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[24] To perform the rite called "o-hyaku-d" means to make one hundred visits to a temple, saying a prayer each time. The expression "dark way of Love" (koi no yami or yamiji) is a Buddhist phrase; love, being due to mayoi, or illusion, is a state of spiritual darkness. The term "owner of my heart" is an attempted rendering of the Japanese word nushi, signifying "master," "owner,"—often, also, "landlord,"—and, in love-matters, the lord or master of the affection inspired.
The interest attaching to the following typical group of love-songs will be found to depend chiefly upon the Buddhist allusions:—
In the bed of the River of Souls, or in waiting alone at evening,
The pain differs nothing at all: to a mountain the pebble grows.[25]
Who furthest after illusion wanders on Love's dark pathway
Is ever the clearest-seeing,[26] not the simple or dull.
Sai-no-kawara to
Nushi matsu yoi wa
Koishi, koishi ga
Yama to naru.
A more literal translation would be: "In the Sai-no-Kawara ('Dry bed of the River of Souls') and in the evening when waiting for the loved one, 'Koishi, Koishi' becomes a mountain." There is a delicate pun here,—a play on the word Koishi, which, as pronounced, though not as written, may mean either "a small stone," or "longing to see." In the bed of the phantom river, Sai-no-Kawa, the ghosts of children are obliged to pile up little stones, the weight of which increases so as to tax their strength to the utmost. There is a reference here also to a verse in the Buddhist wasan of Jiz, describing the crying of the children for their parents: "Chichi koishi! haha koishi!" (See Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, vol. i. pp. 59-61.)
[26] Clearest-sighted,—that is, in worldly matters.
Coldly seen from without our love looks utter folly:
Who never has felt mayoi never could understand!
Countless the men must be who dwell in three thousand worlds;
Yet among them all is none worthy to change for mine.[27]
However fickle I seem, my heart is never unfaithful:
Out of the slime itself, spotless the lotos grows.[28]
So that we stay together, even the Hell of the Blood Lake—
Even the Mountain of Swords—will signify nothing at all?[29]
San-zen skai ni
Otoko wa ardo,
Nushi ni mi-kayeru
Hito wa nai.
"San-zen sekai," the three thousand worlds, is a common Buddhist expression. Literally translated, the above song runs: "Three-thousand-worlds-in men are, but lover-to-exchange person is not."
[28] The familiar Buddhist simile is used more significantly here than the Western reader might suppose from the above rendering. These are supposed to be the words either of a professional singing-girl or of a jor. Her calling is derisively termed a doro-midzu kagy ("foul-water occupation"); and her citation of the famous Buddhist comparison in self-defense is particularly, and pathetically, happy.
Chi-no-Ik-Jigoku mo,
Tsurugi-no-Yama mo,
Futari-dzur nara
Itoi 'a snu.
The Hell of the Blood-Lake is a hell for women; and the Mountain of Swords is usually depicted in Buddhist prints as a place of infernal punishment for men in especial.
Not yet indeed is my body garbed in the ink-black habit;
—But as for this heart bereaved, already it is a nun.[30]
My hair, indeed, is uncut; but my heart has become a religious;
A nun it shall always be till the hour I meet him again.
But even the priest or nun is not always exempt from the power of mayoi:—
I am wearing the sable garb,—and yet, through illusion of
longing,
Ever I lose my way,—knowing not whither or where!
[30] In the original much more pretty and much more simple:—
Sumi no koromo ni
Mi wa yatsusanedo,
Kokoro hitotsu wa
Ama-hshi.
"Ink-black-koromo [priest's or nun's outer robe] in, body not clad, but heart-one nun." Hitotsu, "one," also means "solitary," "forlorn," "bereaved." Ama hshi, lit.: "nun-priest."
So far, my examples have been principally chosen from the more serious class of dodoitsu. But in dodoitsu of a lighter class the Buddhist allusions are perhaps even more frequent. The following group of five will serve for specimens of hundreds:—
Never can be recalled the word too quickly spoken:
Therefore with Emma's face the lover receives the prayer.[31]
Thrice did I hear that prayer with Buddha's face; but hereafter
My face shall be Emma's face because of too many prayers.
Now they are merry together; but under their boat is Jigoku.[32]
Blow quickly, thou river-wind,—blow a typhoon for my
sake!
Vainly, to make him stay, I said that the crows were night
crows;[33]—
The bell of the dawn peals doom,—the bell that cannot lie.
[31] The implication is that he has hastily promised more than he wishes to perform. Emma, or Yemma (Sansc. Yama), is the Lord of Hell and Judge of Souls; and, as depicted in Buddhist sculpture and painting, is more than fearful to look upon. There is an evident reference in this song to the Buddhist proverb: Karu-toki no Jiz-gao; nasu-toki no Emma-gao ("Borrowing-time, the face of Jiz; repaying-time, the face of Emma").
