English
The poet begins by relating the appointment, at a council of the gods, of the deity Ninigi no Mikoto as the first divine sovereign of Japan. In the second part 36 _ JAPANESE LITERATURE allusion is made to the death of the late Mikado; while in the third the poet gives expression to the disappoint- ment of the nation that Prince Hinami did not live-to succeed him, and laments the loneliness of his tomb, which he represents as a palace where the Prince dwells in silence and solitude. “ When began the earth and heaven, By the margin of the River Cf the firmament eternal, Met the Gods in high assembly, Met the gods and held high counsel, Myriads upon myriads gathered, Then to each high charge was given; On the Goddess of the Sunlight, fler who fills the sky with radiance, They bestowed the realm of Heaven. To her grandchild they delivered This, the land of Ashihara, This, the land of fairest rice-ears, fis with god-like sway to govern, Long as heaven and earth endures Downward sped, he swept asunder Fleaven's clouds, the many-piled, Earthward gloriously descending. In the Palace of Ktyomt, The great seat of power Imperial, God-like ruled his true descendant, The august High-shining-sun-Prince, Till he rose on high divinely, ~ t Flinging wide the gates eternal On the plain of heaven that open. Mighty Prince, if thou hadst deigneéd This sublunar world to govern, Thou hadst been to all thy people Dear as are the flowers in spring-time, As the full moon, soul-contenting. As ina great ship the seaman, So our trust in thee we vested; MANYOSHIU 37 As the welcome rain from heaven, All the nation did await thee. Thou hast chosen-—why we know not— By the hill of lone Mayumi There to ratse the massy pillars, There to build a lofty palace, But at morn thy voice ts heard not; Months and days have passed tn silence, Till thy servants, sad and weary, Hlave departed, none knows whither.” The next specimen is also by Hitomaro. It is an elegy on a lady of the court. “In her face were the tints of the autumn woods, Buxom was her form as the graceful bamboo. Unknown to us are her thoughts of the future ; We hoped for her a cable-long life, Not transttory like the dew which falls at morn And vanishes before evening, Or the mist which rises at even And ts dispersed in the morning. Even we, who knew her by report— We, who had seen her but by glimpses, Are filled with deep regret. What then must be the sorrow Of her youthful spouse Who shared her couch— Thetr white arms tnterlaced for pillows ? Desolate indeed must be his thoughts as he lies down, Despatring must be his longings for her. Ah me! she who has passed away from us By so untimely a fate, Did indeed resemble the morning dews Or the mists of evening.” The following illustrates the Japanese poet’s use of parallelism. It is dated A.D. 744. “ By the Palace of Futagt, Where our great king And divine lord Holds high rule, JAPANESE LITERATURE Gentle zs the rise of the hills, Bearing hundreds of trees ; Pleasant ts the murmur of the rapids As downward they rush. So long as tn the spring-time (When the nightingale comes and sings) On the rocks Brocade-like flowers blossom, Brightening the mountain-foot ; So long as tn the autumn (When the stag calls to his mate) The red leaves fall hither and thither, Wounded by the showers, The heaven be-clouding— for many thousand years May his life be prolonged, To rule over all under heaven In the great palace Destined to remain unchanged for hundreds of ages.” IN PRAISE OF JAPAN PE NTR LONE SPLEEN ES ORT ONY SOTERA LRN RL Ae ED ROL RON LOT a ENT TE TS ONES. “ The land of Yamato Has mountains in numbers, But peerless among them Is high Kaguyama. L stand on its summit My kingdom to view. The smoke from the land-plain Thick rises in air, The gulls from the sea-plain By fits soar aloft. O land of Yamato! Fair Akitsushima ! Dear art thou to me” 4 MANYOSHIU 39. THE LEGEND OF URASHIMA This is one of the most ancient and popular of Japanese legends. In its original version it is much older than the Manyoshiu. “ On a hazy day in spring 1 went forth and stood upon the beach of Suminoye ; And as 1 watched the fishing-boats rock to and fro, I bethought me of the tale of old, How Urashima of Midzunoye, Proud of hts skill in catching the bonito and the tat, Did not return even for seven days, But rowed on beyond the bounds of ocean, Where with a daughter of the Sea God Lt was hits fortune to meet as he rowed onwards. When, after mutual courtship, they had come to an understanding, They plighted their troths, and went to the immortal land. * Hand in hand they two entered Into a stately mansion within the precincts Of the Palace of the Sea God. flere he might have dwelt for ever, Never growing old, and never dying. But the foolish man of this world Thus addressed his spouse : ‘For a litile while [ would return home And speak to my father and my mother ; To-morrow I will come again.’ Thus he spake, and hts wife replied : ‘Tf thou art to return again to the immortal lana And live with me as now, Beware how thou openest this casket. Strongly did she enjoin this on him. But having returned to Suminoye, Though he looked for his house, no house could he see; Though he looked for the village, no village could he see. Wondering at this, the thought occurred to him: ‘Tn the space of three years, since I left my home, 1 The horizon. 40 JAPANESE LITERATURE Can my home have vanished, leaving not even the fence? Were I now to open this casket, Might it not appear as before?’ So saying, he opened a little the precious casket, Whereupon a white cloud issued from itt And spread away towards the immortal lana. fle ran, he shouted, he waved his sleeves, He writhed upon the earth, and ground his feet together. Ofa sudden his heart melted away ; Wrinkles covered his body, that had been so youthful ; His hair, that had been so black, became white. By-and-by hts breath also fatled ; At last his life departed. And, lo! here once stood the cottage Of Urashima of Midzunoye.” Like most Naga-uta, the above is followed by a thirty- one syllable poem known as a Hanka. sometimes echoes the principal idea of the poem which precedes, and is at others employed as a sort of poetical save-all to utilise any stray scrap of thought or imagery which it may not have been convenient to include in the principal poem. Some Naga-uta have several Hanka appended to them. HANKA “In the immortal land He might have gone on to dwell ; But by his nature How dull was he, this wight /” The authors of the two following lyrics are unnamed. MOUNT FuJI (FUJIYAMA) “ Where on the one hand is the province of Kat, And on the other the land of Suruga, Right in the midst between them Stands out the high peak of Fuji. The very clouds of heaven dread to approach it ; Even the soaring birds reach not tts summit in their flight. The Hanka it tae RS eh ble eC Sal oat MANYOSHIU 41 Its burning fire is quenched by the snow; The snow that falls is melted by the fire. No words may tell of tt, no name know I that is fit for it, But a wondrous deity tt surely ts / That lake we call the Sea of Se Is contained within tt, That river which men, as they cross tt, call the Fuji Ts the water which flows down from it; Of Yamato, the Land of Sunrise, It ts the peace-giver, tt ts the god, tt ts the treasure. On the peak of Fuji, in the land of Suruga, L never weary of gazing.” POVERTY The following is exceptional, as giving a glimpse of the condition of the poorer classes. It contains lines in which Buddhist influence is traceable. “Tis night: mingled with the storm the rain ts falling ; Mingled with the rain the snow ts falling. So coldam I, I know not what to do. I take up and suck coarse salt { fish ?| And sip a brew of saké dregs ; 1 cough, / sneeze and sneeze, I cannot help tt. IL may stroke my beard, and think proudly to myself, Who ts there like me ? But so cold am I, 1 pull over me the hempen coverlet, And huddle upon me all the nuno cloaks I have got. Yet even this chilly night Are there not others still poorer, Whose parents are starving of cold and hunger, Whose wife and children are begging thetr food with tears ? (The poet fancies himself addressing such a person.) ‘At such a time how do you pass your days ?? (Answer.) ‘ Heaven and earth are wide, but for me they have become narrow ; The sun and moon are bright, but for me they yield no radiance. { : ; : ~ Ags JAPANESE LITERATURE Ts tt so with all men, or with me alone ? Born a man by the rarest of chances, Tam made in human shape like another, Yet on my shoulders I wear a nuno cloak void of padding, Which hangs down in tatters like seaweed— A mere mass of rags. Within my hut, twisted out of shape, Straw ts strewn on the bare floor of earth, Father and mother at my pillow, Wife and children at ny feet, Gather round me weeping and wailing, With voices as front the throat of the nuye bird. for no smoke rises from the kitchen furnace, In the pot spiders have hung their webs, The very art of cooking ts forgotten. To crown all—cutting off the end, as the proverb has it, Of a thing that zs too short already— Comes the head man of the village with his rod, fits summons {to forced labour|\ penetrates to my sleeping-place. Such helpless misery ts but the way of the world?” It is characteristic of the difference between the Japanese and English languages, that this poem in the original contains only seven personal (including gee es sive and relative) pronouns.