the utensils required for the game can now be had for about
+$50.00; but the materials are of the poorest kind. The old-
+fashioned sets were fantastically expensive. Some were worth
+thousands of dollars. The incense-burner's desk,--the writing-
+box, paper-box, tablet-box, etc.,--the various stands or dai,--
+were of the costliest gold-lacquer;--the pincers and other
+instruments were of gold, curiously worked;--and the censer--
+whether of precious metal, bronze, or porcelain,--was always a
+chef-d'oeuvre, designed by some artist of renown.
+
+1 Girls are still trained in the art of arranging flowers, and in
+the etiquette of the dainty, though somewhat tedious, cha-no-yu.
+Buddhist priests have long enjoyed a reputation as teachers of
+the latter. When the pupil has reached a certain degree of
+proficiency, she is given a diploma or certificate. The tea used
+in these ceremonies is a powdered tea of remarkable fragrance,--
+the best qualities of which fetch very high prices.
+
+2 The places occupied by guests in a Japanese zashiki, or
+reception room are numbered from the alcove of the apartment. The
+place of the most honored is immediately before the alcove: this
+is the first seat, and the rest are numbered from it, usually to
+the left.
+
+
+V
+
+Although the original signification of incense in Buddhist
+ceremonies was chiefly symbolical, there is good reason to
+suppose that various beliefs older than Buddhism,--some, perhaps,
+peculiar to the race; others probably of Chinese or Korean
+derivation,--began at an early period to influence the popular
+use of incense in Japan. Incense is still burned in the presence
+of a corpse with the idea that its fragrance shields both corpse
+and newly-parted soul from malevolent demons; and by the peasants
+it is often burned also to drive away goblins and the evil powers
+presiding over diseases. But formerly it was used to summon
+spirits as well as to banish them. Allusions to its employment in
+various weird rites may be found in some of the old dramas and
+romances. One particular sort of incense, imported from China,
+was said to have the power of calling up human spirits. This was
+the wizard-incense referred to in such ancient love-songs as the
+following:--
+
+"I have heard of the magical incense that summons the souls
+of the absent:
+Would I had some to burn, in the nights when I wait alone!"
+
+There is an interesting mention of this incense in the Chinese
+book, Shang-hai-king. It was called Fwan-hwan-hiang (by Japanese
+pronunciation, Hangon-ko), or "Spirit-Recalling-Incense;" and it
+was made in Tso-Chau, or the District of the Ancestors, situated
+by the Eastern Sea. To summon the ghost of any dead person--or
+even that of a living person, according to some authorities,--it
+was only necessary to kindle some of the incense, and to
+pronounce certain words, while keeping the mind fixed upon the
+memory of that person. Then, in the smoke of the incense, the
+remembered face and form would appear.
+
+In many old Japanese and Chinese books mention is made of a
+famous story about this incense,--a story of the Chinese Emperor
+Wu, of the Han dynasty. When the Emperor had lost his beautiful
+favorite, the Lady Li, he sorrowed so much that fears were
+entertained for his reason. But all efforts made to divert his
+mind from the thought of her proved unavailing. One day he
+ordered some Spirit-Recalling-Incense to be procured, that he
+might summon her from the dead. His counsellors prayed him to
+forego his purpose, declaring that the vision could only
+intensify his grief. But he gave no heed to their advice, and
+himself performed the rite,--kindling the incense, and keeping
+his mind fixed upon the memory of the Lady Li. Presently, within
+the thick blue smoke arising from the incense, the outline, of a
+feminine form became visible. It defined, took tints of life,
+slowly became luminous, and the Emperor recognized the form of
+his beloved At first the apparition was faint; but it soon became
+distinct as a living person, and seemed with each moment to grow
+more beautiful. The Emperor whispered to the vision, but received
+no answer. He called aloud, and the presence made no sign. Then
+unable to control himself, he approached the censer. But the
+instant that he touched the smoke, the phantom trembled and
+vanished.
+
+Japanese artists are still occasionally inspired by the legends
+of the Hangon-ho. Only last year, in Tokyo, at an exhibition of
+new kakemono, I saw a picture of a young wife kneeling before an
+alcove wherein the smoke of the magical incense was shaping the
+shadow of the absent husband.(1)
+
+Although the power of making visible the forms of the dead has
+been claimed for one sort of incense only, the burning of any
+kind of incense is supposed to summon viewless spirits in
+multitude. These come to devour the smoke. They are called Jiki-
+ko-ki, or "incense-eating goblins;" and they belong to the
+fourteenth of the thirty-six classes of Gaki (pretas) recognized
+by Japanese Buddhism. They are the ghosts of men who anciently,
+for the sake of gain, made or sold bad incense; and by the evil
+karma of that action they now find themselves in the state of
+hunger-suffering spirits, and compelled to seek their only food
+in the smoke of incense.
+
+1 Among the curious Tokyo inventions of 1898 was a new variety of
+cigarettes called Hangon-so, or "Herb of Hangon,"--a name
+suggesting that their smoke operated like the spirit-summoning
+incense. As a matter of fact, the chemical action of the tobacco-
+smoke would define, upon a paper fitted into the mouth-piece of
+each cigarette, the photographic image of a dancing-girl.
+
+
+
+A Story of Divination
+
+I once knew a fortune-teller who really believed in the science
+that he professed. He had learned, as a student of the old
+Chinese philosophy, to believe in divination long before he
+thought of practising it. During his youth he had been in the
+service of a wealthy daimyo, but subsequently, like thousands of
+other samurai, found himself reduced to desperate straits by the
+social and political changes of Meiji. It was then that he became
+a fortune-teller,--an itinerant uranaiya,--travelling on foot
+from town to town, and returning to his home rarely more than
+once a year with the proceeds of his journey. As a fortune-teller
+he was tolerably successful,--chiefly, I think, because of his
+perfect sincerity, and because of a peculiar gentle manner that
+invited confidence. His system was the old scholarly one: he used
+the book known to English readers as the Yi-King,--also a set of
+ebony blocks which could be so arranged as to form any of the
+Chinese hexagrams;--and he always began his divination with an
+earnest prayer to the gods.
+
+The system itself he held to be infallible in the hands of a
+master. He confessed that he had made some erroneous predictions;
+but he said that these mistakes had been entirely due to his own
+miscomprehension of certain texts or diagrams. To do him justice
+I must mention that in my own case--(he told my fortune four
+times),--his predictions were fulfilled in such wise that I
+became afraid of them. You may disbelieve in fortune-telling,--
+intellectually scorn it; but something of inherited superstitious
+tendency lurks within most of us; and a few strange experiences
+can so appeal to that inheritance as to induce the most
+unreasoning hope or fear of the good or bad luck promised you by
+some diviner. Really to see our future would be a misery. Imagine
+the result of knowing that there must happen to you, within the
+next two months, some terrible misfortune which you cannot
+possibly provide against!
+
+He was already an old man when I first saw him in Izumo,--
+certainly more than sixty years of age, but looking very much
+younger. Afterwards I met him in Osaka, in Kyoto, and in Kobe.
+More than once I tried to persuade him to pass the colder months
+of the winter-season under my roof,--for he possessed an
+extraordinary knowledge of traditions, and could have been of
+inestimable service to me in a literary way. But partly because
+the habit of wandering had become with him a second nature, and
+partly because of a love of independence as savage as a gipsy's,
+I was never able to keep him with me for more than two days at a
+time.
+
+Every year he used to come to Tokyo,--usually in the latter part
+of autumn. Then, for several weeks, he would flit about the city,
+from district to district, and vanish again. But during these
+fugitive trips he never failed to visit me; bringing welcome news
+of Izumo people and places,--bringing also some queer little
+present, generally of a religious kind, from some famous place of
+pilgrimage. On these occasions I could get a few hours' chat with
+him. Sometimes the talk was of strange things seen or heard
+during his recent journey; sometimes it turned upon old legends
+or beliefs; sometimes it was about fortune-telling. The last time
+we met he told me of an exact Chinese science of divination which
+he regretted never having been able to learn.
+
+"Any one learned in that science," he said, "would be able, for
+example, not only to tell you the exact time at which any post or
+beam of this house will yield to decay, but even to tell you the
+direction of the breaking, and all its results. I can best
+explain what I mean by relating a story.
+
+
+"The story is about the famous Chinese fortune-teller whom we
+call in Japan Shoko Setsu, and it is written in the book Baikwa-
+Shin-Eki, which is a book of divination. While still a very young
+man, Shoko Setsu obtained a high position by reason of his
+learning and virtue; but he resigned it and went into solitude
+that he might give his whole time to study. For years thereafter
+he lived alone in a hut among the mountains; studying without a
+fire in winter, and without a fan in summer; writing his thoughts
+upon the wall of his room--for lack of paper;--and using only a
+tile for his pillow.
+
+"One day, in the period of greatest summer heat, he found himself
+overcome by drowsiness; and he lay down to rest, with his tile
+under his head. Scarcely had he fallen asleep when a rat ran
+across his face and woke him with a start. Feeling angry, he
+seized his tile and flung it at the rat; but the rat escaped
+unhurt, and the tile was broken. Shoko Setsu looked sorrowfully
+at the fragments of his pillow, and reproached himself for his
+hastiness. Then suddenly he perceived, upon the freshly exposed
+clay of the broken tile, some Chinese characters--between the
+upper and lower surfaces. Thinking this very strange, he picked
+up the pieces, and carefully examined them. He found that along
+the line of fracture seventeen characters had been written within
+the clay before the tile had been baked; and the characters read
+thus: 'In the Year of the Hare, in the fourth month, on the
+seventeenth day, at the Hour of the Serpent, this tile, after
+serving as a pillow, will be thrown at a rat and broken.' Now the
+prediction had really been fulfilled at the Hour of the Serpent
+on the seventeenth day of the fourth month of the Year of the
+Hare. Greatly astonished, Shoko Setsu once again looked at the
+fragments, and discovered the seal and the name of the maker. At
+once he left his hut, and, taking with him the pieces of the
+tile, hurried to the neighboring town in search of the tilemaker.
+He found the tilemaker in the course of the day, showed him the
+broken tile, and asked him about its history.
+
+"After having carefully examined the shards, the tilemaker said:
+--'This tile was made in my house; but the characters in the clay
+were written by an old man--a fortune-teller,--who asked
+permission to write upon the tile before it was baked.' 'Do you
+know where he lives?' asked Shoko Setsu. `He used to live,' the
+tilemaker answered, 'not very far from here; and I can show you
+the way to the house. But I do not know his name.'
+
+"Having been guided to the house, Shoko Setsu presented himself
+at the entrance, and asked for permission to speak to the old
+man. A serving-student courteously invited him to enter, and
+ushered him into an apartment where several young men were at
+study. As Shoko Setsu took his seat, all the youths saluted him.
+Then the one who had first addressed him bowed and said: 'We are
+grieved to inform you that our master died a few days ago. But we
+have been waiting for you, because he predicted that you would
+come to-day to this house, at this very hour. Your name is Shoko
+Setsu. And our master told us to give you a book which he
+believed would be of service to you. Here is the book;--please to
+accept it.'
+
+"Shoko Setsu was not less delighted than surprised; for the book
+was a manuscript of the rarest and most precious kind,--
+containing all the secrets of the science of divination. After
+having thanked the young men, and properly expressed his regret
+for the death of their teacher, he went back to his hut, and
+there immediately proceeded to test the worth of the book by
+consulting its pages in regard to his own fortune. The book
+suggested to him that on the south side of his dwelling, at a
+particular spot near one corner of the hut, great luck awaited
+him. He dug at the place indicated, and found a jar containing
+gold enough to make him a very wealthy man."
+
+***
+
+My old acquaintance left this world as lonesomely as he had lived
+in it. Last winter, while crossing a mountain-range, he was
+overtaken by a snowstorm, and lost his way. Many days later he
+was found standing erect at the foot of a pine, with his little
+pack strapped to his shoulders: a statue of ice--arms folded and
+eyes closed as in meditation. Probably, while waiting for the
+storm to pass, he had yielded to the drowsiness of cold, and the
+drift had risen over him as he slept. Hearing of this strange
+death I remembered the old Japanese saying,--Uranaiya minouye
+shiradzu: "The fortune-teller knows not his own fate."
+
+
+
+Silkworms
+
+I was puzzled by the phrase, "silkworm-moth eyebrow," in an old
+Japanese, or rather Chinese proverb:--The silkworm-moth eyebrow
+of a woman is the axe that cuts down the wisdom of man. So I went
+to my friend Niimi, who keeps silkworms, to ask for an
+explanation.
+
+"Is it possible," he exclaimed, "that you never saw a silkworm-
+moth? The silkworm-moth has very beautiful eyebrows."
+
+"Eyebrows?" I queried, in astonishment. "Well, call them what you
+like," returned Niimi;--"the poets call them eyebrows.... Wait a
+moment, and I will show you."
+
+He left the guest-room, and presently returned with a white
+paper-fan, on which a silkworm-moth was sleepily reposing.
+
+"We always reserve a few for breeding," he said;--"this one is
+just out of the cocoon. It cannot fly, of course: none of them
+can fly.... Now look at the eyebrows."
+
+I looked, and saw that the antennae, very short and feathery, were
+so arched back over the two jewel-specks of eyes in the velvety
+head, as to give the appearance of a really handsome pair of eye-
+brows.
+
+Then Niimi took me to see his worms.
+
+In Niimi's neighborhood, where there are plenty of mulberrytrees,
+many families keep silkworms;--the tending and feeding being
+mostly done by women and children. The worms are kept in large
+oblong trays, elevated upon light wooden stands about three feet
+high. It is curious to see hundreds of caterpillars feeding all
+together in one tray, and to hear the soft papery noise which
+they make while gnawing their mulberry-leaves. As they approach
+maturity, the creatures need almost constant attention. At brief
+intervals some expert visits each tray to inspect progress, picks
+up the plumpest feeders, and decides, by gently rolling them
+between forefinger and thumb, which are ready to spin. These are
+dropped into covered boxes, where they soon swathe themselves out
+of sight in white floss. A few only of the best are suffered to
+emerge from their silky sleep,--the selected breeders. They have
+beautiful wings, but cannot use them. They have mouths, but do
+not eat. They only pair, lay eggs, and die. For thousands of
+years their race has been so well-cared for, that it can no
+longer take any care of itself.
+
+It was the evolutional lesson of this latter fact that chiefly
+occupied me while Niimi and his younger brother (who feeds the
+worms) were kindly explaining the methods of the industry. They
+told me curious things about different breeds, and also about a
+wild variety of silkworm that cannot be domesticated:--it spins
+splendid silk before turning into a vigorous moth which can use
+its wings to some purpose. But I fear that I did not act like a
+person who felt interested in the subject; for, even while I
+tried to listen, I began to muse.
+
+II
+
+First of all, I found myself thinking about a delightful revery
+by M. Anatole France, in which he says that if he had been the
+Demiurge, he would have put youth at the end of life instead of
+at the beginning, and would have otherwise so ordered matters
+that every human being should have three stages of development,
+somewhat corresponding to those of the lepidoptera. Then it
+occurred to me that this fantasy was in substance scarcely more
+than the delicate modification of a most ancient doctrine, common
+to nearly all the higher forms of religion.
+
+Western faiths especially teach that our life on earth is a
+larval state of greedy helplessness, and that death is a pupa-
+sleep out of which we should soar into everlasting light. They
+tell us that during its sentient existence, the outer body should
+be thought of only as a kind of caterpillar, and thereafter as a
+chrysalis;--and they aver that we lose or gain, according to our
+behavior as larvae, the power to develop wings under the mortal
+wrapping. Also they tell us not to trouble ourselves about the
+fact that we see no Psyche-imago detach itself from the broken
+cocoon: this lack of visual evidence signifies nothing, because
+we have only the purblind vision of grubs. Our eyes are but half-
+evolved. Do not whole scales of colors invisibly exist above and
+below the limits of our retinal sensibility? Even so the
+butterfly-man exists,--although, as a matter of course, we cannot
+see him.
+
+But what would become of this human imago in a state of perfect
+bliss? From the evolutional point of view the question has
+interest; and its obvious answer was suggested to me by the
+history of those silkworms,--which have been domesticated for
+only a few thousand years. Consider the result of our celestial
+domestication for--let us say--several millions of years: I mean
+the final consequence, to the wishers, of being able to gratify
+every wish at will.
+
+Those silkworms have all that they wish for,--even considerably
+more. Their wants, though very simple, are fundamentally
+identical with the necessities of mankind,--food, shelter,
+warmth, safety, and comfort. Our endless social struggle is
+mainly for these things. Our dream of heaven is the dream of
+obtaining them free of cost in pain; and the condition of those
+silkworms is the realization, in a small way, of our imagined
+Paradise. (I am not considering the fact that a vast majority of
+the worms are predestined to torment and the second death; for my
+theme is of heaven, not of lost souls. I am speaking of the
+elect--those worms preordained to salvation and rebirth.)
+Probably they can feel only very weak sensations: they are
+certainly incapable of prayer. But if they were able to pray,
+they could not ask for anything more than they already receive
+from the youth who feeds and tends them. He is their providence,
+--a god of whose existence they can be aware in only the vaguest
+possible way, but just such a god as they require. And we should
+foolishly deem ourselves fortunate to be equally well cared-for
+in proportion to our more complex wants. Do not our common forms
+of prayer prove our desire for like attention? Is not the
+assertion of our "need of divine love" an involuntary confession
+that we wish to be treated like silkworms,--to live without pain
+by the help of gods? Yet if the gods were to treat us as we want,
+we should presently afford fresh evidence,--in the way of what is
+called "the evidence from degeneration,"--that the great
+evolutional law is far above the gods.
+
+An early stage of that degeneration would be represented by total
+incapacity to help ourselves;--then we should begin to lose the
+use of our higher sense-organs;--later on, the brain would shrink
+to a vanishing pin-point of matter;--still later we should
+dwindle into mere amorphous sacs, mere blind stomachs. Such would
+be the physical consequence of that kind of divine love which we
+so lazily wish for. The longing for perpetual bliss in perpetual
+peace might well seem a malevolent inspiration from the Lords of
+Death and Darkness. All life that feels and thinks has been, and
+can continue to be, only as the product of struggle and pain,--
+only as the outcome of endless battle with the Powers of the
+Universe. And cosmic law is uncompromising. Whatever organ ceases
+to know pain,--whatever faculty ceases to be used under the
+stimulus of pain,--must also cease to exist. Let pain and its
+effort be suspended, and life must shrink back, first into
+protoplasmic shapelessness, thereafter into dust.
+
+Buddhism--which, in its own grand way, is a doctrine of
+evolution--rationally proclaims its heaven but a higher stage of
+development through pain, and teaches that even in paradise the
+cessation of effort produces degradation. With equal
+reasonableness it declares that the capacity for pain in the
+superhuman world increases always in proportion to the capacity
+for pleasure. (There is little fault to be found with this
+teaching from a scientific standpoint,--since we know that higher
+evolution must involve an increase of sensitivity to pain.) In
+the Heavens of Desire, says the Shobo-nen-jo-kyo, the pain of
+death is so great that all the agonies of all the hells united
+could equal but one-sixteenth part of such pain.(1)
+
+The foregoing comparison is unnecessarily strong; but the
+Buddhist teaching about heaven is in substance eminently logical.
+The suppression of pain--mental or physical,--in any conceivable
+state of sentient existence, would necessarily involve the
+suppression also of pleasure;--and certainly all progress,
+whether moral or material, depends upon the power to meet and to
+master pain. In a silkworm-paradise such as our mundane instincts
+lead us to desire, the seraph freed from the necessity of toil,
+and able to satisfy his every want at will, would lose his wings
+at last, and sink back to the condition of a grub....
+
+
+(1) This statement refers only to the Heavens of Sensuous
+Pleasure,--not to the Paradise of Amida, nor to those heavens
+into which one enters by the Apparitional Birth. But even in the
+highest and most immaterial zones of being,--in the Heavens of
+Formlessness,--the cessation of effort and of the pain of effort,
+involves the penalty of rebirth in a lower state of existence.
+
+
+III
+
+I told the substance of my revery to Niimi. He used to be a great
+reader of Buddhist books.
+
+"Well," he said, "I was reminded of a queer Buddhist story by the
+proverb that you asked me to explain,--The silkworm-moth eyebrow
+of a woman is the axe that cuts down the wisdom of man. According
+to our doctrine, the saying would be as true of life in heaven as
+of life upon earth.... This is the story:--"When Shaka (1) dwelt
+in this world, one of his disciples, called Nanda, was bewitched
+by the beauty of a woman; and Shaka desired to save him from the
+results of this illusion. So he took Nanda to a wild place in the
+mountains where there were apes, and showed him a very ugly
+female ape, and asked him: 'Which is the more beautiful, Nanda,
+--the woman that you love, or this female ape?' 'Oh, Master!'
+exclaimed Nanda, 'how can a lovely woman be compared with an ugly
+ape?' 'Perhaps you will presently find reason to make the
+comparison yourself,' answered the Buddha;--and instantly by
+supernatural power he ascended with Nanda to the San-Jusan-Ten,
+which is the Second of the Six Heavens of Desire. There, within a
+palace of jewels, Nanda saw a multitude of heavenly maidens
+celebrating some festival with music and dance; and the beauty of
+the least among them incomparably exceeded that of the fairest
+woman of earth. 'O Master,' cried Nanda, `what wonderful festival
+is this?' 'Ask some of those people,' responded Shaka. So Nanda
+questioned one of the celestial maidens; and she said to him:--
+'This festival is to celebrate the good tidings that have been
+brought to us. There is now in the human world, among the
+disciples of Shaka, a most excellent youth called Nanda, who is
+soon to be reborn into this heaven, and to become our bridegroom,
+because of his holy life. We wait for him with rejoicing.' This
+reply filled the heart of Nanda with delight. Then the Buddha
+asked him: 'Is there any one among these maidens, Nanda, equal in
+beauty to the woman with whom you have been in love?' 'Nay,
+Master!' answered Nanda; 'even as that woman surpassed in beauty
+the female ape that we saw on the mountain, so is she herself
+surpassed by even the least among these.'
+
+"Then the Buddha immediately descended with Nanda to the depths
+of the hells, and took him into a torture-chamber where myriads
+of men and women were being boiled alive in great caldrons, and
+otherwise horribly tormented by devils. Then Nanda found himself
+standing before a huge vessel which was filled with molten
+metal;--and he feared and wondered because this vessel had as yet
+no occupant. An idle devil sat beside it, yawning. 'Master,'
+Nanda inquired of the Buddha, 'for whom has this vessel been
+prepared?' 'Ask the devil,' answered Shaka. Nanda did so; and the
+devil said to him: 'There is a man called Nanda,--now one of
+Shaka's disciples,--about to be reborn into one of the heavens,
+on account of his former good actions. But after having there
+indulged himself, he is to be reborn in this hell; and his place
+will be in that pot. I am waiting for him.'" (2)
+
+(1) Sakyamuni.
+
+(2) I give the story substantially as it was told to me; but I
+have not been able to compare it with any published text. My
+friend says that he has seen two Chinese versions,--one in the
+Hongyo-kyo (?), the other in the Zoichi-agon-kyo (Ekottaragamas).
+In Mr. Henry Clarke Warren's Buddhism in Translations (the most
+interesting and valuable single volume of its kind that I have
+ever seen), there is a Pali version of the legend, which differs
+considerably from the above.--This Nanda, according to Mr.
+Warren's work, was a prince, and the younger half-brother of
+Sakyamuni.
+
+
+A Passional Karma
+
+One of the never-failing attractions of the Tokyo stage is the
+performance, by the famous Kikugoro and his company, of the
+Botan-Doro, or "Peony-Lantern." This weird play, of which the
+scenes are laid in the middle of the last century, is the
+dramatization of a romance by the novelist Encho, written in
+colloquial Japanese, and purely Japanese in local color, though
+inspired by a Chinese tale. I went to see the play; and Kikugoro
+made me familiar with a new variety of the pleasure of fear.
+"Why not give English readers the ghostly part of the story?"--
+asked a friend who guides me betimes through the mazes of Eastern
+philosophy. "It would serve to explain some popular ideas of the
+supernatural which Western people know very little about. And I
+could help you with the translation."
+
+I gladly accepted the suggestion; and we composed the following
+summary of the more extraordinary portion of Encho's romance.
+Here and there we found it necessary to condense the original
+narrative; and we tried to keep close to the text only in the
+conversational passages,--some of which happen to possess a
+particular quality of psychological interest.
+
+***
+
+--This is the story of the Ghosts in the Romance of the Peony-
+Lantern:--
+
+I
+
+There once lived in the district of Ushigome, in Yedo, a hatamoto
+(1) called Iijima Heizayemon, whose only daughter, Tsuyu, was
+beautiful as her name, which signifies "Morning Dew." Iijima took
+a second wife when his daughter was about sixteen; and, finding
+that O-Tsuyu could not be happy with her mother-in-law, he had a
+pretty villa built for the girl at Yanagijima, as a separate
+residence, and gave her an excellent maidservant, called O-Yone,
+to wait upon her.
+
+O-Tsuyu lived happily enough in her new home until one day when
+the family physician, Yamamoto Shijo, paid her a visit in company
+with a young samurai named Hagiwara Shinzaburo, who resided in
+the Nedzu quarter. Shinzaburo was an unusually handsome lad, and
+very gentle; and the two young people fell in love with each
+other at sight. Even before the brief visit was over, they
+contrived,--unheard by the old doctor,--to pledge themselves to
+each other for life. And, at parting, O-Tsuyu whispered to the
+youth,--"Remember! If you do not come to see me again, I shall
+certainly die!"
+
+Shinzaburo never forgot those words; and he was only too eager to
+see more of O-Tsuyu. But etiquette forbade him to make the visit
+alone: he was obliged to wait for some other chance to accompany
+the doctor, who had promised to take him to the villa a second
+time. Unfortunately the old man did not keep this promise. He had
+perceived the sudden affection of O-Tsuyu; and he feared that her
+father would hold him responsible for any serious results. Iijima
+Heizayemon had a reputation for cutting off heads. And the more
+Shijo thought about the possible consequences of his introduction
+of Shinzaburo at the Iijima villa, the more he became afraid.
+Therefore he purposely abstained from calling upon his young
+friend.
+
+Months passed; and O-Tsuyu, little imagining the true cause of
+Shinzaburo's neglect, believed that her love had been scorned.
+Then she pined away, and died. Soon afterwards, the faithful
+servant O-Yone also died, through grief at the loss of her
+mistress; and the two were buried side by side in the cemetery of
+Shin-Banzui-In,--a temple which still stands in the neighborhood
+of Dango-Zaka, where the famous chrysanthemum-shows are yearly
+held.
+
+(1) The hatamoto were samurai forming the special military force
+of the Shogun. The name literally signifies "Banner-Supporters."
+These were the highest class of samurai,--not only as the
+immediate vassals of the Shogun, but as a military aristocracy.
+
+
+II
+
+Shinzaburo knew nothing of what had happened; but his
+disappointment and his anxiety had resulted in a prolonged
+illness. He was slowly recovering, but still very weak, when he
+unexpectedly received another visit from Yamamoto Shijo. The old
+man made a number of plausible excuses for his apparent neglect.
+Shinzaburo said to him:--"I have been sick ever since the
+beginning of spring;--even now I cannot eat anything.... Was it
+not rather unkind of you never to call? I thought that we were to
+make another visit together to the house of the Lady Iijima; and
+I wanted to take to her some little present as a return for our
+kind reception. Of course I could not go by myself."
+
+Shijo gravely responded,--"I am very sorry to tell you that the
+young lady is dead!"
+
+"Dead!" repeated Shinzaburo, turning white,--"did you say that
+she is dead?"
+
+The doctor remained silent for a moment, as if collecting
+himself: then he resumed, in the quick light tone of a man
+resolved not to take trouble seriously:--
+
+"My great mistake was in having introduced you to her; for it
+seems that she fell in love with you at once. I am afraid that
+you must have said something to encourage this affection--when
+you were in that little room together. At all events, I saw how
+she felt towards you; and then I became uneasy,--fearing that her
+father might come to hear of the matter, and lay the whole blame
+upon me. So--to be quite frank with you,--I decided that it would
+be better not to call upon you; and I purposely stayed away for a
+long time. But, only a few days ago, happening to visit Iijima's
+house, I heard, to my great surprise, that his daughter had died,
+and that her servant O-Yone had also died. Then, remembering all
+that had taken place, I knew that the young lady must have died
+of love for you.... [Laughing] Ah, you are really a sinful
+fellow! Yes, you are! [Laughing] Isn't it a sin to have been born
+so handsome that the girls die for love of you? (1) [Seriously]
+Well, we must leave the dead to the dead. It is no use to talk
+further about the matter;--all that you now can do for her is to
+repeat the Nembutsu (2)....  Good-bye."
+
+And the old man retired hastily,--anxious to avoid further
+converse about the painful event for which he felt himself to
+have been unwittingly responsible.
+
+(1) Perhaps this conversation may seem strange to the Western
+reader; but it is true to life. The whole of the scene is
+characteristically Japanese.
+(2) The invocation Namu Amida Butsu! ("Hail to the Buddha
+Amitabha!"),--repeated, as a prayer, for the sake of the dead.
+
+
+
+III
+
+Shinzaburo long remained stupefied with grief by the news of O-
+Tsuyu's death. But as soon as he found himself again able to
+think clearly, he inscribed the dead girl's name upon a mortuary
+tablet, and placed the tablet in the Buddhist shrine of his
+house, and set offerings before it, and recited prayers. Every
+day thereafter he presented offerings, and repeated the Nembutsu;
+and the memory of O-Tsuyu was never absent from his thought.
+
+Nothing occurred to change the monotony of his solitude before
+the time of the Bon,--the great Festival of the Dead,--which
+begins upon the thirteenth day of the seventh month. Then he
+decorated his house, and prepared everything for the festival;--
+hanging out the lanterns that guide the returning spirits, and
+setting the food of ghosts on the shoryodana, or Shelf of Souls.
+And on the first evening of the Ban, after sun-down, he kindled a
+small lamp before the tablet of O-Tsuyu, and lighted the
+lanterns.
+
+The night was clear, with a great moon,--and windless, and very
+warm. Shinzaburo sought the coolness of his veranda. Clad only in
+a light summer-robe, he sat there thinking, dreaming, sorrowing;
+--sometimes fanning himself; sometimes making a little smoke to
+drive the mosquitoes away. Everything was quiet. It was a
+lonesome neighborhood, and there were few passers-by. He could
+hear only the soft rushing of a neighboring stream, and the
+shrilling of night-insects.
+
+But all at once this stillness was broken by a sound of women's
+geta (1) approaching--kara-kon, kara-kon;--and the sound drew
+nearer and nearer, quickly, till it reached the live-hedge
+surrounding the garden. Then Shinzabur�, feeling curious, stood
+on tiptoe, so as to look Over the hedge; and he saw two women
+passing. One, who was carrying a beautiful lantern decorated with
+peony-flowers,(2) appeared to be a servant;--the other was a
+slender girl of about seventeen, wearing a long-sleeved robe
+embroidered with designs of autumn-blossoms. Almost at the same
+instant both women turned their faces toward Shinzaburo;--and to
+his utter astonishment, he recognized O-Tsuyu and her servant O-
+Yone.
+
+They stopped immediately; and the girl cried out,--"Oh, how
+strange!... Hagiwara Sama!"
+
+Shinzaburo simultaneously called to the maid:--"O-Yone! Ah, you
+are O-Yone!--I remember you very well."
+
+"Hagiwara Sama!" exclaimed O-Yone in a tone of supreme amazement.
+"Never could I have believed it possible!... Sir, we were told
+that you had died."
+
+"How extraordinary!" cried Shinzaburo. "Why, I was told that both
+of you were dead!"
+
+"Ah, what a hateful story!" returned O-Yone. "Why repeat such
+unlucky words?... Who told you?"
+
+"Please to come in," said Shinzaburo;--"here we can talk better.
+The garden-gate is open."
+
+So they entered, and exchanged greeting; and when Shinzaburo had
+made them comfortable, he said:--
+
+"I trust that you will pardon my discourtesy in not having called
+upon you for so long a time. But Shijo, the doctor, about a month
+ago, told me that you had both died."
+
+"So it was he who told you?" exclaimed O-Yone. "It was very
+wicked of him to say such a thing. Well, it was also Shijo who
+told us that you were dead. I think that he wanted to deceive
+you,--which was not a difficult thing to do, because you are so
+confiding and trustful. Possibly my mistress betrayed her liking
+for you in some words which found their way to her father's ears;
+and, in that case, O-Kuni--the new wife--might have planned to
+make the doctor tell you that we were dead, so as to bring about
+a separation. Anyhow, when my mistress heard that you had died,
+she wanted to cut off her hair immediately, and to become a nun.
+But I was able to prevent her from cutting off her hair; and I
+persuaded her at last to become a nun only in her heart.
+Afterwards her father wished her to marry a certain young man;
+and she refused. Then there was a great deal of trouble,--chiefly
+caused by O-Kuni;--and we went away from the villa, and found a
+very small house in Yanaka-no-Sasaki. There we are now just
+barely able to live, by doing a little private work.... My
+mistress has been constantly repeating the Nembutsu for your
+sake. To-day, being the first day of the Bon, we went to visit
+the temples; and we were on our way home--thus late--when this
+strange meeting happened."
+
+"Oh, how extraordinary!" cried Shinzaburo. "Can it be true?-or is
+it only a dream? Here I, too, have been constantly reciting the
+Nembutsu before a tablet with her name upon it! Look!" And he
+showed them O-Tsuyu's tablet in its place upon the Shelf of
+Souls.
+
+"We are more than grateful for your kind remembrance," returned
+O-Yone, smiling.... "Now as for my mistress,"--she continued,
+turning towards O-Tsuyu, who had all the while remained demure
+and silent, half-hiding her face with her sleeve,--"as for my
+mistress, she actually says that she would not mind being
+disowned by her father for the time of seven existences,(3) or
+even being killed by him, for your sake! Come! will you not allow
+her to stay here to-night?"
+
+Shinzaburo turned pale for joy. He answered in a voice trembling
+with emotion:--"Please remain; but do not speak loud--because
+there is a troublesome fellow living close by,--a ninsomi (4)
+called Hakuodo Yusai, who tells peoples fortunes by looking at
+their faces. He is inclined to be curious; and it is better that
+he should not know."
+
+The two women remained that night in the house of the young
+samurai, and returned to their own home a little before daybreak.
+And after that night they came every nighht for seven nights,--
+whether the weather were foul or fair,--always at the same hour.
+And Shinzaburo became more and more attached to the girl; and the
+twain were fettered, each to each, by that bond of illusion which
+is stronger than bands of iron.
+
+1 Komageta in the original. The geta is a wooden sandal, or clog,
+of which there are many varieties,--some decidedly elegant. The
+komageta, or "pony-geta" is so-called because of the sonorous
+hoof-like echo which it makes on hard ground.
+
+2 The sort of lantern here referred to is no longer made; and its
+shape can best be understood by a glance at the picture
+accompanying this story. It was totally unlike the modern
+domestic band-lantern, painted with the owner's crest; but it was
+not altogether unlike some forms of lanterns still manufactured
+for the Festival of the Dead, and called Bon-doro. The flowers
+ornamenting it were not painted: they were artificial flowers of
+crepe-silk, and were attached to the top of the lantern.
+
+3 "For the time of seven existences,"--that is to say, for the
+time of seven successive lives. In Japanese drama and romance it
+is not uncommon to represent a father as disowning his child "for
+the time of seven lives." Such a disowning is called shichi-sho
+made no mando, a disinheritance for seven lives,--signifying that
+in six future lives after the present the erring son or daughter
+will continue to feel the parental displeasure.
+
+4 The profession is not yet extinct. The ninsomi uses a kind of
+magnifying glass (or magnifying-mirror sometimes), called
+tengankyo or ninsomegane.
+
+
+IV
+
+Now there was a man called Tomozo, who lived in a small cottage
+adjoining Shinzaburo's residence, Tomozo and his wife O-Mine were
+both employed by Shinzaburo as servants. Both seemed to be
+devoted to their young master; and by his help they were able to
+live in comparative comfort.
+
+One night, at a very late hour, Tomozo heard the voice of a woman
+in his master's apartment; and this made him uneasy. He feared
+that Shinzaburo, being very gentle and affectionate, might be
+made the dupe of some cunning wanton,--in which event the
+domestics would be the first to suffer. He therefore resolved to
+watch; and on the following night he stole on tiptoe to
+Shinzaburo's dwelling, and looked through a chink in one of the
+sliding shutters. By the glow of a night-lantern within the
+sleeping-room, he was able to perceive that his master and a
+strange woman were talking together under the mosquito-net. At
+first he could not see the woman distinctly. Her back was turned
+to him;--he only observed that she was very slim, and that she
+appeared to be very young,--judging from the fashion of her dress
+and hair.(1) Putting his ear to the chink, he could hear the
+conversation plainly. The woman said:--
+
+"And if I should be disowned by my father, would you then let me
+come and live with you?"
+
+Shinzaburo answered:--
+
+"Most assuredly I would--nay, I should be
+glad of the chance. But there is no reason to fear that you will
+ever be disowned by your father; for you are his only daughter,
+and he loves you very much. What I do fear is that some day we
+shall be cruelly separated."
+
+She responded softly:--
+
+"Never, never could I even think of accepting any other man for
+my husband. Even if our secret were to become known, and my
+father were to kill me for what I have done, still--after death
+itself--I could never cease to think of you. And I am now quite
+sure that you yourself would not be able to live very long
+without me."... Then clinging closely to him, with her lips at
+his neck, she caressed him; and he returned her caresses.
+
+Tomozo wondered as he listened,--because the language of the
+woman was not the language of a common woman, but the language of
+a lady of rank.(2) Then he determined at all hazards to get one
+glimpse of her face; and he crept round the house, backwards and
+forwards, peering through every crack and chink. And at last he
+was able to see;--but therewith an icy trembling seized him; and
+the hair of his head stood up.
+
+For the face was the face of a woman long dead,--and the fingers
+caressing were fingers of naked bone,--and of the body below the
+waist there was not anything: it melted off into thinnest
+trailing shadow. Where the eyes of the lover deluded saw youth
+and grace and beauty, there appeared to the eyes of the watcher
+horror only, and the emptiness of death. Simultaneously another
+woman's figure, and a weirder, rose up from within the chamber,
+and swiftly made toward the watcher, as if discerning his
+presence. Then, in uttermost terror, he fled to the dwelling of
+Hakuodo Yusai, and, knocking frantically at the doors, succeeded
+in arousing him.
+
+1 The color and form of the dress, and the style of wearing the
+hair, are by Japanese custom regulated accord-big to the age of
+the woman.
+
+2 The forms of speech used by the samurai, and other superior
+classes, differed considerably from those of the popular idiom;
+but these differences could not be effectively rendered into
+English.
+
+V
+
+Hakuodo Yusai, the ninsomi, was a very old man; but in his time
+he had travelled much, and he had heard and seen so many things
+that he could not be easily surprised. Yet the story of the
+terrified Tomozo both alarmed and amazed him. He had read in
+ancient Chinese books of love between the living and the dead;
+but he had never believed it possible. Now, however, he felt
+convinced that the statement of Tomozo was not a falsehood, and
+that something very strange was really going on in the house of
+Hagiwara. Should the truth prove to be what Tomozo imagined, then
+the young samurai was a doomed man.
+
+"If the woman be a ghost,"--said Yusai to the frightened servant,
+"--if the woman be a ghost, your master must die very soon,--
+unless something extraordinary can be done to save him. And if
+the woman be a ghost, the signs of death will appear upon his
+face. For the spirit of the living is yoki, and pure;--the spirit
+of the dead is inki, and unclean: the one is Positive, the other
+Negative. He whose bride is a ghost cannot live. Even though in
+his blood there existed the force of a life of one hundred years,
+that force must quickly perish.... Still, I shall do all that I
+can to save Hagiwara Sama. And in the meantime, Tomozo, say
+nothing to any other person,--not even to your wife,--about this
+matter. At sunrise I shall call upon your master."
+
+When questioned next morning by Yusai, Shinzaburo at first
+attempted to deny that any women had been visiting the house; but
+finding this artless policy of no avail, and perceiving that the
+old man's purpose was altogether unselfish, he was finally
+persuaded to acknowledge what had really occurred, and to give
+his reasons for wishing to keep the matter a secret. As for the
+lady Iijima, he intended, he said, to make her his wife as soon
+as possible.
+
+"Oh, madness!" cried Yusai,--losing all patience in the intensity
+of his alarm. "Know, sir, that the people who have been coming
+here, night after night, are dead! Some frightful delusion is
+upon you!... Why, the simple fact that you long supposed O-Tsuyu
+to be dead, and repeated the Nembutsu for her, and made offerings
+before her tablet, is itself the proof!... The lips of the dead
+have touched you!--the hands of the dead have caressed you!...
+Even at this moment I see in your face the signs of death--and
+you will not believe!... Listen to me now, sir,--I beg of you,--
+if you wish to save yourself: otherwise you have less than twenty
+days to live. They told you--those people--that they were
+residing in the district of Shitaya, in Yanaka-no-Sasaki. Did you
+ever visit them at that place? No!--of course you did not! Then
+go to-day,--as soon as you can,--to Yanaka-no-Sasaki, and try to
+find their home!..."
+
+And having uttered this counsel with the most vehement
+earnestness, Hakuodo Yusai abruptly took his departure.
+
+
+Shinzaburo, startled though not convinced, resolved after a
+moment's reflection to follow the advice of the ninsomi, and to
+go to Shitaya. It was yet early in the morning when he reached
+the quarter of Yanaka-no-Sasaki, and began his search for the
+dwelling of O-Tsuyu. He went through every street and side-
+street, read all the names inscribed at the various entrances,
+and made inquiries whenever an opportunity presented itself. But
+he could not find anything resembling the little house mentioned
+by O-Yone; and none of the people whom he questioned knew of any
+house in the quarter inhabited by two single women. Feeling at
+last certain that further research would be useless, he turned
+homeward by the shortest way, which happened to lead through the
+grounds of the temple Shin-Banzui-In.
+
+Suddenly his attention was attracted by two new tombs, placed
+side by side, at the rear of the temple. One was a common tomb,
+such as might have been erected for a person of humble rank: the
+other was a large and handsome monument; and hanging before it
+was a beautiful peony-lantern, which had probably been left there
+at the time of the Festival of the Dead. Shinzaburo remembered
+that the peony-lantern carried by O-Yone was exactly similar; and
+the coincidence impressed him as strange. He looked again at the
+tombs; but the tombs explained nothing. Neither bore any personal
+name,--only the Buddhist kaimyo, or posthumous appellation. Then
+he determined to seek information at the temple. An acolyte
+stated, in reply to his questions, that the large tomb had been
+recently erected for the daughter of Iijima Heizayemon, the
+hatamoto of Ushigome; and that the small tomb next to it was that
+of her servant O-Yone, who had died of grief soon after the young
+lady's funeral.
+
+Immediately to Shinzabur�'s memory there recurred, with another
+and sinister meaning, the words of O-Yone:--"We went away, and
+found a very small house in Yanaka-no-Sasaki. There we are now
+just barely able to live--by doing a little private work...."
+Here was indeed the very small house,--and in Yanaka-no-Sasaki.
+But the little private work...?
+
+Terror-stricken, the samurai hastened with all speed to the house
+of Yusai, and begged for his counsel and assistance. But Yusai
+declared himself unable to be of any aid in such a case. All that
+he could do was to send Shinzaburo to the high-priest Ryoseki, of
+Shin-Banzui-In, with a letter praying for immediate religious
+help.
+
+
+VII
+
+The high-priest Ryoseki was a learned and a holy man. By
+spiritual vision he was able to know the secret of any sorrow,
+and the nature of the karma that had caused it. He heard unmoved
+the story of Shinzaburo, and said to him:--
+
+"A very great danger now threatens you, because of an error
+committed in one of your former states of existence. The karma
+that binds you to the dead is very strong; but if I tried to
+explain its character, you would not be able to understand. I
+shall therefore tell you only this,--that the dead person has no
+desire to injure you out of hate, feels no enmity towards you:
+she is influenced, on the contrary, by the most passionate
+affection for you. Probably the girl has been in love with you
+from a time long preceding your present life,--from a time of not
+less than three or four past existences; and it would seem that,
+although necessarily changing her form and condition at each
+succeeding birth, she has not been able to cease from following
+after you. Therefore it will not be an easy thing to escape from
+her influence.... But now I am going to lend you this powerful
+mamoni.(1) It is a pure gold image of that Buddha called the Sea-
+Sounding Tathagata--Kai-On-Nyorai,--because his preaching of the
+Law sounds through the world like the sound of the sea. And this
+little image is especially a shiryo-yoke,(2)--which protects the
+living from the dead. This you must wear, in its covering, next
+to your body,--under the girdle.... Besides, I shall presently
+perform in the temple, a segaki-service(3) for the repose of the
+troubled spirit.... And here is a holy sutra, called Ubo-Darani-
+Kyo, or "Treasure-Raining Sutra"(4) you must be careful to recite
+it every night in your house--without fail.... Furthermore I
+shall give you this package of o-fuda(5);--you must paste one of
+them over every opening of your house,--no matter how small. If
+you do this, the power of the holy texts will prevent the dead
+from entering. But--whatever may happen--do not fail to recite
+the sutra."
+
+Shinzaburo humbly thanked the high-priest; and then, taking with
+him the image, the sutra, and the bundle of sacred texts, he made
+all haste to reach his home before the hour of sunset.
+
+1 The Japanese word mamori has significations at least as
+numerous as those attaching to our own term "amulet." It would be
+impossible, in a mere footnote, even to suggest the variety of
+Japanese religious objects to which the name is given. In this
+instance, the mamori is a very small image, probably enclosed in
+a miniature shrine of lacquer-work or metal, over which a silk
+cover is drawn. Such little images were often worn by samurai on
+the person. I was recently shown a miniature figure of Kwannon,
+in an iron case, which had been carried by an officer through the
+Satsuma war. He observed, with good reason, that it had probably
+saved his life; for it had stopped a bullet of which the dent was
+plainly visible.
+
+2 From shiryo, a ghost, and yokeru, to exclude. The Japanese
+have, two kinds of ghosts proper in their folk-lore: the spirits
+of the dead, shiryo; and the spirits of the living, ikiryo. A
+house or a person may be haunted by an ikiryo as well as by a
+shiryo.
+
+3 A special service,--accompanying offerings of food, etc., to
+those dead having no living relatives or friends to care for
+them,--is thus termed. In this case, however, the service would
+be of a particular and exceptional kind.
+
+4 The name would be more correctly written Ubo-Darani-Kyo. It is
+the Japanese pronunciation of the title of a very short sutra
+translated out of Sanscrit into Chinese by the Indian priest
+Amoghavajra, probably during the eighth century. The Chinese text
+contains transliterations of some mysterious Sanscrit words,--
+apparently talismanic words,--like those to be seen in Kern's
+translation of the Saddharma-Pundarika, ch. xxvi.
+
+5 O-fuda is the general name given to religious texts used as
+charms or talismans. They are sometimes stamped or burned upon
+wood, but more commonly written or printed upon narrow strips of
+paper. O-fuda are pasted above house-entrances, on the walls of
+rooms, upon tablets placed in household shrines, etc., etc. Some
+kinds are worn about the person;--others are made into pellets,
+and swallowed as spiritual medicine. The text of the larger o-
+fuda is often accompanied by curious pictures or symbolic
+illustrations.
+
+VIII
+
+With Yusai's advice and help, Shinzaburo was able before dark to
+fix the holy texts over all the apertures of his dwelling. Then
+the ninsomi returned to his own house,--leaving the youth alone.
+Night came, warm and clear. Shinzaburo made fast the doors, bound
+the precious amulet about his waist, entered his mosquito-net,
+and by the glow of a night-lantern began to recite the Ubo-
+Darani-Kyo. For a long time he chanted the words, comprehending
+little of their meaning;--then he tried to obtain some rest. But
+his mind was still too much disturbed by the strange events of
+the day. Midnight passed; and no sleep came to him. At last he
+heard the boom of the great temple-bell of Dentsu-In announcing
+the eighth hour.(1)
+
+It ceased; and Shinzaburo suddenly heard the sound of geta
+approaching from the old direction,--but this time more slowly:
+karan-koron, karan-koron! At once a cold sweat broke over his
+forehead. Opening the sutra hastily, with trembling hand, he
+began again to recite it aloud. The steps came nearer and
+nearer,--reached the live hedge,--stopped! Then, strange to say,
+Shinzaburo felt unable to remain under his mosquito-net:
+something stronger even than his fear impelled him to look; and,
+instead of continuing to recite the Ubo-Darani-Kyo, he foolishly
+approached the shutters, and through a chink peered out into the
+night. Before the house he saw O-Tsuyu standing, and O-Yone with
+the peony-lantern; and both of them were gazing at the Buddhist
+texts pasted above the entrance. Never before--not even in what
+time she lived--had O-Tsuyu appeared so beautiful; and Shinzaburo
+felt his heart drawn towards her with a power almost resistless.
+But the terror of death and the terror of the unknown restrained;
+and there went on within him such a struggle between his love and
+his fear that he became as one suffering in the body the pains of
+the Sho-netsu hell.(2)
+
+Presently he heard the voice of the maid-servant, saying:--
+
+"My dear mistress, there is no way to enter. The heart of
+Hagiwara Sama must have changed. For the promise that he made
+last night has been broken; and the doors have been made fast to
+keep us out.... We cannot go in to-night.... It will be wiser for
+you to make up your mind not to think any more about him, because
+his feeling towards you has certainly changed. It is evident that
+he does not want to see you. So it will be better not to give
+yourself any more trouble for the sake of a man whose heart is so
+unkind."
+
+But the girl answered, weeping:--
+
+"Oh, to think that this could happen after the pledges which we
+made to each other!... Often I was told that the heart of a man
+changes as quickly as the sky of autumn;--yet surely the heart of
+Hagiwara Sama cannot be so cruel that he should really intend to
+exclude me in this way!... Dear Yone, please find some means of
+taking me to him.... Unless you do, I will never, never go home
+again."
+
+Thus she continued to plead, veiling her face with her long
+sleeves,--and very beautiful she looked, and very touching; but
+the fear of death was strong upon her lover.
+
+O-Yone at last made answer,--"My dear young lady, why will you
+trouble your mind about a man who seems to be so cruel?... Well,
+let us see if there be no way to enter at the back of the house:
+come with me!"
+
+And taking O-Tsuyu by the hand, she led her away toward the rear
+of the dwelling; and there the two disappeared as suddenly as the
+light disappears when the flame of a lamp is blown out.
+
+1 According to the old Japanese way of counting time, this
+yatsudoki or eighth hour was the same as our two o'clock in the
+morning. Each Japanese hour was equal to two European hours, so
+that there were only six hours instead of our twelve; and these
+six hours were counted backwards in the order,--9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4.
+Thus the ninth hour corresponded to our midday, or midnight;
+half-past nine to our one o'clock; eight to our two o'clock. Two
+o'clock in the morning, also called "the Hour of the Ox," was the
+Japanese hour of ghosts and goblins.
+
+2 En-netsu or Sho-netsu (Sanscrit "Tapana") is the sixth of the
+Eight Hot Hells of Japanese Buddhism. One day of life in this
+hell is equal in duration to thousands (some say millions) of
+human years.
+
+
+IX
+
+Night after night the shadows came at the Hour of the Ox; and
+nightly Shinzaburo heard the weeping of O-Tsuyu. Yet he believed
+himself saved,--little imagining that his doom had already been
+decided by the character of his dependents.
+
+
+Tomozo had promised Yusai never to speak to any other person--not
+even to O-Mine--of the strange events that were taking place. But
+Tomozo was not long suffered by the haunters to rest in peace.
+Night after night O-Yone entered into his dwelling, and roused
+him from his sleep, and asked him to remove the o-fuda placed
+over one very small window at the back of his master's house. And
+Tomozo, out of fear, as often promised her to take away the o-
+fuda before the next sundown; but never by day could he make up
+his mind to remove it,--believing that evil was intended to
+Shinzaburo. At last, in a night of storm, O-Yone startled him
+from slumber with a cry of reproach, and stooped above his
+pillow, and said to him: "Have a care how you trifle with us! If,
+by to-morrow night, you do not take away that text, you shall
+learn how I can hate!" And she made her face so frightful as she
+spoke that Tomozo nearly died of terror.
+
+O-Mine, the wife of Tomozo, had never till then known of these
+visits: even to her husband they had seemed like bad dreams. But
+on this particular night it chanced that, waking suddenly, she
+heard the voice of a woman talking to Tomozo. Almost in the same
+moment the talk-ing ceased; and when O-Mine looked about her, she
+saw, by the light of the night-lamp, only her husband,--
+shuddering and white with fear. The stranger was gone; the doors
+were fast: it seemed impossible that anybody could have entered.
+Nevertheless the jealousy of the wife had been aroused; and she
+began to chide and to question Tomozo in such a manner that he
+thought himself obliged to betray the secret, and to explain the
+terrible dilemma in which he had been placed.
+
+Then the passion of O-Mine yielded to wonder and alarm; but she
+was a subtle woman, and she devised immediately a plan to save
+her husband by the sacrifice of her master. And she gave
+Tomozo a cunning counsel,--telling him to make conditions with
+the dead.
+
+They came again on the following night at the Hour of the Ox; and
+O-Mine hid herself on hearing the sound of their coming,--karan-
+koron, karan-koron! But Tomozo went out to meet them in the dark,
+and even found courage to say to them what his wife had told him
+to say:--
+
+"It is true that I deserve your blame;--but I had no wish to
+cause you anger. The reason that the o-fuda has not been taken
+away is that my wife and I are able to live only by the help of
+Hagiwara Sama, and that we cannot expose him to any danger
+without bringing misfortune upon ourselves. But if we could
+obtain the sum of a hundred ryo in gold, we should be able to
+please you, because we should then need no help from anybody.
+Therefore if you will give us a hundred ryo, I can take the o-
+fuda away without being afraid of losing our only means of
+support."
+
+When he had uttered these words, O-Yone and O-Tsuyu looked at
+each other in silence for a moment. Then O-Yon� said:--
+
+"Mistress, I told you that it was not right to trouble this man,
+--as we have no just cause of ill will against him. But it is
+certainly useless to fret yourself about Hagiwara Sama, because
+his heart has changed towards you. Now once again, my dear young
+lady, let me beg you not to think any more about him!"
+
+But O-Tsuyu, weeping, made answer:--
+
+"Dear Yone, whatever may happen, I cannot possibly keep myself
+from thinking about him! You know that you can get a hundred ryo
+to have the o-fuda taken off.... Only once more, I pray, dear
+Yone!--only once more bring me face to face with Hagiwara Sama,
+--I beseech you!" And hiding her face with her sleeve, she thus
+continued to plead.
+
+"Oh! why will you ask me to do these things?" responded O-Yone.
+"You know very well that I have no money. But since you will
+persist in this whim of yours, in spite of all that I can say, I
+suppose that I must try to find the money somehow, and to bring
+it here to-morrow night...." Then, turning to the faithless
+Tomozo, she said:--"Tomozo, I must tell you that Hagiwara Sama
+now wears upon his body a mamoni called by the name of Kai-On-
+Nyorai, and that so long as he wears it we cannot approach him.
+So you will have to get that mamori away from him, by some means
+or other, as well as to remove the o-fuda."
+
+Tomozo feebly made answer:--
+
+"That also I can do, if you will promise to bring me the hundred
+ryo."
+
+"Well, mistress," said O-Yone, "you will wait,--will you not,--
+until to-morrow night?"
+
+"Oh, dear Yone!" sobbed the other,--"have we to go back to-night
+again without seeing Hagiwara Sama? Ah! it is cruel!"
+
+And the shadow of the mistress, weeping, was led away by the
+shadow of the maid.
+
+
+x
+
+Another day went, and another night came, and the dead came with
+it. But this time no lamentation was heard without the house of
+Hagiwara; for the faithless servant found his reward at the Hour
+of the Ox, and removed the o-fuda. Moreover he had been able,
+while his master was at the bath, to steal from its case the
+golden mamori, and to substitute for it an image of copper; and
+he had buried the Kai-On-Nyorai in a desolate field. So the
+visitants found nothing to oppose their entering. Veiling their
+faces with their sleeves they rose and passed, like a streaming
+of vapor, into the little window from over which the holy text
+had been torn away. But what happened thereafter within the house
+Tomozo never knew.
+
+The sun was high before he ventured again to approach his
+master's dwelling, and to knock upon the sliding-doors. For the
+first time in years he obtained no response; and the silence made
+him afraid. Repeatedly he called, and received no answer. Then,
+aided by O-Mine, he succeeded in effecting an entrance and making
+his way alone to the sleeping-room, where he called again in
+vain. He rolled back the rumbling shutters to admit the light;
+but still within the house there was no stir. At last he dared to
+lift a corner of the mosquito-net. But no sooner had he looked
+beneath than he fled from the house, with a cry of horror.
+
+Shinzaburo was dead--hideously dead;--and his face was the face
+of a man who had died in the uttermost agony of fear;--and lying
+beside him in the bed were the bones of a woman! And the bones of
+the arms, and the bones of the hands, clung fast about his neck.
+
+
+Xl
+
+Hakuodo Yusai, the fortune-teller, went to view the corpse at the
+prayer of the faithless Tomozo. The old man was terrified and
+astonished at the spectacle, but looked about him with a keen
+eye. He soon perceived that the o-fuda had been taken from the
+little window at the back of the house; and on searching the body
+of Shinzaburo, he discovered that the golden mamori had been
+taken from its wrapping, and a copper image of Fudo put in place
+of it. He suspected Tomozo of the theft; but the whole occurrence
+was so very extraordinary that he thought it prudent to consult
+with the priest Ryoseki before taking further action. Therefore,
+after having made a careful examination of the premises, he
+betook himself to the temple Shin-Banzui-In, as quickly as his
+aged limbs could bear him.
+
+Ryoseki, without waiting to hear the purpose of the old man's
+visit, at once invited him into a private apartment.
+
+"You know that you are always welcome here," said Ryoseki.
+"Please seat yourself at ease.... Well, I am sorry to tell you
+that Hagiwara Sama is dead."
+
+Yusai wonderingly exclaimed:--"Yes, he is dead;--but how did you
+learn of it?"
+
+The priest responded:--
+
+"Hagiwara Sama was suffering from the results of an evil karma;
+and his attendant was a bad man. What happened to Hagiwara Sama
+was unavoidable;--his destiny had been determined from a time
+long before his last birth. It will be better for you not to let
+your mind be troubled by this event."
+
+Yusai said:--
+
+"I have heard that a priest of pure life may gain power to see
+into the future for a hundred years; but truly this is the first
+time in my existence that I have had proof of such power....
+Still, there is another matter about which I am very anxious...."
+
+"You mean," interrupted Ryoseki, "the stealing of the holy
+mamori, the Kai-On-Nyorai. But you must not give yourself any
+concern about that. The image has been buried in a field; and it
+will be found there and returned to me during the eighth month of
+the coming year. So please do not be anxious about it."
+
+More and more amazed, the old ninsomi ventured to observe:--
+
+"I have studied the In-Yo,(1) and the science of divination; and
+I make my living by telling peoples' fortunes;--but I cannot
+possibly understand how you know these things."
+
+Ryoseki answered gravely:--
+
+"Never mind how I happen to know them.... I now want to speak to
+you about Hagiwara's funeral. The House of Hagiwara has its own
+family-cemetery, of course; but to bury him there would not be
+proper. He must be buried beside O-Tsuyu, the Lady Iijima; for
+his karma-relation to her was a very deep one. And it is but
+right that you should erect a tomb for him at your own cost,
+because you have been indebted to him for many favors."
+
+Thus it came to pass that Shinzaburo was buried beside O-Tsuyu,
+in the cemetery of Shin-Banzui-In, in Yanaka-no-Sasaki.
+
+--Here ends the story of the Ghosts in the Romance of the Peony-
+Lantern.--
+
+1 The Male and Female principles of the universe, the Active and
+Passive forces of Nature. Yusai refers here to the old Chinese
+nature-philosophy,--better known to Western readers by the name
+FENG-SHUI.
+
+***
+
+My friend asked me whether the story had interested me; and I
+answered by telling him that I wanted to go to the cemetery of
+Shin-Banzui-In,--so as to realize more definitely the local
+color of the author's studies.
+
+"I shall go with you at once," he said. "But what did you think
+of the personages?"
+
+"To Western thinking," I made answer, "Shinzaburo is a despicable
+creature. I have been mentally comparing him with the true lovers
+of our old ballad-literature. They were only too glad to follow a
+dead sweetheart into the grave; and nevertheless, being
+Christians, they believed that they had only one human life to
+enjoy in this world. But Shinzaburo was a Buddhist,--with a
+million lives behind him and a million lives before him; and he
+was too selfish to give up even one miserable existence for the
+sake of the girl that came back to him from the dead. Then he was
+even more cowardly than selfish. Although a samurai by birth and
+training, he had to beg a priest to save him from ghosts. In
+every way he proved himself contemptible; and O-Tsuyu did quite
+right in choking him to death."
+
+"From the Japanese point of view, likewise," my friend responded,
+"Shinzaburo is rather contemptible. But the use of this weak
+character helped the author to develop incidents that could not
+otherwise, perhaps, have been so effectively managed. To my
+thinking, the only attractive character in the story is that of
+O-Yone: type of the old-time loyal and loving servant,--
+intelligent, shrewd, full of resource,--faithful not only unto
+death, but beyond death.... Well, let us go to Shin-Banzui-In."
+
+
+We found the temple uninteresting, and the cemetery an
+abomination of desolation. Spaces once occupied by graves had
+been turned into potato-patches. Between were tombs leaning at
+all angles out of the perpendicular, tablets made illegible by
+scurf, empty pedestals, shattered water-tanks, and statues of
+Buddhas without heads or hands. Recent rains had soaked the black
+soil,--leaving here and there small pools of slime about which
+swarms of tiny frogs were hopping. Everything--excepting the
+potato-patches--seemed to have been neglected for years. In a
+shed just within the gate, we observed a woman cooking; and my
+companion presumed to ask her if she knew anything about the
+tombs described in the Romance of the Peony-Lantern.
+
+"Ah! the tombs of O-Tsuyu and O-Yone?" she responded, smiling;--"
+you will find them near the end of the first row at the back of
+the temple--next to the statue of Jizo."
+
+Surprises of this kind I had met with elsewhere in Japan.
+
+We picked our way between the rain-pools and between the green
+ridges of young potatoes,--whose roots were doubtless feeding on
+the sub-stance of many another O-Tsuyu and O-Yone;--and we
+reached at last two lichen-eaten tombs of which the inscriptions
+seemed almost obliterated. Beside the larger tomb was a statue of
+Jizo, with a broken nose.
+
+"The characters are not easy to make out," said my friend--"but
+wait!".... He drew from his sleeve a sheet of soft white paper,
+laid it over the inscription, and began to rub the paper with a
+lump of clay. As he did so, the characters appeared in white on
+the blackened surface.
+
+"Eleventh day, third month--Rat, Elder Brother, Fire--Sixth year
+of Horeki [A. D. 1756].'... This would seem to be the grave of
+some innkeeper of Nedzu, named Kichibei. Let us see what is on
+the other monument."
+
+With a fresh sheet of paper he presently brought out the text of
+a kaimyo, and read,--
+
+"En-myo-In, Ho-yo-I-tei-ken-shi, Ho-ni':--'Nun-of-the-Law,
+Illustrious, Pure-of-heart-and-will, Famed-in-the-Law,--
+inhabiting the Mansion-of-the-Preaching-of-Wonder.'.... The grave
+of some Buddhist nun."
+
+"What utter humbug!" I exclaimed. "That woman was only making fun
+of us."
+
+"Now," my friend protested, "you are unjust to the, woman! You
+came here because you wanted a sensation; and she tried her very
+best to please you. You did not suppose that ghost-story was
+true, did you?"
+
+
+Footprints of the Buddha
+
+
+I
+
+I was recently surprised to find, in Anderson's catalogue of
+Japanese and Chinese paintings in the British Museum, this
+remarkable statement:--"It is to be noted that in Japan the
+figure of the Buddha is never represented by the feet, or
+pedestal alone, as in the Amravati remains, and many other Indian
+art-relics." As a matter of fact the representation is not even
+rare in Japan. It is to be found not only upon stone monuments,
+but also in religious paintings,--especially certain kakemono
+suspended in temples. These kakemono usually display the
+footprints upon a very large scale, with a multitude of mystical
+symbols and characters. The sculptures may be less common; but in
+Tokyo alone there are a number of Butsu-soku-seki, or "Buddha-
+foot stones," which I have seen,--and probably several which I
+have not seen. There is one at the temple of Eko-In, near
+Ryogoku-bashi; one at the temple of Denbo-In, in Koishikawa; one
+at the temple of Denbo-In, in Asakusa; and a beautiful example at
+Zojoji in Shiba. These are not cut out of a single block, but are
+composed of fragments cemented into the irregular traditional
+shape, and capped with a heavy slab of Nebukawa granite, on the
+polished surface of which the design is engraved in lines about
+one-tenth of an inch in depth. I should judge the average height
+of these pedestals to be about two feet four inches, and their
+greatest diameter about three feet. Around the footprints there
+are carved (in most of the examples) twelve little bunches of
+leaves and buds of the Bodai-ju ("Bodhidruma"), or Bodhi-tree of
+Buddhist legend. In all cases the footprint design is about the
+same; but the monuments are different in quality and finish. That
+of Zojoji,--with figures of divinities cut in low relief on its
+sides,--is the most ornate and costly of the four. The specimen
+at Eko-In is very poor and plain.
+
+The first Butsu-soku-seki made in Japan was that erected at
+Todaiji, in Nara. It was designed after a similar monument in
+China, said to be the faithful copy of an Indian original.
+Concerning this Indian original, the following tradition is given
+in an old Buddhist book(1):--"In a temple of the province of
+Makada [Maghada] there is a great stone. The Buddha once trod
+upon this stone; and the prints of the soles of his feet remain
+upon its surface. The length of the impressions is one foot and
+eight inches,(2) and the width of them a little more than six
+inches. On the sole-part of each footprint there is the
+impression of a wheel; and upon each of the prints of the ten
+toes there is a flower-like design, which sometimes radiates
+light. When the Buddha felt that the time of his Nirvana was
+approaching, he went to Kushina [Kusinara], and there stood upon
+that stone. He stood with his face to the south. Then he said to
+his disciple Anan [Ananda]: 'In this place I leave the impression
+of my feet, to remain for a last token. Although a king of this
+country will try to destroy the impression, it can never be
+entirely destroyed.' And indeed it has not been destroyed unto
+this day. Once a king who hated Buddhism caused the top of the
+stone to be pared off, so as to remove the impression; but after
+the surface had been removed, the footprints reappeared upon the
+stone."
+
+Concerning the virtue of the representation of the footprints of
+the Buddha, there is sometimes quoted a text from the Kwan-butsu-
+sanmai-kyo ["Buddha-dhyana-samadhi-sagara-sutra"], thus
+translated for me:--"In that time Shaka ["Sakyamuni"] lifted up
+his foot.... When the Buddha lifted up his foot all could
+perceive upon the sole of it the appearance of a wheel of a
+thousand spokes.... And Shaka said: 'Whosoever beholds the sign
+upon the sole of my foot shall be purified from all his faults.
+Even he who beholds the sign after my death shall be delivered
+from all the evil results of all his errors." Various other texts
+of Japanese Buddhism affirm that whoever looks upon the
+footprints of the Buddha "shall be freed from the bonds of error,
+and conducted upon the Way of Enlightenment."
+
+An outline of the footprints as engraved on one of the Japanese
+pedestals(3) should have some interest even for persons familiar
+with Indian sculptures of the S'ripada. The double-page drawing,
+accompanying this paper [Fig.1], and showing both footprints, has
+been made after the tracing at Dentsu-In, where the footprints
+have the full legendary dimension, It will be observed that there
+are only seven emblems: these are called in Japan the Shichi-So,
+or "Seven Appearances." I got some information about them from
+the Sho-Eko-Ho-Kwan,--a book used by the Jodo sect. This book
+also contains rough woodcuts of the footprints; and one of them I
+reproduce here for the purpose of calling attention to the
+curious form of the emblems upon the toes. They are said to be
+modifications of the manji, or svastika, but I doubt it. In the
+Butsu-soku-seki-tracings, the corresponding figures suggest the
+"flower-like design" mentioned in the tradition of the Maghada
+stone; while the symbols in the book-print suggest fire. Indeed
+their outline so much resembles the conventional flamelet-design
+of Buddhist decoration, that I cannot help thinking them
+originally intended to indicate the traditional luminosity of the
+footprints. Moreover, there is a text in the book called Ho-Kai-
+Shidai that lends support to this supposition:--"The sole of the
+foot of the Buddha is flat,--like the base of a toilet-stand....
+Upon it are lines forming the appearance of a wheel of a thousand
+spokes.... The toes are slender, round, long, straight, graceful,
+and somewhat luminous." [Fig. 3]
+
+The explanation of the Seven Appearances which is given by the
+Sho-Eko-Ho-Kwan cannot be called satisfactory; but it is not
+without interest in relation to Japanese popular Buddhism. The
+emblems are considered in the following order:--
+
+I.--The Svastika. The figure upon each toe is said to be a
+modification of the manji (4); and although I doubt whether this
+is always the case, I have observed that on some of the large
+kakemono representing the footprints, the emblem really is the
+svastika,--not a flamelet nor a flower-shape.(5) The Japanese
+commentator explains the svastika as a symbol of "everlasting
+bliss."
+II.--The Fish (Gyo). The fish signifies freedom from all
+restraints. As in the water a fish moves easily in any direction,
+so in the Buddha-state the fully-emancipated knows no restraints
+or obstructions.
+III.--The Diamond-Mace (Jap. Kongo-sho;--Sansc. "Vadjra").
+Explained as signifying the divine force that "strikes and breaks
+all the lusts (bonno) of the world."
+IV.--The Conch-Shell (Jap. "Hora ") or Trumpet. Emblem of the
+preaching of the Law. The book Shin-zoku-butsu-ji-hen calls it
+the symbol of the voice of the Buddha. The Dai-hi-kyo calls it
+the token of the preaching and of the power of the Mahayana
+doctrine. The Dai-Nichi-Kyo says:--" At the sound of the blowing
+of the shell, all the heavenly deities are filled with delight,
+and come to hear the Law."
+V.--The Flower-Vase (Jap. "Hanagame"). Emblem of muro,--a
+mystical word which might be literally rendered as "not-
+leaking,"--signifying that condition of supreme intelligence
+triumphant over birth and death.
+VI.--The Wheel-of-a-Thousand-Spokes (Sansc. "Tchakra "). This
+emblem, called in Japanese Senfuku-rin-so, is curiously explained
+by various quotations. The Hokke-Monku says:--"The effect of a
+wheel is to crush something; and the effect of the Buddha's
+preaching is to crush all delusions, errors, doubts, and
+superstitions. Therefore preaching the doctrine is called,
+'turning the Wheel.'"... The Sei-Ri-Ron says: "Even as the common
+wheel has its spokes and its hub, so in Buddhism there are many
+branches of the Hasshi Shodo ('Eight-fold Path,' or eight rules
+of conduct)."
+VII.--The Crown of Brahma. Under the heel of the Buddha is the
+Treasure-Crown (Ho-Kwan) of Brahma (Bon-Ten-O),--in symbol of the
+Buddha's supremacy above the gods.
+
+But I think that the inscriptions upon any of these Butsu-soku-
+seki will be found of more significance than the above imperfect
+attempts at an explanation of the emblems. The inscriptions upon
+the monument at Dentsu-In are typical. On different sides of the
+structure,--near the top, and placed by rule so as to face
+certain points of the compass,--there are engraved five Sanscrit
+characters which are symbols of the Five Elemental Buddhas,
+together with scriptural and commemorative texts. These latter
+have been translated for me as follows:--
+
+The HO-KO-HON-NYO-KYO says:--"In that time, from beneath his
+feet, the Buddha radiated a light having the appearance of a
+wheel of a thousand spokes. And all who saw that radiance became
+strictly upright, and obtained the Supreme Enlightenment."
+
+The KWAN-BUTSU-SANMAI-KYO says:--"Whosoever looks upon the
+footprints of the Buddha shall be freed from the results even of
+innumerable thousands of imperfections."
+
+The BUTSU-SETSU-MU-RYO-JU-KYO says:--"In the land that the Buddha
+treads in journeying, there is not even one person in all the
+multitude of the villages who is not benefited. Then throughout
+the world there is peace and good will. The sun and the moon
+shine clear and bright. Wind and rain come only at a suitable
+time. Calamity and pestilence cease. The country prospers; the
+people are free from care. Weapons become useless. All men
+reverence religion, and regulate their conduct in all matters
+with earnestness and modesty."
+
+[Commemorative Text.]
+
+--The Fifth Month of the Eighteenth Year of Meiji, all the
+priests of this temple made and set up this pedestal-stone,
+bearing the likeness of the footprints of the Buddha, and placed
+the same within the main court of Dentsu-In, in order that the
+seed of holy enlightenment might be sown for future time, and for
+the sake of the advancement of Buddhism.
+
+TAIJO, priest,--being the sixty-sixth chief-priest by succession
+of this temple,--has respectfully composed.
+
+JUNYU, the minor priest, has reverentially inscribed.
+
+
+1 The Chinese title is pronounced by Japanese as Sei-iki-ki.
+"Sei-iki"(the Country of the West) was the old Japanese name for
+India; and thus the title might be rendered, "The Book about
+India." I suppose this is the work known to Western scholars as
+Si-yu-ki.
+
+2 "One shaku and eight sun." But the Japanese foot and inch are
+considerably longer than the English.
+
+3 A monument at Nara exhibits the S'ripada in a form differing
+considerably from the design upon the Tokyo pedestals.
+
+4 Lit.: "The thousand-character" sign.
+
+5 On some monuments and drawings there is a sort of disk made by
+a single line in spiral, on each toe,--together with the image of
+a small wheel.
+
+
+II
+
+Strange facts crowd into memory as one contemplates those graven
+footprints,--footprints giant-seeming, yet less so than the human
+personality of which they remain the symbol. Twenty-four hundred
+years ago, out of solitary meditation upon the pain and the
+mystery of being, the mind of an Indian pilgrim brought forth the
+highest truth ever taught to men, and in an era barren of science
+anticipated the uttermost knowledge of our present evolutional
+philosophy regarding the secret unity of life, the endless
+illusions of matter and of mind, and the birth and death of
+universes. He, by pure reason,--and he alone before our time,--
+found answers of worth to the questions of the Whence, the
+Whither, and the Why;--and he made with these answers another and
+a nobler faith than the creed of his fathers. He spoke, and
+returned to his dust; and the people worshipped the prints of his
+dead feet, because of the love that he had taught them.
+Thereafter waxed and waned the name of Alexander, and the power
+of Rome and the might of Islam;--nations arose and vanished;--
+cities grew and were not;--the children of another civilization,
+vaster than Romes, begirdled the earth with conquest, and founded
+far-off empires, and came at last to rule in the land of that
+pilgrim's birth. And these, rich in the wisdom of four and twenty
+centuries, wondered at the beauty of his message, and caused all
+that he had said and done to be written down anew in languages
+unborn at the time when he lived and taught. Still burn his foot-
+prints in the East; and still the great West, marvelling, follows
+their gleam to seek the Supreme Enlightenment. Even thus, of old,
+Milinda the king followed the way to the house of Nagasena,--at
+first only to question, after the subtle method of the Greeks;
+yet, later, to accept with noble reverence the nobler method of
+the Master.
+
+
+Ululation
+
+SHE is lean as a wolf, and very old,--the white bitch that guards
+my gate at night. She played with most of the young men and women
+of the neighborhood when they were boys and girls. I found her in
+charge of my present dwelling on the day that I came to occupy
+it. She had guarded the place, I was told, for a long succession
+of prior tenants--apparently with no better reason than that she
+had been born in the woodshed at the back of the house. Whether
+well or ill treated she had served all occupants faultlessly as a
+watch. The question of food as wages had never seriously troubled
+her, because most of the families of the street daily contributed
+to her support.
+
+She is gentle and silent,--silent at least by day; and in spite
+of her gaunt ugliness, her pointed ears, and her somewhat
+unpleasant eyes, everybody is fond of her. Children ride on her
+back, and tease her at will; but although she has been known to
+make strange men feel uncomfortable, she never growls at a child.
+The reward of her patient good-nature is the friendship of the
+community. When the dog-killers come on their bi-annual round,
+the neighbors look after her interests. Once she was on the very
+point of being officially executed when the wife of the smith ran
+to the rescue, and pleaded successfully with the policeman
+superintending the massacres. "Put somebody's name on the dog,"
+said the latter: "then it will be safe. Whose dog is it?" That
+question proved hard to answer. The dog was everybody's and
+nobody's--welcome everywhere but owned nowhere. "But where does
+it stay?" asked the puzzled constable. "It stays," said the
+smith's wife, "in the house of the foreigner." "Then let the
+foreigner's name be put upon the dog," suggested the policeman.
+
+Accordingly I had my name painted on her back in big Japanese
+characters. But the neighbors did not think that she was
+sufficiently safeguarded by a single name. So the priest of
+Kobudera painted the name of the temple on her left side, in
+beautiful Chinese text; and the smith put the name of his shop on
+her right side; and the vegetable-seller put on her breast the
+ideographs for "eight-hundred,"--which represent the customary
+abbreviation of the word yaoya (vegetable-seller),--any yaoya
+being supposed to sell eight hundred or more different things.
+Consequently she is now a very curious-looking dog; but she is
+well protected by all that calligraphy.
+
+I have only one fault to find with her: she howls at night.
+Howling is one of the few pathetic pleasures of her existence. At
+first I tried to frighten her out of the habit; but finding that
+she refused to take me seriously, I concluded to let her howl. It
+would have been monstrous to beat her.
+
+Yet I detest her howl. It always gives me a feeling of vague
+disquiet, like the uneasiness that precedes the horror of
+nightmare. It makes me afraid,--indefinably, superstitiously
+afraid. Perhaps what I am writing will seem to you absurd; but
+you would not think it absurd if you once heard her howl. She
+does not howl like the common street-dogs. She belongs to some
+ruder Northern breed, much more wolfish, and retaining wild
+traits of a very peculiar kind.
+
+And her howl is also peculiar. It is incomparably weirder than
+the howl of any European dog; and I fancy that it is incomparably
+older. It may represent the original primitive cry of her
+species,--totally unmodified by centuries of domestication.
+It begins with a stifled moan, like the moan of a bad dream,--
+mounts into a long, long wail, like a wailing of wind,--sinks
+quavering into a chuckle,--rises again to a wail, very much
+higher and wilder than before,--breaks suddenly into a kind of
+atrocious laughter,--and finally sobs itself out in a plaint like
+the crying of a little child. The ghastliness of the performance
+is chiefly--though not entirely--in the goblin mockery of the
+laughing tones as contrasted with the piteous agony of the
+wailing ones: an incongruity that makes you think of madness. And
+I imagine a corresponding incongruity in the soul of the
+creature. I know that she loves me,--that she would throw away
+her poor life for me at an instant's notice. I am sure that she
+would grieve if I were to die. But she would not think about the
+matter like other dogs,--like a dog with hanging ears, for ex-
+ample. She is too savagely close to Nature for that. Were she to
+find herself alone with my corpse in some desolate place, she
+would first mourn wildly for her friend; but, this duty per-
+formed, she would proceed to ease her sorrow in the simplest way
+possible,--by eating him,--by cracking his bones between those
+long wolf's-teeth of hers. And thereafter, with spotless
+conscience, she would sit down and utter to the moon the funeral
+cry of her ancestors.
+
+It fills me, that cry, with a strange curiosity not less than
+with a strange horror,--because of certain extraordinary
+vowellings in it which always recur in the same order of
+sequence, and must represent particular forms of animal speech,--
+particular ideas. The whole thing is a song,--a song of emotions
+and thoughts not human, and therefore humanly unimaginable. But
+other dogs know what it means, and make answer over the miles of
+the night,--sometimes from so far away that only by straining my
+hearing to the uttermost can I detect the faint response. The
+words--(if I may call them words)--are very few; yet, to judge by
+their emotional effect, they must signify a great deal. Possibly
+they mean things myriads of years old,--things relating to odors,
+to exhalations, to influences and effluences inapprehensible by
+duller human sense,--impulses also, impulses without name,
+bestirred in ghosts of dogs by the light of great moons.
+
+
+Could we know the sensations of a dog,--the emotions and the
+ideas of a dog, we might discover some strange correspondence
+between their character and the character of that peculiar
+disquiet which the howl of the creature evokes. But since the
+senses of a dog are totally unlike those of a man, we shall never
+really know. And we can only surmise, in the vaguest way, the
+meaning of the uneasiness in ourselves. Some notes in the long
+cry,--and the weirdest of them,--oddly resemble those tones of
+the human voice that tell of agony and terror. Again, we have
+reason to believe that the sound of the cry itself became
+associated in human imagination, at some period enormously
+remote, with particular impressions of fear. It is a remarkable
+fact that in almost all countries (including Japan) the howling
+of dogs has been attributed to their perception of things
+viewless to man, and awful,--especially gods and ghosts;--and
+this unanimity of superstitious belief suggests that one element
+of the disquiet inspired by the cry is the dread of the
+supernatural. To-day we have ceased to be consciously afraid of
+the unseen;--knowing that we ourselves are supernatural,--that
+even the physical man, with all his life of sense, is more
+ghostly than any ghost of old imagining: but some dim inheritance
+of the primitive fear still slumbers in our being, and wakens
+perhaps, like an echo, to the sound of that wail in the night.
+
+
+Whatever thing invisible to human eyes the senses of a dog may at
+times perceive, it can be nothing resembling our idea of a ghost.
+Most probably the mysterious cause of start and whine is not
+anything _seen_. There is no anatomical reason for supposing a
+dog to possess exceptional powers of vision. But a dog's organs
+of scent proclaim a faculty immeasurably superior to the sense of
+smell in man. The old universal belief in the superhuman
+perceptivities of the creature was a belief justified by fact;
+but the perceptivities are not visual. Were the howl of a dog
+really--as once supposed--an outcry of ghostly terror, the
+meaning might possibly be, "I smell Them!"-- but not, "I see
+Them!" No evidence exists to support the fancy that a dog can see
+any forms of being which a man cannot see.
+
+But the night-howl of the white creature in my close forces me to
+wonder whether she does not _mentally_ see something really
+terrible,--something which we vainly try to keep out of moral
+consciousness: the ghoulish law of life. Nay, there are times
+when her cry seems to me not the mere cry of a dog, but the voice
+of the law itself,--the very speech of that Nature so
+inexplicably called by poets the loving, the merciful, the
+divine! Divine, perhaps, in some unknowable ultimate way,--but
+certainly not merciful, and still more certainly not loving. Only
+by eating each other do beings exist! Beautiful to the poet's
+vision our world may seem,--with its loves, its hopes, its
+memories, its aspirations; but there is nothing beautiful in the
+fact that life is fed by continual murder,--that the tenderest
+affection, the noblest enthusiasm, the purest idealism, must be
+nourished by the eating of flesh and the drinking of blood. All
+life, to sustain itself, must devour life. You may imagine
+yourself divine if you please,--but you have to obey that law.
+Be, if you will, a vegetarian: none the less you must eat forms
+that have feeling and desire. Sterilize your food; and digestion
+stops. You cannot even drink without swallowing life. Loathe
+the name as we may, we are cannibals;--all being essentially is
+One; and whether we eat the flesh of a plant, a fish, a reptile,
+a bird, a mammal, or a man, the ultimate fact is the same. And
+for all life the end is the same: every creature, whether buried
+or burnt, is devoured,--and not only once or twice,--nor a
+hundred, nor a thousand, nor a myriad times! Consider the ground
+upon which we move, the soil out of which we came;--think of the
+vanished billions that have risen from it and crumbled back into
+its latency to feed what becomes our food! Perpetually we eat the
+dust of our race,--_the substance of our ancient selves_.
+
+But even so-called inanimate matter is self-devouring. Substance
+preys upon substance. As in the droplet monad swallows monad, so
+in the vast of Space do spheres consume each other. Stars give
+being to worlds and devour them; planets assimilate their own
+moons. All is a ravening that never ends but to recommence. And
+unto whomsoever thinks about these matters, the story of a divine
+universe, made and ruled by paternal love, sounds less persuasive
+than the Polynesian tale that the souls of the dead are devoured
+by the gods.
+
+Monstrous the law seems, because we have developed ideas and
+sentiments which are opposed to this demoniac Nature,--much as
+voluntary movement is opposed to the blind power of gravitation.
+But the possession of such ideas and sentiments does but
+aggravate the atrocity of our situation, without lessening in the
+least the gloom of the final problem.
+
+Anyhow the faith of the Far East meets that problem better than
+the faith of the West. To the Buddhist the Cosmos is not divine
+at all--quite the reverse. It is Karma;--it is the creation of
+thoughts and acts of error;--it is not governed by any
+providence;--it is a ghastliness, a nightmare. Likewise it is an
+illusion. It seems real only for the same reason that the shapes
+and the pains of an evil dream seem real to the dreamer. Our life
+upon earth is a state of sleep. Yet we do not sleep utterly.
+There are gleams in our darkness,--faint auroral wakenings of
+Love and Pity and Sympathy and Magnanimity: these are selfless
+and true;--these are eternal and divine;--these are the Four
+Infinite Feelings in whose after-glow all forms and illusions
+will vanish, like mists in the light of the sun. But, except in
+so far as we wake to these feelings, we are dreamers indeed,--
+moaning unaided in darkness,--tortured by shadowy horror. All of
+us dream; none are fully awake; and many, who pass for the wise
+of the world, know even less of the truth than my dog that howls
+in the night.
+
+
+Could she speak, my dog, I think that she might ask questions
+which no philosopher would be able to answer. For I believe that
+she is tormented by the pain of existence. Of course I do not
+mean that the riddle presents itself to her as it does to us,--
+nor that she can have reached any abstract conclusions by any
+mental processes like our own. The external world to her is "a
+continuum of smells." She thinks, compares, remembers, reasons by
+smells. By smell she makes her estimates of character: all her
+judgments are founded upon smells. Smelling thousands of things
+which we cannot smell at all, she must comprehend them in a way
+of which we can form no idea. Whatever she knows has been learned
+through mental operations of an utterly unimaginable kind. But we
+may be tolerably sure that she thinks about most things in some
+odor-relation to the experience of eating or to the intuitive
+dread of being eaten. Certainly she knows a great deal more about
+the earth on which we tread than would be good for us to know;
+and probably, if capable of speech, she could tell us the
+strangest stories of air and water. Gifted, or afflicted, as she
+is with such terribly penetrant power of sense, her notion of
+apparent realities must be worse than sepulchral. Small wonder if
+she howl at the moon that shines upon such a world!
+
+And yet she is more awake, in the Buddhist meaning, than many of
+us. She possesses a rude moral code--inculcating loyalty,
+submission, gentleness, gratitude, and maternal love; together
+with various minor rules of conduct;--and this simple code she
+has always observed. By priests her state is termed a state of
+darkness of mind, because she cannot learn all that men should
+learn; but according to her light she has done well enough to
+merit some better condition in her next rebirth. So think the
+people who know her. When she dies they will give her an humble
+funeral, and have a sutra recited on behalf of her spirit. The
+priest will let a grave be made for her somewhere in the temple-
+garden, and will place over it a little sotoba bearing the
+text,--Nyo-ze chikusho hotsu Bodai-shin (1): "Even within such as
+this animal, the Knowledge Supreme will unfold at last."
+
+1 Lit., "the Bodhi-mind;"--that is to say, the Supreme
+Enlightenment, the intelligence of Buddhahood itself.
+
+
+Bits of Poetry
+
+I
+
+Among a people with whom poetry has been for centuries a
+universal fashion of emotional utterance, we should naturally
+suppose the common ideal of life to be a noble one. However
+poorly the upper classes of such a people might compare with
+those of other nations, we could scarcely doubt that its lower
+classes were morally and otherwise in advance of our own lower
+classes. And the Japanese actually present us with such a social
+phenomenon.
+
+Poetry in Japan is universal as the air. It is felt by everybody.
+It is read by everybody. It is composed by almost everybody,--
+irrespective of class and condition. Nor is it thus ubiquitous in
+the mental atmosphere only: it is everywhere to be heard by the
+ear, and _seen by the eye_!
+
+As for audible poetry, wherever there is working there is
+singing. The toil of the fields and the labor of the streets are
+performed to the rhythm of chanted verse; and song would seem to
+be an expression of the life of the people in about the same
+sense that it is an expression of the life of cicadae.... As for
+visible poetry, it appears everywhere, written or graven,--in
+Chinese or in Japanese characters,--as a form of decoration. In
+thousands and thousands of dwellings, you might observe that the
+sliding- screens, separating rooms or closing alcoves, have
+Chinese or Japanese decorative texts upon them;--and these texts
+are poems. In houses of the better class there are usually a
+number of gaku, or suspended tablets to be seen,--each bearing,
+for all design, a beautifully written verse. But poems can be
+found upon almost any kind of domestic utensil,--for example upon
+braziers, iron kettles, vases, wooden trays, lacquer ware,
+porcelains, chopsticks of the finer sort,--even toothpicks! Poems
+are painted upon shop-signs, panels, screens, and fans. Poems are
+printed upon towels, draperies, curtains, kerchiefs, silk-
+linings, and women's crepe-silk underwear. Poems are stamped or
+worked upon letter-paper, envelopes, purses, mirror-cases,
+travelling-bags. Poems are inlaid upon enamelled ware, cut upon
+bronzes, graven upon metal pipes, embroidered upon tobacco-
+pouches. It were a hopeless effort to enumerate a tithe of the
+articles decorated with poetical texts. Probably my readers know
+of those social gatherings at which it is the custom to compose
+verses, and to suspend the compositions to blossoming frees,--
+also of the Tanabata festival in honor of certain astral gods,
+when poems inscribed on strips of colored paper, and attached to
+thin bamboos, are to be seen even by the roadside,--all
+fluttering in the wind like so many tiny flags.... Perhaps you
+might find your way to some Japanese hamlet in which there are
+neither trees nor flowers, but never to any hamlet in which there
+is no visible poetry. You might wander,--as I have done,--into a
+settlement so poor that you could not obtain there, for love or
+money, even a cup of real tea; but I do not believe that you
+could discover a settlement in which there is nobody capable of
+making a poem.
+
+
+II
+
+Recently while looking over a manuscript-collection of verses,--
+mostly short poems of an emotional or descriptive character,--it
+occurred to me that a selection from them might serve to
+illustrate certain Japanese qualities of sentiment, as well as
+some little-known Japanese theories of artistic expression,--and
+I ventured forthwith, upon this essay. The poems, which had been
+collected for me by different persons at many different times and
+places, were chiefly of the kind written on particular occasions,
+and cast into forms more serried, if not also actually briefer,
+than anything in Western prosody. Probably few Of my readers are
+aware of two curious facts relating to this order of composition.
+Both facts are exemplified in the history and in the texts of my
+collection,--though I cannot hope, in my renderings, to reproduce
+the original effect, whether of imagery or of feeling.
+
+The first curious fact is that, from very ancient times, the
+writing of short poems has been practised in Japan even more as a
+moral duty than as a mere literary art. The old ethical teaching
+was somewhat like this:--"Are you very angry?--do not say
+anything unkind, but compose a poem. Is your best-beloved dead?--
+do not yield to useless grief, but try to calm your mind by
+making a poem. Are you troubled because you are about to die,
+leaving so many things unfinished?--be brave, and write a poem on
+death! Whatever injustice or misfortune disturbs you, put aside
+your resentment or your sorrow as soon as possible, and write a
+few lines of sober and elegant verse for a moral exercise."
+Accordingly, in the old days, every form of trouble was
+encountered with a poem. Bereavement, separation, disaster called
+forth verses in lieu of plaints. The lady who preferred death to
+loss of honor, composed a poem before piercing her throat The
+samurai sentenced to die by his own hand, wrote a poem before
+performing hara-kiri. Even in this less romantic era of Meiji,
+young people resolved upon suicide are wont to compose some
+verses before quitting the world. Also it is still the good
+custom to write a poem in time of ill-fortune. I have frequently
+known poems to be written under the most trying circumstances of
+misery or suffering,--nay even upon a bed of death;-and if the
+verses did not display any extraordinary talent, they at least
+afforded extraordinary proof of self-mastery under pain....
+Surely this fact of composition as ethical practice has larger
+interest than all the treatises ever written about the rules of
+Japanese prosody.
+
+
+The other curious fact is only a fact of aesthetic theory. The
+common art-principle of the class of poems under present
+consideration is identical with the common principle of Japanese
+pictorial illustration. By the use of a few chosen words the
+composer of a short poem endeavors to do exactly what the painter
+endeavors to do with a few strokes of the brush,--to evoke an
+image or a mood,--to revive a sensation or an emotion. And the
+accomplishment of this purpose,--by poet or by picture-maker,--
+depends altogether upon capacity to suggest, and only to suggest.
+A Japanese artist would be condemned for attempting elaboration
+of detail in a sketch intended to recreate the memory of some
+landscape seen through the blue haze of a spring morning, or
+under the great blond light of an autumn after-noon. Not only
+would he be false to the traditions of his art: he would
+necessarily defeat his own end thereby. In the same way a poet
+would be condemned for attempting any completeness of utterance
+in a very short poem: his object should be only to stir
+imagination without satisfying it. So the term ittakkiri--meaning
+"all gone," or "entirely vanished," in the sense of "all told,"--
+is contemptuously applied to verses in which the verse-maker has
+uttered his whole thought;--praise being reserved for
+compositions that leave in the mind the thrilling of a something
+unsaid. Like the single stroke of a temple-bell, the perfect
+short poem should set murmuring and undulating, in the mind of
+the hearer, many a ghostly aftertone of long duration.
+
+
+III
+
+But for the same reason that Japanese short poems may be said to
+resemble. Japanese pictures, a full comprehension of them
+requires an intimate knowledge of the life which they reflect.
+And this is especially true of the emotional class of such
+poems,--a literal translation of which, in the majority of cases,
+would signify almost nothing to the Western mind. Here, for
+example, is a little verse, pathetic enough to Japanese
+comprehension:--
+
+ChochO ni!..
+Kyonen shishitaru
+Tsuma koishi!
+
+Translated, this would appear to mean only,--"Two butterflies!...
+Last year my dear wife died!" Unless you happen to know the
+pretty Japanese symbolism of the butterfly in relation to happy
+marriage, and the old custom of sending with the wedding-gift a
+large pair of paper-butterflies (ocho-mecho), the verse might
+well seem to be less than commonplace. Or take this recent
+composition, by a University student, which has been praised by
+good judges:--
+
+Furusato ni
+Fubo ari--mushi no
+Koe-goe! (1)
+
+--"In my native place the old folks [or, my parents] are--clamor
+of insect-voices!"
+
+1 I must observe, however, that the praise was especially evoked
+by the use of the term koe-goe--(literally meaning "voice after
+voice" or a crying of many voices);--and the special value of the
+syllables here can be appreciated only by a Japanese poet.
+
+
+The poet here is a country-lad. In unfamiliar fields he listens
+to the great autumn chorus of insects; and the sound revives for
+him the memory of his far-off home and of his parents. But here
+is something incomparably more touching,--though in literal
+translation probably more obscure,--than either of the preceding
+specimens;--
+
+Mi ni shimiru
+Kaze ya I
+Shoji ni
+Yubi no ato!
+
+--"Oh, body-piercing wind!--that work of little fingers in the
+shoji!" (2).... What does this mean? It means the sorrowing of a
+mother for her dead child. Shoji is the name given to those light
+white-paper screens which in a Japanese house serve both as
+windows and doors, admitting plenty of light, but concealing,
+like frosted glass, the interior from outer observation, and
+excluding the wind. Infants delight to break these by poking
+their fingers through the soft paper: then the wind blows through
+the holes. In this case the wind blows very cold indeed,--into
+the mother's very heart;--for it comes through the little holes
+that were made by the fingers of her dead child.
+
+2 More literally:--"body-through-pierce wind--ah!
+--shoji in the traces of [viz.: holes made by] fingers!"
+
+
+The impossibility of preserving the inner quality of such poems
+in a literal rendering, will now be obvious. Whatever I attempt
+in this direction must of necessity be ittakkiri;--for the
+unspoken has to be expressed; and what the Japanese poet is able
+to say in seventeen or twenty-one syllables may need in English
+more than double that number of words. But perhaps this fact will
+lend additional interest to the following atoms of emotional
+expression:--
+
+A MOTHER'S REMEMBRANCE
+Sweet and clear in the night, the voice of a boy at study,
+Reading out of a book.... I also once had a boy!
+
+A MEMORY IN SPRING
+She, who, departing hence, left to the flowers of the plum-tree,
+Blooming beside our eaves, the charm of her youth and beauty,
+And maiden pureness of heart, to quicken their flush and
+fragrance,--
+Ah! where does she dwell to-day, our dear little vanished sister?
+
+FANCIES OF ANOTHER FAITH
+(1) I sought in the place of graves the tomb of my vanished
+friend:
+From ancient cedars above there rippled a wild doves cry.
+
+(2) Perhaps a freak of the wind-yet perhaps a sign of
+remembrance,--
+This fall of a single leaf on the water I pour for the dead.
+
+(3)I whispered a prayer at the grave: a butterfly rose and
+fluttered--
+Thy spirit, perhaps, dear friend!...
+
+IN A CEMETERY AT NIGHT
+This light of the moon that plays on the water I pour for the
+dead,
+Differs nothing at all from the moonlight of other years.
+
+AFTER LONG ABSENCE
+The garden that once I loved, and even the hedge of the garden,--
+All is changed and strange: the moonlight only is faithful;--
+The moon along remembers the charm of the time gone by!
+
+MOONLIGHT ON THE SEA
+O vapory moon of spring!--would that one plunge into ocean
+Could win me renewal of life as a part of thy light on the
+waters!
+
+AFTER FAREWELL
+Whither now should! look?--where is the place of parting?
+Boundaries all have vanished;--nothing tells of direction:
+Only the waste of sea under the shining moon!
+
+HAPPY POVERTY
+Wafted into my room, the scent of the flowers of the plum-tree
+Changes my broken window into a source of delight.
+
+AUTUMN FANCIES
+
+(1) Faded the clover now;--sere and withered the grasses:
+What dreams the matsumushi(1) in the desolate autumn-fields?
+
+(2) Strangely sad, I thought, sounded the bell of evening;--
+Haply that tone proclaimed the night in which autumn dies!
+
+(3)Viewing this autumn-moon, I dream of my native village
+Under the same soft light,--and the shadows about my home.
+
+1 A musical cricket--calyptotryphus marmoratus.
+
+
+IN TIME OF GRIEF, HEARING A SEMI (CICADA)
+Only "I," "I,"--the cry of the foolish semi!
+Any one knows that the world is void as its cast-off shell.
+
+ON THE CAST-OFF SHELL OF A SEMI
+Only the pitiful husk!... O poor singer of summer,
+Wherefore thus consume all thy body in song?
+
+SUBLIMITY OF INTELLECTUAL POWER
+The mind that, undimmed, absorbs the foul and the pure together--
+Call it rather a sea one thousand fathoms deep!(2)
+
+2. This is quite novel in its way,--a product of the University:
+the original runs thus:--
+
+Nigor�ru mo
+Sum�ru mo tomo ni
+Iruru koso
+Chi-hiro no umi no
+Kokoro nari-kere!
+
+SHINTO REVERY
+
+Mad waves devour The rocks: I ask myself in the darkness,
+"Have I become a god?" Dim is The night and wild!
+
+"Have I become a god?"--that is to say, "Have I died?--am I only
+a ghost in this desolation?" The dead, becoming kami or gods, are
+thought to haunt wild solitudes by preference.
+
+
+IV
+
+The poems above rendered are more than pictorial: they suggest
+something of emotion or sentiment. But there are thousands of
+pictorial poems that do not; and these would seem mere
+insipidities to a reader ignorant of their true purpose. When you
+learn that some exquisite text of gold means only, "Evening-
+sunlight on the wings of the water-fowl,"--or,"Now in my garden
+the flowers bloom, and the butterflies dance,"--then your first
+interest in decorative poetry is apt to wither away. Yet these
+little texts have a very real merit of their own, and an intimate
+relation to Japanese aesthetic feeling and experience. Like the
+pictures upon screens and fans and cups, they give pleasure by
+recalling impressions of nature, by reviving happy incidents of
+travel or pilgrimage, by evoking the memory of beautiful days.
+And when this plain fact is fully understood, the persistent
+attachment of modern Japanese poets--notwithstanding their
+University training--to the ancient poetical methods, will be
+found reasonable enough.
+
+I need offer only a very few specimens of the purely pictorial
+poetry. The following--mere thumb-nail sketches in verse--are of
+recent date.
+
+LONESOMENESS
+Furu-dera ya:
+Kane mono iwazu;
+Sakura chiru.
+--"Old temple: bell voiceless; cherry-flowers fall."
+
+MORNING AWAKENING AFTER A NIGHT'S REST IN A TEMPLE
+Yamadera no
+Shicho akeyuku:
+Taki no oto.
+--"In the mountain-temple the paper mosquito-curtain is lighted
+by the dawn: sound of water-fall."
+
+WINTER-SCENE
+Yuki no mura;
+Niwatori naite;
+Ake shiroshi.
+ "Snow-village;--cocks crowing;--white dawn."
+
+Let me conclude this gossip on poetry by citing from another
+group of verses--also pictorial, in a certain sense, but chiefly
+remarkable for ingenuity--two curiosities of impromptu. The first
+is old, and is attributed to the famous poetess Chiyo. Having
+been challenged to make a poem of seventeen syllables referring
+to a square, a triangle, and a circle, she is said to have
+immediately responded,--
+
+Kaya no te wo
+Hitotsu hazushite,
+Tsuki-mi kana!
+--"Detaching one corner of the mosquito-net, lo! I behold the
+moon!" The top of the mosquito-net, suspended by cords at each of
+its four corners, represents the square;--letting down the net at
+one corner converts the square into a triangle;--and the moon
+represents the circle.
+
+The other curiosity is a recent impromptu effort to portray, in
+one verse of seventeen syllables, the last degree of devil-may-
+care-poverty,--perhaps the brave misery of the wandering
+student;--and I very much doubt whether the effort could be
+improved upon:--
+
+Nusundaru
+Kagashi no kasa ni
+Ame kyu nari.
+--"Heavily pours the rain on the hat that I stole from the
+scarecrow!"
+
+
+
+Japanese Buddhist Proverbs
+
+
+As representing that general quality of moral experience which
+remains almost unaffected by social modifications of any
+sort, the proverbial sayings of a people must always possess a
+special psychological interest for thinkers. In this kind of
+folklore the oral and the written literature of Japan is rich to
+a degree that would require a large book to exemplify. To the
+subject as a whole no justice could be done within the limits of
+a single essay. But for certain classes of proverbs and
+proverbial phrases something can be done within even a few pages;
+and sayings related to Buddhism, either by allusion or
+derivation, form a class which seems to me particularly worthy of
+study. Accordingly, with the help of a Japanese friend, I have
+selected and translated the following series of examples,--
+choosing the more simple and familiar where choice was possible,
+and placing the originals in alphabetical order to facilitate
+reference. Of course the selection is imperfectly representative;
+but it will serve to illustrate certain effects of Buddhist
+teaching upon popular thought and speech.
+
+1.--Akuji mi ni tomaru.
+All evil done clings to the body.*
+
+*The consequence of any evil act or thought never,--so long as
+karma endures,--will cease to act upon the existence of the
+person guilty of it.
+
+2.--Atama soru yori kokoro wo sore.
+Better to shave the heart than to shave the head.*
+
+*Buddhist nuns and priests have their heads completely shaven.
+The proverb signifies that it is better to correct the heart,--to
+conquer all vain regrets and desires,--than to become a
+religious. In common parlance the phrase "to shave the head"
+means to become a monk or a nun.
+
+3.--Au wa wakare no hajime.
+Meeting is only the beginning of separation.*
+
+*Regret and desire are equally vain in this world of
+impermanency; for all joy is the beginning of an experience that
+must have its pain. This proverb refers directly to the sutra-
+text,--Shoja bitsumetsu e-sha-jori,--" All that live must surely
+die; and all that meet will surely part."
+
+4.--Banji wa yume.
+All things* are merely dreams.
+
+*Literally, "ten thousand things."
+
+5.--Bonbu mo satoreba hotoke nari.
+Even a common man by obtaining knowledge becomes a Buddha.*
+
+*The only real differences of condition are differences In
+knowledge of the highest truth.
+
+6.--Bonno kuno.
+All lust is grief.*
+
+*All sensual desire invariably brings sorrow.
+
+7--Buppo to wara-ya no ame, dete kike.
+One must go outside to hear Buddhist doctrine or the sound of
+rain on a straw roof.*
+
+*There is an allusion here to the condition of the sbuhhl
+(priest): literally, "one who has left his house." The proverb
+suggests that the higher truths of Buddhism cannot be acquired by
+those who continue to live in the world of follies and desires.
+
+8.--Bussho en yori okoru.
+Out of karma-relation even the divine nature itself grows.*
+
+
+*There is good as well as bad karma. Whatever hap-piness we enjoy
+is not less a consequence of the acts and thoughts of previous
+lives, than is any misfortune that comes to us. Every good
+thought and act contributes to the evolution of the Buddha-nature
+within each of us. Another proverb [No. 10],--En naki shujo wa
+doshi gatashi,--further illustrates the meaning of this one.
+
+9.--Enko ga tsuki wo toran to suru ga gotoshi.
+Like monkeys trying to snatch the moon's reflection on water.*
+
+*Allusion to a parable, said to have been related by the Buddha
+himself, about some monkeys who found a well under a tree, and
+mistook for reality the image of the moon in the water. They
+resolved to seize the bright apparition. One monkey suspended
+himself by the tail from a branch overhanging the well, a second
+monkey clung to the first, a third to the second, a fourth to the
+third, and so on,--till the long chain of bodies had almost
+reached the water. Suddenly the branch broke under the
+unaccustomed weight; and all the monkeys were drowned.
+
+10.--En naki shujo wa doshi gatashi.
+To save folk having no karma-relation would be difficult indeed!*
+
+*No karma-relation would mean an utter absence of merit as well
+as of demerit.
+
+11.--Fujo seppo suru hoshi wa, biratake ni umaru.
+The priest who preaches foul doctrine shall be reborn as a
+fungus.
+
+12.--Gaki mo ninzu.
+Even gaki (pretas) can make a crowd.*
+
+*Literally: "Even gaki are a multitude (or, 'population')." This
+is a popular saying used in a variety of ways. The ordinary
+meaning is to the effect that no matter how poor or miserable the
+individuals composing a multitude, they collectively represent a
+respectable force. Jocosely the saying is sometimes used of a
+crowd of wretched or tired-looking people,--sometimes of an
+assembly of weak boys desiring to make some demonstration,--
+sometimes of a miserable-looking company of soldiers.--Among the
+lowest classes of the people it is not uncommon to call a
+deformed or greedy person a "gaki."
+
+13.--Gaki no me ni midzu miezu.
+To the eyes of gaki water is viewless.*
+
+*Some authorities state that those pretas who suffer especially
+from thirst, as a consequence of faults committed in former
+lives, are unable to see water.--This proverb is used in speaking
+of persons too stupid or vicious to perceive a moral truth.
+
+14.--Gosho wa daiji.
+The future life is the all-important thing.*
+
+*The common people often use the curious expression "gosho-daiji"
+as an equivalent for "extremely important."
+
+15.--Gun-mo no tai-zo wo saguru ga gotoshi.
+Like a lot of blind men feeling a great elephant.*
+
+*Said of those who ignorantly criticise the doctrines of
+Buddhism.--The proverb alludes to a celebrated fable in the
+Avadanas, about a number of blind men who tried to decide the
+form of an elephant by feeling the animal. One, feeling the leg,
+declared the elephant to be like a tree; another, feeling the
+trunk only, declared the elephant to be like a serpent; a third,
+who felt only the side, said that the elephant was like a wall; a
+fourth, grasping the tail, said that the elephant was like a
+rope, etc.
+
+16.--Gwai-men nyo-Bosatsu; nai shin nyo-Yasha.
+In outward aspect a Bodhisattva; at innermost heart a demon.*
+
+*Yasha (Sanscrit Yaksha), a man-devouring demon.
+
+17.--Hana wa ne ni kaeru.
+The flower goes back to its root.
+
+*This proverb is most often used in reference to death,--
+signifying that all forms go back into the nothingness out of
+which they spring. But it may also be used in relation to the law
+of cause-and-effect.
+
+18.--Hibiki no koe ni ozuru ga gotoshi.
+Even as the echo answers to the voice.*
+
+*Referring to the doctrine of cause-and-effect. The philosophical
+beauty of the comparison will be appreciated only if we bear in
+mind that even the tone of the echo repeats the tone of the
+voice.
+
+19.--Hito wo tasuk�ru ga sbukh� no yuku.
+The task of the priest is to save mankind.
+
+20.--Hi wa kiyuredomo to-shin wa kiyedzu.
+Though the flame be put out, the wick remains.*
+
+*Although the passions may be temporarily overcome, their sources
+remain. A proverb of like meaning is, Bonno no inn o?4omo sara u:
+"Though driven away, the Dog of Lust cannot be kept from coming
+back again."
+
+21.--Hotoke mo motowa bonbu.
+Even the Buddha was originally but a common man.
+
+22.--Hotoke ni naru mo shami wo beru.
+Even to become a Buddha one must first become a novice.
+
+23.--Hotoke no kao mo sando.
+Even a Buddha's face,--only three times.*
+
+*This is a short popular form of the longer proverb, Hotoke no
+kao mo sando nazureba, hara wo tatsu: "Stroke even the face of a
+Buddha three times, and his anger will be roused."
+
+24.--Hotoke tanonde Jigoku e yuku.
+Praying to Buddha one goes to hell.*
+
+*The popular saying, Oni no Nembutsu,--"a devil's praying,"--has
+a similar meaning.
+
+25.--Hotoke tsukutte tamashii iredzu.
+Making a Buddha without putting in the soul.*
+
+*That is to say, making an image of the Buddha without giving it
+a soul. This proverb is used in reference to the conduct of those
+who undertake to do some work, and leave the most essential part
+of the work unfinished. It contains an allusion to the curious
+ceremony called Kai-gen, or "Eye-Opening." This Kai-gen is a kind
+of consecration, by virtue of which a newly-made image is
+supposed to become animated by the real presence of the divinity
+represented.
+
+26. Ichi-ju no kage, ichi-ga no nagare, tasho no en.
+Even [the experience of] a single shadow or a single flowing of
+water, is [made by] the karma-relations of a former life.*
+
+*Even so trifling an occurrence as that of resting with another
+person under the shadow of a tree, or drinking from the same
+spring with another person, is caused by the karma-relations of
+some previous existence.
+
+27. Ichi-mo shu-mo wo hiku.
+One blind man leads many blind men.*
+
+*From the Buddhist work Dai-chi-do-ron.--The reader will find a
+similar proverb in Rhys-David's "Buddhist Suttas" (Sacred Books
+of the East), p. 173,--together with a very curious parable,
+cited in a footnote, which an Indian commentator gives in
+explanation.
+
+28.--Ingwa na ko.
+A karma-child.*
+
+*A common saying among the lower classes in reference to an
+unfortunate or crippled child. Here the word ingwa is used
+especially in the retributive sense. It usually signifies evil
+karma; kwaho being the term used in speaking of meritorious karma
+and its results. While an unfortunate child is spoken of as "a
+child of ingwa," a very lucky person is called a "kwaho-mono,"--
+that is to say, an instance, or example of kwaho.
+
+29.--Ingwa wa, kuruma no wa.
+Cause-and-effect is like a wheel.*
+
+*The comparison of karma to the wheel of a wagon will be familiar
+to students of Buddhism. The meaning of this proverb is identical
+with that of the Dhammapada verse:--"If a man speaks or acts
+with an evil thought, pain follows him as the wheel follows the
+foot of the ox that draws the carriage."
+
+30.--Innen ga fukai.
+The karma-relation is deep.*
+
+*A saying very commonly used in speaking of the attachment of
+lovers, or of the unfortunate results of any close relation
+between two persons.
+
+31.--Inochi wa fu-zen no tomoshibi.
+Life is a lamp-flame before a wind.*
+
+*Or, "like the flame of a lamp exposed to the wind." A frequent
+expression in Buddhist literature is "the Wind of Death."
+
+32.--Issun no mushi ni mo, gobu no tamashii.
+Even a worm an inch long has a soul half-an-inch long.*
+
+*Literally, "has a soul of five bu,"--five bu being equal to half
+of the Japanese inch. Buddhism forbids all taking of life, and
+classes as living things (Ujo) all forms having sentiency. The
+proverb, however,--as the use of the word "soul" (tamashii)
+implies,--reflects popular belief rather than Buddhist
+philosophy. It signifies that any life, however small or mean, is
+entitled to mercy.
+
+33.--Iwashi* no atama mo shinjin kara.
+Even the head of an iwashi, by virtue of faith, [will have power
+to save, or heal].
+
+*The iwashi is a very small fish, much resembling a sardine. The
+proverb implies that the object of worship signifies little, so
+long as the prayer is made with perfect faith and pure intention.
+
+34.--Jigo-jitoku.*
+The fruit of ones own deeds [in a previous state of existence].
+
+*Few popular Buddhist phrases are more often used than this. Jigo
+signifies ones own acts or thoughts; jitoku, to bring upon
+oneself,--nearly always in the sense of misfortune, when the word
+is used in the Buddhist way. "Well, it is a matter of Jigo-
+jitoku," people will observe on seeing a man being taken to
+prison; meaning, "He is reaping the consequence of his own
+faults."
+
+35.--Jigoku de hotoke.
+Like meeting with a Buddha in hell.*
+
+*Refers to the joy of meeting a good friend in time of
+misfortune. The above is an abbreviation. The full proverb is,
+Jigoku de hotoke ni ota yo da.
+
+36.--Jigoku Gokuraku wa kokoro ni ari.
+Hell and Heaven are in the hearts of men.*
+
+*A proverb in perfect accord with the higher Buddhism.
+
+37.--Jigoku mo sumika.
+Even Hell itself is a dwelling-place.*
+
+*Meaning that even those obliged to live in hell must learn to
+accommodate themselves to the situation. One should always try to
+make the best of circumstances. A proverb of kindred
+signification is, Sumeba, My'ako: "Wheresoever ones home is, that
+is the Capital [or, imperial City]."
+
+38.--Jigoku ni mo shirts bito.
+Even in hell old acquaintances are welcome.
+
+39.--Kag� no katachi ni shitagau gotoshi.
+Even as the shadow follows the shape.*
+
+*Referring to the doctrine of cause-and-effect. Compare with
+verse 2 of the Dhammapada.
+
+40.--Kane wa Amida yori bikaru.
+Money shines even more brightly than Amida.*
+
+*Amitabha, the Buddha of Immeasurable Light. His image in the
+temples is usually gilded from head to foot.--There are many
+other ironical proverbs about the power of wealth,--such as
+Jigoku no sata mo kane shidai: "Even the Judgments of Hell may be
+influenced by money."
+
+
+41.--Karu-toki no Jizo-gao; nasu-toki no Emma-gao.
+Borrowing-time, the face of Jiz�; repaying-time, the face of
+Emma.* [Figs. 2 & 3]
+
+*Emma is the Chinese and Japanese Yama,--in Buddhism the Lord of
+Hell, and the Judge of the Dead. The proverb is best explained by
+the accompanying drawings, which will serve to give an idea of
+the commoner representations of both divinities.
+
+42.--Kiite Gokuraku, mite Jigoku.
+Heard of only, it is Paradise; seen, it is Hell.*
+
+*Rumor is never trustworthy.
+
+43.--Koji mon wo idezu: akuji sen ni wo hashiru.
+Good actions go not outside of the gate: bad deeds travel a
+thousand ri.
+
+44.--Kokoro no koma ni tadzuna wo yuru-suna.
+Never let go the reins of the wild colt of the heart.
+
+45.--Kokoro no oni ga mi wo semeru.
+The body is tortured only by the demon of the heart.*
+
+*Or "mind." That is to say that we suffer only from the
+consequences of our own faults.--The demon-torturer in the
+Buddhist hell says to his victim:--"Blame not me!--I am only the
+creation of your own deeds and thoughts: you made me for this!"--
+Compare with No. 36.
+
+
+46.--Kokoro no shi to wa nare; kokoro wo shi to sezare.
+Be the teacher of your heart: do not allow your heart to become
+your teacher.
+
+47.--Kono yo wa kari no yado.
+This world is only a resting-place.*
+
+*"This world is but a travellers' inn," would be an almost
+equally correct translation. Yado literally means a lodging,
+shelter, inn; and the word is applied often to those wayside
+resting-houses at which Japanese travellers halt during a
+journey. Kari signifies temporary, transient, fleeting,--as in
+the common Buddhist saying, Kono yo kari no yo: "This world is a
+fleeting world." Even Heaven and Hell represent to the Buddhist
+only halting places upon the journey to Nirvana.
+
+48.--Kori wo chiribame; midzu ni �gaku.
+To inlay ice; to paint upon water.*
+
+*Refers to the vanity of selfish effort for some merely temporary
+end.
+
+49.--Korokoro to
+Naku wa yamada no
+Hototogisu,
+Chichi niteya aran,
+Haha niteya aran.
+
+The bird that cries korokoro in the mountain rice-field I know to
+be a hototogisu;--yet it may have been my father; it may have
+been my mother.*
+
+*This verse-proverb is cited in the Buddhist work Wojo Yosbu,
+with the following comment:--"Who knows whether the animal in the
+field, or the bird in the mountain-wood, has not been either his
+father or his mother in some former state of existence?"--The
+hototogisu is a kind of cuckoo.
+
+50.--Ko wa Sangai no kubikase.
+A child is a neck-shackle for the Three States of Existence.*
+
+*That is to say, The love of parents for their child may impede
+their spiritual progress--not only in this world, but through all
+their future states of being,--just as a kubikasi, or Japanese
+cangue, impedes the movements of the person upon whom it is
+placed. Parental affection, being the strongest of earthly
+attachments, is particularly apt to cause those whom it enslaves
+to commit wrongful acts in the hope of benefiting their
+offspring.--The term Sangai here signifies the three worlds of
+Desire, Form, and Formlessness,--all the states of existence
+below Nirvana. But the word is sometimes used to signify the
+Past, the Present, and the Future.
+
+51.--Kuchi wa wazawai no kado.
+The mouth is the front-gate of all misfortune.*
+
+*That is to say, The chief cause of trouble is unguarded speech.
+The word Kado means always the main entrance to a residence.
+
+52.--Kwaho wa, nete mate.
+If you wish for good luck, sleep and wait.*
+
+*Kwaho, a purely Buddhist term, signifying good fortune as the
+result of good actions in a previous life, has come to mean in
+common parlance good fortune of any kind. The proverb is often
+used in a sense similar to that of the English saying: "Watched
+pot never boils." In a strictly Buddhist sense it would mean, "Do
+not be too eager for the reward of good deeds."
+
+53.--Makanu tane wa haenu.
+Nothing will grow, if the seed be not sown.*
+
+*Do not expect harvest, unless you sow the seed. Without earnest
+effort no merit can be gained.
+
+54.--Mateba, kanro no hiyori.
+If you wait, ambrosial weather will come.*
+
+*Kanro, the sweet dew of Heaven, or amrita. All good things come
+to him who waits.
+
+55.--Meido no michi ni O wa nashi.
+There is no King on the Road of Death.*
+
+*Literally, "on the Road of Meido." The MeldS is the Japanese
+Hades,--the dark under-world to which all the dead must journey.
+
+56.--Mekura hebi ni ojizu.
+The blind man does not fear the snake.*
+
+*The ignorant and the vicious, not understanding the law of
+cause-and-effect, do not fear the certain results of their folly.
+
+57.--Mitsureba, hakuru.
+Having waxed, wanes.*
+
+*No sooner has the moon waxed full than it begins to wane. So the
+height of prosperity is also the beginning of fortunes decline.
+
+58.--Mon zen no kozo narawanu kyo wo yomu.
+The shop-boy in front of the temple-gate repeats the sutra which
+he never learned.
+
+*Kozo means "acolyte" as well as "shop-boy,""errand-boy," or
+"apprentice;" but in this case it refers to a boy employed in a
+shop situated near or before the gate of a Buddhist temple. By
+constantly hearing the sutra chanted in the temple, the boy
+learns to repeat the words. A proverb of kindred meaning is,
+Kangaku-In no suzume wa, Mogyu wo sayezuru: "The sparrows of
+Kangaku-In [an ancient seat of learning] chirp the Mogyu,"--a
+Chinese text formerly taught to young students. The teaching of
+either proverb is excellently expressed by a third:--Narau yori
+wa narero: "Rather than study [an art], get accustomed to it,"--
+that is to say, "keep constantly in contact with it." Observation
+and practice are even better than study.
+
+59.--Mujo no kaze wa, toki erabazu.
+The Wind of Impermanency does not choose a time.*
+
+*Death and Change do not conform their ways to human expectation.
+
+60.--Neko mo Bussho ari.
+In even a cat the Buddha-nature exists.*
+
+*Notwithstanding the legend that only the cat and the mamushi (a
+poisonous viper) failed to weep for the death of the Buddha.
+
+61.--Neta ma ga Gokuraku.
+The interval of sleep is Paradise.*
+
+*Only during sleep can we sometimes cease to know the sorrow and
+pain of this world. (Compare with No. 83.)
+
+62.--Nijiu-go Bosatsu mo sore-sore no yaku.
+Even each of the Twenty-five Bodhisattvas has his own particular
+duty to perform.
+
+63.--Nin mite, no toke.
+[First] see the person, [then] preach the doctrine.*
+
+*The teaching of Buddhist doctrine should always be adapted to
+the intelligence of the person to be instructed. There is another
+proverb of the same kind,--Ki ni yorite, ho wo toke: "According
+to the understanding [of the person to be taught], preach the
+Law."
+
+64.--Ninshin ukegataku Buppo aigatashi.
+It is not easy to be born among men, and to meet with [the good
+fortune of hearing the doctrine of] Buddhism.*
+
+*Popular Buddhism teaches that to be born in the world of
+mankind, and especially among a people professing Buddhism, is a
+very great privilege. However miserable human existence, it is at
+least a state in which some knowledge of divine truth may be
+obtained; whereas the beings in other and lower conditions of
+life are relatively incapable of spiritual progress.
+
+65.--Oni mo jiu-hachi.
+Even a devil [is pretty] at eighteen.*
+
+*There are many curious sayings and proverbs about the oni, or
+Buddhist devil,--such as Oni no me ni mo namida, "tears in even a
+devil's eyes;"--Oni no kakuran, "devil's cholera" (said of the
+unexpected sickness of some very strong and healthy person),
+etc., etc.--The class of demons called Oni, properly belong to
+the Buddhist hells, where they act as torturers and jailers. They
+are not to be confounded with the Ma, Yasha, Kijin, and other
+classes of evil spirits. In Buddhist art they are represented as
+beings of enormous strength, with the heads of bulls and of
+horses. The bull-headed demons are called Go-zu; the horse-headed
+Me-zu.
+
+66.--Oni mo mi, naretaru ga yoshi.
+Even a devil, when you become accustomed to the sight of him, may
+prove a pleasant acquaintance.
+
+67.--Oni ni kanabo.
+An iron club for a demon.*
+
+*Meaning that great power should be given only to the strong.
+
+68.--Oni no nyobo ni kijin.
+A devil takes a goblin to wife.*
+
+*Meaning that a wicked man usually marries a wicked
+woman.
+
+69.--Onna no ke ni wa dai-zo mo tsunagaru.
+With one hair of a woman you can tether even a great elephant.
+
+70.--Onna wa Sangai ni iye nashi.
+Women have no homes of their own in the Three States of
+Existence.
+
+71.--Oya no ingwa ga ko ni mukuu.
+The karma of the parents is visited upon the child.*
+
+*Said of the parents of crippled or deformed children. But the
+popular idea here expressed is not altogether in acco~l with the
+teachings of the higher Buddhism.
+
+72.--Rakkwa eda ni kaerazu.
+The fallen blossom never returns to the branch.*
+
+*That which has been done never can be undone: the past cannot be
+recalled.--This proverb is an abbreviation of the longer Buddhist
+text: Rakkwa eda ni kaerazu; ha-kyo futatabi terasazu: "The
+fallen blossom never returns to the branch; the shattered mirror
+never again reflects."
+
+73.--Raku wa ku no tane; ku wa raku no tane.
+Pleasure is the seed of pain; pain is the seed of pleasure.
+
+74.--Rokudo wa, me no mae.
+The Six Roads are right before your eyes.*
+
+*That is to say, Your future life depends upon your conduct in
+this life; and you are thus free to choose for yourself the place
+of your next birth.
+
+75.--Sangai mu-an.
+There is no rest within the Three States of Existence.
+
+76.--Sangai ni kaki nashi;--Rokudo ni hotori nashi.
+There is no fence to the Three States of Existence;--there is no
+neighborhood to the Six Roads.*
+
+*Within the Three States (Sangai), or universes, of Desire, Form,
+and Formlessness; and within the Six Worlds, or conditions of
+being,--Jigokudo (Hell), Gakido (Pretas), Chikushodo (Animal
+Life), Shurado (World of Fighting and Slaughter), Ningendo
+(Mankind), Tenjodo (Heavenly Spirits)--all existence is included.
+Beyond there is only Nirvana. "There is no fence," "no
+neighborhood,"--that is to say, no limit beyond which to escape,
+--no middle-path between any two of these states. We shall be
+reborn into some one of them according to our karma.--Compare
+with No. 74.
+
+77.--Sange ni wa sannen no tsumi mo horobu.
+One confession effaces the sins of even three years.
+
+78.--San nin yoreba, kugai.
+Where even three persons come together, there is a world of
+pain.*
+
+*Kugai (lit.: "bitter world") is a term often used to describe
+the life of a prostitute.
+
+79.--San nin yoreba, Monju no chie.
+Where three persons come together, there is the wisdom of Monju.*
+
+*Monju Bosatsu [Mandjus'ri Bodhisattva] figures in Japanese
+Buddhism as a special divinity of wisdom.--The proverb signifies
+that three heads are better than one. A saying of like meaning
+is, Hiza to mo danko: "Consult even with your own knee;" that is
+to say, Despise no advice, no matter how humble the source of it.
+
+80.--Shaka ni sekkyo.
+Preaching to Sakyamuni.
+
+81.--Shami kara choro.
+To become an abbot one must begin as a novice.
+
+82.--Shindareba, koso ikitare.
+Only by reason of having died does one enter into life.*
+
+*I never hear this singular proverb without being re-minded of a
+sentence in Huxley's famous essay, On the Physical Basis of
+Life:--"The living protoplasm not only ultimately dies and is
+resolved into its mineral and lifeless constituents, but is
+always dying, and, strange as the paradox may sound, could not
+live unless it died."
+
+
+83.--Shiranu ga, hotoke; minu ga, Gokuraku.
+Not to know is to be a Buddha; not to see is Paradise.
+
+84.--Shobo ni kidoku nashi.
+There is no miracle in true doctrine.*
+
+*Nothing can happen except as a result of eternal and irrevocable
+law.
+
+85.--Sho-chie wa Bodai no samatage.
+A little wisdom is a stumbling-block on the way to Buddhahood.*
+
+*Bodai is the same word as the Sanscrit Bodhi, signifying the
+supreme enlightenment,--the knowledge that leads to Buddhahood;
+but it is often used by Japanese Buddhists in the sense of divine
+bliss, or the Buddha-state itself.
+
+86.--Shoshi no kukai hetori nashi.
+There is no shore to the bitter Sea of Birth and Death.*
+
+*Or, "the Pain-Sea of Life and Death."
+
+87.--Sode no furi-awase mo tasho no en.
+Even the touching of sleeves in passing is caused by some
+relation in a former life.
+
+88.--Sun zen; shaku ma.
+An inch of virtue; a foot of demon.*
+
+*Ma (Sanscrit, Marakayikas) is the name given to a particular
+class of spirits who tempt men to evil. But in Japanese folklore
+the Ma have a part much resembling that occupied in Western
+popular superstition by goblins and fairies.
+
+89.--Tanoshimi wa hanasimi no motoi.
+All joy is the source of sorrow.
+
+90.--Tonde hi ni iru natsu no mushi.
+So the insects of summer fly to the flame.*
+
+*Said especially in reference to the result of sensual
+indulgence.
+
+91.--Tsuchi-botoke no midzu-asobi.
+Clay-Buddha's water-playing.*
+
+*That is to say, "As dangerous as for a clay Buddha to play with
+water." Children often amuse themselves by making little Buddhist
+images of mud, which melt into shapelessness, of course, if
+placed in water.
+
+92.--Tsuki ni murakumo, hana ni kaze.
+Cloud-wrack to the moon; wind to flowers.*
+
+*The beauty of the moon is obscured by masses of clouds; the
+trees no sooner blossom than their flowers are scattered by the
+wind. All beauty is evanescent.
+
+93.--Tsuyu no inochi.
+Human life is like the dew of morning.
+
+94.--U-ki wa, kokoro ni ari.
+Joy and sorrow exist only in the mind.
+
+95.--Uri no tsuru ni nasubi wa naranu.
+Egg-plants do not grow upon melon-vines.
+
+96.--Uso mo hoben.
+Even an untruth may serve as a device.*
+
+*That is, a pious device for effecting conversion. Such a device
+is justified especially by the famous parable of the third
+chapter of the Saddharma Pundarika.
+
+97.--Waga ya no hotoke tattoshi.
+My family ancestors were all excellent Buddhas.*
+
+*Meaning that one most reveres the hotoke--the spirits of the
+dead regarded as Buddhas--in one's own household-shrine. There is
+an ironical play upon the word hotoke, which may mean either a
+dead person simply, or a Buddha. Perhaps the spirit of this
+proverb may be better explained by the help of another: Nigeta
+sakana ni chisai wa nai; shinda kodomo ni warui ko wa nai--"Fish
+that escaped was never small; child that died was never bad."
+
+98.--Yuki no hate wa, Nehan.
+The end of snow is Nirvana.*
+
+*This curious saying is the only one in my collection containing
+the word Nehan (Nirvana), and is here inserted chiefly for that
+reason. The common people seldom speak of Nehan, and have little
+knowledge of those profound doctrines to which the term is
+related. The above phrase, as might be inferred, is not a popular
+expression: it is rather an artistic and poetical reference to
+the aspect of a landscape covered with snow to the horizon-line,
+--so that beyond the snow-circle there is only the great void of
+the sky.
+
+99.--Zen ni wa zen no mukui; aku ni wa aku no mukui.
+Goodness [or, virtue] is the return for goodness; evil is the
+return for evil.*
+
+*Not so commonplace a proverb as might appear at first sight; for
+it refers especially to the Buddhist belief that every kindness
+shown to us in this life is a return of kindness done to others
+in a former life, and that every wrong inflicted upon us is the
+reflex of some injustice which we committed in a previous birth.
+
+100.--Zense no yakusoku-goto.
+Promised [or, destined] from a former birth.*
+
+*A very common saying,--often uttered as a comment upon the
+unhappiness of separation, upon sudden misfortune, upon sudden
+death, etc. It is used especially in relation to shinju, or
+lovers' suicide. Such suicide is popularly thought to be a result
+of cruelty in some previous state of being, or the consequence of
+having broken, in a former life, the mutual promise to become
+husband and wife.
+
+
+
+SUGGESTION
+
+
+I had the privilege of meeting him in Tokyo, where he was making
+a brief stay on his way to India;--and we took a long walk
+together, and talked of Eastern religions, about which he knew
+incomparably more than I. Whatever I could tell him concerning
+local beliefs, he would comment upon in the most startling
+manner,--citing weird correspondences in some living cult of
+India, Burmah, or Ceylon. Then, all of a sudden, he turned the
+conversation into a totally unexpected direction.
+
+"I have been thinking," he said, "about the constancy of the
+relative proportion of the sexes, and wondering whether Buddhist
+doctrine furnishes an explanation. For it seems to me that, under
+ordinary conditions of karma, human rebirth would necessarily
+proceed by a regular alternation."
+
+"Do you mean," I asked, "that a man would be reborn as a woman,
+and a woman as a man?"
+
+"Yes," he replied, "because desire is creative, and the desire of
+either sex is towards the other."
+
+"And how many men," I said, "would want to be reborn as women?"
+
+"Probably very few," he answered. "But the doctrine that desire
+is creative does not imply that the individual longing creates
+its own satisfaction,--quite the contrary. The true teaching is
+that the result of every selfish wish is in the nature of a
+penalty, and that what the wish creates must prove--to higher
+knowledge at least--the folly of wishing."
+
+"There you are right," I said; "but I do not yet understand your
+theory."
+
+"Well," he continued, "if the physical conditions of human
+rebirth are all determined by the karma of the will relating to
+physical conditions, then sex would be determined by the will in
+relation to sex. Now the will of either sex is towards the other.
+Above all things else, excepting life, man desires woman, and
+woman man. Each individual, moreover, independently of any
+personal relation, feels perpetually, you say, the influence of
+some inborn feminine or masculine ideal, which you call 'a
+ghostly reflex of countless attachments in countless past lives.'
+And the insatiable desire represented by this ideal would of
+itself suffice to create the masculine or the feminine body of
+the next existence."
+
+"But most women," I observed, "would like to be reborn as men;
+and the accomplishment of that wish would scarcely be in the
+nature of a penalty."
+
+"Why not?" he returned. "The happiness or unhappiness of the new
+existence would not be decided by sex alone: it would of
+necessity depend upon many conditions in combination."
+
+"Your theory is interesting," I said;--"but I do not know how far
+it could be made to accord with accepted doctrine.... And what of
+the person able, through knowledge and practice of the higher
+law, to remain superior to all weaknesses of sex?"
+
+"Such a one," he replied, "would be reborn neither as man nor as
+woman,--providing there were no pre-existent karma powerful
+enough to check or to weaken the results of the self-conquest."
+
+"Reborn in some one of the heavens?" I queried,--"by the
+Apparitional Birth?"
+
+"Not necessarily," he said. "Such a one might be reborn in a
+world of desire,--like this,--but neither as man only, nor as
+woman only."
+
+"Reborn, then, in what form?" I asked.
+
+"In that of a perfect being," he responded. "A man or a woman is
+scarcely more than half-a-being,--because in our present
+imperfect state either sex can be evolved only at the cost of the
+other. In the mental and the physical composition of every man,
+there is undeveloped woman; and in the composition of every woman
+there is undeveloped man. But a being complete would be both
+perfect man and perfect woman, possessing the highest faculties
+of both sexes, with the weaknesses of neither. Some humanity
+higher than our own,--in other worlds,--might be thus evolved."
+
+"But you know," I observed, "that there are Buddhist texts,--in
+the Saddharma Pundarika, for example, and in the Vinayas,--which
+forbid...."
+
+"Those texts," he interrupted, "refer to imperfect beings--less
+than man and less than woman: they could not refer to the
+condition that I have been supposing.... But, remember, I am not
+preaching a doctrine;--I am only hazarding a theory."
+
+"May I put your theory some day into print?" I asked.
+
+"Why, yes," he made answer,--"if you believe it worth thinking
+about."
+
+
+And long afterwards I wrote it down thus, as fairly as I was
+able, from memory.
+
+
+
+Ingwa-banashi(1)
+
+
+The daimyo's wife was dying, and knew that she was dying. She had
+not been able to leave her bed since the early autumn of the
+tenth Bunsei. It was now the fourth month of the twelfth Bunsei,
+--the year 1829 by Western counting; and the cherry-trees were
+blossoming. She thought of the cherry-trees in her garden, and of
+the gladness of spring. She thought of her children. She thought
+of her husband's various concubines,--especially the Lady Yukiko,
+nineteen years old.
+
+"My dear wife," said the daimyo, "you have suffered very much for
+three long years. We have done all that we could to get you
+well,--watching beside you night and day, praying for you, and
+often fasting for your sake, But in spite of our loving care, and
+in spite of the skill of our best physicians, it would now seen
+that the end of your life is not far off. Probably we shall
+sorrow more than you will sorrow because of your having to leave
+what the Buddha so truly termed 'this burning-house of the world.
+I shall order to be performed--no matter what the cost--every
+religious rite that can serve you in regard to your next rebirth;
+and all of us will pray without ceasing for you, that you may not
+have to wander in the Black Space, but nay quickly enter
+Paradise, and attain to Buddha-hood."
+
+He spoke with the utmost tenderness, pressing her the while.
+Then, with eyelids closed, she answered him in a voice thin as
+the voice of in insect:--
+
+"I am grateful--most grateful--for your kind words.... Yes, it is
+true, as you say, that I have been sick for three long years, and
+that I have been treated with all possible care and affection....
+Why, indeed, should I turn away from the one true Path at the
+very moment of my death?... Perhaps to think of worldly matters
+at such a time is not right;--but I have one last request to
+make,--only one.... Call here to me the Lady Yukiko;--you know
+that I love her like a sister. I want to speak to her about the
+affairs of this household."
+
+Yukiko came at the summons of the lord, and, in obedience to a
+sign from him, knelt down beside the couch. The daimyo's wife
+opened her eyes, and looked at Yukiko, and spoke:--"Ah, here is
+Yukiko!... I am so pleased to see you, Yukiko!... Come a little
+closer,--so that you can hear me well: I am not able to speak
+loud.... Yukiko, I am going to die. I hope that you will be
+faithful in all things to our dear lord;--for I want you to take
+my place when I am gone.... I hope that you will always be loved
+by him,--yes, even a hundred times more than I have been,--and
+that you will very soon be promoted to a higher rank, and become
+his honored wife.... And I beg of you always to cherish our dear
+lord: never allow another woman to rob you of his affection....
+This is what I wanted to say to you, dear Yukiko.... Have you
+been able to understand?"
+
+"Oh, my dear Lady," protested Yukiko, "do not, I entreat you, say
+such strange things to me! You well know that I am of poor and
+mean condition:--how could I ever dare to aspire to become the
+wife of our lord!"
+
+"Nay, nay!" returned the wife, huskily,--"this is not a time for
+words of ceremony: let us speak only the truth to each other.
+After my death, you will certainly be promoted to a higher place;
+and I now assure you again that I wish you to become the wife of
+our lord--yes, I wish this, Yukiko, even more than I wish to
+become a Buddha!... Ah, I had almost forgotten!--I want you to do
+something for me, Yukiko. You know that in the garden there is a
+yae-zakura,(2) which was brought here, the year before last, from
+Mount Yoshino in Yamato. I have been told that it is now in full
+bloom;--and I wanted so much to see it in flower! In a little
+while I shall be dead;--I must see that tree before I die. Now I
+wish you to carry me into the garden--at once, Yukiko,--so that I
+can see it.... Yes, upon your back, Yukiko;--take me upon your
+back...."
+
+While thus asking, her voice had gradually become clear and
+strong,--as if the intensity of the wish had given her new force:
+then she suddenly burst into tears. Yukiko knelt motionless, not
+knowing what to do; but the lord nodded assent.
+
+"It is her last wish in this world," he said. "She always loved
+cherry-flowers; and I know that she wanted very much to see that
+Yamato-tree in blossom. Come, my dear Yukiko, let her have her
+will."
+
+As a nurse turns her back to a child, that the child may cling to
+it, Yukiko offered her shoulders to the wife, and said:--
+
+"Lady, I am ready: please tell me how I best can help you."
+
+"Why, this way!"--responded the dying woman, lifting herself with
+an almost superhuman effort by clinging to Yukiko's shoulders.
+But as she stood erect, she quickly slipped her thin hands down
+over the shoulders, under the robe, and clutched the breasts of
+the girl,, and burst into a wicked laugh.
+
+"I have my wish!" she cried-"I have my wish for the cherry-
+bloom,(3)--but not the cherry-bloom of the garden!... I could not
+die before I got my wish. Now I have it!--oh, what a delight!"
+
+And with these words she fell forward upon the crouching girl,
+and died.
+
+
+The attendants at once attempted to lift the body from Yukiko's
+shoulders, and to lay it upon the bed. But--strange to say!--this
+seemingly easy thing could not be done. The cold hands had
+attached themselves in some unaccountable way to the breasts of
+the girl,--appeared to have grown into the quick flesh. Yukiko
+became senseless with fear and pain.
+
+Physicians were called. They could not understand what had taken
+place. By no ordinary methods could the hands of the dead woman
+be unfastened from the body of her victim;--they so clung that
+any effort to remove them brought blood. This was not because the
+fingers held: it was because the flesh of the palms had united
+itself in some inexplicable manner to the flesh of the breasts!
+
+At that time the most skilful physician in Yedo was a foreigner,
+--a Dutch surgeon. It was decided to summon him. After a careful
+examination he said that he could not understand the case, and
+that for the immediate relief of Yukiko there was nothing to be
+done except to cut the hands from the corpse. He declared that it
+would be dangerous to attempt to detach them from the breasts.
+His advice was accepted; and the hands' were amputated at the
+wrists. But they remained clinging to the breasts; and there they
+soon darkened and dried up,--like the hands of a person long
+dead.
+
+Yet this was only the beginning of the horror.
+
+Withered and bloodless though they seemed, those hands were not
+dead. At intervals they would stir--stealthily, like great grey
+spiders. And nightly thereafter,--beginning always at the Hour of
+the Ox,(4)--they would clutch and compress and torture. Only at
+the Hour of the Tiger the pain would cease.
+
+Yukiko cut off her hair, and became a mendicant-nun,--taking the
+religious name of Dassetsu. She had an ibai (mortuary tablet)
+made, bearing the kaimyo of her dead mistress,--"Myo-Ko-In-Den
+Chizan-Ryo-Fu Daishi";--and this she carried about with her in
+all her wanderings; and every day before it she humbly besought
+the dead for pardon, and performed a Buddhist service in order
+that the jealous spirit might find rest. But the evil karma that
+had rendered such an affliction possible could not soon be
+exhausted. Every night at the Hour of the Ox, the hands never
+failed to torture her, during more than seventeen years,--
+according to the testimony of those persons to whom she last told
+her story, when she stopped for one evening at the house of
+Noguchi Dengozayemon, in the village of Tanaka in the district of
+Kawachi in the province of Shimotsuke. This was in the third year
+of Kokwa (1846). Thereafter nothing more was ever heard of her.
+
+1 Lit., "a tale of ingwa." Ingwa is a Japanese Buddhist term for
+evil karma, or the evil consequence of faults committed in a
+former state of existence. Perhaps the curious title of the
+narrative is best explained by the Buddhist teaching that the
+dead have power to injure the living only in consequence of evil
+actions committed by their victims in some former life. Both
+title and narrative may be found in the collection of weird
+stories entitled Hyaku-Monogatari.
+
+2 Yae-zakura, ya�-no-sakura, a variety of Japanese cherry-tree
+that bears double-blossoms.
+
+3 In Japanese poetry and proverbial phraseology, the physical
+beauty of a woman is compared to the cherry-flower; while
+feminine moral beauty is compared to the plum-flower.
+
+4 In ancient Japanese time, the Hour of the Ox was the special
+hour of ghosts. It began at 2 A.M., and lasted until 4 A.M.--for
+the old Japanese hour was double the length of the modern hour.
+The Hour of the Tiger began at 4 A.M.
+
+
+
+Story of a Tengu (1)
+
+
+In the days of the Emperor Go-Reizei, there was a holy priest
+living in the temple of Saito, on the mountain called Hiyei-Zan,
+near Kyoto. One summer day this good priest, after a visit to the
+city, was returning to his temple by way of Kita-no-Oji, when he
+saw some boys ill-treating a kite. They had caught the bird in a
+snare, and were beating it with sticks. "Oh, the, poor creature!"
+compassionately exclaimed the priest;--"why do you torment it so,
+children?" One of the boys made answer:--"We want to kill it to
+get the feathers." Moved by pity, the priest persuaded the boys
+to let him have the kite in exchange for a fan that he was
+carrying; and he set the bird free. It had not been seriously
+hurt, and was able to fly away.
+
+Happy at having performed this Buddhist act of merit, the priest
+then resumed his walk. He had not proceeded very far when he saw
+a strange monk come out of a bamboo-grove by the road-side, and
+hasten towards him. The monk respectfully saluted him, and said:
+--"Sir, through your compassionate kindness my life has been
+saved; and I now desire to express my gratitude in a fitting
+manner." Astonished at hearing himself thus addressed, the priest
+replied:--"Really, I cannot remember to have ever seen you
+before: please tell me who you are." "It is not wonderful that
+you cannot recognize me in this form," returned the monk: "I am
+the kite that those cruel boys were tormenting at Kita-no-Oji.
+You saved my life; and there is nothing in this world more
+precious than life. So I now wish to return your kindness in some
+way or other. If there be anything that you would like to have,
+or to know, or to see,--anything that I can do for you, in
+short,--please to tell me; for as I happen to possess, in a small
+degree, the Six Supernatural Powers, I am able to gratify almost
+any wish that you can express." On hearing these words, the
+priest knew that he was speaking with a Tengu; and he frankly
+made answer:--"My friend, I have long ceased to care for the
+things of this world: I am now seventy years of age; neither fame
+nor pleasure has any attraction for me. I feel anxious only about
+my future birth; but as that is a matter in which no one can help
+me, it were useless to ask about it. Really, I can think of but
+one thing worth wishing for. It has been my life-long regret that
+I was not in India in the time of the Lord Buddha, and could not
+attend the great assembly on the holy mountain Gridhrakuta. Never
+a day passes in which this regret does not come to me, in the
+hour of morning or of evening prayer. Ah, my friend! if it were
+possible to conquer Time and Space, like the Bodhisattvas, so
+that I could look upon that marvellous assembly, how happy should
+I be!"
+
+"Why," the Tengu exclaimed, "that pious wish of yours can easily
+be satisfied. I perfectly well remember the assembly on the
+Vulture Peak; and I can cause everything that happened there to
+reappear before you, exactly as it occurred. It is our greatest
+delight to represent such holy matters.... Come this way with
+me!"
+
+And the priest suffered himself to be led to a place among pines,
+on the slope of a hill. "Now," said the Tengu, "you have only to
+wait here for awhile, with your eyes shut. Do not open them
+until you hear the voice of the Buddha preaching the Law. Then
+you can look. But when you see the appearance of the Buddha, you
+must not allow your devout feelings to influence you in any way;
+--you must not bow down, nor pray, nor utter any such exclamation
+as, 'Even so, Lord!' or 'O thou Blessed One!' You must not speak
+at all. Should you make even the least sign of reverence,
+something very unfortunate might happen to me." The priest gladly
+promised to follow these injunctions; and the Tengu hurried away
+as if to prepare the spectacle.
+
+
+The day waned and passed, and the darkness came; but the old
+priest waited patiently beneath a tree, keeping his eyes closed.
+At last a voice suddenly resounded above him,--a wonderful voice,
+deep and clear like the pealing of a mighty bell,--the voice of
+the Buddha Sakyamuni proclaiming the Perfect Way. Then the
+priest, opening his eyes in a great radiance, perceived that all
+things had been changed: the place was indeed the Vulture Peak,--
+the holy Indian mountain Gridhrakuta; and the time was the time
+of the Sutra of the Lotos of the Good Law. Now there were no
+pines about him, but strange shining trees made of the Seven
+Precious Substances, with foliage and fruit of gems;--and the
+ground was covered with Mandarava and Manjushaka flowers showered
+from heaven;--and the night was filled with fragrance and
+splendour and the sweetness of the great Voice. And in mid-air,
+shining as a moon above the world, the priest beheld the Blessed
+One seated upon the Lion-throne, with Samantabhadra at his right
+hand, and Manjusri at his left,--and before them assembled--
+immeasurably spreading into Space, like a flood Of stars--the
+hosts of the Mahasattvas and the Bodhisattvas with their
+countless following: "gods, demons, Nagas, goblins, men, and
+beings not human." Sariputra he saw, and Kasyapa, and Ananda,
+with all the disciples of the Tathagata,--and the Kings of the
+Devas,--and the Kings of the Four Directions, like pillars of
+fire,--and the great Dragon-Kings,--and the Gandharvas and
+Garudas,--and the Gods of the Sun and the Moon and the Wind,--and
+the shining myriads of Brahma's heaven. And incomparably further
+than even the measureless circling of the glory of these, he saw
+--made visible by a single ray of light that shot from the
+forehead of the Blessed One to pierce beyond uttermost Time--the
+eighteen hundred thousand Buddha-fields of the Eastern Quarter
+with all their habitants,--and the beings in each of the Six
+States of Existence,--and even the shapes of the Buddhas extinct,
+that had entered into Nirvana. These, and all the gods, and all
+the demons, he saw bow down before the Lion-throne; and he heard
+that multitude incalculable of beings praising the Sutra of the
+Lotos of the Good Law,--like the roar of a sea before the Lord.
+Then forgetting utterly his pledge,--foolishly dreaming that he
+stood in the very presence of the very Buddha,--he cast himself
+down in worship with tears of love and thanksgiving; crying out
+with a loud voice, "O thou Blessed One!"...
+
+Instantly with a shock as of earthquake the stupendous spectacle
+disappeared; and the priest found himself alone in the dark,
+kneeling upon the grass of the mountain-side. Then a sadness
+unspeakable fell upon him, because of the loss of the vision, and
+because of the thoughtlessness that had caused him to break his
+word. As he sorrowfully turned his steps homeward, the goblin-
+monk once more appeared before him, and said to him in tones of
+reproach and pain:--"Because you did not keep the promise which
+you made to me, and heedlessly allowed your feelings to overcome
+you, the Gohotend�, who is the Guardian of the Doctrine, swooped
+down suddenly from heaven upon us, and smote us in great anger,
+crying out, 'How do ye dare thus to deceive a pious person?' Then
+the other monks, whom I had assembled, all fled in fear. As for
+myself, one of my wings has been broken,--so that now I cannot
+fly." And with these words the Tengu vanished forever.
+
+1 This story may be found in the curious old Japanese book called
+Jikkun-Sho. The same legend has furnished the subject of an
+interesting No-play, called Dai-E ("The Great Assembly").
+
+In Japanese popular art, the Tengu are commonly represented
+either as winged men with beak-shaped noses, or as birds of prey.
+There are different kinds of Tengu; but all are supposed to be
+mountain-haunting spirits, capable of assuming many forms, and
+occasionally appearing as crows, vultures, or eagles. Buddhism
+appears to class the Tengu among the Marakayikas.
+
+
+
+At Yaidzu
+
+I
+
+Under a bright sun the old fishing-town of Yaidzu has a
+particular charm of neutral color. Lizard-like it takes the grey
+tints of the rude grey coast on which it rests,--curving along a
+little bay. It is sheltered from heavy seas by an extraordinary
+rampart of boulders. This rampart, on the water-side, is built in
+the form of terrace-steps;--the rounded stones of which it is
+composed being kept in position by a sort of basket-work woven
+between rows of stakes driven deeply into the ground,--a separate
+row of stakes sustaining each of the grades. Looking landward
+from the top of the structure, your gaze ranges over the whole
+town,--a broad space of grey-tiled roofs and weather-worn grey
+timbers, with here and there a pine-grove marking the place of a
+temple-court. Seaward, over leagues of water, there is a grand
+view,--a jagged blue range of peaks crowding sharply into the
+horizon, like prodigious amethysts,--and beyond them, to the
+left, the glorious spectre of Fuji, towering enormously above
+everything. Between sea-wall and sea there is no sand,--only a
+grey slope of stones, chiefly boulders; and these roll with the
+surf so that it is ugly work trying to pass the breakers on a
+rough day. If you once get struck by a stone-wave,--as I did
+several times,--you will not soon forget the experience.
+
+At certain hours the greater part of this rough slope is occupied
+by ranks of strange-looking craft,--fishing-boats of a form
+peculiar to the locality. They are very large,--capable of
+carrying forty or fifty men each;--and they have queer high
+prows, to which Buddhist or Shinto charms (mamori or shugo) are
+usually attached. A common form of Shinto written charm (shugo)
+is furnished for this purpose from the temple of the Goddess of
+Fuji: the text reads:--Fuji-san chojo Sengen-gu dai-gyo manzoku,
+--meaning that the owner of the boat pledges himself, in case of
+good-fortune at fishing, to perform great austerities in honor of
+the divinity whose shrine is upon the summit of Fuji.
+
+
+In every coast-province of Japan,--and even at different fishing-
+settlements of the same province,--the forms of boats and
+fishing-implements are peculiar to the district or settlement.
+Indeed it will sometimes be found that settlements, within a few
+miles of each other, respectively manufacture nets or boats as
+dissimilar in type as might be the inventions of races living
+thousands of miles apart. This amazing variety may be in some
+degree due to respect for local tradition,--to the pious
+conservatism that preserves ancestral teaching and custom
+unchanged through hundreds of years: but it is better explained
+by the fact that different communities practise different kinds
+of fishing; and the shapes of the nets or the boats made, at any
+one place, are likely to prove, on investigation, the inventions
+of a special experience. The big Yaidzu boats illustrate this
+fact. They were devised according to the particular requirements
+of the Yaidzu-fishing-industry, which supplies dried katsuo
+(bonito) to all parts of the Empire; and it was necessary that
+they should be able to ride a very rough sea. To get them in or
+out of the water is a heavy job; but the whole village helps. A
+kind of slipway is improvised in a moment by laying flat wooden
+frames on the slope in a line; and over these frames the flat-
+bottomed vessels are hauled up or down by means of long ropes.
+You will see a hundred or more persons thus engaged in moving a
+single boat,--men, women, and children pulling together, in time
+to a curious melancholy chant. At the coming of a typhoon, the
+boats are moved far back into the streets. There is plenty of fun
+in helping at such work; and if you are a stranger, the fisher-
+folk will perhaps reward your pains by showing you the wonders of
+their sea: crabs with legs of astonishing length, balloon-fish
+that blow themselves up in the most absurd manner, and various
+other creatures of shapes so extraordinary that you can scarcely
+believe them natural without touching them.
+
+The big boats with holy texts at their prows are not the
+strangest objects on the beach. Even more remarkable are the
+bait-baskets of split bamboo,--baskets six feet high and eighteen
+feet round, with one small hole in the dome-shaped top. Ranged
+along the sea-wall to dry, they might at some distance be
+mistaken for habitations or huts of some sort. Then you see great
+wooden anchors, shaped like ploughshares, and shod with metal;
+iron anchors, with four flukes; prodigious wooden mallets, used
+for driving stakes; and various other implements, still more
+unfamiliar, of which you cannot even imagine the purpose. The
+indescribable antique queerness of everything gives you that
+weird sensation of remoteness,--of the far away in time and
+place,--which makes one doubt the reality of the visible. And the
+life of Yaidzu is certainly the life of many centuries ago. The
+people, too, are the people of Old Japan: frank and kindly as
+children--good children,--honest to a fault, innocent of the
+further world, loyal to the ancient traditions and the ancient
+gods.
+
+
+II
+
+I happened to be at Yaidzu during the three days of the Bon or
+Festival of the Dead; and I hoped to see the beautiful farewell
+ceremony of the third and last day. In many parts of Japan, the
+ghosts are furnished with miniature ships for their voyage,--
+little models of junks or fishing-craft, each containing
+offerings of food and water and kindled incense; also a tiny
+lantern or lamp, if the ghost-ship be despatched at night. But at
+Yaidzu lanterns only are set afloat; and I was told that they
+would be launched after dark. Midnight being the customary hour
+elsewhere, I supposed that it was the hour of farewell at Yaidzu
+also, and I rashly indulged in a nap after supper, expecting to
+wake up in time for the spectacle. But by ten o'clock, when I
+went to the beach again, all was over, and everybody had gone
+home. Over the water I saw something like a long swarm of fire-
+flies,--the lanterns drifting out to sea in procession; but they
+were already too far to be distinguished except as points of
+colored light. I was much disappointed: I felt that I had lazily
+missed an opportunity which might never again return,--for these
+old Bon-customs are dying rapidly. But in another moment it
+occurred to me that I could very well venture to swim out to the
+lights. They were moving slowly. I dropped my robe on the beach,
+and plunged in. The sea was calm, and beautifully phosphorescent.
+Every stroke kindled a stream of yellow fire. I swam fast, and
+overtook the last of the lantern-fleet much sooner than I had
+hoped. I felt that it would be unkind to interfere with the
+little embarcations, or to divert them from their silent course:
+so I contented myself with keeping close to one of them, and
+studying its details.
+
+The structure was very simple. The bottom was a piece of thick
+plank, perfectly square, and measuring about ten inches across.
+Each one of its corners supported a slender slick about sixteen
+inches high; and these four uprights, united above by cross-
+pieces, sustained the paper sides. Upon the point of a long nail,
+driven up through the centre of the bottom, was fixed a lighted
+candle. The top was left open. The four sides presented five
+different colors,--blue, yellow, red, white, and black; these
+five colors respectively symbolizing Ether, Wind, Fire, Water,
+and Earth,--the five Buddhist elements which are metaphysically
+identified with the Five Buddhas. One of the paper-panes was red,
+one blue, one yellow; and the right half of the fourth pane was
+black, while the left half, uncolored, represented white. No
+kaimyo was written upon any of the transparencies. Inside the
+lantern there was only the flickering candle.
+
+I watched those frail glowing shapes drifting through the night,
+and ever as they drifted scattering, under impulse of wind and
+wave, more and more widely apart. Each, with its quiver of color,
+seemed a life afraid,--trembling on the blind current that was
+bearing it into the outer blackness.... Are not we ourselves as
+lanterns launched upon a deeper and a dimmer sea, and ever
+separating further and further one from another as we drift to
+the inevitable dissolution? Soon the thought-light in each burns
+itself out: then the poor frames, and all that is left of their
+once fair colors, must melt forever into the colorless Void.
+
+Even in the moment of this musing I began to doubt whether I was
+really alone,--to ask myself whether there might not be something
+more than a mere shuddering of light in the thing that rocked
+beside me: some presence that haunted the dying flame, and was
+watching the watcher. A faint cold thrill passed over me,--
+perhaps some chill uprising from the depths,--perhaps the
+creeping only of a ghostly fancy. Old superstitions of the coast
+recurred to me,--old vague warnings of peril in the time of the
+passage of Souls. I reflected that were any evil to befall me out
+there in the night,--meddling, or seeming to meddle, with the
+lights of the Dead,--I should myself furnish the subject of some
+future weird legend.... I whispered the Buddhist formula of
+farewell--to the lights,--and made speed for shore.
+
+As I touched the stones again, I was startled by seeing two white
+shadows before me; but a kindly voice, asking if the water was
+cold, set me at ease. It was the voice of my old landlord,
+Otokichi the fishseller, who had come to look for me, accompanied
+by his wife.
+
+"Only pleasantly cool," I made answer, as I threw on my robe to
+go home with them.
+
+"Ah," said the wife, "it is not good to go out there on the night
+of the Bon!"
+
+"I did not go far," I replied;--"I only wanted to look at the
+lanterns."
+
+"Even a Kappa gets drowned sometimes,"(1) protested Otokichi.
+"There was a man of this village who swam home a distance of
+seven ri, in bad weather, after his boat had been broken. But he
+was drowned afterwards."
+
+Seven ri means a trifle less than eighteen miles. I asked if any
+of the young men now in the settlement could do as much.
+
+"Probably some might," the old man replied. "There are many
+strong swimmers. All swim here,--even the little children. But
+when fisher-folk swim like that, it is only to save their lives."
+
+"Or to make love," the wife added,--"like the Hashima girl."
+
+"Who?" queried I.
+
+"A fisherman's daughter," said Otokichi. "She had a lover in
+Ajiro, several ri distant; and she used to swim to him at night,
+and swim back in the morning. He kept a light burning to guide
+her. But one dark night the light was neglected--or blown out;
+and she lost her way, and was drowned.... The story is famous in
+Idzu."
+
+
+--"So," I said to myself, "in the Far East, it is poor Hero that
+does the swimming. And what, under such circumstances, would have
+been the Western estimate of Leander?"
+
+1 This is a common proverb:--Kappa mo obore-shini. The Kappa is a
+water-goblin, haunting rivers especially.
+
+
+III
+
+Usually about the time of the Bon, the sea gets rough; and I was
+not surprised to find next morning that the surf was running
+high. All day it grew. By the middle of the afternoon, the waves
+had become wonderful; and I sat on the sea-wall, and watched them
+until sundown.
+
+It was a long slow rolling,--massive and formidable. Sometimes,
+just before breaking, a towering swell would crack all its green
+length with a tinkle as of shivering glass; then would fall and
+flatten with a peal that shook the wall beneath me.... I thought
+of the great dead Russian general who made his army to storm as a
+sea,--wave upon wave of steel,--thunder following thunder....
+There was yet scarcely any wind; but there must have been wild
+weather elsewhere,--and the breakers were steadily heightening.
+Their motion fascinated. How indescribably complex such motion
+is,--yet how eternally new! Who could fully describe even five
+minutes of it? No mortal ever saw two waves break in exactly the
+same way.
+
+And probably no mortal ever watched the ocean-roll or heard its
+thunder without feeling serious. I have noticed that even
+animals,--horses and cows,--become meditative in the presence of
+the sea: they stand and stare and listen as if the sight and
+sound of that immensity made them forget all else in the world.
+
+There is a folk-saying of the coast:--"The Sea has a soul and
+hears." And the meaning is thus explained: Never speak of your
+fear when you feel afraid at sea;--if you say that you are
+afraid, the waves will suddenly rise higher. Now this imagining
+seems to me absolutely natural. I must confess that when I am
+either in the sea, or upon it, I cannot fully persuade myself
+that it is not alive,--a conscious and a hostile power. Reason,
+for the time being, avails nothing against this fancy. In order
+to be able to think of the sea as a mere body of water, I must be
+upon some height from whence its heaviest billowing appears but a
+lazy creeping of tiny ripples.
+
+But the primitive fancy may be roused even more strongly in
+darkness than by daylight. How living seem the smoulderings and
+the flashings of the tide on nights of phosphorescence!--how
+reptilian the subtle shifting of the tints of its chilly flame!
+Dive into such a night-sea;--open your eyes in the black-blue
+gloom, and watch the weird gush of lights that follow your every
+motion: each luminous point, as seen through the flood, like the
+opening and closing of an eye! At such a moment, one feels indeed
+as if enveloped by some monstrous sentiency,--suspended within
+some vital substance that feels and sees and wills alike in every
+part, an infinite soft cold Ghost.
+
+
+IV
+
+Long I lay awake that night, and listened to the thunder-rolls
+and crashings of the mighty tide. Deeper than these distinct
+shocks of noise, and all the storming of the nearer waves, was
+the bass of the further surf,--a ceaseless abysmal muttering to
+which the building trembled,--a sound that seemed to imagination
+like the sound of the trampling of infinite cavalry, the massing
+of incalculable artillery,--some rushing, from the Sunrise, of
+armies wide as the world.
+
+Then I found myself thinking of the vague terror with which I had
+listened, when a child, to the voice of the sea;--and I
+remembered that in after-years, on different coasts in different
+parts of the world, the sound of surf had always revived the
+childish emotion. Certainly this emotion was older than I by
+thousands of thousands of centuries,--the inherited sum of
+numberless terrors ancestral. But presently there came to me the
+conviction that fear of the sea alone could represent but one
+element of the multitudinous awe awakened by its voice. For as I
+listened to that wild tide of the Suruga coast, I could
+distinguish nearly every sound of fear known to man: not merely
+noises of battle tremendous,--of interminable volleying,--of
+immeasurable charging,--but the roaring of beasts, the crackling
+and hissing of fire, the rumbling of earthquake, the thunder of
+ruin, and, above all these, a clamor continual as of shrieks and
+smothered shoutings,--the Voices that are said to be the voices
+of the drowned., Awfulness supreme of tumult,--combining all
+imaginable echoings of fury and destruction and despair!
+
+And to myself I said:--Is it wonderful that the voice of the sea
+should make us serious? Consonantly to its multiple utterance
+must respond all waves of immemorial fear that move in the vaster
+sea of soul-experience. Deep calleth unto deep. The visible abyss
+calls to that abyss invisible of elder being whose flood-flow
+made the ghosts of us.
+
+Wherefore there is surely more than a little truth in the ancient
+belief that the speech of the dead is the roar of the sea. Truly
+the fear and the pain of the dead past speak to us in that dim
+deep awe which the roar of the sea awakens.
+
+
+But there are sounds that move us much more profoundly than the
+voice of the sea can do, and in stranger ways,--sounds that also
+make us serious at times, and very serious,--sounds of music.
+
+Great music is a psychical storm, agitating to unimaginable depth
+the mystery of the past within us. Or we might say that it is a
+prodigious incantation, every different instrument and voice
+making separate appeal to different billions of prenatal
+memories. There are tones that call up all ghosts of youth and
+joy and tenderness;--there are tones that evoke all phantom pain
+of perished passion;--there are tones that resurrect all dead
+sensations of majesty and might and glory,--all expired
+exultations,--all forgotten magnanimities. Well may the influence
+of music seem inexplicable to the man who idly dreams that his
+life began less than a hundred years ago! But the mystery
+lightens for whomsoever learns that the substance of Self is
+older than the sun. He finds that music is a Necromancy;--he
+feels that to every ripple of melody, to every billow of harmony,
+there answers within him, out of the Sea of Death and Birth, some
+eddying immeasurable of ancient pleasure and pain.
+
+Pleasure and pain: they commingle always in great music; and
+therefore it is that music can move us more profoundly than the
+voice of ocean or than any other voice can do. But in music's
+larger utterance it is ever the sorrow that makes the undertone,
+--the surf-mutter of the Sea of Soul.... Strange to think how
+vast the sum of joy and woe that must have been experienced
+before the sense of music could evolve in the brain of man!
+
+
+Somewhere it is said that human life is the music of the Gods,--
+that its sobs and laughter, its songs and shrieks and orisons,
+its outcries of delight and of despair, rise never to the hearing
+of the Immortals but as a perfect harmony.... Wherefore they
+could not desire to hush the tones of pain: it would spoil their
+music! The combination, without the agony-tones, would prove a
+discord unendurable to ears divine.
+
+And in one way we ourselves are as Gods,--since it is only the
+sum of the pains and the joys of past lives innumerable that
+makes for us, through memory organic, the ecstasy of music. All
+the gladness and the grief of dead generations come back to haunt
+us in countless forms of harmony and of melody. Even so,--a
+million years after we shall have ceased to view the sun,--will
+the gladness and the grief of our own lives pass with richer
+music into other hearts--there to bestir, for one mysterious
+moment, some deep and exquisite thrilling of voluptuous pain.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In Ghostly Japan, by Lafcadio Hearn
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