Great Fusiyama, tow'ring to the sky! (ANON.) Verses COMPOSED ON THE OCCASION OF AN IMPERIAL PROGRESS TO THE SUMMER PALACE OF YOSHINO IN A.D. 725. [Yoshino is justly famous for its beauty,- -a beauty so marvellous when, in the spring-time, every mountain and every valley is ablaze with flowering trees, that, borrowing the proverb relating to Naples, it might well be said, "See Yoshino and die !" It is situated in the province of Yamato, and has witnessed some of the most stirring events of Japanese history. During the fourteenth century, when what the author of "The Mikado's Empire" has aptly termed the "Wars of the Chrysanthemums" * split up the court and country into two hostile camps, Yoshino was the residence of the southern or legitimate sovereigns, and the lovely country surrounding it was the scene of perpetual bloody combats and hairbreadth escapes. Not far from Yóshino lie the mapletrees of Tatsuta, the heights of Mount Kagu, Nara the ancient capital, all celebrated in Japanese song and story, while the palaces of Kiyauto and the blue waters of the lute-shaped lake of Afumi are not far to seek.] Beauteous is the woody mountain Of imperial Yoshino; Fair and limpid is the fountain Dashing to the vale below; * The chrysanthemum flower is the Mikado's crest. High beside whose upper reaches Frogs' loud am'rous notes are heard.* Far and near, in stately leisure, Pass the courtiers o'er the lea; "Glorious deities that for ever O'er the heav'n and earth do reign! (KASA-NO-KANAMURA ASOÑ.) [In the first moon of the fourth year of the period Zhiñki (A.D. 727), the nobles and courtiers had assembled in the fields of Kasuga,† and were diverting themselves with a game of polo, when the sky was suddenly overcast, and the rain poured down amid thunder and lightning, while the palace was left without guards or attendants. Thereupon the Mikado issued an edict confining the offenders to the guard-house, under strict prohibition of leaving its gates. The following ode was composed under the feeling of disappointment and vexation thus engendered.] Spring his gentle beams is flinging * The musical (?) voice of the frog is much admired by the Japanese, and is frequently alluded to in their poetry. They also, like the ancient Greeks, have a partiality for the cry of certain species of cicada. + Close to Nara. To the hills the mists are clinging, All the court for this entrancing. Gaily side by side advancing, Through the fields our course we long'd to bend. Ah! could we have been foreknowing This accurs'd, unutterable thing, Then by Saho's waters flowing, Where the ferns and rushes growing Line the strand 'mid birds' sweet carolling, O'er our heads their branches twining, Bids us mourn away the shining (ANON.) * The lines in the original answering to the commencement of this stanza are so corrupt as to be well-nigh unintelligible. Motowori's interpretation has been followed in the translation. + One of the ceremonies of purification consisted in waving ferns and rushes over the person and then flinging them into the water. At a later period, for these plants were substituted the so-called nusa or gohci, strips of linen, and afterwards of paper. Religious ablutions are constantly referred to in the earliest poetry and history of the Japanese. Ode WHICH, AT A PARTING FEAST, THE EMPEROR SHIYAUMU CON DESCENDED TO COMPOSE FOR THREE NOBLES ABOUT TO VINCES. (A.D. 732.) If, like loyal men, ye up and carry To far realms your sov'reign lord's behest, I my hands may fold upon my breast. O'er your heads my sacred hands, extended, * Lament on Nara, the Deserted Capital.† Yamato's land, that still with pow'r imperial Reigned A.D. 724-756. As stated in the Introduction, it is to the reign of this prince that the "Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves" should almost certainly be referred. A note appended to the ode in the original mentions that, according to some authorities, it was composed, not by Shiyaumu himself, but by his mother, the Empress Dowager Geñshiyau, who had governed from 715 to 723, and then abdicated in favour of her son. In this case, the word "king" in the translation would have to be altered to "queen." The Japanese language, which ignores our distinction of genders, cannot here lend to criticism the assistance of grammar. The seat of government was definitively moved from Nara in A.D. 784, and continued to be at Kiyauto from that time until 1868. Since first the gods came down from realms ethereal* Wherefore methought that while, in grand succes sion, Prince after prince should rule earth's wide domain, Throughout the myriad ages' long procession From Nara's palace would they choose to reign.t Sweet Nara! still in Mount Mikasa's bowers, When circling mists proclaimed the pow'r of spring, Dark'ning the forest bloomed the cherry-flowers, Nor ever ceas'd the birds their carolling. Still, when mid-autumn's frost-touch'd dews were falling, High on Ikoma's often-burning crest The lusty stag, for his dear consort calling, O'er trampled lespedeza thickets press'd.§ Never thy hills might tire my gaze, and never Far from thy dwellings might I wish to roam; * The first sovereign of the dynasty of the gods on earth, according to the Japanese mythology, was His Grandeur Minigi, to whom the more ancient aboriginal ruler Ohoanamuchi resigned his throne and domain (see note to p. 97). +Nara being in the province of Yamato. A mountain in the province of Kahachi, on whose summit, in ancient times, signal fires used to be lighted. Though discontinued nearly a century before the probable date of this poem, the ancient custom had bequeathed its name to one of the peaks, which was called Tobu-hi-gaWoka, or the "Eminence of the Flying Fires." § In the later poetry the lespedeza flower is itself perpetually termed the stag's mate, doubtless on account of its blossoming at the time of year when these animals pair off. |