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” He afterwards says that the true wish of his heart was not to forget her whom he had lost, but only to give such respite to his sorrow that it might afterwards gain greater strength. The following is part of the entry for the 5th, the day before they arrived in the Osaka river. They were now opposite Sumiyoshi. “Meanwhile a sudden gale sprung up, and in spite of all our efforts we fell gradually to leeward, and were in great danger of being sent to the bottom. ‘This god of Sumiyoshi,’ said the captain, ‘is like other gods. What he desires is not any of the fashionable articles of the day. Give him usa as an offering.’ The captain’s ad- vice was taken, and zusa were offered ; but as the wind, instead of ceasing, only blew harder and harder, and the danger from the storm and sea became more and more imminent, the captain again said, ‘Because the august heart of the god is not moved for musa, neither does the august ship move; offer to him something in which he 74 JAPANESE LITERATURE will take greater pleasure.’ In compliance with this advice, I bethought me what it would be best to offer. “Of eyes I have a pair—then let me give to the god my mirror, of which I have only one.’ The mirror was accordingly flung into the sea, to my very great regret ; but no sooner had I done so than the sea itself became as smooth as a mirror.” The next day they entered the Osaka river. All the passengers, men, women, and children, were overjoyed at reaching this point of their voyage, and clasped their foreheads with their hands in ecstasies of delight. Several days were now spent in dragging the vessel laboriously against the strong current of the river. A fast-day occurred on their way up it, which Tsurayukt had this time the satisfaction of keeping properly by abstaining entirely from fish. On the r2th they reached Yamazaki, from which place a carriage (that is, one of the bullock-carts in which nobles rode) was sent for to Kidto, and on the evening of the 16th they left Yamazaki for the capital. Tsurayuki was greatly delighted to re- cognise the old familiar landmarks as he rode along. He mentions the children’s playthings and sweetmeats in the shops as looking exactly as when he went away, and wonders whether he will find as little change in the hearts of his friends. He had purposely left Yamazaki in the evening in order that it might be night when he reached his own dwelling. I translate his account of the state in which he found it :— “When I reached my house and entered the gate the moon was shining brightly, and its condition was plainly to be seen. It was decayed and ruined beyond all description—worse even than I had been told. The heart of the man in whose charge I left it must have been TOSA NIKKI 75 in an equally dilapidated condition. The fence between the two houses had been broken down, so that both seemed but one, and he appeared to have fulfilled his charge by looking in through the gaps. And yet I had supplied him by every opportunity with the means of keeping it in repair. To-night, however, | would not allow him to be told this in an angry tone, but in spite of my vexation, offered him an acknowledgment for his trouble. There was in one place a sort of pond where water had collected in a hollow, by the side of which grew a fir-tree. It had lost half its branches, and looked as if a thousand years had passed during the five or six years of my absence. Younger trees had grown up ‘round it, and the whole place was in a most neglected condition, so that every one said that it was pitiful to see. Among other sad thoughts that rose spontaneously to my mind was the memory—ah, how sorrowful !—of one who was born in this house, but who did not return here along with me. My fellow-travellers were chatting merrily with their children in their arms ; but I meanwhile, still un- able to contain my grief, privately repeated these lines to one who knew my heart.” I shall not give the verses, but proceed to the last sentence of the diary, which is as follows: “I cannot write down all my many regrets and memories ; be it for good or for evil, here I will fling away my pen,” The Zosa Niki is astriking example of the importance of style. It contains no exciting adventures or romantic situations; there are in it no wise maxims or novcl information ; its only merit is that it describes in simple yet elegant language, and with a vein of playful humour, the ordinary life of a traveller in Japan at the time when it was written, But this has proved sufficient to give it 76 JAPANESE LITERATURE a high rank amongst Japanese classics, and has insured its being handed down to our own day as a most esteemed model for composition in the native Japanese style. It has been followed by many imitations, but has had no equal. “TAKETORI MONOGATARI” AND “ISE MONOGATARI.” Monogatari, a word which will be frequently met with below, means “narrative.” It is applied chiefly to fiction, but there are some true histories which fall under this denomination. The date and authorship of both these books is un- known. We may, however, accept the opinion of the eminent native critic Motoori, that they belong to a time not long after the’ period Yengi (go1-922). Both are obviously the work of persons well versed in the litera- ture of the day, and familiar with court life in Kioto. The Zaketort Monogatari’ is usually given the pre- cedence in order of time. It is what we should call a fairy-tale. The scene is laid in the neighbourhood of Kioto, and the personages are all Japanese. The lan- guage too is as nearly as possible pure Japanese. But there are abundant traces of foreign influences. The supernatural machinery is either Buddhist or Taoist, and most even of the incidents are borrowed from the copious fairy-lore of China. An old man who earned a living by making bamboo- ware (7aketort means bamboo-gatherer) espied one day in the woods a bamboo with a shining stem. He split it open, and discovered in one of the joints a beautiful little maiden three inches in height. He took her home and adopted her as his daughter, giving her the name of 1 Translated by Mr. F. V. Dickins in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, January 1887, eee I TAKETORI MONOGATARI 77 Kaguyahime or the “shining damsel.’ She speedily grew up to womanhood, when her beauty attracted numerous admirers. To each of them she assigned a quest, promising that she would marry the suitor who successfully accomplished the task allotted to him. One lover was told to fetch Buddha’s begging-bowl of stone from India; another to bring her a branch of the tree with roots of silver, stem of gold, and fruit of jewels, which grew in the fabulous island Paradise of Mount Horai. From the third she required a garment made of the fur of the fire-rat, supposed to be uninflammable. The fourth was to procure the shining jewel of many hues of the dragon’s head, and the fifth a swallow’s cowry- shell. They all failed. The maiden was then wooed by the Mikado, but equally in vain, though they remained on friendly terms and kept up an exchange of sentimental Tanka. She was eventually taken up to heaven in a flying chariot, brought by her relatives in the moon, whence it seems she had been banished to earth for an offence which she had committed. The episode of the quest of the golden branch from Mount Horai may serve as a specimen of this work, Pzince Kuramochi, to whom this task was allotted, having had a counterfeit branch made by cunning workmen, produces it and claims his reward. The old man asks him to tell in what manner of place he obtained this “marvellous, graceful, and lovely” branch. Prince Kuramochi thereupon relates his supposed voyage to Mount Horai, not, it will be observed, without some bungling and repetition natural to a man who has to make up his story as he goes along :— “Three years ago, on the roth day of the second month, we embarked from Osaka. We knew not what 78 JAPANESE LITERATURE course we should take when we put out to sea, but as I felt that life would be valueless if I could not have my heart’s desire fulfilled, we sailed on, entrusting ourselves to the empty winds. If we perish, thought we, there :s no help for it. So long as we live, however, we will sail on until it may be we reach this island, called, it seems, Mount Hoérai. With such thoughts we rowed on over the ocean, and tossed about until we left far behind the shores of our own land. In our wanderings we were at one time like to go down even to the bo‘tom of the sea whilst the waves were raging ; at another time we were borne by the wind to an unknown country where crea- tures like devils came forth and tried to kill us. At one time, knowing neither the way we had come nor the course we should follow, we were almost lost upon the sea; at another our provisions became spent, and we used the roots of trees for food. Once beings hideous beyond description came and attempted to devour us, and once we sustained life by gathering shell- fish. Under a strange sky, where there was none to render us aid, we tossed about over the sea, a prey to diseases of all kinds, and leaving the ship to her own spon- taneous motion, for we knew not at all the course we ought to follow. At last, when five hundred days had passed, about the hour of the dragon a mountain became faintly visible in the midst of the sea. All in the ship gazed steadfastly at it, and saw that it was a very great mountain which floated about upon the surface. Its appearance was lofty and picturesque. This, we thought, must be the mountain we are seeking. No wonder we were filled with dread at its sight. We sailed round it for two or three days.