3.

(Spring, i. 23.)

Too lightly woven must the garments be,—
Garments of mist,-that clothe the coming spring:
In wild disorder see them fluttering

Soon as the zephyr breathes adown the lea.

(YUKIHIRA.)

(Spring, i. 31.)

Heedless that now the mists of spring do rise,
Why fly the wild geese northward ?—Can it be
Their native home is fairer to their eyes,
Though no sweet flowers blossom on its lea?

(ISE.)

5.

(Spring, i. 55.)

If earth but ceas'd to offer to my sight
The beauteous cherry-trees when blossoming,
Ah! then indeed, with peaceful, pure delight,
My heart might revel in the joys of spring!*
(NARIHIRA.)

6.

(Spring, ii. 8.)

Tell me, doth any know the dark.recess

Where dwell the winds that scatter the spring flow'rs?

* ¿.c., “The cherry-blossoms are ineffably lovely ; but my joy in gazing. at them is marred by the knowledge that they must so soon pass away.”

Hide it not from me! By the heav'nly pow'rs,
I'll search them out to upbraid their wickedness!

(SOSEL)

·7.

(Spring, ii. 20.)

No man so callous but he heaves a sigh
When o'er his head the wither'd cherry-flowers
Come flutt'ring down.-Who knows? the spring's soft
show'rs

May be but tears shed by the sorrowing sky.

(KURONUSHI.)

8.

(Spring, ii. 41.)

Whom would your cries, with artful calumny,
Accuse of scatt'ring the pale cherry-flow'rs?
'Tis your own pinions flitting through these bow'rs
That raise the gust which makes them fall and die!

(SOSEI.)

9.

(Summer, 1.)

In blossoms the wisteria-tree to-day

Breaks forth, that sweep the wavelets of my lake:
When will the mountain-cuckoo come and make
The garden vocal with his first sweet lay? *

(Attributed to HITOMARO.)

* The wisteris among flowers, and among birds the cuckoo, are the poetical representatives of early summer, as are the plum-blossom and the nightingale of early spring.

10.

(Summer, 31.)

Oh, lotus-leaf! I dreamt that the wide earth

Held nought more pure than thee,-held nought more

true:

Why, then, when on thee rolls a drop of dew,

Pretend that 'tis a gem of priceless worth?

(HENZEU.)

II.

(Autumn, i. 4.)

Can I be dreaming? 'Twas but yesterday
We planted out each tender shoot again; †
And now the autumn breeze sighs o'er the plain,
Where fields of yellow rice confess its sway.

(Anon.)

12.

(Autumn, i. 25.)

A thousand thoughts of tender vague regret
Crowd on my soul, what time I stand and gaze
On the soft-shining autumn moon;—and yet
Not to me only speaks her silv'ry haze.

(CHISATO.)

The lotus is the Buddhist emblem of purity, and the lotus growing out of the mud is a frequent metaphor for the heart that remains unsullied by contact with the world.

The transplanting of the rice occupies the whole rural population during the month of June, when men and women may all be seen working in the fields knee-deep in water. The crops are gathered in October.

13.

(Autumn, i. 44)

What bark impell'd by autumn's fresh'ning gale Comes speeding t'ward me'?-Tis the wild geese driv'n Across the fathomless expanse of Heav'n,

And lifting up their voices for a sail!

(Anon.)

14.

(Autumn, i. 58.)

The silv'ry dewdrops that in autumn light
Upon the moors must surely jewels be;
For there they hang all over hill and lea,
Strung on the threads the spiders weave so tight.

(ASAYASU.)

15.

(Autumn, ii. 2.)

The trees and herbage, as the year doth wane,
For gold and russet leave their former hue,—
All but the wave-toss'd flow'rets of the main,
That never yet chill autumn's empire knew.

(YASUHIDE.)

16.

(Autumn, ii. 9.)

The dews are all of one pale silv'ry white:
Then tell me, if thou canst, oh! tell me why

These silv'ry dews so marvellously dye

The autumn leaves a myriad colours, bright?

17.

(Autumn, ii. 44.)

(TOSHIYUKI.)

The warp is hoar-frost and the woof is dew,-
Too frail, alas! the warp and woof to be:
For scarce the woods their damask robes endue,
When, torn and soil'd, they flutter o'er the lea.
(SEKIWO.)

18.

(Autumn, ii. 47.)

E'en when on earth the thund'ring gods held sway
Was such a sight beheld?-Calm Tatsta's * flood,
Stain'd, as by Chinese art, with hues of blood,
Rolls o'er Yamato's peaceful fields away.

(NARIHIRA.)

19.

(Winter, 10.)

When falls the snow, lo! ev'ry herb and tree,

That in seclusion through the wintry hours

Long time had been held fast, breaks forth in flow'rs That ne'er in spring were known upon the lea.

(TSURAYUKI.)

• Properly written Tatsuta. The allusion here is to the crimson and scarlet of the autumn maple-trees, which may well form a constantly recurring theme for the raptures of the Japanese poets, who in the fall of every year nee around them a halo of glory such as our dull European forests do not even distantly approach.