Sugawara no Takasue no musume

“ They brought out a well-tuned four-stringed lute. The music did not seem to be anything happening in this world; I regretted that day should even dawn, and was touched so deeply that I had almost forgotten about returning to the Capital. Ever since then the snowy nights of winter recall that scene, and I without fail gaze at the moon even though hugging the fire. You will surely understand me, and hereafter every dark night with gentle rain will touch my heart; I feel this has not been Inferior to the snowy night at the palace of the Isé virgin. ”

“ Even a little pebble does not cease to be,
Though pressed under the snow of Hakusan;
So is my affection even though hidden.
I went down to a hollow of Nishiyama [in the western hills of Kioto] , There were flowers blooming in confusion. It was beautiful, yet lonely. There was no sight of man. A tranquil haze enclosed us.
Far from towns, in the heart of the mountain,
The cherry blooms, and wastes its blooms away
⁠With none to see.
When the sorrow of the World [74] troubled my heart I made a retreat in the Uzumasa Temple. To me there arrived a letter from one who served the Princess. ”

“ Could such a man as the Shining Prince be living in this world? How could General Kaoru [literal translation, "Fragrance"] find such a beauty as Lady Ukifuné to conceal in his secret villa at Uji? Oh! I was like a crazy girl.
While I had lived in the country, I had gone to the temple from time to time, but even then I could never pray like others, with a pure heart. In those days people learned to recite sutras and practise austerities of religious observance after the age of seventeen or eighteen, but I could scarcely even think of such matters. ”

“ None calls upon me, or remembers me in my mountain village.
On the reeds by the thin hedge, the Autumn winds are sighing.
1037. In the Tenth month we changed our abode to the Capital. Mother had become a nun, and although she lived in the same house, shut herself up in a separate chamber. Father rather treated me as an independent woman than as his child. I felt helpless to see him shunning all society and living hidden in the shade. ”

“ I did not tell any one about this dream or even think of it again. How shallow I was!
In the Spring I enjoyed the Princess's garden. Cherry-blossoms waited for!—cherry-blossoms lamented over! In Spring I love the flowers whether in her garden or in mine.
On the moon-hidden day of the Ever-growing month [March 30, 1023] , I started for a certain person's house to avoid the evil influence of the earth god. [37] There I saw delightful cherry-blossoms still on the tree and the day after my return I sent this poem:
Alone, without tiring, I gazed at the cherry-blossoms of your garden. ”

“ We, who were going up to the Royal City, stayed here for a while to follow them with our eyes; and as it was a parting for life all wept. Even my childish heart felt sorrow.
Now it is the Province of Musashi. There is no charm in this place. The sand of the beaches is not white, but like mud. People say that purple grass [10] grows in the fields of Musashi, but it is only a waste of various kinds of reeds, which grow so high that we cannot see the bows of our horsemen who are forcing their way through the tall grass. Going through these reeds I saw a ruined temple called Takeshíba-dera. ”

“ Once I dreamt of a holy priest in yellow Buddhist scarf who came to me and said, "Learn the fifth book of the Hokekkyo [35] at once."
I did not tell any one about this, nor had I any mind to learn it, but continued to bathe in the romances. Although I was still ugly and undeveloped [I thought to myself] the time would come when I should be beautiful beyond compare, with long, long hair. I should be like the Lady Yugao [in the romance] loved by the Shining Prince Genji, or like the Lady Ukifuné, the wife of the General of Uji [a famous beauty] . ”

“ My joy knew no bounds when my waiting was at an end after the supposed parting "for Eternity," yet my father said: "It is ridiculous to lead a worldly life when one is very old. I used to feel so when I saw old men, but now it is my turn to be old, so I will retire from social life." As he said it with no lingering affection for this world, I felt quite alone.
Towards the East the field stretched far and wide and I could see clearly from Mount Hiyé [53] to Mount Inari. ”

“ I stayed in the temple for seven days, but could think of nothing but the road to the East.
I prayed to the Buddha, saying: "There is no way to change the present, but grant that we may meet again peacefully after this parting"—and I thought the Buddha would pity and grant my prayer.
It was midwinter. It rained all day. In the night a cloud-turning wind blew terribly and the sky cleared. The moon became exquisitely bright, and it was sad to see the tall reeds near the house broken and blown down by the wind.
Dead stalks of reeds must be reminded of good Autumn days. ”

“ No sight can be more autumnal than that of my garden
Tenanted by an autumnal person weary of the world!
I still dwelt in the romances from morning to night, and as long as I was awake.
I had another dream: a man said that he was to make a brook in the garden of the Hexagon Tower to entertain the Empress of the First Rank of Honour. I asked the reason, and the man said, "Pray to the Heaven-illuminating honoured Goddess." ”

“ The autumn woods were beautiful at the Hahasono forest in Yamashiro. I crossed the Hasé River. We stayed there for three days. This time we were too many to lodge in that small house on the other side of the Nara Pass, so we camped in the field. Our men passed the night lying on mukabaki [73] spread on the grass. They could not sleep for the dew which fell on their heads. The moon clear and more picturesque than elsewhere.
Even in our wandering journey,
The lonely moon accompanies us lighting us from the sky,
The waning moon I used to gaze at in the Royal City. ”

“ Then the waters of the River of Heaven rise, and the lovers must wait full another year before the boat can cross. Many of our beautiful poems have been written on this legend; sometimes it is Tanabata-hime who is waiting for her lord, sometimes it is Hikiboshi who speaks. The festival has been celebrated for 1100 years in Japan, and there is no country village which does not sing these songs on the seventh night of the Seventh month, and make offerings to the star gods of little poems tied to the freshly cut bamboo branches. ”

“ Temple, I asked them for nothing except this romance, wishing to read it as soon as I could get it, but all in vain. I was inconsolable. One day I visited my aunt, who had recently come up from the country. She showed a tender interest in me and lovingly said I had grown up beautifully. On my return she said: "What shall I give you? You will not be interested in serious things: I will give you what you like best." And she gave me more than fifty volumes of Genji-monogatari put in a case, as well as Isé-monogatari, Yojimi, Serikawa, Shirara, and Asa-udzu. ”

“ I am ashamed to think that inhabitants of the Royal City will think me an uncultured girl.
Somehow I came to know that there are such things as romances in the world and wished to read them. When there was nothing to do by day or at night, one tale or another was told me by my elder sister or stepmother, and I heard several chapters about the shining Prince Genji. [2] My longing for such stories increased, but how could they recite them all from memory? I became very restless and got an image of Yakushi Buddha [3] made as large as myself. ”

“ I seemed to wander in dreams and thought that human life must soon cease here. If I had not given myself up to idle fictions [she herself had written several] and poetry, but had practised religious austerities night and day, I would not have seen such a dream-world.
At Hasé Temple a cedar branch was cast down to me by the Inari god and this thing [the loss of her husband] would not have happened if I had visited the Inari shrine on my way home. ”

“ In Autumn nights, upon the distant hills.
I heard that an acquaintance had come near my residence and gone back without calling on me. So I wrote:
Even this wandering wind among the pines of the mountain—
I've heard that it departs with murmuring sound.
[That is, you are not like it. You do not speak when going away.]
In the Leaf-Falling month [September] I saw the moon more than twenty days old. ”

“ The mountain range called Nishitomi is like folding screens with good pictures. On the left hand we saw a very beautiful beach with long-drawn curves of white waves. There was a place there called Morokoshi-ga-Hara [18] [Chinese Field] where sands are wonderfully white. Two or three days we journeyed along that shore. A man said: "In Summer pale and deep Japanese pinks bloom there and make the field like brocade. As it is Autumn now we cannot see them." But I saw some pinks scattered about blooming pitiably. They said: "It is funny that Japanese pinks are blooming in the Chinese field." ”

“ Though I punish the man I cannot bring back the Princess; nor is it meet to bring them back to the Royal City. As long as that man of Takeshiba lives I cannot give Musashi Province to him, but I will entrust it to the Princess.'
"In this way it happened that a palace was built there in the same style as the Royal Palace and the Princess was placed there. When she died they made it into a temple called Takeshíba-dera. [15] The descendants of the Princess received the family name of Musashi. After that the guards of the watch-fire were women." ”

“ I soon began to wish for more, but as I was an utter stranger to the Royal City, who would get them for me?
My stepmother [meaning one of her father's wives] had once been a lady-in-waiting at the court, and she seemed to have been disappointed in something. She had been regretting the World [her marriage] , and now she was to leave our home. She beckoned her own child, who was five years old, and said, "The time will never come when I shall forget you, dear heart"; and pointing to a huge plum-tree which grew close to the eaves, said, "When it is in flower I shall come back" ”

“ In the morning I retired while it was still dark and passed the days in longing for home where my old and weak parents, making much of me, relied upon me as if I were worthy of it, I yearned for them and felt very lonely. ”

“ It was towards dawn; the mountain-side was gloomy and the sound of the waterfall was all [I heard] . I wish that lovers [of nature] may see the after-dawn-waning moon in a mountain village at the close of an autumn night.
I went back to Kioto when the rice-fields, which had been filled with water when I came, were dried up, the rice being harvested. The young plants in their bed of water—the plants harvested—the fields dried up—so long I remained away from home.
'T was the moon-hidden of the Gods-absent month when I went there again for temporary residence. ”

“ They said, laughing, "Here goes a company to the temple—there are many days and months in the world [to do that in] !" But there was one [standing by] who said: "What is it to fatten the eyes for a moment? They are firmly determined. They will surely receive Buddha's favour; we ought also to make up our minds [for the good] without sight-seeing." Thus one man spoke seriously. ”

“ The snow covering the earth and its light mingling with the moonshine! Then the notes of the hitchiriki [63] vibrate on the air and we forget Spring and Autumn." And he asked us, "Which captivates your fancy? On which stays your mind?"
My companion answered in favour of Autumn and I, not being willing to imitate her, said:
Pale green night and flowers all melting into one in the soft haze—
Everywhere the moon, glimmering in the Spring night.
So I replied. And he, after repeating my poem to himself over and over, said: "Then you give up Autumn? ”

“ My old-fashioned parents thought the court life would be very unpleasant, and wanted me to pass my time at home, but others said: "People nowadays go out as ladies-in-waiting at the Court, and then fortunate opportunities [for marriage] are naturally numerous ”

“ After that time I was somehow restless and forgot about the romances. My mind became more sober and I passed many years without doing any remarkable thing. I neglected religious services and temple observances. Those fantastic ideas [of the romances] can they be realized in this world? If father could win some good position I also might enter into a much nobler life. Such unreliable hopes then occupied my daily thoughts.
At last [44] father was appointed Governor of a Province very far in the East. ”

“ This Province of Idzumo, full of the folklore of old Japan, has become well known to the world through the writings of [ [Author:Lafcadio Hearn|] ] . ↑ According to the superstition of those days people believed that every house was presided over by an earth god, which occupied the hearth in Spring, the gate in Summer, the well in Autumn, and the garden in Winter. ”

“ So "to gather parsley" means to endeavour to win others' favour by offering something we care for but others do not. ↑ Goreizai, from 1046 to 1068. ↑ This is called the Byōdōin and is one of the famous buildings now existing in Japan (see illustrations in Cram's Impressions of Japanese Architecture) , built upon an exquisite design, and original in character. It had been the villa of the Prime Minister, but was made into a temple in 1051, when the riches of the interior decorations were more like the gorgeousness of Indian temples than the chaster decorations of Japan. ”