Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899 edition. Excerpt: ...at length, the form of a pourd, or of the figures. At last these two spheres sepuat-d, the upper one becoming the sun, the lower one, itself finally dividing, becoming the moon and the earth. According to thi explanation the heavens might naturally bespoken of as "gourd shap-d." By others hisakala is defined as " long duration," " eerla-ting," "eternal." Chiruran is read as a four yllablei word, chi-ru-ra-n. Explanatory Note. Tonunnori Ki, nephew of Tsura-yuki and collaborator with him in the compilation-of the Kokin-ihu, " Ancient and Modern Sngs," died early in the tenth century. In this lanka the poet wonders why the cherry-flowers so speedily perish in the cheerful, quiet d;iys of spring. Meteical Translation: --THE FLEETING LIFE OF FLOWERS. Id the cheerful light, Of the ever-shining Sun, In the days of spring;--Why, with ceaseless, restless haste Falls the cherry's new-blown bloom? XXXIV. FUJIWARA NO OKIKAZE. Tare wo ka mo Shiru-hito ni sen Takasago no Mcdsu mo mukashi no Tomo naranaku ni. Literal Translation: --Tare wo ka mo sen ni Whom shall I have of shiru-hito mo known-persons (i.e. friends)? while even matsu no Takasago naranaku ni the piucs of Takasago are not tomo no mukashi. companions of (my) old times. Ktad sen of the second verse as two syllables, --se-n. Explanatory Note. Okikaze Fujiwara flourished in the first quarter of the tenth century, and was in 911 A.D. in office in the province of Sagami. One of the symbols of old age, in frequent use in Japanese litemture, is two pine-treej near Takasago on the sea-coast west of Kobe, in the province of Harima. They are personified as a man and a woman, and are known as Aioi-no-Matsu, " the growing old together pines." But in Motokiyo's No no Ulai " Takasago" (1455 A.d.), one...
