English
68 JAPANESE LITERATURE Tsurayuki begins by telling his readers that diaries being commonly written by men, this is an attempt to write a woman’s diary; meaning, that it was in the Japanese language and written character, not in Chinese. He then records his departure from the Government House of Tosa, and his arrival at the port from which he was to sail. He was accompanied hither by large numbers of people who came to take leave of him. Most brought with them parting presents, usually of eatables or saké. The result was that in Tsurayuki’s words, “Strange to say, here we were all fresh by the shore of the salt sea.” He did not actually set sail till the 27th, the intervening six days being chiefly taken up in disposing of the presents, and in a visit to the newly appointed Prefect, with whom he spent a day and night in drinking and verse-making, after which he took a final leave. Tsurayuki’s successor in office shook hands with him at the bottom of the steps leading up to the house, and they bade each other farewell with many cordial but tipsy expressions of good-will on both sides. On the following day, however, we find Tsurayuki in a different frame of mind. He tells us that during his stay in Tosa a girl had died who was born in Kidto, and that amid all the bustle and confusion of leaving port, her friends could think of nothing but her. Some one, he says, composed this verse of poetry on the occasion : “With the joyful thought, ‘Home to Kioto,’ there mingles the bitter reflection that there is one who never will return.” We are informed by another writer that Tsurayuki here deplores the loss of his own Cte little girl of nine years of age. : But the jollifications had not yet come toanend. The . new Prefect’s brother made his appearance at a project- _ TOSA NIKKI 69 ing cape on their way to the first stopping-place, and they were accordingly obliged to land on the beach, where there was more drinking and composing of verses. Of these Tsurayuki seems to have had no great opinion. He says that it required the united efforts of two of the party to make one bad verse, and compares them to two fishermen labouring along with a heavy net on their shoulders. Their jollity was interrupted by the master of the junk, who summoned them on board. There was a fair wind, he said, and the tide served ; and Tsurayuki maliciously adds that there was no more saké to drink. They accordingly embarked, and proceeded on their voyage. On the 29th they had got no farther than Ominato, a harbour only a few miles distant from their starting- point. Here they were detained for ten days waiting for a fair wind. Presents of eatables and drinkables still came in, but more sparingly, and Tsurayuki records regretfully the fate of a bottle of saké which he had fastened on the roof of the cabin, but which was displaced by the rolling of the junk and fell overboard. One of these presents was a pheasant, which, according to the old Japanese custom, was attached to a flowering branch of plum. Some brought verses with their gifts. Here is a specimen: “ Louder than the clamour of the white surges on your onward path will be the cry of me weeping that I am left behind.” Tsurayuki remarks that ‘if that were really so, he must have a very loud voice. On the goth of the second month they at last sailed from Ominato. As they passed Matsubara, they admired aa large grove of ancient firs which grew by the sea- shore. Tsurayuki mentions the pleasure with which they watched the cranes flying about among their tops, 6 70 JAPANESE LITERATURE and gives us this verse composed on the occasion: “Casting my glance over the sea, on each fir-tree! top a crane has his dwelling. They have been comrades for a thousand years.” It became dark before they reached their next stopping- place. The idea of pursuing their voyage all night long does not seem to have occurred to them. Besides, to judge from its having gone up the Osaka river as far as Yamazaki, their junk must have been a very small one, and the diary shows that it depended more on oars than on sails. Here is Tsurayuki’s description of nightfall :— “Whilst we rowed along gazing on this scene, the mountains and the sea became all dark, the night deep- ened, and east and west could not be distinguished, so we entrusted all thought of the weather to the mind of the master of our ship. Even the men who were not ac- customed to the sea became very sad, and still more the women, who rested their heads on the bottom of the ship and did nothing but weep. The sailors, however, seemed to think nothing of it, and sung the following boat-song.” Tsurayuki gives a few lines of it, and then proceeds. “There was a great deal more of this kind of stuff, but I do not write it down. Listening to the laughter at these verses, our hearts became somewhat calmed in spite of the raging of the sea. It was quite dark when we at leng‘h reached our anchorage for the night.” Three more days leisurely travelling brought them to Murotsu, a port just to the west of the eastern of the two horns which the island of Shikoku sends out to the southward. The morning after their arrival here, a slight but constant rain prevented them from starting, and the passengers took the opportunity to go on shore for a 1 Both the crane and the fir are, in Japan, emblems of long life. TOSA NIKKI mY bath. In the entry for this day, Tsurayuki mentions a curious superstition. He tells us that since the day on which they first embarked, no one wore scarlet or other rich colours or good silks, lest they should incur the anger of the gods of the sea. The next day the rain continued. It was a Buddhist fast-day, and Tsurayuki kept it faithfully till noon; but as suitable food for fast- days was not obtainable on board, he bought with rice (not having any copper cash) a Zaz which one of the sailors had caught the day before. This was the beginning of a trade between him and the sailors, saké and rice being exchanged for fish. There was no change in the weather till the 17th, the fifth day from their arrival at Murotsu. On that day they started early in the morning with the moon, then just past the full, shining over a waveless sea, which reflected the sky so perfectly, that, as Tsurayuki said, the heaven above and the ocean beneath could not be distinguished. He composed the following stanza on this occasion : ‘What is this that strikes against my oar as the boat is rowed along over the moon of the sea- depths? Is it the bush of the man in the moon ?” The fine weather, however, did not continue. Dark clouds gathering overhead alarmed the master of the junk, and they put back to Murotsu under a pelting shower, and feeling very miserable. Three more wretched days they were obliged to remain here, endeavouring with indifferent success to while away the time by writing Chinese and Japanese verses, and every morning counting the days that had been already spent on the voyage. On the 21st they again proceeded on their way. A large number of other junks sailed at the same time, a pretty sight, which was greatly admired by Tsurayuki. “It was spring,” he remarks, “but it seemed as if over the v2 JAPANESE LITERATURE sea the leaves of autumn were being scattered.” The weather was now fine, and they entered what we call the Kii Channel. Here they were disturbed by a fresh cause of anxiety. It seems that Tsurayuki during his term of office in Tosa had had occasion to deal rather severely with tue pirates of these parts, and it was thought likely that they would now try to have their revenge. One of the commentators attempts to save Tsurayuki’s reputation for courage by reminding us that this diary is written 1a the character of a woman. The course of the narrative shows that their fears were to all appearance well grounded. Two days later we find them praying to the Kami and Hotoke} to save them from the pirates. On the following days there were constant alarms, and on the 26th they heard that the pirates were actually in pursuit of them, so they left their anchorage at midnicht and put to sea. There was a place on their way where it was usual to make offerings to the God of tiie Sea. Tsurayuki made the captain offer muusa.2 They were offered by being cast into the air, and allowing the wind to carry them to the sea. The zsa fell in an .casterly direction, and the junk’s course was turned to the same quarter. To the great joy of all on board, they had now a favourable wind, sail was set, and they made a good day’s run. The next two days they were again storm- bound, but on the 29th they proceeded on their vo-aze. On the 30th they crossed the entrance to the Narut) passage, and the same night, by dint of hard rowing, they reached the strait of Idzumi. They had now reached the Gokinai, or five provinces round Kidto, and here there was 1 Shinto and Buddhist gods. 2 The strips of white paper seen in Shinto shrines, and also called gohez. TOSA NIKKI 73 no longer any fear of pirates. The rst day of the second month they made little way, and on the 2nd we have the following entry: “The rain and wind ceased not; a whole day and a whole night we prayed to the Kami and Hotoke.” On the next day the weather was equally bad, and on the 4th the captain would not put to sea, from a fear of bad weather which proved quite ground- less. There were a great many beautiful shells on the beach at this place, and Tsurayuki composed these lines in allusion to a shell which is called in Japanese the wasure-gai or “shell of forgetfulness:” “I would descend from my ship to gather the shell of forgetfulness of one for whom I am filled with sorrowful longing. Do ye, oh ye advancing surges, drive it forward to the strand.