Back Aa

Japanese Prints

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h1><i>Japanese Prints</i></h1> <div class='frontpage2'> <p class='center'><i>By John Gould Fletcher</i></p> <p><b>Japanese Prints</b></p> <p><b>Goblins and Pagodas</b></p> <p><b>Irradiations: Sand and Spray</b></p> </div> <div class="figcenter"><SPAN name="frontis" id="frontis"></SPAN> <SPAN href="images/img004.jpg"><ANTIMG src="images/img004_th.jpg" width-obs="274" height-obs="400" alt="" title="" /></SPAN></div> <p class='epigraph'>"Of what is she dreaming?<br/>   Of long nights lit with orange lanterns,<br/>   Of wine-cups and compliments and kisses of the two-sword men."</p> <h1><i>Japanese Prints</i></h1> <h3><i>By</i></h3> <h2><i>John Gould Fletcher</i></h2> <p class='frontpage'><i>With Illustrations By</i><br/> <b><i>Dorothy Pulis Lathrop</i></b></p> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/img007.jpg" width-obs="82" height-obs="120" alt="" title="" /></div> <p class='center'> <i>Boston</i><br/> <b><i>The Four Seas Company</i></b><br/> <b><i>1918</i></b></p> <p class='frontend'> <i>Copyright, 1918, by<br/> The Four Seas Company</i></p> <p class='frontend'> <i>The Four Seas Press<br/> Boston, Mass., U.S.A.</i></p> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h3><i>To My Wife</i></h3> <p class='epigraph'><i>Granted this dew-drop world be but a dew-drop world,<br/> This granted, yet—</i></p> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h2><i>Table of Contents</i></h2> <div class='center'> <table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="toc"> <tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Preface</span></td><td align='left'></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_11">11</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Part I.</span></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Lovers Embracing</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_21">21</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>A Picnic Under the Cherry Trees</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_22">22</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Court Lady Standing Under Cherry Tree</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_23">23</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Court Lady Standing Under a Plum Tree</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_24">24</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>A Beautiful Woman</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_25">25</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>A Reading</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_26">26</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>An Actor as a Dancing Girl</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_27">27</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Josan No Miya</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_28">28</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>An Oiran and Her Kamuso</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_29">29</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Two Ways Of Love</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_30">30</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Kurenai-ye or "Red Picture"</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_31">31</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>A Woman Standing by a Gate with an Umbrella</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_32">32</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Scene from a Drama</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_33">33</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>A Woman in Winter Costume</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_34">34</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>A Pedlar</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_35">35</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Kiyonobu and Kiyomasu Contrasted</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_36">36</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>An Actor</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_37">37</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Part II.</span></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Memory and Forgetting</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_41">41</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Pillar-Print, Masonobu</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_42">42</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>The Young Daimyo</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_43">43</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Masonubu—Early</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_44">44</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>The Beautiful Geisha</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_45">45</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>A Young Girl</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_46">46</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>The Heavenly Poetesses</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_47">47</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>The Old Love and The New</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_48">48</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Fugitive Thoughts</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_49">49</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Disappointment</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_50">50</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>The Traitor</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_51">51</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>The Fop</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_52">52</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Changing Love</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_53">53</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>In Exile</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_54">54</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>The True Conqueror</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_55">55</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Spring Love</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_56">56</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>The Endless Lament</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_57">57</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Toyonobu. Exile's Return</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_58">58</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Wind and Chrysanthemum</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_59">59</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>The Endless Pilgrimage</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_60">60</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Part III.</span></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>The Clouds</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_63">63</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Two Ladies Contrasted</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_64">64</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>A Night Festival</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_65">65</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Distant Coasts</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_66">66</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>On the Banks of the Sumida</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_67">67</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Yoshiwara Festival</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_68">68</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Sharaku Dreams</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_69">69</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>A Life</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_70">70</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Dead Thoughts</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_71">71</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>A Comparison</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_72">72</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Mutability</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_73">73</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Despair</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_74">74</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>The Lonely Grave</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_75">75</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Part IV.</span></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Evening Sky</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_79">79</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>City Lights</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_80">80</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Fugitive Beauty</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_81">81</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Silver Jars</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_82">82</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Evening Rain</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_83">83</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Toy-Boxes</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_84">84</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Moods</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_85">85</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Grass</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_86">86</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>A Landscape</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_87">87</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Terror</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_88">88</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Mid-Summer Dusk</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_89">89</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Evening Bell from a Distant Temple</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_90">90</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>A Thought</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_91">91</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>The Stars</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_92">92</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Japan</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_93">93</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Leaves</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_94">94</SPAN></td></tr> </table></div> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h2><i>List of Illustrations</i></h2> <div class='center'> <table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="loi"> <tr><td align='left'><p>"Of what is she dreaming?<br/>   Of long nights lit with orange lanterns,<br/>   Of wine-cups and compliments and kisses<br/>   of the two-sword men."</p> </td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#frontis">Frontispiece</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Headpiece—Part I</span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_19">19</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Tailpiece—Part I</span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_37">37</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Headpiece—Part II</span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_39">39</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><p>"Out of the rings and the bubbles,<br/>   The curls and the swirls of the water,<br/>   Out of the crystalline shower of drops shattered in play,<br/>   Her body and her thoughts arose."</p> </td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_46">46</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><p>"The cranes have come back to the temple,<br/>   The winds are flapping the flags about,<br/>   Through a flute of reeds<br/>   I will blow a song."</p> </td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_58">58</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Tailpiece—Part II</span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_60">60</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Headpiece—Part III</span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_61">61</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><p>"Then in her heart they grew,<br/>   The snows of changeless winter,<br/>   Stirred by the bitter winds of unsatisfied desire."</p> </td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_70">70</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Tailpiece—Part III</span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_75">75</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Headpiece—Part IV</span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_77">77</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Headpiece—Part IV</span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_94">94</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align='left'><p>"The green and violet peacocks<br/>   Through the golden dusk<br/>   Stately, nostalgically,<br/>   Parade."</p> </td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#endleaf">Endleaf</SPAN></td></tr> </table></div> <hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Preface</i></h2> <p>At the earliest period concerning which we have any accurate information, about the sixth century A. D., Japanese poetry already contained the germ of its later development. The poems of this early date were composed of a first line of five syllables, followed by a second of seven, followed by a third of five, and so on, always ending with a line of seven syllables followed by another of equal number. Thus the whole poem, of whatever length (a poem of as many as forty-nine lines was scarce, even at that day) always was composed of an odd number of lines, alternating in length of syllables from five to seven, until the close, which was an extra seven syllable line. Other rules there were none. Rhyme, quantity, accent, stress were disregarded. Two vowels together must never be sounded as a diphthong, and a long vowel counts for two syllables, likewise a final "n", and the consonant "m" in some cases.</p> <p>This method of writing poetry may seem to the reader to suffer from serious disadvantages. In reality this was not the case. Contrast it for a moment with the undignified welter of undigested and ex parte<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</SPAN></span> theories which academic prosodists have tried for three hundred years to foist upon English verse, and it will be seen that the simple Japanese rule has the merit of dignity. The only part of it that we Occidentals could not accept perhaps, with advantage to ourselves, is the peculiarly Oriental insistence on an odd number of syllables for every line and an odd number of lines to every poem. To the Western mind, odd numbers sound incomplete. But to the Chinese (and Japanese art is mainly a highly-specialized expression of Chinese thought), the odd numbers are masculine and hence heavenly; the even numbers feminine and hence earthy. This idea in itself, the antiquity of which no man can tell, deserves no less than a treatise be written on it. But the place for that treatise is not here.</p> <p>To return to our earliest Japanese form. Sooner or later this crystallized into what is called a tanka or short ode. This was always five lines in length, constructed syllabically 5, 7, 5, 7, 7, or thirty-one syllables in all. Innumerable numbers of these tanka were written. Gradually, during the feudal period, improvising verses became a pastime in court circles. Some one would utter the first three lines of a tanka and some one else would cap the composition by adding the last two. This division persisted. The first hemistich which was composed of 17 syllables grew to be called the hokku, the second or finishing hemistich <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</SPAN></span>of 14 syllables was called ageku. Thus was born the form which is more peculiarly Japanese than any other, and which only they have been able to carry to perfection.</p> <p>Composing hokku might, however, have remained a mere game of elaborate literary conceits and double meanings, but for the genius of one man. This was the great Bashō (1644-1694) who may be called certainly the greatest epigrammatist of any time. During a life of extreme and voluntary self-denial and wandering, Bashō contrived to obtain over a thousand disciples, and to found a school of hokku writing which has persisted down to the present day. He reformed the hokku, by introducing into everything he wrote a deep spiritual significance underlying the words. He even went so far as to disregard upon occasion the syllabic rule, and to add extraneous syllables, if thereby he might perfect his statement. He set his face sternly against impromptus, <i>poemes d'occasion</i>, and the like. The number of his works were not large, and even these he perpetually sharpened and polished. His influence persisted for long after his death. A disciple and priest of Zen Buddhism himself, his work is permeated with the feeling of that doctrine.</p> <p>Zen Buddhism, as Bashō practised it, may be called religion under the forms of nature. Everything on earth, from the clouds in the sky to the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</SPAN></span> pebble by the roadside, has some spiritual or ethical significance for us. Blake's words describe the aim of the Zen Buddhist as well as any one's:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"To see a World in a grain of sand,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And a Heaven in a wild flower;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And Eternity in an hour."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>Bashō would have subscribed to this as the sole rule of poetry and imagination. The only difference between the Western and the Eastern mystic is that where one sees the world in the grain of sand and tells you all about it, the other sees and lets his silence imply that he knows its meaning. Or to quote Lao-tzu: "Those who speak do not know, those who know do not speak." It must always be understood that there is an implied continuation to every Japanese hokku. The concluding hemistich, whereby the hokku becomes the tanka, is existent in the writer's mind, but never uttered.</p> <p>Let us take an example. The most famous hokku that Bashō wrote, might be literally translated thus:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"An old pond<br/></span> <span class="i0">And the sound of a frog leaping<br/></span> <span class="i0">Into the water."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>This means nothing to the Western mind. But to the Japanese it means all the beauty of such a life of retirement and contemplation as Bashō practised. If we permit our minds to supply the detail Bashō deliberately <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</SPAN></span>omitted, we see the mouldering temple enclosure, the sage himself in meditation, the ancient piece of water, and the sound of a frog's leap—passing vanity—slipping into the silence of eternity. The poem has three meanings. First it is a statement of fact. Second, it is an emotion deduced from that. Third, it is a sort of spiritual allegory. And all this Bashō has given us in his seventeen syllables.</p> <p>All of Bashō's poems have these three meanings. Again and again we get a sublime suggestion out of some quite commonplace natural fact. For instance:</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"On the mountain-road<br/></span> <span class="i0">There is no flower more beautiful<br/></span> <span class="i0">Than the wild violet."<br/></span></div> </div> <p>The wild violet, scentless, growing hidden and neglected among the rocks of the mountain-road, suggested to Bashō the life of the Buddhist hermit, and thus this poem becomes an exhortation to "shun the world, if you would be sublime."</p> <p>I need not give further examples. The reader can now see for himself what the main object of the hokku poetry is, and what it achieved. Its object was some universalized emotion derived from a natural fact. Its achievement was the expression of that emotion in the fewest possible terms. It is therefore necessary, if poetry in the English tongue is ever to attain again to the vitality and strength of its beginnings, that we sit once more at the feet of the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</SPAN></span> Orient and learn from it how little words can express, how sparingly they should be used, and how much is contained in the meanest natural object. Shakespeare, who could close a scene of brooding terror with the words: "But see, the morn in russet mantle clad, Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill" was nearer to the oriental spirit than we are. We have lost Shakespeare's instinct for nature and for fresh individual vision, and we are unwilling to acquire it through self-discipline. If we do not want art to disappear under the froth of shallow egotism, we must learn the lesson Bashō can teach us.</p> <p>That is not to say, that, by taking the letter for the spirit, we should in any way strive to imitate the hokku form. Good hokkus cannot be written in English. The thing we have to follow is not a form, but a spirit. Let us universalize our emotions as much as possible, let us become impersonal as Shakespeare or Bashō was. Let us not gush about our fine feelings. Let us admit that the highest and noblest feelings are things that cannot be put into words. Therefore let us conceal them behind the words we have chosen. Our definition of poetry would then become that of Edwin Arlington Robinson, that poetry is a language which tells through a reaction upon our emotional natures something which cannot be put into words. Unless we set ourselves seriously to the task of understanding that language is only a means and never an<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</SPAN></span> end, poetic art will be dead in fifty years, from a surfeit of superficial cleverness and devitalized realism.</p> <p>In the poems that follow I have taken as my subjects certain designs of the so-called Uki-oye (or Passing World) school. These prints, made and produced for purely popular consumption by artists who, whatever their genius, were despised by the literati of their time, share at least one characteristic with Japanese poetry, which is, that they exalt the most trivial and commonplace subjects into the universal significance of works of art. And therefore I have chosen them to illustrate my doctrine, which is this: that one must learn to do well small things before doing things great; that the universe is just as much in the shape of a hand as it is in armies, politics, astronomy, or the exhortations of gospel-mongers; that style and technique rest on the thing conveyed and not the means of conveyance; and that though sentiment is a good thing, understanding is a better. As for the poems themselves they are in some cases not Japanese at all, but all illustrate something of the charm I have found in Japanese poetry and art. And if they induce others to seek that charm for themselves, my purpose will have been attained.</p> <p class='right'><span class="smcap">John Gould Fletcher.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</SPAN></span></span></p> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</SPAN></span></p> <hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</SPAN></span></p> <div class="figcenter"> <SPAN href="images/img023.jpg"><ANTIMG src="images/img023_th.jpg" width-obs="350" height-obs="137" alt="" title="" /></SPAN></div> <h2><i>Part I</i></h2> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Lovers Embracing</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Force and yielding meet together:<br/></span> <span class="i0">An attack is half repulsed.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Shafts of broken sunlight dissolving<br/></span> <span class="i0">Convolutions of torpid cloud.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>A Picnic Under the Cherry Trees</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The boat drifts to rest<br/></span> <span class="i0">Under the outward spraying branches.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">There is faint sound of quavering strings,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The reedy murmurs of a flute,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The soft sigh of the wind through silken garments;<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">All these are mingled<br/></span> <span class="i0">With the breeze that drifts away,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Filled with thin petals of cherry blossom,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Like tinkling laughter dancing away in sunlight.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Court Lady Standing Under Cherry Tree</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">She is an iris,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Dark purple, pale rose,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Under the gnarled boughs<br/></span> <span class="i0">That shatter their stars of bloom.<br/></span> <span class="i0">She waves delicately<br/></span> <span class="i0">With the movement of the tree.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Of what is she dreaming?<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Of long nights lit with orange lanterns,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Of wine cups and compliments and kisses of the two-sword men.<br/></span> <span class="i0">And of dawn when weary sleepers<br/></span> <span class="i0">Lie outstretched on the mats of the palace,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And of the iris stalk that is broken in the fountain.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Court Lady Standing Under a Plum Tree</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Autumn winds roll through the dry leaves<br/></span> <span class="i0">On her garments;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Autumn birds shiver<br/></span> <span class="i0">Athwart star-hung skies.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Under the blossoming plum-tree,<br/></span> <span class="i0">She expresses the pilgrimage<br/></span> <span class="i0">Of grey souls passing,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Athwart love's scarlet maples<br/></span> <span class="i0">To the ash-strewn summit of death.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>A Beautiful Woman</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Iris-amid-clouds<br/></span> <span class="i0">Must be her name.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Tall and lonely as the mountain-iris,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Cold and distant.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">She has never known longing:<br/></span> <span class="i0">Many have died for love of her.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>A Reading</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"And the prince came to the craggy rock<br/></span> <span class="i0">But saw only hissing waves<br/></span> <span class="i0">So he rested all day amid them."<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He listens idly,<br/></span> <span class="i0">He is content with her voice.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He dreams it is the murmur<br/></span> <span class="i0">Of distant wave-caps breaking<br/></span> <span class="i0">Upon the painted screen.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>An Actor as a Dancing Girl</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The peony dancer<br/></span> <span class="i0">Swirls orange folds of dusty robes<br/></span> <span class="i0">Through the summer.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">They are spotted with thunder showers,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Falling upon the crimson petals.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Heavy blooms<br/></span> <span class="i0">Breaking and spilling fiery cups<br/></span> <span class="i0">Drowsily.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Josan No Miya</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">She is a fierce kitten leaping in sunlight<br/></span> <span class="i0">Towards the swaying boughs.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">She is a gust of wind,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Bending in parallel curves the boughs of the willow-tree.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>An Oiran and her Kamuso</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Gilded hummingbirds are whizzing<br/></span> <span class="i0">Through the palace garden,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Deceived by the jade petals<br/></span> <span class="i0">Of the Emperor's jewel-trees.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Two Ways of Love</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The wind half blows her robes,<br/></span> <span class="i0">That subside<br/></span> <span class="i0">Listlessly<br/></span> <span class="i0">As swaying pines.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The wind tosses hers<br/></span> <span class="i0">In circles<br/></span> <span class="i0">That recoil upon themselves:<br/></span> <span class="i0">How should I love—as the swaying or tossing wind?<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Kurenai-ye or "Red Picture"</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">She glances expectantly<br/></span> <span class="i0">Through the pine avenue,<br/></span> <span class="i0">To the cherry-tree summit<br/></span> <span class="i0">Where her lover will appear.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Faint rose anticipation colours her,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And sunset;<br/></span> <span class="i0">She is a cherry-tree that has taken long to bloom.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>A Woman Standing by a Gate with an Umbrella</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Late summer changes to autumn:<br/></span> <span class="i0">Chrysanthemums are scattered<br/></span> <span class="i0">Behind the palings.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Gold and vermilion<br/></span> <span class="i0">The afternoon.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I wait here dreaming of vermilion sunsets:<br/></span> <span class="i0">In my heart is a half fear of the chill autumn rain.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Scene from a Drama</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The daimyo and the courtesan<br/></span> <span class="i0">Compliment each other.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He invites her to walk out through the maples,<br/></span> <span class="i0">She half refuses, hiding fear in her heart.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Far in the shadow<br/></span> <span class="i0">The daimyo's attendant waits,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Nervously fingering his sword.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>A Woman in Winter Costume</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">She is like the great rains<br/></span> <span class="i0">That fall over the earth in winter-time.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Wave on wave her heavy robes collapse<br/></span> <span class="i0">In green torrents<br/></span> <span class="i0">Lashed with slaty foam.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Downward the sun strikes amid them<br/></span> <span class="i0">And enkindles a lone flower;<br/></span> <span class="i0">A violet iris standing yet in seething pools of grey.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>A Pedlar</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Gaily he offers<br/></span> <span class="i0">Packets of merchandise.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He is a harlequin of illusions,<br/></span> <span class="i0">His nimble features<br/></span> <span class="i0">Skip into smiles, like rainbows,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Cheating the villagers.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">But in his heart all the while is another knowledge,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The sorrow of the bleakness of the long wet winter night.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Kiyonobu and Kiyomasu Contrasted</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">One life is a long summer;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Tall hollyhocks stand proud upon its paths;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Little yellow waves of sunlight,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Bring scarlet butterflies.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Another life is a brief autumn,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Fierce storm-rack scrawled with lightning<br/></span> <span class="i0">Passed over it<br/></span> <span class="i0">Leaving the naked bleeding earth,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Stabbed with the swords of the rain.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>An Actor</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He plots for he is angry,<br/></span> <span class="i0">He sneers for he is bold.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He clinches his fist<br/></span> <span class="i0">Like a twisted snake;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Coiling itself, preparing to raise its head,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Above the long grasses of the plain.<br/></span></div> </div> <div class="figcenter"> <SPAN href="images/img041.jpg"><ANTIMG src="images/img041_th.jpg" width-obs="350" height-obs="236" alt="" title="" /></SPAN></div> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</SPAN></span></p> <hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</SPAN></span></p> <div class="figcenter"> <SPAN href="images/img043.jpg"><ANTIMG src="images/img043_th.jpg" width-obs="350" height-obs="114" alt="" title="" /></SPAN></div> <h2><i>Part II</i></h2> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</SPAN></span></p> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Memory and Forgetting</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I have forgotten how many times he kissed me,<br/></span> <span class="i0">But I cannot forget<br/></span> <span class="i0">A swaying branch—a leaf that fell<br/></span> <span class="i0">To earth.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Pillar-Print, Masonobu</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He stands irresolute<br/></span> <span class="i0">Cloaking the light of his lantern.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Tonight he will either find new love or a sword-thrust,<br/></span> <span class="i0">But his soul is troubled with ghosts of old regret.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Like vines with crimson flowers<br/></span> <span class="i0">They climb<br/></span> <span class="i0">Upwards<br/></span> <span class="i0">Into his heart.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>The Young Daimyo</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">When he first came out to meet me,<br/></span> <span class="i0">He had just been girt with the two swords;<br/></span> <span class="i0">And I found he was far more interested in the glitter of their hilts,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And did not even compare my kiss to a cherry-blossom.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Masonubu—Early</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">She was a dream of moons, of fluttering handkerchiefs,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Of flying leaves, of parasols,<br/></span> <span class="i0">A riddle made to break my heart;<br/></span> <span class="i0">The lightest impulse<br/></span> <span class="i0">To her was more dear than the deep-toned temple bell.<br/></span> <span class="i0">She fluttered to my sword-hilt an instant,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And then flew away;<br/></span> <span class="i0">But who will spend all day chasing a butterfly?<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>The Beautiful Geisha</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Swift waves hissing<br/></span> <span class="i0">Under the moonlight;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Tarnished silver.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Swaying boats<br/></span> <span class="i0">Under the moonlight,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Gold lacquered prows.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Is it a vision<br/></span> <span class="i0">Under the moonlight?<br/></span> <span class="i0">No, it is only<br/></span> <span class="i0">A beautiful geisha swaying down the street.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>A Young Girl</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Out of the rings and the bubbles,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The curls and the swirls of the water,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Out of the crystalline shower of drops shattered in play,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Her body and her thoughts arose.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">She dreamed of some lover<br/></span> <span class="i0">To whom she might offer her body<br/></span> <span class="i0">Fresh and cool as a flower born in the rain.<br/></span></div> </div> <div class="figcenter"> <SPAN href="images/img046.jpg"><ANTIMG src="images/img046_th.jpg" width-obs="271" height-obs="400" alt="" title="" /></SPAN></div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>The Heavenly Poetesses</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">In their bark of bamboo reeds<br/></span> <span class="i0">The heavenly poetesses<br/></span> <span class="i0">Float across the sky.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Poems are falling from them<br/></span> <span class="i0">Swift as the wind that shakes the lance-like bamboo leaves;<br/></span> <span class="i0">The stars close around like bubbles<br/></span> <span class="i0">Stirred by the silver oars of poems passing.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>The Old Love and the New</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Beware, for the dying vine can hold<br/></span> <span class="i0">The strongest oak.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Only by cutting at the root<br/></span> <span class="i0">Can love be altered.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Late in the night<br/></span> <span class="i0">A rosy glimmer yet defies the darkness.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">But the evening is growing late,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The blinds are being lowered;<br/></span> <span class="i0">She who held your heart and charmed you<br/></span> <span class="i0">Is only a rosy glimmer of flame remembered.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Fugitive Thoughts</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">My thoughts are sparrows passing<br/></span> <span class="i0">Through one great wave that breaks<br/></span> <span class="i0">In bubbles of gold on a black motionless rock.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Disappointment</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Rain rattles on the pavement,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Puddles stand in the bluish stones;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Afar in the Yoshiwara<br/></span> <span class="i0">Is she who holds my heart.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Alas, the torn lantern of my hope<br/></span> <span class="i0">Trembles and sputters in the rain.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>The Traitor</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I saw him pass at twilight;<br/></span> <span class="i0">He was a dark cloud travelling<br/></span> <span class="i0">Over palace roofs<br/></span> <span class="i0">With one claw drooping.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">In his face were written ages<br/></span> <span class="i0">Of patient treachery<br/></span> <span class="i0">And the knowledge of his hour.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">One dainty thrust, no more<br/></span> <span class="i0">Than this, he needs.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>The Fop</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">His heart is like a wind<br/></span> <span class="i0">Torn between cloud and butterfly;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Whether he will roll passively to one,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Or chase endlessly the other.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Changing Love</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">My love for her at first was like the smoke that drifts<br/></span> <span class="i0">Across the marshes<br/></span> <span class="i0">From burning woods.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">But, after she had gone,<br/></span> <span class="i0">It was like the lotus that lifts up<br/></span> <span class="i0">Its heart shaped buds from the dim waters.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>In Exile</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">My heart is mournful as thunder moving<br/></span> <span class="i0">Through distant hills<br/></span> <span class="i0">Late on a long still night of autumn.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">My heart is broken and mournful<br/></span> <span class="i0">As rain heard beating<br/></span> <span class="i0">Far off in the distance<br/></span> <span class="i0">While earth is parched more near.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">On my heart is the black badge of exile;<br/></span> <span class="i0">I droop over it,<br/></span> <span class="i0">I accept its shame.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>The True Conqueror</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He only can bow to men<br/></span> <span class="i0">Lofty as a god<br/></span> <span class="i0">To those beneath him,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Who has taken sins and sorrows<br/></span> <span class="i0">And whose deathless spirit leaps<br/></span> <span class="i0">Beneath them like a golden carp in the torrent.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Spring Love</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Through the weak spring rains<br/></span> <span class="i0">Two lovers walk together,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Holding together the parasol.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">But the laughing rains of spring<br/></span> <span class="i0">Will break the weak green shoots of their love.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">His will grow a towering stalk,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Hers, a cowering flower under it.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>The Endless Lament</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Spring rain falls through the cherry blossom,<br/></span> <span class="i0">In long blue shafts<br/></span> <span class="i0">On grasses strewn with delicate stars.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The summer rain sifts through the drooping willow,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Shatters the courtyard<br/></span> <span class="i0">Leaving grey pools.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The autumn rain drives through the maples<br/></span> <span class="i0">Scarlet threads of sorrow,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Towards the snowy earth.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Would that the rains of all the winters<br/></span> <span class="i0">Might wash away my grief!<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Toyonobu. Exile's Return</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The cranes have come back to the temple,<br/></span> <span class="i0">The winds are flapping the flags about,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Through a flute of reeds<br/></span> <span class="i0">I will blow a song.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Let my song sigh as the breeze through the cryptomerias,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And pause like long flags flapping,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And dart and flutter aloft, like a wind-bewildered crane.<br/></span></div> </div> <div class="figcenter"> <SPAN href="images/img058.jpg"><ANTIMG src="images/img058_th.jpg" width-obs="263" height-obs="400" alt="" title="" /></SPAN></div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Wind and Chrysanthemum</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Chrysanthemums bending<br/></span> <span class="i0">Before the wind.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Chrysanthemums wavering<br/></span> <span class="i0">In the black choked grasses.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The wind frowns at them,<br/></span> <span class="i0">He tears off a green and orange stalk of broken chrysanthemum.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The chrysanthemums spread their flattered heads,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And scurry off before the wind.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>The Endless Pilgrimage</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Storm-birds of autumn<br/></span> <span class="i0">With draggled wings:<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Sleet-beaten, wind-tattered, snow-frozen,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Stopping in sheer weariness<br/></span> <span class="i0">Between the gnarled red pine trees<br/></span> <span class="i0">Twisted in doubt and despair;<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Whence do you come, pilgrims,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Over what snow fields?<br/></span> <span class="i0">To what southern province<br/></span> <span class="i0">Hidden behind dim peaks, would you go?<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Too long were the telling<br/></span> <span class="i0">Wherefore we set out;<br/></span> <span class="i0">And where we will find rest<br/></span> <span class="i0">Only the Gods may tell."<br/></span></div> </div> <div class="figcenter"> <SPAN href="images/img064.jpg"><ANTIMG src="images/img064_th.jpg" width-obs="350" height-obs="186" alt="" title="" /></SPAN></div> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</SPAN></span></p> <hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</SPAN></span></p> <div class="figcenter"> <SPAN href="images/img065.jpg"><ANTIMG src="images/img065_th.jpg" width-obs="350" height-obs="135" alt="" title="" /></SPAN></div> <h2><i>Part III</i></h2> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>The Clouds</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Although there was no sound in all the house,<br/></span> <span class="i0">I could not forbear listening for the cry of those long white rippling waves<br/></span> <span class="i0">Dragging up their strength to break on the sullen beach of the sky.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Two Ladies Contrasted</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The harmonies of the robes of this gay lady<br/></span> <span class="i0">Are like chants within a temple sweeping outwards<br/></span> <span class="i0">To the morn.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">But I prefer the song of the wind by a stream<br/></span> <span class="i0">Where a shy lily half hides itself in the grasses;<br/></span> <span class="i0">To the night of clouds and stars and wine and passion,<br/></span> <span class="i0">In a palace of tesselated restraint and splendor.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>A Night Festival</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Sparrows and tame magpies chatter<br/></span> <span class="i0">In the porticoes<br/></span> <span class="i0">Lit with many a lantern.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">There is idle song,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Scandal over full wine cups,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Sorrow does not matter.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Only beyond the still grey shoji<br/></span> <span class="i0">For the breadth of innumerable countries,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Is the sea with ships asleep<br/></span> <span class="i0">In the blue-black starless night.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Distant Coasts</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">A squall has struck the sea afar off.<br/></span> <span class="i0">You can feel it quiver<br/></span> <span class="i0">Over the paper parasol<br/></span> <span class="i0">With which she shields her face;<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">In the drawn-together skirts of her robes,<br/></span> <span class="i0">As she turns to meet it.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>On the Banks of the Sumida</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Windy evening of autumn,<br/></span> <span class="i0">By the grey-green swirling river,<br/></span> <span class="i0">People are resting like still boats<br/></span> <span class="i0">Tugging uneasily at their cramped chains.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Some are moving slowly<br/></span> <span class="i0">Like the easy winds:<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Brown-blue, dull-green, the villages in the distance<br/></span> <span class="i0">Sleep on the banks of the river:<br/></span> <span class="i0">The waters sullenly clash and murmur.<br/></span> <span class="i0">The chatter of the passersby,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Is dulled beneath the grey unquiet sky.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Yoshiwara Festival</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The green and violet peacocks<br/></span> <span class="i0">With golden tails<br/></span> <span class="i0">Parade.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Beneath the fluttering jangling streamers<br/></span> <span class="i0">They walk<br/></span> <span class="i0">Violet and gold.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The green and violet peacocks<br/></span> <span class="i0">Through the golden dusk<br/></span> <span class="i0">Showered upon them from the vine-hung lanterns,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Stately, nostalgically,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Parade.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Sharaku Dreams</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I will scrawl on the walls of the night<br/></span> <span class="i0">Faces.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Leering, sneering, scowling, threatening faces;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Weeping, twisting, yelling, howling faces;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Faces fixed in a contortion between a scream and a laugh,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Meaningless faces.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I will cover the walls of night<br/></span> <span class="i0">With faces,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Till you do not know<br/></span> <span class="i0">If these faces are but masks, or you the masks for them.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Faces too grotesque for laughter,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Faces too shattered by pain for tears,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Faces of such ugliness<br/></span> <span class="i0">That the ugliness grows beauty.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">They will haunt you morning, evening,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Burning, burning, ever returning.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Their own infamy creating,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Till you strike at life and hate it,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Burn your soul up so in hating.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I will scrawl on the walls of the night<br/></span> <span class="i0">Faces,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Pitiless,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Flaring,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Staring.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>A Life</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Her life was like a swiftly rushing stream<br/></span> <span class="i0">Green and scarlet,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Falling into darkness.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The seasons passed for her,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Like pale iris wilting,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Or peonies flying to ribbons before the storm-gusts.<br/></span> <span class="i0">The sombre pine-tops waited until the seasons had passed.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Then in her heart they grew<br/></span> <span class="i0">The snows of changeless winter<br/></span> <span class="i0">Stirred by the bitter winds of unsatisfied desire.<br/></span></div> </div> <div class="figcenter"> <SPAN href="images/img070.jpg"><ANTIMG src="images/img070_th.jpg" width-obs="266" height-obs="400" alt="" title="" /></SPAN></div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Dead Thoughts</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">My thoughts are an autumn breeze<br/></span> <span class="i0">Lifting and hurrying<br/></span> <span class="i0">Dry rubbish about in a corner.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">My thoughts are willow branches<br/></span> <span class="i0">Already broken<br/></span> <span class="i0">Motionless at twilight.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>A Comparison</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">My beloved is like blue smoke that rises<br/></span> <span class="i0">In long slow planes,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And wavers<br/></span> <span class="i0">Over the dark paths of old gardens long neglected.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Mutability</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The wind shakes the mists<br/></span> <span class="i0">Making them quiver<br/></span> <span class="i0">With faint drum-tones of thunder.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Out of the crane-haunted mists of autumn,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Blue and brown<br/></span> <span class="i0">Rolls the moon.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">There was a city living here long ago,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Of all that city<br/></span> <span class="i0">There is only one stone left half-buried in the marsh,<br/></span> <span class="i0">With characters upon it which no one now can read.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Despair</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Despair hangs in the broken folds of my garments;<br/></span> <span class="i0">It clogs my footsteps,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Like snow in the cherry bloom.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">In my heart is the sorrow<br/></span> <span class="i0">Of years like red leaves buried in snow.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>The Lonely Grave</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Pilgrims will ascend the road in early summer,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Passing my tombstone<br/></span> <span class="i0">Mossy, long forgotten.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Girls will laugh and scatter cherry petals,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Sometimes they will rest in the twisted pine-trees' shade.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">If one presses her warm lips to this tablet<br/></span> <span class="i0">The dust of my body will feel a thrill, deep down in the silent earth.<br/></span></div> </div> <div class="figcenter"> <SPAN href="images/img079.jpg"><ANTIMG src="images/img079_th.jpg" width-obs="350" height-obs="336" alt="" title="" /></SPAN></div> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</SPAN></span></p> <hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</SPAN></span></p> <div class="figcenter"> <SPAN href="images/img081.jpg"><ANTIMG src="images/img081_th.jpg" width-obs="350" height-obs="148" alt="" title="" /></SPAN></div> <h2><i>Part IV</i></h2> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</SPAN></span></p> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Evening Sky</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The sky spreads out its poor array<br/></span> <span class="i0">Of tattered flags,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Saffron and rose<br/></span> <span class="i0">Over the weary huddle of housetops<br/></span> <span class="i0">Smoking their evening pipes in silence.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>City Lights</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The city gleams with lights this evening<br/></span> <span class="i0">Like loud and yawning laughter from red lips.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Fugitive Beauty</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">As the fish that leaps from the river,<br/></span> <span class="i0">As the dropping of a November leaf at twilight,<br/></span> <span class="i0">As the faint flicker of lightning down the southern sky,<br/></span> <span class="i0">So I saw beauty, far away.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Silver Jars</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I dreamed I caught your loveliness<br/></span> <span class="i0">In little silver jars:<br/></span> <span class="i0">And when you died I opened them,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And there was only soot within.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Evening Rain</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Rain fell so softly, in the evening,<br/></span> <span class="i0">I almost thought it was the trees that were talking.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Toy-Boxes</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Cities are the toy-boxes<br/></span> <span class="i0">Time plays with:<br/></span> <span class="i0">And there are often many doll-houses<br/></span> <span class="i0">Of which the dolls are lost.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Moods</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">A poet's moods:<br/></span> <span class="i0">Fluttering butterflies in the rain.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Grass</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Grass moves in the wind,<br/></span> <span class="i0">My soul is backwards blown.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>A Landscape</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Land, green-brown;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Sea, brown-grey;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Island, dull peacock blue;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Sky, stone-grey.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Terror</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Because of the long pallid petals of white chrysanthemums<br/></span> <span class="i0">Waving to and fro,<br/></span> <span class="i0">I dare not go.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Mid-Summer Dusk</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Swallows twittering at twilight:<br/></span> <span class="i0">Waves of heat<br/></span> <span class="i0">Churned to flames by the sun.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Evening Bell from a Distant Temple</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">A bell in the fog<br/></span> <span class="i0">Creeps out echoing faintly<br/></span> <span class="i0">The pale broad flashes<br/></span> <span class="i0">Of vibrating twilight,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Faded gold.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>A Thought</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">A piece of paper ready to toss in the fire,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Blackened, scrawled with fragments of an incomplete song:<br/></span> <span class="i0">My soul.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>The Stars</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">There is a goddess who walks shrouded by day:<br/></span> <span class="i0">At night she throws her blue veil over the earth.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Men only see her naked glory through the little holes in the veil.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Japan</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">An old courtyard<br/></span> <span class="i0">Hidden away<br/></span> <span class="i0">In the afternoon.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Grey walks,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Mossy stones,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Copper carp swimming lazily,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And beyond,<br/></span> <span class="i0">A faint toneless hissing echo of rain<br/></span> <span class="i0">That tears at my heart.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 35%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>Leaves</i></h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The splaying silhouette of horse-chestnut leaves<br/></span> <span class="i0">Against the tall and delicate, patrician-tinged sky<br/></span> <span class="i0">Like a princess in blue robes behind a grille of bronze.<br/></span></div> </div> <div class="figcenter"> <SPAN href="images/img098.jpg"><ANTIMG src="images/img098_th.jpg" width-obs="350" height-obs="190" alt="" title="" /></SPAN></div> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</SPAN></span></p> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</SPAN></span></p> <p><i>An edition of 1000 copies only, of which 975 copies have been printed on Olde Style paper, and 25 copies on Japanese Vellum.</i></p> <div class="figcenter"><SPAN name="endleaf" id="endleaf"></SPAN> <SPAN href="images/img100.jpg"><ANTIMG src="images/img100_th.jpg" width-obs="400" height-obs="298" alt="Endleaf" title="" /></SPAN></div> <SPAN name="endofbook"></SPAN> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />

1 of 2

2 of 2

Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.