the loves of the Herdboy and the Weaver; and till within the last three or four years, the seventh day of the seventh moon was one of the most popular festivals in town and country. Traces of it, as of almost everything else that was picturesque and quaint, must now be sought for in the remoter provincial districts.]

Since the hour when first begun

Heaven and earth their course to run,
Parted by the Heav'nly River

Stand the Herdboy and the Weaver:
For in each year these lovers may
Meet but for one single day.

To and fro the constant swain
Wanders in the heavenly plain,

Till sounds the hour when fore and aft
He's free to deck his tiny craft

In gallant trim, and ship the oar
To bear him to the opposing shore.
Now the autumn season leads,

When through the swaying, sighing reeds
Rustles the chill breath of even,

And o'er the foaming stream of heaven,
Heedless of the silv'ry spray,
He'll row exulting on his way,
And, with his arms in hers entwin'd,
Tell all the loving tale he pin'd
To tell her through the livelong year.
Yes! the seventh moon is here;
And I, though mortal, hail the night
That brings heav'n's lovers such delight.

(ANON.)

Recollections of My Children.

[To the verses are, in the original, prefixed the following lines of prose :

"The holy Shiyaka Muni, letting drop verities from his golden mouth, says, 'I love mankind as I love Ragora.'* And again

he preaches, 'No love exceedeth a parent's love.' Thus even so great a saint retained his love for his child. How much more, then, shall not the common run of men love their children?"]

Ne'er a melon can I eat,

But calls to mind my children dear;
Ne'er a chestnut crisp and sweet,

But makes the lov'd ones seem more near.
Whence did they come my life to cheer?
Before mine eyes they seem to sweep,
So that I may not even sleep.

Short Stanza on the same occasion.

What use to me the gold and silver hoard?
What use to me the gems most rich and rare ?
Brighter by far,-ay! bright beyond compare,—
The joys my children to my heart afford!

(YAMAGAMI-NO-OKURA.)

* Properly Rahula, Buddha's only son. Shiyaka, a corruption of Sākya, is the name commonly employed in Japan to designate the Indian prince Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, whom Europeans usually call Buddha.

Eines

COMPOSED ON THE OCCASION OF MY LORD OHOTOMO, THE INSPECTOR OF TRIBUTE, MAKING THE ASCENT OF MOUNT TSUKUBA.

[Who this Lord Ohotomo was is not certain, there being no sufficient grounds for supposing, with the commentator Keichiyuu, that he was the same as the Prime Minister Ohotomo mentioned on page 105 as father of the poetess Sakanouhe. Mount Tsukuba, in the province of Hitachi, is well seen from Yedo, rising with its two peaks of almost exactly equal height, at a distance of some sixty miles to the north of the city, and gaining from the flatness of the country, between its base and the coast, an appearance of dignity to which its actual elevation of only three thousand feet would scarcely entitle it. The translator, on making the ascent, found a small shrine on either peak, one dedicated to the god, and the other to the goddess, of the locality.]

When my lord, who fain would look on
Great Tsukúba, double-crested,

To the highlands of Hitáchi

Bent his steps, then I, his servant,
Panting with the heats of summer,
Down my brow the sweat-drops dripping,
Breathlessly toil'd onward, upward,
Tangled roots of timber clutching.

"There, my lord! behold the prospect!"

Cried I when we scal'd the summit.

And the gracious goddess gave us
Smiling welcome, while her consort
Condescended to admit us

Into these his sacred precincts,

O'er Tsukuba double-crested,

Where the clouds do have their dwelling

And the rain for ever raineth,
Shedding his divine refulgence,
And revealing to our vision
Ev'ry landmark that in darkness

And in shapeless gloom was shrouded ;-
Till for joy our belts we loosen'd,
Casting off constraint, and sporting
As at home we oft had sported.
Danker now than in the dulcet
Spring-time grew the summer grasses;
Yet to-day our bliss was boundless.

Couplet.

When the great men of old pass'd by this way, Could e'en their pleasures vie with ours to-day?

(ANON.)

Ode to the Cuckoo.

Nightingales built the nest
Where, as a lonely guest,

First thy young head did rest,
Cuckoo so dear!

Strange to the father bird,

Strange to the mother bird

Sounded the note they heard,
Tender and clear.

COMPOSED ON THE OCCASION OF ASCENDING MOUNT TSUKUBA, AND JOINING IN THE CHORIC DANCE.

*

Where many an eagle builds her nest
On Tsukuba's mountain-crest,

There the men and maids foregather,

And this the song they sing together:

Literally "the blossoms of the u shrub (deutzia sieboldiana), which are white.

+ Literally, the tachibana (citrus mandarinus), one of the orange tribe.