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1 Two comely grown- up women were in waiting on her. “ Now there were some children playing in and out of the room. One of them, who might be perhaps ten years of age, wore a white silk gown lined with yellow, and not too new. She had no resemblance to the attendants or tc the rest of the children, and her beauty seemed to give 1 Nuns at this time did not shave their heads, but only trimmed the hair short. 8 102 JAPANESE LITERATURE promise of a future for her. Her hair was tossed in waves like an expanded fan, and her eyes were red with weeping. The nun looked up when she saw her near, and said, ‘What is the matter ? Have you been quarrelling with some of the children?’ As Genji looked at them, it occurred to him that there was a resemblance, and that the little girl was probably her daughter. ‘ Inuki has let go my sparrow that I had put under a basket,’ said she dolefully. The waiting-woman exclaimed, ‘He is always doing thoughtless things like that and plaguing the poor girl, all because he does not get scolded enough. I wonder where it has gone to? It had at last become so delightful, and now I’m afraid the crows have discovered it.’ So saying, she went out. “This woman’s hair hung down loose and was very long. She was a pleasant-looking woman. The others called her Nurse Shonagon, and she seemed to have charge of this child. ‘Come now! be a good girl,’ said the nun, ‘and don’t do such naughty things. You forget that my life is but for to-day or to-morrow, and you can think of nothing but your sparrow. Haven't I often told you that it was a sin [to keep birds in a cage]. You pain me greatly. Come here, child’ The little girl stood forward with a rueful expression of face, and a mist hanging round her eyebrows. The contour of her forehead, from which the hair was combed back in childish fashion, and ' the style of her hair itself were very lovely. ‘What a charming girl she will be when she is grown up!’ thought Genji, and his eyes dwelt on her with interest. She greatly resembled one to whom formerly his whole heart had been given, and at the thought his tears began to fall. The nun, stroking the little girl’s head, said, ‘What beau- tiful hair, though you think it so much trouble to have GENJI MONOGATARI 103 it combed! I am greatly concerned that you are so frivolous. At your age some girls are so different. When your late mother was married at the age of twelve she had an extraordinary amount of good sense. But now if you were to lose me, what would become of you ?’ And she burst out weeping. Genji, at this sight, was moved unawares to sorrow for her. The little girl, child as she was, looked at her, and with downcast eyes bent her head to the ground, so that her hair fell loosely forward, showing a lustre that was very beautiful. ‘ There 1s no sky (weather to dry up The dew \of my tears| at leaving behind The tender herb That knows not where shall be tts abode When tt has reached full growth, “So the nun. ‘True,’ said the other waiting-woman [not the girl’s nurse], and with tears answered her— ‘So long as the first blades of grass Know not what will be thety future when grown up, How can the dew Think of becoming dried ??” This notice may be fitly closed by the following poem, in which Motoori in his old age expressed his intention of . . . . \ ‘ oo returning, if time permitted, to the study of the Genz :-— “ So dearly do T love then, Again [ would come to see The violets on the plains of spring Which I left ungathered— Though to-day IT may not pluck them.” The author of the Genji Monogatari wrote a diary called Murasaki no Shiktbu Nikki, which has come down to us. It is not without merit, but its fame has been wholly eclipsed by that of her greater work. CHATB ERGY: “MAKURA ZOSHI” WITH the Genji Monogatart the Japanese associate the Makura Zoshi or “ Pillow Sketches” of SEI SHONAGON as of equal excellence, although different in form and character. The author, like Murasaki no Shikibu, was a lady of high rank, her father, who was a poet of some fame, being descended from the Prince who compiled the WVzhong?. Her learning and talents obtained for her the honour of being appointed Lady-in-waiting to the Empress. On the death of the latter in A.D. 1000, she retired from the world, some say to a convent, where she received to the last marks of the esteem of her former master, the Mikado Ichigo. Others, however, describe her condition as one of great poverty and misery. The title “ Pillow Sketches” is explained by some to mean that she kept the manuscript by her pillow and jotted down her thoughts and observations when going to bed and when getting up in the morning. It is nore probable, however, that it is an allusion to an anecdote which she herself relates in a postscript :— “ It has become too dark for literary work, and my pen is worn out. I will bring these sketches to a close. They are a record of that which I have seen with my eyes and felt in my heart, not written that others might read them, but put together to solace the loneliness of my home life, 104 MAKURA ZOSHI 105 When I think how I tried to keep them secret, conscious of vulgar and exaggerated remarks which have escaped me, the tears flow uncontrollably. “One day when I was in attendance on the Empress, she showed me some paper which had been given her by the Naidaijin. ‘What is to be written on this?’ said her Majesty. ‘The Mikado has had something they call History written on his.’ ‘It will do nicely for pillows,’ I replied. ‘Then take it,’ said she. So I tried to use up this immense supply by writing down strange matters of all kinds without any connection or sequence.” The Makura Zoshi is the first example of a style of writing which afterwards became popular in Japan under the name of Zuihitsu or “following the pen.” There is no sort of arrangement. The author sets down upon the spur of the moment anything which occurs to her. Stories, descriptive enumerations of dismal, incongruous, abominable and dreary things, lis‘s of flowers, mountains, rivers, sketches of social and domestic life, thoughts suggested by the contemplation of nature, and much more form her farrago lidelli. Unlike the author of the Gezj:, who loses herself in the characters which she describes, the personality of Sei Shodnagon comes out distinctly in everything which she has written. The clever, somewhat cynical, cultured woman of the world is always present to the reader. Her tastes and predilections are made known at considerable length, and she does not mind being her own Boswell, not failing to record in her “ Pillow Sketches” any apt quotation or neat retort which she may have made. Subsequent writers do not acquit her, as they do Murasaki no Shikibu, of a personal share in the amorous intrigues which formed so large a part of life among the \ 106 JAPANESE LITERATURE upper classes of Kioto at this period. It may be readily ’ gathered from her writings that she was no stranger to “ The politic arts To take and keep mens hearts ; The letters, embassies, and spies, The frowns, and smiles, and flattertes, The quarrels, tears, and perjurtes, Numberless, nameless mysteries,” of Cowley’s poem. . The following extracts will give some idea of the general character of the work. The four seasons form the subject of the opening chapter :— “In spring,” the author says, “I love to watch the dawn grow gradually whiter and whiter, till a faint rosy tinge crowns the mountain’s crest, while slender streaks ‘of purple cloud extend themselves above.” “In summer, I love the night, not only when the moon is shining, but the dark too, when the fireflies cross each other’s paths in their flight, or when the rain is falling.” “Tn autumn, it is the beauty of the evening which most deeply moves me, as I watch the crows seeking their roosting-place in twos and threes and fours, while the setting sun sends forth his beams gorgeously as he draws near the mountain’srim. Still more is it delightful to see the lines of wild geese pass, looking exceeding small in the distance. And when the sun has quite gone down, how moving it is to hear the chirruping of insects or the sighing of the wind !” “In winter, how unspeakably beautiful is the snow ! But I also love the dazzling whiteness of the hoar-frost, and the intense cold even at other times. Then it is meet quickly to fetch charcoal and kindle fires, And let MAKURA ZOSHI 107 not the gentle warmth of noon persuade us to allow the embers of the hearth or of the brazier to become a white heap of ashes !” THE EXORCIST “What a pity it is to make a priest of a child whom one loves! How painful it must be to have to regard as so many bits of stick the things which are in life the most desirable! Priests have to go to bed after a meal of wretched fasting diet, and are blamed if, when young, they so much as take a sly peep into places where there are attractive girls. The life of an exorcist priest is particularly hard. What dreadful experiences he must have on his pilgrimages to Mitake, Kumano, and all the other sacred monasteries! Even after he has gained a fame for unction and is sent for on all occasions, his very reputation is a bar to his repose. What a labour it must be to drive out the evil spirit from the sick man he is in attendance on! And yet if he dozes a little out of sheer exhaustion, he 1s promptly reprimanded, and told that he does nothing but sleep. How embarrassed he must tee!” The exorcist is much sympathised with by the author. In another place she says— “When the exorcist is summoned to drive out an evil spirit, he puts on a consequential air as he distributes his maces and bells to those who are present.