Page:A History of Japanese Literature (Aston).djvu/139

Rh sons, Yorimichi and Norimichi, who succeeded to his power.

The author's style and method have been greatly influenced by his models—the more fictitious Monogatari. He (or she) betrays a preference for romantic episodes, and leans to a more or less poetical and imaginative treatment of his subject, enlivening his narrative with anecdotes, and adorning his pages freely with the ubiquitous Tanka.

The custom, common with romance writers at the present day, of placing fanciful headings to every chapter, began with this work.

The following passage illustrates the strong hold which Buddhism had upon the Japanese nation at this period. It may be premised that the Mikado Kwazan ascended the throne in 985 at the age of seventeen. He was provided with three beautiful and noble women as consorts. One of these he became passionately fond of, and when she died soon after, the shock was too great for a mind in which there already lurked hereditary germs of insanity:—

"From the beginning of the second year of Kwanwa (986) there was an uneasy feeling in the minds of the people, and many strange warnings were given. In the palace also religious abstinence was frequently practised. Moreover (at what time this began is uncertain) the people turned their minds to religion in an extraordinary degree, and nothing else was heard of but of one becoming a nun and another entering the priesthood. When the Mikado was informed of this, he bewailed the wretchedness of this transitory world. He must have thought to himself, 'Alas! how deep Kōkiden's [his favourite wife] sins must have been. Such as she was, her guilt