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\t means to have a_ sensitive, emotional nature, the ceur sensible of the French, and applies more particularly to a capacity for receiving the impressions produced on man by Nature in her various moods. Kenko would doubtless have spurned the idea that for an accomplished gentleman, scholar, and poet like himself paternity was necessary in order to awaken the emotional sensibilities, though in the case of “such persons” as the rude peasant of his story this might very well be the case. The followers of the various forms of religion and ethics practised in Japan have all claimed Kenko as a teacher of their own set of doctrines. It is true that although he is in the main a Buddhist, he had, with the liberal comprehensiveness characteristic of the Japanese nation, more than a mere tolerance for other faiths. He not only showed a reverence for the Shinto deities, but was a profound student of the Confucian moral philosophy, and even of Taoism, that mass of vague speculations attributed to Laotze and his disciple Chwang- tze. But it is a mistake to regard him as a partisan of any particular creed, or as a moral teacher at all. He tells us himself in the opening sentences of the Zsure- dzure-gusa that it was written to while away the live-long days of tedium (tsure-dzure), sitting with his ink-slab before him, and jotting down all manner of trifles as they presented themselves to his mind. If one of his 188 JAPANESE LITERATURE latest editors is correct, it was not even written for publi- cation, but was collected after his death into its present form by some unknown person. Kenko was a lover of antiquity, whether in the shape of old works of art, the old customs and forms of speech which lingered (and still linger) about the Mikado’s palace, or old books. He speaks in terms of special admira- tion of the Genji Monogatari and the Makura Zoshi, on which his own style was evidently modelled. It contrasts strongly with the idiom charged with Chinese vocables, metaphors, and allusions, which in his day had well-nigh supplanted the old Japanese of the Heian period. Kenko, in a word, is a belated classic. He has no objection toa useful Chinese word or an apt illustration from Chinese history, but his purer taste rejects the pompous platt- tudes and pedantic show of learning which too often disfigure the works of imitators of Chinese models. His essays read like the conversation of a polished man of the world, and have that appearance of simplicity and ease of expression which is in reality the result of consummate art. Those who wish to enter on the study of the older Japanese literature cannot make a better choice than the Tsure-dsure-gusa. \t is not so difficult as the Genzz Aono- gatart or the Makura Zésht, and the new edition called the Tsure-dsure-gusa Kégt attords every help in the way of explanation to those who have made sufficient pro- gress in Japanese to avail themselves of it. The lover of curious books will prefer the quaint old block-printed editions of 1672 and 1688, both of which have numerous notes. Kenko had a high reputation as a writer of Tanka. He was one of the “Four Heavenly Kings” (a phrase bor- TSURE-DZURE-GUSA 189 rowed from Indian mythology), as the four chief poets of his day were termed. Fortunately, most students of Japanese will say, the exercise of Kenko’s poetic talent has been diverted into other channels. The 7sure-dzure- gusa is not besprinkled with Tanka. SOME EXTRACTS FROM THE “ TSURE-DZURE-GUSA” “When I was eight years of age, I asked my father, ‘What sort of thing 1s a Buddha?’ He replied, ‘A Buddha is something which a man grows into.’ ‘How then does one become a Buddha ?’ said I. ‘ By the teach- ings of a Buddha.’ ‘But who taught the Buddha who gives us this teaching ?’ ‘He becomes a Buddha by the teaching of another Buddha who was before him.’ ‘Then what sort of a Buddha was that first Buddha of all who began teaching ?’ My father was at an end of his answers, and replied, laughing, ‘I suppose he must have flown ,down from the sky or sprung up from the ground.’ He used to tell his friends this conversation, much to their amusement.” “ However accomplished a man may be, without gal- lantry he is a very lonely being. Such a one reminds me of a costly wine-cup that has no bottom.” “That man is to be envied whose mind is fixed on _ futurity, and to whom the way of Buddha is familiar.” “What strikes men’s eyes most of all in a woman is the beauty of her hair. Her quality and disposition may be gathered from the manner of her speech, even though a screen be interposed. There are occasions too when her very posture when seated leads a man’s heart astray. Then, until his hopes are realised, he bears patiently what is not to be borne, regardless even of his life. . It is 190 JAPANESE LITERATURE only love which can do this. Deep indeed are the roots of passion, and remote its sources. It is possible to put away from us all:the other lusts of this wicked world. But this one alone it is very hard to eradicate. Old and young, wise and foolish, all are alike its slaves. There- fore it has been said that with a cord twined of a woman's hair the great elephant may be firmly bound; with a - whistle carved from a woman’s shoe.the deer in autumn may without fail be lured. “Tt is this beguilement which we must chastise in our- selves, it is this which we must dread, it is this against which we must be on our guard.” “One day in the tenth month [about our September] I took a walk over the plain of’ Kurisu, and exploring a certain hill-district which lay beyond, was threading my way along a narrow moss-grown path, when I came upon a lonely cottage. No sound was to be heard except the dripping of water from a pipe buried under fallen leaves. It was, however, inhabited, as I gathered from the chrysanthemums and red autumn leaves which be- strewed the domestic shrine. ‘Ah!’ thought I, ‘to spend one’s days even in such a spot!’ But whilst I stood gazing I espied in the garden beyond a great orange-tree with branches bending to the ground. It was strongly fenced off on every side. This [evidence that covetous desires had penetrated even here] some- what dispelled my dreams, and I wished from my heart that no such tree had been.” “Tf we take a pen in hand, it suggests writing ; if we take up a musical instrument, the very act of doing so prompts us to make music; a wine-cup suggests drinking ; dice make us think of gambling. Our hearts are inevitably influenced by our actions. We should Lae i TSURE-DZURE-GUSA IgI / ; therefore be careful to abstain wholly from unedifying amusements. “Tf we thoughtlessly glance at a verse of the Sacred | Scriptures, what goes before and after presents itself to our minds without our effort, and this may lead to a sudden reformation of the errors of many years. If we had never read the Scriptures, how should we have known this ? Such is the virtue of association. “Tf, even without any pious intentions whatever, we kneel down before the Buddha, and take in our hands the sacred book and the bell, a good work goes on of itself within us. If, even with wandering minds, we take our seat on the rope-mat, unawares we become absorbed in devout contemplation. “At bottom, action and principle are one. If we are careful to avoid offences in our outward actions, the inner principle becomes fortified. We should therefore beware of making a profession of unbelief, and treat religion with all honour and respect.” “There are many things in this world which to me are incomprehensible. 1 cannot understand how any one can find pleasure in urging people to drink against their will, as is done the first thing on all occasions. The. victim in his distress knits his brows, and watches an opportunity when no one is looking to spill the liquor or to steal away. But he is caught, detained, and made to drink his share as if there was nothing the matter. The nicest fellows suddenly become madmen, and give way to absurd conduct. The healthiest men, before our very eyes, become afflicted with grave illness, and lay themselves down unconscious of past and future. A sorry way indeed of celebrating a festal occasion ! Until the morrow they remain lying in a drunken state, 192 JAPANESE LITERATURE with aching heads, and unable to eat, as if far removed from life, taking no thought for the next day, and too ill to attend to important business, public or private. “It is not kindly or even courteous to treat people in this way. If we were told that such a custom existed in some foreign country (being unknown in Japan) we should think it most strange and unaccountable.” Here follows a description of a drunken debauch which is somewhat too graphic for transference to these pages. Kenko goes on to say— “Tn this world strong drink has much to answer for. It wastes our means and destroys our health. It has been called the chief of the hundred medicines, but in truth it is from strong drink more than aught else that all our diseases spring. It may help us to forget our miseries, but, on the other hand, the drunken man is often seen to weep at the remembrance of his past woes. “As for the future world, strong drink 1s pernicious to the understanding, and burns up the root of good within us as with fire. It fosters evil, and leads to our breaking all the commandments and falling into hell. Buddha has declared that he who makes a man drink wine shall be born a hundred times with no hands.” It must not be supposed from this that Kenko was a total abstainer, as he ought to have been if he kept his vows as a Buddhist monk. On the contrary— “There are times when wine cannot be dispensed with.